The Stephenson Conclusion

Any sufficiently developed idea related to information theory that a writer may have for a story will lead to the Stephenson Conclusion, that is, "Neal Stephenson already wrote it."

I'm reading The Information by James Gleick.  It does not list Stephenson in the index, despite being so far a lengthy, step-by-step rehash of his books.  So I guess that works for nonfiction as well.