It's more The Diamond Age than Snow Crash. The "Patchwork" of Yarvin and Land maps pretty neatly to Stephenson's Clades -- micronations as voluntary societies.
TBH Diamond Age seems pretty cool, other than the Fists
I think/hope we will see something similar to voluntary societies in the future. Nation states are too heterogenous to row in the same direction. Stronger ethics are needed
Locked-down technology, courts where you don't get to present a defense and executions are carried out immediately without even telling the person, widespread illiteracy, violent revolution, masses of child soldiers.... Definitely "cool to read about" rather than "cool to live in."
The Feed would be cool, the Primer would be fantastic, and a lot of the voluntary societies would be awesome. Diamond age is the most compelling vision for the future of recent popular sci-fi that I've found
The Diamond Age is yet another terrible future that many readers take as awesome, for reasons I can never figure out.
The Primer that everyone likes is mostly just a human remote-teaching—certainly, the best parts of its outcomes are from that. One specific person caring very much and dedicating lots of time and focus to teaching this kid.
Meanwhile, the mass-production Primer without that aspect is just a brainwashing device.
