The opening chapter takes on a whole different meaning when you consider it as a heavily embellished self-narrative by a guy who lives in a storage unit and doesn't really have a career and doesn't have any prospects, delivering pizzas for a massive chain in difficult to navigate suburban sprawl and how he fucks up his job while sticking his neck out for his employer. He's driving a noisy, used and abused, yet tricked out, vehicle in risky situations, and they give him the cheapest, lamest weapon they can to defend himself, seemingly some kind of taser that charges in the cigarette lighter. So he feels more comfortable and empowered carrying swords. He calls himself The Deliverator, a member of an elite order; this is him telling himself "I am somebody".

The opening chapter isn't necessarily about all the high tech things of this dystopian future. It's the grandiose story a normal, struggling guy tells himself to feel more important and cooler than he actually is. Everyone considers themselves to be the hero protagonist of their own story, and Hiro (assuming that's his real name and not the name he's given his persona he created to deal with his station in life) is no exception.

There's definitely some near-future sci-fi technology/situations in the story such as Reason, the ratthings, Ng's deal, most of YT's accoutrements, the nuclear warhead sidecar. But even today, things like the metaverse, the Librarian and Earth, are increasingly becoming more mundane than futuristic. But they'll get described with more flourish and flowery language than is actually warranted.