Skip to main content

Are the language elements in Snow Crash supported by science?



After reading Snow Crash, I have to wonder if any of the premise or main/supporting plot points are backed by any science, or even plausible based on our current understanding.


For example:



The whole idea of a metavirus, the metavirus coming from outside of earth, the nam-shub, being able to program humans with with a primitive base language, a biological virus being implemented as code, hackers being susceptible because of certain pathways...etc.



Little seems to actually be based on science, even at the time it was written. Was it just speculation to further the plot or is there something to it?



Answer



No, not by any current science nor science at the time. Most of Snow Crash is made up of very interesting pseudo-science or promising (in 1992) proto-science.


As to the idea of a human "base language" - the search for a "universal language" has been a common theme of myths, occult groups, pseudoscience, and pre-analytic philosophy since time immemorial. The reality is that it is a completely open question in modern, fact-based linguistics as to whether there is even a single genesis of language in humans. Let alone something as detailed and universally applicable as what's present in Snow Crash. Most modern linguists and psychologists also believe that language evolved continuously from non-language, i.e. there wasn't a primate who "could not" speak, and then her child who "could" - rather that communication grew gradually more complex over generations.


When Snow Crash was written, the field of memetics was popular. Depending on who and when you ask, memetics is either an excellent explanation of cultural transfer, a reasonable model of cultural transfer not tied strongly to reality, or a useless field that, at its best, provides a more complicated explanation for things we could already explain. "Memetics" survives today primarily as a way to alert someone they're going to be looking at cute cat pictures; one thing about a protoscience, is that very few successfully play out into real sciences.



The bare idea that language acts can influence people's views and actions is of course true, but by no measure can that statement, at that level, be called science.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...
Post a Comment
Read more