Techno-geek author Neal Stephenson, who grew up in Ames, fielded questions from a fan-filled auditorium Thursday in the Lee Liu Auditorium of Howe Hall.

Stephenson’s best known techno-science fiction novels include “The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon.”

“In the beginning, I was interested in a career where I could wear anything I wanted,” Stephenson said.

The questions revolved mostly around technology and its effect on his work.

Stephenson commented on the battle between Apple, Linux and Windows. Stephenson said Mac’s OS X has successfully integrated what was once two separate user interfaces: the controls and command interface, and the images and icons interface.

“[The system is about] contrasting styles of interaction with computers through images and icons, as opposed to controls and command,” Stephenson said.

The dominance of the Internet in the lives of Americans commanded a large amount of Stephenson’s time. He said the youths of today simply couldn’t imagine a time without it.

The large amounts of misinformation on the Internet lead Stephenson to believe making his novels available online could jeopardize their credibility.

“Wikipedia is just wrong enough for you to think that it is right,” Stephenson said.

The final questions were about his writing processes. Stephenson said he now writes with a pen and paper, which he said “produced better quality manuscripts,” and that his work ethic is not to “write for eight hours a day.”

“With a word processor, I found I could come up with a half-baked idea and get it down quickly, but it would still be half baked,” Stephenson said.