I did like the book but I also thought they solved huge problems in a single short chapter with minimal detail.
In one chapter it’s mentioned that one of the characters is working on some open source social media. A few chapters later it becomes the dominant social media in the world… oh and also payment method… Oh and blockchain…
Being a big fan of Lemmy, I think the book is a bit optimistic.
I thought that it wasn’t handwaved away so much as discussed as being developed by a particularly skilled group as part of promoting a populist freedom oriented crypto, and funded internationally over years by the Ministry but as a minor project that blew up due to network effects kicking.
In that respect I thought it was realistic and while background to the main plot and characters, included as one of the better solutions that together all add up. I didn’t mind it as reference rather than story, but thought “that would be an interesting story in its own right” and since KSR is not a software dweeb and typically doesn’t go there, I would rather read a version by Stross or N. Stephenson.
The Three Body Problem also had a habit of coming up with really interesting concepts, which could have themselves been entire books, then dropping them after a chapter or two.
For example the device that could make anyone truly believe anything. They never got too techy about how it worked but after a chapter or two you really felt like you had explored some implications of such a technology on society.
I guess it’s a bit much to ask a book about climate disaster to provide detailed insight into what the future may hold for Lemmy.