ROUGH NOTES ON SNOW CRASH 3


CHAP. 40 (300)

H is approached by a man who asks if he is a ‘nigger’ or a ‘gook.’ One of
the few times race has become an explicit topic. NEW SOUTH AFRICA.

Kills his attacker in bar. Runs away.

Gets away. Chased by everyone.


CHAP. 41 (305)

YT has been asked to make a delivery to Fedland. Being set up.

311: They try to arrest her. She fights back and escapes.


CHAP. 42 (315)

H talks to LIB again -- talks about Innana again -- a good goddess.

Was on good terms with Enki -- QUEEN OF ME -- SHE TRICKED ENKI TO GIVE HER
ALL THE GOOD ME HE HAD STORED UP AND THEY WERE RELEASED INTO CIVILIZATION
THOUGH HER.

THE RAFT IS L. BIB RIFT’S WATERY FORTRESS WHERE HE HAS STORED UP ALL HIS ME.

JUANITA IS GOING TO TRY TO GET THEM FROM HIM.

INNANA GOES INTO THE NETHER WORLD OF DEATH TO GET THE ME -- ENKI HAS TO SAVE
HER.

HIRO HAS TO SAVE JUANITA WHO HAS BEEN ON THE RAFT FOR THREE DAYS.

MYTHIC PATTERN BEING SET UP HERE.

ENKI -- INNANA

RIFE -- JUANITA

Hiro checks out Port Sherman looking for the Russian Orthos.

The other refus are coming ashore from the Raft. Going to walk to
California.

H needs to get on the Raft to try to save Juanita. Finds a Mr. Lee’s there.

CHAP> 43 (320)

Back to YT. She has been kidnapped in a van. Goes to a Wayne’s.
Then they took her to the coast.

She goes to the RAFT. They give her a job cutting fish.

She then works in the cafeteria -- sees people with antennas coming out of
their heads.

She realizes they have been trying to brainwash her.


CHAP. 44 (326)

Back to H. Port Sherman has gone from a small town with a population of only
a few thousand to one holding over 50,000.

They kill his cycle. Goes to Mr. Lee. He wants to rent a boat to take him
to the RAFT.

The Mafia has chartered the boat he is on.


CHAP. 45 (333)

H talks to Livio. They attack Orthos boat.

Lagos had found the Sumerian virus that had wiped out all the technological
priesthood. The infocrats.

Thought Rife would want it to control his own programmers.

INFORMATIONAL WARFARE.

Rife stole his idea and patterned it to his own ends.

Lagos became worried about Rife and so he talked to a number of different
people, including Juanita, Mr. Lee and the Mafia.


CHAP. 46 (338)

Raven comes to help the Russians in his kayak.

A Russian sub surfaces and blows the Mafia boat away.


CHAP. 47 (341)

YT notices that no one on the Raft seems to be interested in sex.

YT meets Raven in the cafeteria line.

She’s on a date with Raven and everyone is afraid of him.


CHAP. 48 (346)

H is on a life raft with three others -- Vic, Eliot Chung and the glass-eyed
guy. Fisheye. He has a large black suitcase. It contains radioactive
substances.

350: Fisheye says they have been sent to rescue YT from Rife. Uncle Enzo is
really pissed at him.

H starts hacking. THE METAVERSE HAS BECOME A PLACE WHERE ONE CAN GET KILLED
(SNOW CRASH).

H starts hacking the scroll that was supposed to kill him.

He creates an anti virus program. And an invisible avatar.


CHAP. 49 (355)

They encounter pirates.

They blow up the pirate yacht and board it -- find a Filipino boy to serve as
a guide.


CHAP. 50 (365)


YT and Raven talk about Aleutian politics --- Russian Orthos found him when
he was sick and cleaned him up. Now he leads a clean lifestyle.


CHAP. 51 (369)

H, Vic and Eliot approach the Raft.

Raft gargoyles -- have antennas. Can talk to each other.

They are attacked.

Power supply crashes. Everyone dies except H. He goes with the boy onto the
RAFT. The boy is one of them.


CHAP. 52 (376)

RAVEN SURFS. THE WORLD IS FULL OF THINGS MORE POWERFUL THAN US. BUT IF YOU
KNOW HOW TO CATCH A RIDE, YOU CAN GO PLACES.

He’s surfing on the Orthos.

In a few hours, the Raft is going to come apart and everyone is going to land
in California. War against America.

YT goes to another part of the Raft. She sees that THE RAFT, THE FEDS, L.
BOB RIFE AND REV. WAYNE ARE ALL CONNECTED.

There are a look of Rife’s programmers and telecom people.

She had drugged Raven.


CHAP. 53 (384)

H’s guide is named Tranny.

H finds the antennas are permanently grafted into the base of the skull.

Hard-wired into the brain.

Tranny takes him home.

CHAP. 54 (389)

YT tries to get into contact with H.


CHAP. 55 (390)

H goes to Mr. Ng. Uncle Enzo is there as well. Enzo gives him 25 mil which
he is to split with YT.


CHAP. 56 (394)

H says he is looking for a piece of software. IT WAS WRITTEN 25,000 YEARS
AGO BY ENKI, A NEUROLINGUISTIC HACKER. CAPABLE OF PROGRAMMING PEOPLE’S MINDS
WITH VERBAL STREAMS OF DATA KNOWN AS NAM-SHUBS.

SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE RIGHT WORDS CAN GO PAST YOUR DEFENSES INTO YOUR
BRAINSTEM HAVING TOTAL CONTROL OF YOU.

THIS LANGUAGE IS ALSO THE LANGUAGE OF ‘ME,’ LITTLE PROGRAMS FOR ORGANIZING A
SOCIETY -- EVERYTHING FROM PLANTING TO WAR.

THESE PROGRAMS WERE KEPT IN A TEMPLE (DATA BASE FOR ME) RUN BY A PRIEST, AN
‘EN.’ WHEN PEOPLE WANTED TO DO ANYTHING, THEY WOULD GO TO THE TEMPLE AND
DOWNLOAD THE ME TO GET THE TASK DONE.

CENTRALIZATION WAS NECESSARY BECAUSE THE APPLICATION OF THE ME HAD TO BE
TIMED. THIS IS WHY ASTRONOMY WAS SO IMPORTANT.

ENZO ASKS HOW SOCIETY CAME TO BE:

H SAYS: ANY INFORMATION SYSTEM OF SUFFICIENT COMPLEXITY WILL BECOME INFECTED
WITH VIRUSES GENERATED FROM WITHIN ITSELF. THIS IS THE RESULT OF A METAVIRUS.

AT SOME POINT, THIS METAVIRUS INFECTED THE HUMAN RACE CREATING A WHOLE SET OF
DNA VIRUSES, E.G. SMALLPOX AND FLU.

THE FALL = STATE OF HEALTH TO DISEASE.

A VIRUS IS SIMPLY A SELF-REPLICATING ENTITY.

SO THERE ARE GOOD VIRUSES AS WELL AS BAD ONES.

THE GOOD VIRUSES ARE THE ME THAT HELPED A SOCIETY TO SURVIVE. A CULTURE IS
THE HOST FOR THESE SELF-REPLICATING BITS OF INFORMATION.

THE SUMERIAN WORD FOR WISDOM IS EAR. HUMANS WERE EARS WITH BODIES ATTACHED.
PASSIVE RECEIVERS OF INFORMATION.

397: ENKI WAS DIFFERENT. HE WAS A HACKER. HE COULD WRITE NEW ME. HENCE, HE
BECAME THE FIRST ‘MODERN MAN.’ FIRST FULLY CONSCIOUS HUMAN BEING.

398: ENKI CREATED THE NAM-SHUB OD ENKI -- A COUNTERVIRUS TO SPREAD ALONG THE
SAME ROUTES AS THE ME AND METAVIRUS.

IT WENT INTO THE DEEP STRUCTURES OF THE BRAIN AND REPROGRAMMED THEM SO NO ONE
COULD UNDERSTAND THE SUMERIAN LANG.

WE BEGAN TO DEVELOP OTHER LANGS THAT HAD NOTHING IN COMMON WITH ONE ANOTHER.

THE OLD ME DID NOT WORK. NEW ONES COULD NOT BE DEVELOPED. HENCE, PEOPLE HAD
TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES OR DIE.


THE NAM-SHUB OF ENKI WAS HE BEGINNINGS OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS. HUMANS BEGAN
TO THINK ABOUT RELIGIOUS QUESTIONS RATIONALLY.

GOD WAS NOT A GIVEN. GOD HAD TO BE SEARCHED FOR.

THE N-S MOVED US FROM OUR MATERIALISTIC WORLD TO A DUALISTIC WORLD -- A
BINARY WORLD -- HEAVEN AND EARTH, MIND AND SPIRIT.

399: THE ASHERAH VIRUS IS BOTH BIOLOGICAL AND INFORMATIONAL. LIKE HERPES
SIMPLEX. PASSES THROUGH CELL WALLS AND MESSES WITH DNA (INFORMATION).

MAKES PEOPLE MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO:

•ME
•SPEAK IN TONGUES
•IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOR
•SEXUAL PROMISCUITY
•VIRAL IDEAS

A VIRAL IDEA, LIKE NAZISM, CAN BE STAMPED OUT BECAUSE IT HAS NO BIOLOGICAL
COMPONENT.

BABEL FACTOR. WALLS OF MUTUAL INCOMPREHENSION THAT COMPARTMENTALIZE THE
HUMAN RACE AND STOP THE SPREAD OF VIRUSES.

400: The Hebrews made data a controlled substance.

Jesus Christ’s gospel is a new nam-shub, an attempt to take religion out of
the temple, out of the hands of the priesthood, and into the hands of the
people. Church is no longer centralized.

THE CULT OF ASHERAH LIVES. REV. WAYNE’S CHURCH IS THE CULT OF ASHERAH.
VIRUS SPREAD THROUGH MASS COMMUNICATION.


CHAP. 57 (403)

Lagos saw all this but Bob coopted him.

The biological virus is being spread by vaccinations.

The chaos of the RAFT is only apparent. It is highly organized. People
speak to each other in tongues. One in a hundred has the me that will
control those around him.

He also has a digital virus in binary code that will infect programmers and
hackers via the optic nerve.

Metavirus comes from outer space. Bob picked it up with radio telescopes. In
binary code.

Bob controls the metavirus. It causes computers to crash but it causes
programmers to die.

406: RIFE CAN CONTROL PENTECOSTALS THROUGH THE USE OF ME AND HE CAN CONTROL
PROGRAMMERS BY DESTROYING THEIR BRAINS.

RIFE WANTS TO BE KING OF KINGS.

RIFE’S KEY REALIZATION IS THAT THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MODERN CULTURE
AND SUMERIAN.

WE HAVE A HUGE WORKFORCE WHICH IS ILLITERATE AND DEPENDS ON TV, AN ORAL
TRADITION.

THERE IS A SMALL EXTREMELY LITERATURE POWER ELITE WHO UNDERSTAND THAT
INFORMATION IS POWER AND WHO HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CONTROL SOCIETY.

HE NEEDS TO CONTROL PROGRAMMERS WITHOUT CURBING THEIR CREATIVE POWER. SNOW
CRASH MAY BE A WAY OF INTIMIDATING PROGRAMMERS/HACKERS WITH HIS POWER.

HIRO BELIEVES THE ANTIDOTE TO THE METAVIRUS IS ON THE CLAY TABLET THAT ENKI
LEFT.

•HIRO SAYS THEY NEED TO GET THE TABLET AND USE IT TO DISINFECT ALL THE PEOPLE
ON THE RAFT BEFORE IT BREAKS UP AND THEY COME ASHORE.

•HIRO ASKS NG AND ENZO HELP HIM TO GET TO THE CORE SO HE CAN GET THE TABLET


CHAP. 58 (409)

H meets YT in the Met. She says Raven may kill her.

H is in trouble so he buzzes around the RAFT in his boat.


CHAP. 59 (416)

H’S gun is called REASON.

He is making an assault on the Enterprise itself.

H gets into the carrier.


CHAP. 60 (420)

YT gets caught antenna guy.

She’s transported to the Enterprise.

She’s taken to a chopper.

425: THEY HAVE THE TABLET. JOINED BY BOB RIFE. THE PRESIDENT IS ON BOARD.

H TRIES TO STOP THEM TO GET THE TABLET. THEN HE SEES THEY HAVE YT HOSTAGE.

SHE KICKS IT OUT JUST IN TIME. IT BREAKS.



CHAP. 61 (427)

H is captured by wireheads. But he is saved by Juanita.

J has studied all the me of Enki which Bob has. She can hack the brainstem.

SHE WANTS TO RELEASE THE NAM-SHUB OF ENKI AS WELL. THEY GO OUT AND GATHER UP
THE BROKEN PIECES.

THE LIBRARIAN READS TO NAM-SHUB OUT LOUD.

(Cf. end of JOHNNY M.)

J promises to be his girl if they live.


CHAP. 62 (432)

YT’s chopper is met by another chopper containing Raven.


CHAP. 63 (432)

438: H realizes the Feds have been developing software for RIFE.


CHAP. 64 (438)

H chases Raven’s avatar.

He needs to get Raven.


CHAP. 65 (440)

YT is still on the chopper with Rife. Because they are being jammed, they
need to land and use a pay phone.

YT gets free but is caught again. She calls for help from other Kouriers and
her Rat Thing buddy, Fido, comes too.


CHAP. 66 (445)

H and Raven are chatting as H chases R’s avatar.

Their fathers were both in the same Japanese POW camp and escaped. They were
caught. H’s father was about to be executed when the A bomb went of at
Nagasaki.

H’s father saved them. R’s father was blind. He was nuked again in 1972.
RAVEN HAS BEEN OUT FOR REVENGE. H SAYS ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. RAVEN SAYS NEVER
ENOUGH.


CHAP. 67 (449)

The Kouriers poon YT’s chopper. She jumps out and escapes.

The Kouriers bring Rife’s chopper down. YT blows it up.

Raven’s chopper goes to LAX. Rife is going by car.


CHAP. 68 (454)

H finally disposes of Raven But the virus bomb is still there. H takes care
of it.


CHAP. 69 (458)

Enzo is tracking Rife. He has a skateboard to give to YT.

Enzo and Lee are working together to get Rife.


CHAP. 70 (463)

Enzo is engaged in a fight with Raven.

Rife lands in his chopper.

Enzo gets him with the skateboard.


CHAP. 71 (467)

As Rife is getting away, the RT gets him.

YT goes home with her MOM.