@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)