@noelrap @CoralineAda I always took the "Deliverator" intro as Stephenson going, "Right. Let's establish that I can, in fact, do this, and once we've gotten that out of the way, maybe we can tell an interesting story"
Noel Rappin
@geeksam @CoralineAda I think Stephenson takes the "science" part -- the virus stuff -- seriously, but a lot of the background is satirical. I think he's always seen himself as a person who writes funny stuff.
(Another point is that unlike earlier Cyberpunk writers, Stephenson actually knew something about how computers work -- the description of what's hard to render in the VR was pretty spot on compared to, say, Gibson)
Noel Rappin
@geeksam @CoralineAda It's a different book but the idea in Cryptonomicon that there would be a British Island whose language was so obscure and ridiculous that the UK could use them as code talkers is one of my favorite running jokes in any book. (Qwghlm. Apparently pronounced Tagh’m)