When I was at DARPA, I worked for a spell on CALO, which eventually turned into Siri. The team that was doing the follow on to Siri eventually spun off of SRI as Quato (Kwato?). And I guess they liked me cause they wanted to interview me. During the interview, they pitched their service as "The Primer." Which was kind of funny since the Primer as described by Stephenson was as much a mechanical turk as it was a marvel of technology. I wound up working for Linden Lab instead, but really appreciated some of the people I met at SRI and Quato.

Also ... Hardly a day goes by that I don't think of the Feed / Seed distinction Stephenson talked about. When I look at the digital media ecosystem, it looks as if we're getting the worst aspects of the feed.