Picks and Shovels

I've been a fan of Cory Doctorow when Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom pulled my attention with its colorful spine and name as a teen. That was in 2005/2006, when "You" were the Time Person of the Year, and web 2.0 was ramping up. I thought Down and Out matched that optimism, especially with the whuffles and the social credit thing, and the fact the ebook was free and downloadable for anyone, and there was a network of people who would do audiobook recordings for free -- but maybe that was the rose-colored lens from the times. When I reread it as an adult in the post covid-times when the promise of the internet was long broken, the story felt different. Especially since Doctorow is the guy who invented the word "enshittification", which is the story of practically every website now. And he's as dismayed in the mire of living during the second Trump admin as everyone else is.

Still, there's an optimism that's prevalent in this and the other Martin Hench stories, and maybe it's more to keep the story engaging, but the guy makes really cool friends easily. One day, he meets Artie, near the dumpster at MIT and they become long-time roomies. Art is also a genius programmer who is part of a society of like-minded computer-heads in late 1970's Cambridge, Ma. Later on, Pat, the girl he meets at a punk show in early 80's San Fransisco also happens to be a genius programmer with two $35K in computers. His passions feel rewarding, and he gets to unlock the more exciting perks of being in the hobby and community so much easily. Basically Martin is the Hunter S Thompson who codes in the morning with his Macintosh keyboard, has burritos with his bestie in the afternoon, and moshes at the Dead Kennedys show at night. And then of course, the next day is about teaming up and taking down evil venture capitalists.

Right after I finished "Picks and Shovels", I started "Process" by Matthew Seiji Burns, which is another story right now about a coding protagonist. (I'm only 70% done with it) but it's about the same world, except replace 1980's San Francisco with modern-day Seattle. Lucas Adderson, is constantly staring at the computer, staring inside himself, staring into the night, staring into old memories trying to understand what went wrong, actually losing or being ignored by the computer-coding genius friends. When he makes new connections, they're extremely shallow and one-sided. It reflects the reality of the internet now, where everyone is atomized. You get a follow from someone, not because they want to know more about you, but because they're selling something and the fake-connection is how it's done.

Not that "Picks and Shovels" doesn't have its villains too, but they're usually just either irredeemably awful venture capitalists or homophobes. Telegraphed as a waste of time by the time the story wraps up.

Perhaps it's a generational or a mindset thing, or just a story-pacing thing that makes these two stories have such different flavors. The idea that knowledge and fulfillment and connections are that close -- you just need the heart mixed in with passion -- the really cool 3D-printer hobbyist to do drugs and spiritual fulfillment with is already on the way with 2-day shipping -- is pure cat-nip to me, but it's not reality.