Since you mention Neal Stephenson, I feel compelled to add that Cryptonomicon was about the creation of Bitcoin, a decade before someone created Bitcoin. It’s a dense read, but absolutely amazing.

No it wasn’t. It was about a group of people trying to create/design a digital currency, with an open ending that really looks more like “they decided that won’t work anyway”, or even tossing the weapon aside like Luke in Star Wars : RotJ .

I hope you can see the difference.

Neal Stephenson is a really good author in the sense of doing both, describing accurately the thrill of creation and discovery or at least being able to touch that with your mind, and also not allowing that optimism feel something to really transpire. The main characters are optimist, the author and with him the reader are not.