As the author of Snow Crash, a best-seller with Net users, US author Neal Stephenson has become what he scathingly calls a "cyberlebrity".
Snow Crash started life as the idea for a comic book, one which was meant to have computer-generated graphics. Trying to write the sort of software he wanted for it, Stephenson found himself immersed in a new world.
Even as a pre-teen, Stephenson worked with computers. So they helped shape his written visions of the future.
"Snow Crash takes place in a world where everything is franchised. Not just burger joints but even countries So suburban developments have split away ; and become their own nation states with their own borders."
"People have set up their own ethnic and cultural tribes, with their own music, their own culture, their own customs."
Stephenson's new work, The Diamond Age, takes these speculations even further.
"It's not a sequel, but it concerns a future world. One in which governments are completely gone. And all you've got are tribes. And each tribe has its own individual patch of territory. They co-exist, but they maintain distinctive cultures."
With the new book out in America, and about to reach Europe, Stephenson's status has increased further. He's read from Finland to France, Israel to Korea. But he remains downbeat about fame.
"In the last year, I've become this sort of 'cyberlebrity'. This is since the media decided that to be on top of their thing they had to cover 'cyber issues'. Then there arose a demand for cyberlebrities. People they can call on, who can explain these issues."
Even given that Internet hype has reached a critical mass, Stephenson says the role remains fairly painless.
"I've been pretty fortunate. Lots of the people I've talked to have been knowledgeable. They've done their homework and ask pretty good questions. Of course you do run into a few clueless people. And some have succumbed to Internet hysteria."
For more apocalypsis check out a snippet of Snow Crash:
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