Neuromancer: Difference between revisions
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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
Neuromancer is the first novel of the writer William Gibson, and it was published on the July 1, 1984 <ref name=”1”> Sullivan, Mark (2009). Neuromancer Turns 25: What it Got Right, What it got Wrong. Retrieved from www.macworld.com/article/1141500/neuromancer_25.html</ref>. It has sold more than 6 million copies, and in the year after its launch received the three biggest awards in Science Fiction writing: the Nebula, Philip K Dick and Hugo awards <ref name=”2”> Cumming, Ed (2014). William Gibson: the man who saw tomorrow. Retrieved from www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/28/william-gibson-neuromancer-cyberpunk-books</ref>. It defined an aesthetic – Cyberpunk – and left a mark in the tech and digital culture by envisioning the concept of cyberspace and virtual reality, both integrated and being extensions of the physical world <ref name=”3”> DSMLF (2015). Neuromancer: William Gibson’s Virtual Reality Masterpiece. Retrieved from dsmlf.info/neuromancer-william-gibsons-virtual-reality-masterpiece</ref>. Today, we have the World Wide Web, and the explosion of Virtual Reality is finally around the corner (even if it still hasn’t reached the same level has explored in the novel) has reminders of some aspects of the world created by Gibson that crept in into our reality. | Neuromancer is the first novel of the writer William Gibson, and it was published on the July 1, 1984 <ref name=”1”> Sullivan, Mark (2009). Neuromancer Turns 25: What it Got Right, What it got Wrong. Retrieved from www.macworld.com/article/1141500/neuromancer_25.html</ref>. It has sold more than 6 million copies, and in the year after its launch received the three biggest awards in Science Fiction writing: the Nebula, Philip K Dick and Hugo awards <ref name=”2”> Cumming, Ed (2014). William Gibson: the man who saw tomorrow. Retrieved from www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/28/william-gibson-neuromancer-cyberpunk-books</ref>. It defined an aesthetic – Cyberpunk – and left a mark in the tech and digital culture by envisioning the concept of cyberspace and virtual reality, both integrated and being extensions of the physical world <ref name=”3”> DSMLF (2015). Neuromancer: William Gibson’s Virtual Reality Masterpiece. Retrieved from dsmlf.info/neuromancer-william-gibsons-virtual-reality-masterpiece</ref>. Today, we have the World Wide Web, and the explosion of [[Virtual Reality]] is finally around the corner (even if it still hasn’t reached the same level has explored in the novel) has reminders of some aspects of the world created by Gibson that crept in into our reality. | ||
==Influences for the Story== | ==Influences for the Story== | ||
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==Cyberspace, Virtual Realities and the Fusion of Technology with Wetware== | ==Cyberspace, Virtual Realities and the Fusion of Technology with Wetware== | ||
There is no doubt that Neuromancer had a great impact in foreseeing the technologies that would follow its publication, and its level of prescience is still praised; the author’s being named has a prophet of the digital age. Even though there are some technologies that the book foreshadowed, others are still a bit far off <ref name=”1”></ref><ref name=”2”></ref><ref name=”3”></ref>. We may not have reached - in the real-world - the bleak aesthetics of the novel, but there still are intersecting paths between fiction and reality that are eerily similar. | There is no doubt that Neuromancer had a great impact in foreseeing the technologies that would follow its publication, and its level of prescience is still praised; the author’s being named has a prophet of the digital age. Even though there are some technologies that the book foreshadowed, others are still a bit far off <ref name=”1”></ref><ref name=”2”></ref><ref name=”3”></ref>. We may not have reached - in the real-world - the bleak aesthetics of the novel, but there still are intersecting paths between fiction and reality that are eerily similar. | ||
One of those, is the idea of a World Wide Web: a global network of millions of computers. The concept of linking computers to each other already existed when the book launched – universities had already connected various systems of servers through a telecom link – but not on the global scale that the novel described. The concept of the internet as we know it today was still a decade away, and it may just have been a wild speculation at the time. Jack Womack has suggested, in the afterword of the 2000 re-release of the book, that it could have even influenced the way the Web developed by providing a sort of blueprint, a guide, to the developers who read and grew up with the novel <ref name=”1”></ref>. | One of those, is the idea of a World Wide Web: a global network of millions of computers. The concept of linking computers to each other already existed when the book launched – universities had already connected various systems of servers through a telecom link – but not on the global scale that the novel described. The concept of the internet as we know it today was still a decade away, and it may just have been a wild speculation at the time. Jack Womack has suggested, in the afterword of the 2000 re-release of the book, that it could have even influenced the way the Web developed by providing a sort of blueprint, a guide, to the developers who read and grew up with the novel <ref name=”1”></ref>. | ||