For @nealstephenson, I'd recommend 'The Diamond Age' (1995) in addition to 'Snow Crash' (1992) -- a vision of how decentralized, interactive, customized education could enlighten billions

That said, I think it's a somewhat denuded public space when literally the only things that function are Amazon delivering your stuff, Zoom staying up, and everything else going to hell.Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is a wonderful book that completely nails where we were going, though it was written back in the 1990s.