Neal Stephenson Rewrites History

Wired is running An Interview with Neal Stephenson “the dark prince of hacker fiction.”

In the context of the 1600s, Stephenson examines the nature of money, the interdependency of Europe, and the consequences of transformative scientific advances. The writing schedule is ambitious, too: The first book, Quicksilver, is out this month, and the next two will follow at six-month intervals. Stephenson took the time to tell Wired why, if you’re a hacker, the 17th century was the place to be.