Debate [able] William Gibson, the future, Neuromancer

On Friday October 22nd we watched Mark Neale's documentary called: William Gibson, No Maps for these Territories. It is now on reserve at the Saint Olaf library. In this documentary Gibson talks about the observations that influenced him to write his novel Neuromancer. Neuromancer is important to Mass Media because --among many other things-it presented the coined term "cyberspace" and a description of a futuristic society where electronic technology had dismantled reality...

Our debate will take on Wednesday, November the third. This date will provide of ample time to cover the necessary materials. You will have to either listen to or read William Gibson's Neuromancer and to become familiar with it in terms of research and scholarly commentary as much as possible. Here is a link to a site that offers both the audio book version of the novel read by the author and an on line full text of it. The referred site is not an official --or formal-source of information so it may not be available in a near future.

Please start by reading the following article (available through the moodle server)

Cyberpunk and the Dilemmas of Postmodern Narrative: The Example of William Gibson  by Claire Sponsler Contemporary Literature Vol. 33, No. 4 (Winter, 1992), pp. 625-644. Published by: University of Wisconsin Press.

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1208645

Then read/listen to the book, and finally make sure you DO watch the video which I made available at the Rolvaag Library. It is under course reserve for Media160a and you may check it out for up to four hours to watch it.

Once you have covered the material in its entirety you are expected to provide a question for debate using the "comment" section on this blog. Your question is due on the midnight of Monday November first. The debate/conversation/discussion will revolve around those questions plus others that may derive from them.

Any other question regarding this task please send it via email to [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Michelle Wheeler]

Gibson comments that he found it "spooky" that he could access monetary funds from a bank in another city through an ATM machine. When do we draw the line between progressive convenience and regressive use of technology? Another example- why invest in a fancy new Segway scooter when you could just walk? Walking is healthier and free, yet the Segway has an eerie appeal to consumers because it's the hot new thing (at least it was a few years ago).

[Guido Alvarez]

Check out the posting I placed on my Facebook wall regarding the scooter.

[Hugh Kenety]

Gibson commented that he often experienced what is called "Information overload" is this information overload syndrome anything new? have we become in essence become enslaved or addicted to the distraction of information all around that we as individuals can not learn or make decisions as effectively?

[Massey]

In Neuromancer, Gibson spends a lot of time describing objects, mainly humans. Is it possible for humanity to completely go as far as it does in Neuromancer for aesthetics? Or will there be enough of a counter culture for natural looks to prevent it from becoming the norm?

[Julie Fergus]

According to Sponsler in Cyberpunk and the Dilemmas of Postmodern Narrative: The Example of William Gibson, "The Sprawl, Night City, Chiba, Freeside, and every other zone though differentiated by name and geographic place, all ultimately blend together in a panculture that has by and large effaced all local or ethnic differences" (629). Gibson also addresses this idea in the film we watched in class when he states that it is hard to find individuals today that have not been influenced by the media. How is this media influence affecting modern culture--are we moving towards one day becoming a totally uniform species (akin to robots who lack personality and uniqueness)?

[Konomi Takemoto]

Sponsler talks about how much our society is influenced by media and that there is no reality we experience in life that we can trust. In such society, there is not limitations on who we are, thus unanle to create ourself as mirror. If it is true that our mediated society is confusing and erasing our identity, then human become machines without any unique characteristics to them in our future society?

[Akoenig54]

In the book Case has an operation making it so that he does not feel the high that comes from amphetamine or cocaine. Armitage does this so that Case isn't distracted or handicapped by the use of these substances. If an operation with these results was relatively low risk in today's world should it be mandated to all of the population? Is it right to use this operation to protect the public from addiction or does this constitute an overuse of government control? Say it was voluntary... would you do it?

[Juanferyr]

It is interesting to me how the documentary: No maps for These Territories, presents different views on the current life we experience, in which the interaction with technology is taken as a given and not as a choice. Taken in to consideration the very personal experience with the “low life” world and the hippie movement, the main character of this film, has been capable to create a whole social movement that bases communication in virtual interaction.

The so called “cyberspace” has gained such a level of importance in our society, that nowadays everything is based in this imaginary-virtual-world. I find it very controversial that the iconic representation of the cyberpunk counter culture: William Gibson stated that term cyberspace is evocative and essentially meaningless. Bearing in mind the rebel-punk approach on life, does Gibson means that we live in a fabricated non-sense reality that bases it’s existence on the sake of it?

[Amy Mund]

Thinking about Gibson's books and movies such as Bicentennial Man, The Matrix and Inception, we are moving toward a world with no base for reality where humans and machines become almost indistinguishable. Will all of these forward looking fictional works help us retain our humanity and reality because we know where we could end up or are they preparing us for the inevitable future?

[Alora Killian]

In the novel, Case and other characters tend to chase after drugs and other stimulants (such as jacking into cyberspace), while ignoring their bodies. Some characters even show suicidal and self-harmful tendencies. There are also AI's, 'meat-puppets' who are detached from their bodies, and cryogenically frozen characters. In this parallel universe, constraints of the human body are of no concern.

Because of the alternate realities and options for extremely long lives, does this mean only consciousness is necessary to exist? What does this mean for the human body?

[Katie Caffrey]

In "Cyberpunk" The protagonists are antiheros set in a world where there is no meaning, no security, no communal bonds and no affection. As Sponsler writes, "Cyberpunk is in many ways quintessentially postmodern" (627). Do you agree with this assessment? Are the plot and agency shaped in a way that matches the postmodern ideology? Is Cyberpunk more of a success or a failure over all? Is the story a possibility for our future?

[Claire Scott]

The physical merge with computers is mentioned in numerous works of science fiction such as Neuromancer, The Matrix, and Feed. Reflect upon the idea of humans having a computer system integrated into their brain. How is it portrayed in literature (dangerous, convenient, normal, destructive...)? What defines having a "human" brain? Do you think that we are truly moving towards a mental connection to the internet? If such a thing were possible, would you personally go through with it?

[Kaiya Hoyer-Leitzel]

In the movie William Gibson commented on how the internet has become the place we look for everything. If the internet/technology ever did crash, would the younger generations, who have always had the internet existing in their lives, know how to function without it, especially since the internet and technology have become an extension of the human nervous system, according to Gibson?

[Kabao Xiong]

In No Maps for these Territories, I noticed that the setting (interview in a car)contributes to the point he's trying to make about providing a feeling that transcends space. He's having an interview in a car which is traveling somewhere unknown, yet his physical self is not moving at all. You can see the places changing quickly but he's always stationary inside the vehicle. It also enforces the statements the article makes about Gibson's SF on how people can experience something without (physically moving) going anywhere. So my question is, how do you perceive the ways in which Gibson utilizes his setting to address or reinforce his theme/plot/point about technology.