Snow Crash and the neuroscience of viral language
Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi novel “Snow Crash” has gained new popularity for predicting the “Metaverse”.
However, the way it predicted how technology will enable language to gain more control over us — like a virus — is perhaps even more profound.
While “going viral” didn’t exist in 1992, we use it all the time now. But what if I tell you there’s more to the term than you might think?
In his bestseller “A Thousand Brains”, neuro-scientist Jeff Hawkins dedicates a few pages to the concept of viral information.
These are pieces of information which inherently promote self-replication. Take religion for example: If you don’t replicate it, you’ll often get some sort of punishment, think Hell or Jahannam.
In particular, Hawkins argues that we store our perception of the world as models. They predict what we are likely to see, hear feel or think next. However, this also means that we never know “true reality”, only the most seamless model we have available.
This makes us susceptible to false beliefs, as long as they fit into our current perception.
January 6, 2021 is proof enough for how ideas can influence and change the “reality” of large groups of people.
“Ideology is a virus” — Snow Crash
So in some sense, it’s about ideas that become self-sovereign and try to populate. In fact, viral spread and language are so similar that researchers even used machine learning algorithms for language to model mutation.
Therefore, when something “goes viral”, it really can take control of us, similar to how a virus can keep you in bed all day.
While ideas like Christianity or Marxism have been around for some time, the viral spread of information has been increased drastically by the internet and social media, simply because of the availability.
Stephenson takes it one step further and imagines that these “viruses” physically alter our brains and change the way we interact with the world.
There’s some truth here, too. You might have heard of neuroplasticity. It refers to the ability of the brain to change structurally according to environmental influences, learning, etc.
Interestingly, researchers have discovered that the brain areas which are activated when we perceive information can differ from person to person.
It’s a sort-of co-dependence: What you consume shapes your brain, vice versa the structure of you brain determines how information is consumed in the future.
While “Snow Crash” remains science-fiction, the use of viral language as a way to influence groups of people not only seems possible today, but probable.
