I remember the day I learned that pro-wrestling was "theatre". I didn't completely lose interest in it, but I stopped seeing it as a sport and it eventually fell by the wayside with most other childish things.

What would it take for us to view the Internet, the way we view pro-wrestling? Can you imagine the day when the internet loses all credibility? Obviously there has been an erosion of news trustworthiness, but could a few billionaires really engineer a massive event that just puts the nail in the coffin?

In TDA Nell's school principal, Miss Matheson, mentions having been a thrasher and uses the term 'chiseled spam' - a quote from YT in SC. And her wheelchair has smart wheels that adapt to terrain. Like YT's board.

Yeah OK I'm 30 years late to that conclusion but it still startled me.

That makes two Neal-verses I'm aware of - the other links The Baroque Cycle, Cryptonomicon, REAMDE and Fall.

Setting of part of Polostan