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Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age
Anindita Basu
-What is Nell learning? Why those lessons in particular? What is needed
to become an independent thinker? How does one raise a child who thinks
outside of the box without making her life unduly interesting, as Nell's
was. Much of her maturity and intelligence came from learning to deal
with her horrendous upbringing--was that necessary?
-Why does Nell's experience with the Primer turn out the way Finkle-Pearl
had envisioned it whereas things went wrong with the other girls? Did
the other girls receive too many mixed messages in their upbringing? Did
they have too little independence?
-How does one interact with a peculiarly intelligent child? It seems particularly
difficult to provide some sort of direction without squashing their intellect
and rights.
Stephanie K. Dalquist
-Would the primer really be shaped like a book? Is there anything "special"
that the shape/form has come to embody? What would the effect of other
media-related shapes be on the different relationships with the primer?
Can these relationships be directed? Would the be desirable?
-Again, I ask myself, right from the title: Should we or can we get past
the "pink aisle" gender segregation of most toys?? (Following not all
formulated as questions, but struck me as relevant when reading the book)
477 - The conclusion? It's a girl's world again. Girls rule.
343 - The predictability of the primer and other children's texts
294 - The different relatinships with the primers - what makes the difference?
Is it environmental? Does it matter?
291 - The primer as substitute parent for the mouse army - TV in the 90s.
Is truth about her father better than keeping her in ignorance (Santa
Claus and the Tooth Fairy)
264 - Child development: "All children are born with rational faculties,
which want only development." Does this reflect any major theories?
241 - "approach to child behaviour modification"
185 - "made up a story of her own" - how closely do narratives tend to
reflect real life/environments either literally or symbolically (ie Tidy
House)
150 - "As usual, there were lots of kids there and no parents."
135 - Her understanding of what is almost a non-linear narrative (the
back-tracking and focusing) is impressive. Is this realistic? Primer's
reading methodology? How does this idea compare to current ones? Would
the Mouse Army, with the cheaper voice reading instead of a real ractor,
have different relationships with the primer?
110 - A *Girl's World* of adventure. No boys allowed.
82 - When raising your children to be subversive, isn't this just a reversal
of raising them in the "stodgy tradition" of Victorians?
Walter Dan Stiehl
-Will children's culture of the future include the implants mentioned
in this book? Listening to Ray Kurswell it seems like the micromachine
of the future will be common place.
David Spitz
-Are the gender-power struggles portrayed in the Diamond Age, though set
in the future, by now old hat? Do women still need to appropriate dominant
texts? By the end of our discussion of girls game, I wasn't clear whether
the gender-technology gap was still so problematic, given girls' appropriation
of email and chatrooms and traditional "boys" games (the recent folding
of Mirabella magazine has also been heralded as the end of the gender-specific
text).
Hilarie Claire Tomasiewicz
-Though the thought of a future laden with crazy technology is fascinating,
do we really want life to be reduced to fake horses and plastic everything
straight out of the MC? Its really cool how this book brings together
everything we've talked about regarding children's narrative practice,
but i really think it is better think about effecting changes in the present.
It would be great is all little girls who get molested by their mother's
boyfriends and get beat up had a Primer to lose themsleves in while learning
about themsleves and their world, but what can we do to aid children in
this very same predicament today, with ractives a thing of the very distant
future? i really did not like how this book made it seem as if all a hurting
child needs is a magical book to suck away her problems. This will never
ever be the case.
Jeannie R. Ben-Hain
-I havent finished reading the book yet, so my question may not be relevant
by the end. The duke's point in having the primer created was to have
his own grandaughter taught to think differently. How is this affected
by the possibility of ships full of girls being though to think differently?
An entire nation of people with hacker's minds?
Girim Sung
-Do children treat science fiction as fantasy or a futuristic version
of reality?
Char DeCroos
-What an amazing book! Stepenhenson brings up the point that so much goes
into education, in addition to formal teachings. Will we ever be able
to bring the same level of education to those with different backgrouns,
dispositions, etc? It certainly didn't work in the comparisons among Princess
Charlotte, Nell, and Fiona.
Melanie Wong
-This book was great. I enjoyed the multiple story lines. I was wondering
if the Primer ever be a realilty (created in the Media Lab)?
Daniel Huecker
-Stephenson's work could be seen as containing a lot of new media technologies,
but isn't he more fascinated with the objects than their functions? He
will spend pages on the description of the wiring, the technology, the
manufacturing, the insertion in the environment or the body... and then
will cover its use/function in only a few sentences. Stephenson's book
makes me ask the question-- does technology consist of objects or the
things they do?
Adam Smith
-How does Stevenson's choice of having an adult actor perform in the child's
stories affect the stories? Is the adult performing exactly as the child
wishes?
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