# Mother Earth Mother Board by Neal Stephenson

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Mother Earth Mother Board by Neal Stephenson and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend this long Wired essay on undersea cables as a classic and very good read. One reader notes its part on telecom companies building cables is dated.

## Why people recommend it

- Classic essay by Stephenson (2 comments): "Neal Stephenson's classic Mother Earth Mother Board article" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46435653)) "Stephenson's piece is a classic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846867))
- Very good long read (3 comments): "sprawling (and very very good) essay by Neal Stephenson get into the topic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48923624)) "A Neal Stephenson long read about undersea cables. So good!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47844418)) "Thanks, I loved this article, time to re-read it again!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47845010))
- Interesting for undersea cable readers (3 comments): "if the thought of undersea cables sounds at all interesting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46435928)) "A Neal Stephenson long read about undersea cables. So good!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47844418)) "If you care at all about this, you'll love" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50092845))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Programming as Theory Building by Peter Naur](https://hackerapproved.com/p/programming-as-theory-building.md): 32 recommend
- [Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ur-fascism.md): 18 recommend
- [Politics and the English Language by George Orwell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/politics-and-the-english-language.md): 14 recommend
- [Right to Read by Richard Stallman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/right-to-read.md): 12 recommend
- [Meditations on Moloch by Scott Alexander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/meditations-on-moloch.md): 11 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Mother Earth Mother Board by Neal Stephenson", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mother-earth-mother-board/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).