21st-century absurdism absurdity action action-adventure action-packed addiction adventure ai alternate-history alternate-reality anarchism anarcho-capitalism anarchy ancient-civilizations ancient-languages ancient-mythology ancient-sumer ancient-sumerian ancient-sumerian-mythology apocalyptic artificial-intelligence augmented-reality avatars black-comedy black-humor brain-computer-interface canada canadian-author canadian-literature capitalism comedy coming-of-age computer-hacking computer-programming computer-virus computer-viruses computers conspiracy conspiracy-theories conspiracy-theory consumerism contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature corporate corporate-control corporate-culture corporate-domination corporate-life corporate-power corporate-world counterculture coupland creativity crime cryptography cult cult-classic cults cultural-critique cyber-terrorism cyberpunk dark-comedy dark-humor digital-age digital-culture douglas douglas-coupland drug-addiction drugs dysfunctional dysfunctional-families dysfunctional-family dystopia dystopian dystopian-future dystopian-society existentialism family family-dynamics fast-paced fiction friendship future future-society future-technology futurism futuristic futuristic-technology gaming geek-culture gen-x generation-x generational-divide gig-economy government government-conspiracy government-control hacker hacker-culture hackers hacking hero heros-journey hiro-protagonist humor humorous identity identity-crisis information-overload information-warfare internet internet-culture japanese-culture jpod language linguistic linguistic-theory linguistic-virus linguistics literary-fiction media memetics metafiction metaphysics metaverse millennial millennial-generation mind-altering mind-altering-drug mind-altering-drugs mind-bending mind-control mystery mythology nanotechnology neal-stephenson near-future nerd-culture nerds neurolinguistic-programming neurolinguistics neuroscience novel office-culture office-life office-politics philosophical philosophy pizza-delivery pop-culture pop-culture-references post-apocalyptic post-cyberpunk postmodern postmodernism programming quirky quirky-characters rebellion religion religious-cults samurai samurai-culture satire satirical science-fiction self-awareness self-discovery self-referential snow-crash social-commentary society subversion subversive surreal surrealism surveillance surveillance-state sword-fighting swordfighting tech-industry techno-thriller technology thriller unconventional underground-society vancouver video-game-industry video-games virtual-reality virtual-world virus workplace workplace-culture workplace-dynamics workplace-humor world-building