https://web.archive.org/web/20120319135605/http://www.worldp...
The idea being sci-fi feeds scientific discovery, but recent sci-fi had stopped doing this, so it was an attempt to address this.
To me this view is extremely american, contemporary and unproven, having emerged just in the last few decades and already running into serious issues with its viability as a mechanism for wide spread long term positive change.
It's not that I mind someone exploring this model, or portraying it in fiction. I think it's a backdrop for some genuinely interesting and dynamic conflicts, as demonstrated by the book itself.
My issue is that this system has been taking on an almost religion-like character in some groups, and stephenson seems to be a true believer. Again not necessarily a mortal sin, but it leaves him with some blind spots that are frustrating as a reader and as someone who is also, on a good day, an optimist about technology and the future.
The belief doesn't arrange itself along a left-right scale. It's mostly a self-serving belief held by wealthy upper-middle class professionals who insist that the WeWorks and Ubers (that they work for or invest in) are where these magical people will come from. It's the material philosophy of people who have never missed a meal unless they were on a diet.