How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
So Miri hung out with farther-away friends. Jin's parents were shrinks in the Provincial Medical Care Group in Hainan. Jin didn't speak very good English, but then Miri's Mandarin was worse. Actually, language wasn't a problem. They'd get together on his beach or hers—depending on which side of the world was daylight or had the nicest weather—and chatter away in Goodenuf English, the air around them filled with translation guesstimates and picture substitutions. (10.4)
First, let's note that the end of this quote really connects community to "Communication" and to "Technology": Miri is able to be friends with a kid in China because their computers are able to help translate for them. But we're putting this here as a reminder that, in the future, distance is not a barrier to community or friendship. You can meet to chat with friends all over the world.
Quote #5
"The glue?" Tommie looked faintly embarrassed. "It doesn't exist yet. But it's almost been invented." Tommie had broached the concept on an ornamental gardening forum, crossed that with some VCs. The Ornamental Shrub Society of Japan was even now working with some Argentine biologists to create the final form of the aerosol. (15.106)
Just as Miri can be friends with people around the world, so Tommie can use the internet to get answers from a distributed network of people. The Ornamental Shrub Society and the Argentine biologists might not come up with the aerosol glue on their own, but if you get these two communities to start talking to each other—forming some sort of super-community—then things can really happen.
Quote #6
Finally he got a window that promised "public local reality only." Yeah. Only two hundred thousand of them for this part of San Diego County. He chose at random. Outside the car, the North County hillsides were swept clean of the subdivisions. The road had only three lanes and the cars were out of the 1960s. He noticed the tag on the windshield of his car (now a Ford Falcon): San Diego Historical Society. (15.202)
Okay, so maybe only sometimes the Tokyo-based Ornamental Shrub Society and the Argentine biologists can work together. More often, it seems like we get the situation Robert sees here: there are lots of niche communities, like the Pratchett fans or the San Diego Historical Society. But these separate communities aren't interacting with each other and Robert has to choose between them. And it's hard to choose between 200,000 separate communities.