Neal StephensonEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

This is a Seth’s Picks episode, the very highly regarded, though not much honored at the time Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson. It’s like Ready Player One, but without all the references or terrible writing. (It’s not really like RPO at all, and that’s a very good thing.) This is one of my shorter episodes, … Continue reading "Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, with guest Leah Borden"

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/from-katanas-to-creating-the-metaverse-with-neal-stephenson/ To support the show, come join the Patrons at https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy Neal Stephenson is a best-selling author, futurist, tech geek and swordsman whose works include Cryptonomicron , Seveneves , The Diamond Age , Snow Crash . He has also co-written several other books and graphic novels which we discuss in this episode. His latest book, Termination Shock goes into depth and detail about Sikh martial arts, which he had to research during the Covid lockdowns. Of course, Neal’s main claim to fame is that he wrote the preface to my own Swordfighting for Writers, Game Designers and Martial Artists . We cover an enormously wide range of topics in this episode, from fountain pens to working with Jeff Bezos building rockets. If you want to find anything in particular, the timestamps and related links are listed below: [03:07] How Neal got into swords. Neal’s club in Seattle is Lonin . [08:12] Ellis Amdur and Japanese martial arts. [14:31] Bartitsu [17:53] Silver and McBane. Note: It was Captain John Godfrey's 1747, A Treatise Upon The Useful Science of Defence, where he said that “The Small-Sword is the Call of Honour, the Back-Sword the Call of Duty.” [28:50] Indian Club training [37:46] Sword fights in fiction and how to write one [43:48] Working with Charles C. Mann on Cimarronin. The Manila Galleons. We mention Da’Mon Stith and episode 23 of this podcast. For the photo of Ellis Amdur sticking an eight foot spear into Neal’s chest, see: https://swordschool.com/podcast/from-katanas-to-creating-the-metaverse-with-neal-stephenson/ [52:40] Fountain pens [55:38] How Neal plots, writes and edits his books, and how he co-writes with another author [1:01:09] How Neal’s books changed culture – e.g. influenced the development of the Kindle (see Fiona image here: https://swordschool.com/podcast/from-katanas-to-creating-the-metaverse-with-neal-stephenson/ Fiona is a character in The Diamond Age. Amazon used the codename ‘Fiona’ for their Kindle project.) [1:03:47] Working with Jeff Bezos at Blue Origin finding better ways to power space rockets [1:14:05] Bullwhips [1:15:41] LAMINA1 and building a new open platform for metaver

Neal Stephenson shares his thoughts on whether or not hooey is a real thing. They also discuss the different types of petiolules and scleromas. Finally, Neal Stephenson talks about gummy bears and how they have been changing with the times.

Over his nearly four-decade career as a novelist, Neal Stephenson has built complex visions of future worlds that, looking back at them now, feel eerily prescient. He writes about the possible ways unchecked globalization, pollution, and technological capitalism could transform our planet. Along the way, he’s introduced readers to concepts like cryptocurrency, virtual reality, and the metaverse. In his new novel, Termination Shock , Stevenson brings readers into a near future when an eccentric billionaire puts forward a radical plan for slowing climate change by blasting sulphur into the Earth’s atmosphere. Sounds plausible, doesn’t it? Maybe. WIRED senior correspondent Adam Rogers spoke with Neal Stephenson at the annual RE:WIRED conference earlier this month. This week, we’ll listen to the audio from that interview, and we’ll hear from Adam about what it was like to profile Stephenson for the November issue of WIRED magazine. Show Notes: Neal Stephenson’s new book Termination Shock is available now . Read Adam’s WIRED story about Neal Stephenson taking on Global Warming . Check out more from our RE:WIRED sessions here . Recommendations: Adam recommends getting your Covid-19 vaccine booster shot if you’re eligible, and also the show Star Trek Prodigy . Lauren recommends Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy on HBO Max. Mike recommends “ The Veggie ” newsletter from The New York Times . Adam Rogers can be found on Twitter @ jetjocko . Lauren Goode is @ LaurenGoode . Michael Calore is @ snackfight . Neal Stephenson is @ nealstephenson . Bling the main hotline at @ GadgetLab . The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@ booneashworth ). Our theme music is by Solar Keys . If you have feedback about the show, or just want to enter to win a $50 gift card, take our brief listener survey here . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

“We’re living in a story-based world. We’re hard-wired to process things through the lens of stories which are linear narratives.” - Neal Stephenson Writer and futurist Neal Stephenson sees mythology everywhere; from the stories we tell ourselves, to the stories the media tells the masses, to the stories about the future of humanity. These “myths” define our past, outline our present, and will build our future… so what can we do to make them realistic, optimistic, and (capital “T”) True? Neal walks this line of thought in his latest book, Fall , where he asks the reader to question how close we are to emerging technologies that will allow us to learn and evolve more quickly. In this episode, Chad and Neal discuss the concept of ‘islands’ online, the impact of social media on our collective imagination and our ability to live out our agreed upon realities. Neal also shares how he came to be the first employee at Blue Origin, a company founded by Jeff Bezos, which is committed to advancing space travel. Currently, Neal serves as Chief Futurist of Magic Leap, a company working to bring transmedia projects such as AR and VR to the masses. You can catch Neal on his book tour here as he is traveling the next few weeks across the United States! — Don’t forget, we have a new partnership with b8ta! B8ta.com gives you access to some of the most innovative and cutting edge consumer tech products. This week, we will be giving away one Qwerky Keyboard and one Muse Brain Sensing Headband . Enter the giveaway for a chance to win! — Mission Daily and all of our podcasts are created with love by our team at Mission.org We own and operate a network of podcasts, and brand story studio designed to accelerate learning. Our clients include companies like Salesforce, Twilio, and Katerra who work with us because we produce results. To learn more and get our case studies, check out Mission.org/Studios . If you’re tired of media and news that promotes fear, uncertainty, and doubt and want an antidote, you’ll want to subscribe to our daily newsletter at Mission.org . When you do, you’ll receive a mission-driven newsletter every morning that will help you start your day off right! Email us -> info@mission.org Work with us -> https://www.missionsponsors.com/ Follow Stephanie -> https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniepostles/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Neal Stephenson discusses Fall, or Dodge in Hell.

Neal Stephenson discusses Fall, or Dodge in Hell.

It's A Question Of Balance ® radio show balances the intellectual with the creative, exploring whether we have more in common than divides us through thought-provoking conversations - out and about with people on the street on different topics , and in the studio with inspiring guests from the arts . Balance is not a compromise. Balance is truth distilled from many places creating cohesive understanding. Hosted by Ruth Copland . Check out podcasts of the different topics and arts guests at www.itsaquestionofbalance.com Broadcast on KSCO AM 1080, KSCO 104.1 FM, KOMY AM 1340, and KSCO.com Live Stream. Arts Interview: Neal Stephenson, Best-Selling Writer and Futurist Acclaimed writer and futurist Neal Stephenson imagines what would happen if we could live on as digital souls. "Endlessly inventive and absorbing" (Kirkus Reviews), 'Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell' combines the technological, philosophical and spiritual in one grand myth raising profound questions about the breakthroughs which may transform our future. Ruth Copland talks to Neal Stephenson about what inspires his highly popular and original novels, one of which 'Seveneves' was listed by Bill Gates as one of his top ten favourite books! Neal is known for his speculative fiction works, which have been described variously as science fiction, historical fiction, maximalism or baroque, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. His novels explore areas such as mathematics, cryptography, philosophy, currency, the history of science and envelope-pushing concepts of various kinds. Neal also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired Magazine, and has worked as an advisor for Blue Origin, a company (funded by Jeff Bezos) developing a manned sub-orbital launch system. He is also Chief Futurist at Magic Leap, which produces a head-mounted virtual retinal display, called Magic Leap One, which superimposes 3D computer-generated imagery over real world objects. Neal’s best-selling and critically acclaimed novels include Seven Eves, which Bill Gates named as one of his top ten favourite books and President Obama selected for his 2016 summer reading list. Other acclaimed novels are Reamde, Anathem, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O with Nicole Garland, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Zodiac, and the nonfiction works In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line and Some Remarks. Photo by Brady Hall. For more info visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com Copyright 2019 Ruth Copland. All rights reserved.

A special daytime talk by celebrated speculative fiction author Neal Stephenson on the occasion of his just released novel "SEVENEVES". After a reading, Long Now co-founder Stewart Brand joins Neal to discuss the research and writing of the new book, plus a little bit about what is coming next. "Seveneves at The Interval" was given on May 21, 02015 as part of The Long Now Foundation's “Conversations at The Interval” Salon Talks. These hour long talks are recorded live at The Interval, our bar, cafe, & museum in San Francisco. Since 02014 this series has presented artists, authors, entrepreneurs, scientists (and more) taking a long-term perspective on subjects like art, design, history, nature, technology, and time. To follow the talks, you can: Subscribe to our podcasts: http://longnow.org/seminars/podcast Explore the full series: https://theinterval.org/salon-talks More ideas on long-term thinking: http://blog.longnow.org The Long Now Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to fostering long-term thinking and responsibility. Our projects include a 10,000 Year Clock, endangered language preservation, thousand year+ data storage, and Long Bets, an arena for accountable predictions. Become a Long Now member to support this series, join our community, and connect with our ongoing work to explore and deepen long-term thinking: http://longnow.org/membership Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/longnow Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/longnow Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/longnow