Economist/podcaster Tyler Cowen has a great long interview with Seattle author Neal Stephenson about freedom, technology, dystopias, and his new novel Fall; or Dodge in Hell. Here he is on the surveillance state and the idea of freedom:

Freedom is a funny word. It’s a hard thing to talk about because to a degree, if this kind of thing cuts down, let’s say, on random crime, then it’s going to make people effectively freer. Especially if you’re a woman or someone who is vulnerable to being the victim of random crime, and some kind of surveillance system renders that less likely to happen, then, effectively, you’ve been granted a freedom that you didn’t have before.

It's a really playful conversation that veers into some incredibly dark places, which makes it a perfect example of what it's like to talk to Neal Stephenson.