Just Finished "The Diamond Age"

[wandering_nomad]

After about a month and a half of on-and-off reading (which is extremely slow for me, but I found it hard to get into.)

Spoileryness ensues

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Thought #!: We are so totally forming our own New Atlantis Clave after the governments collapse, right?

Thought #2: I loved how Bud was killed off in the first few chapters, seemed to be Neal's way of saying that the rough and tumble street types won't be the heroes like they were in Snow Crash.

Thought #3: I still don't understand exactly what The Seed does. The explanation in there didn't make much sense to me.

Thought #4: I don't know where the real-life component to the Mouse Army materialized out of. I know that they were the girls who Dr. X had taken into his care and had hired Hackworth to make Primers for, that much is obvious. But what i don't get is how they all knew who Nell was, and why they made her their leader. I suppose part of it was them recognizing the symbol that Nell had painted on Madam Ping's building (Which Hackworth said at some point was a symbol for the Primer.). But I've been rolling this over in my head in the hour and a half since I've finished it and it still isn't coming out right for me.

Thought #5: I didn't pick up on the references that Miss Matheson dropped about her being Y.T. from Snow Crash. And I actually had to look it up to make the connection.

Overall thoughts: I'm still not sure what to make of this book. There were some great moments, it was neat seeing how Nell's narrative voice changed as she grew up. I was a bit sad that Bud was killed off, I was beginning to like him (in the same way that I like Jayne from Firefly, someone who's just so dumb, tough, oafish and rebellious that you just can't help but love them.) The character of Hackworth annoyed me at first, but then when he started growing on me after his experience with The Drummers. I also love how this novel was somewhere in between a utopia and a dystopia. The wonders and the dark side of nanotechnology had equal represenation. The Drummers were a very interesting concept.

Those are all of my thoughts for now, if someone could kindly explain #4 to me I would be in your debt.

[Robotguy]

I also just finished reading it, although it was my 3rd time. My thoughts on #4:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I had always assumed that, seeing as Nell's copy of the primer was guided by Miranda as a Drummer, and Fiona's copy was guided by Hackworth as a Drummer, the mouse army's primers were guided by the Drummers as well, making them all connected through the drummer network. Nell was a character in all of their books, and they probably watched her grow up in the primer, all the while seeking her out in reality.

[Prof. George of Chaos]

It's been a while for me, ahhh but it was magnificent.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I also find the idea of the drummers fascinating, and my favourite scene was the theatrical party which they turned up beneath. That use of technology!
Hmmm...As to the Seed, as I understand it electrical power or telephone networks would be a very good analogy. Think of the Feed as mains power. The Matter Compilers wind up looking like microwaves, or VCRs. Certrally produced, controlled, and traceable. Now think about the Seed in terms of having your own generator. The Seed (if I remember right) can rip apart the very firmament and resculpt the atoms and molecules into anything, at only the cost of whatever you rip apart and the energy you take to run it. Like having your own little Source in your house or Zepplin.
In the event of the nation system falling in on itself I'm in, Clavewise.

[Honky-Tonk Dragon]

Just finished it again myself.
This was my second reading, though the first was about seven years, certain elements made more sense this time.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Prof. George has it on the Seed. It is a self-powered matter compiler, an MC and Feed all wrapped in one.

On #4... Robotguy pretty much has it. I don't think the Mouse Armies' primers were linked to the Drummers, at least not initially. The point is made that to keep costs down on those primers, parts that were ractive in the first three primers, would utilize Artificial Intelligence in the Mouse Army version. Since Hackworth was infected with nanosites by Dr. X before he joins the Drummers, I'm assuming the connection began there.
Nell was blessed/cursed with some singular elements in her rearing, which provided her the opportunity to make more out of her time with the primer, than any of the others who had one. The x-factor of an unsheltered early childhood, gave her a unique handle on the subversive element which Lord Finkle-McGraw sought, which seperated her from the other two girls in possession of "top-shelf" primers. And she was of course, the beneficiary of both a top-notch education, and a loving mother figure through the primer, which seperated her from the Mouse Army.
This book was recommended to me initially by the faculty of my first program when I returned to college, "Technology, Cognition, and Education." Those do seem to be some of the major themes of the book. A lot of it brings to mind a discussion a friend of mine had with a couple of those faculty members about the possibility of teaching genius. The professors believed that basically, you can lead a horse to wisdom, but you can't make it think. You can provide children with intellectual tools, some will use them, some won't, and some will tear them apart to see how they work and improve upon them. Genius is an inherent trait that can not be instilled, but only nurtured.
I didn't really agree with that at the time, and still don't. I think that personal nurturing is at least as important in education, as the transference of information. But personal nurturing is a highly unique and slippery thing....

Sorry for the rant. But I think wandering nomad's question #4 really cuts to the heart of the book, and there is good reason that the answer to this question is not directly spelled out. It is in the contemplation of this quandary, that we can uncover some of the true hidden gems of this tale...

[Mr Owl]

Wikipedia has an interesting take on question #4.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

When Hackworth is ordered to create the mass-produced primers, the narrative says that he thinks of a trick he can slip into the design, though we are never told just what this trick is.  It could be that the primers he creates teach the girls to become loyal followers of the girls with the originals.  They may even be networked somehow, since the army is already on the march well before Nell posts her emblem on the side of the tower.

It would be interesting to see how the Mouse Army reacts to Fiona and Elizabeth, though it's possible neither of them progressed far enough to meet the army's counterpart inside the primer.

Mr. Owl