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<\/a><\/p>\nHere is the Prometheus Blog Appreciation of\u00a0Neal Stephenson\u2019s Cryptonomicon<\/em>, the 2013 Prometheus Hall of Fame co-winner for Best Classic Fiction.<\/p>\n By Tom Jackson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n One of Neal Stephenson\u2019s most-memorable novels, Cryptonomicon,\u00a0<\/em>was inspired by developments in cryptography during World War Two.<\/p>\n Published in 1999, Cryptonomicon <\/em>won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award in 2013. Given the novel\u2019s focus on topics such as electronic money and cryptography, it seems prescient in anticipating the current moment\u2019s obsession with cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In an interview<\/strong><\/a> with Reason<\/em> magazine \u00a0Stephenson described Cryptonomicon<\/em> as \u201ca historical S.F. novel about the origins of information technology in the Second World War\u201d and says it also had a lot to do with money.<\/p>\n The book weaves together two plotlines. One narrative is set during the Second World War and includes the efforts of fictional character Lawrence Waterhouse, who helps break Axis codes for the U.S. Navy. Bobby Shaftoe, a U.S. Marine who serves in a secret unit tasked with hiding the fact that the Allies have broken Nazi Germany\u2019s Enigma code, also figures heavily in those sections.<\/p>\n A second major plotline focuses on Randy Waterhouse, Lawrence Waterhouse\u2019s grandson, a computer software expert working for a startup who becomes involved in efforts to create a data haven. He pursues a romantic relationship with Amy Shaftoe, who is Bobby Shaftoe\u2019s granddaughter.<\/p>\n While there are many fictional characters in the book, many real people appear briefly in the text, including Ronald Reagan and Isoroku Yamamoto.<\/p>\n Aside from the interest many libertarians have in cryptography, Cryptonomicon\u00a0<\/em>is interesting to libertarians because it also suggests that a country with elements of political liberty might have advantages during a war over an enemy with an authoritarian mindset.<\/p>\n In the \u201cSkipping\u201d chapter, Goto Dengo, one of the few sympathetic Japanese characters, is aboard a troopship in the Bismarck Sea when he discovers the Americans have invented a new bombing technique for attacking shipping. Instead of the previously ineffective tactic of using high-altitude bombing, the American bombers now come in low when they drop their load, allowing the bombs to skip toward the Japanese ships like flat rocks tossed on the surface of a pond.<\/p>\n Dengo cannot understand the system that would allow for such changes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Americans have invented a totally new bombing tactic in the middle of the war and implemented it flawlessly,\u201d Dengo realizes. \u201cWhat a loss of face it must have been for the officers who had trained their men to bomb from high altitudes. What has become of those men? They must have all killed themselves, or perhaps been thrown into prison.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cYamamoto\u201d chapter describes how American fighter planes intercepted and shot down a bomber carrying Admiral\u00a0Yamamoto. When P-38 Lightning fighter planes suddenly show up, the Japanese pilot tries to take evasive action, the only hope for saving Yamamoto\u2019s life, but is ordered not to: \u201cThe voice of Admiral Ugaki comes through on the radio from the other Betty, right behind Yamamoto\u2019s, ordering Yamamoto\u2019s pilot to stay in formation.\u201d<\/p>\n In some ways, Cryptonomicon\u00a0<\/em>seems like a key transitional work from Stephenson. While all of his previous novels were a normal length for commercial fiction, Cryptonomicon\u2019s<\/em> hardcover print version has 918 pages.<\/p>\n Stephenson clearly must have decided to write the book exactly as he wished, and the result is a novel that has mathematical formulas, and even a passage describing Randy Waterhouse\u2019s struggle to reach the optimum balance between milk and cereal while eating Cap\u2019n Crunch. The result was a particularly vivid experience for the Stephenson faithful, and the author must have liked the results, too, as all of\u00a0his subsequent novels also have been quite long.<\/p>\n Cryptonomicon\u00a0<\/em>concludes with an appendix that Stephenson did not write:\u00a0Solitaire<\/em>, an encryption cipher by Bruce\u00a0Schneier, based upon shuffling a deck of cards, reinforcing an interest in privacy and protection from snooping that would interest many libertarians.<\/p>\n Biographical note: Stephenson also won the Prometheus Award for Best Novel for The System of the World\u00a0<\/em>(in 2005) and Seveneves\u00a0<\/em>(in 2016).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cryptonomicon<\/em>, a 2000 Prometheus Best Novel finalist, was the first former Best Novel finalist that didn\u2019t initially win to be inducted years later (once eligible for consideration) into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n Among Stephenson\u2019s other Best Novel nominees: REAMDE <\/em>(in 2012), Anathem\u00a0<\/em>(in 2009), The Confusion\u00a0<\/em>(in 2005), Quicksilver\u00a0<\/em>(in 2004) and The Diamond Age <\/em>(in 1996).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ABOUT THE LFS AND THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n * Read the\u00a0introductory\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>essay<\/b>\u00a0 about the LFS\u2019 40th\u00a0<\/sup>anniversary retrospective series of Appreciations of past Prometheus Awards winners, with an overview of the awards\u2019 four-decade history.<\/p>\n * Other Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For a full list of winners \u2013 for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the recently updated and enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>on the LFS website.<\/p>\n * Read\u00a0\u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0an essay in the June 2020 issue of the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the modern genre.<\/p>\n * Join us<\/strong>! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards,\u00a0join\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society (LFS), a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans . Here is the Prometheus Blog Appreciation of\u00a0Neal Stephenson\u2019s Cryptonomicon, the 2013 Prometheus Hall of Fame co-winner for Best Classic Fiction. By Tom Jackson One of Neal Stephenson\u2019s most-memorable novels, Cryptonomicon,\u00a0was inspired by developments in cryptography during World War Two. Published in 1999, Cryptonomicon won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award in 2013. Given the … Continue reading Cryptology, privacy, and adaptability: Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, the 2013 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43,2353,160,2204,8],"tags":[1106,1112,1111,1108,351,1107,1104,1110,20,1109,1105],"class_list":["post-3165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-book-reviews","category-hall-of-fame","category-neal-stephenson","category-review","tag-axis-codes","tag-bruce-schneier","tag-capn-crunch","tag-computer-software","tag-cryptonomicon","tag-enigma-code","tag-information-technology","tag-isoroku-yamamoto","tag-neal-stephenson","tag-ronald-reagan","tag-world-war-ii"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-P3","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3165"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9557,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions\/9557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nLibertarian futurists believe culture is as vital as politics (and often more fulfilling, positive and productive in the longer run) in spreading positive visions of the future and achieving universal individual rights and a better world (perhaps eventually, worlds) for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"