Neuromancer is a 1984 science fiction novel by the speculative fiction writer William Gibson. The story takes place in the near future in the cyberpunk setting.  It follows the experience of Henry Case, a “console cowboy” and a computer hacker who is hired for a series of data thefts for his employer called Armitage in compensation for his central nervous system recovered to enable him to access “The Matrix”.  It leads him to discover an extremely advanced artificial intelligence called Wintermute and he later enters cyberspace to remove the software barriers in order to successfully merge Wintermute with another A.I. called Neuromancer. 

 

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futurist setting in which it juxtaposes technology and anti-heroic cyborgic figures.  Person defines the classic cyberpunk characters as “marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body” (Wikipedia).  In cinema, films like Blade Runner (1982) are seen as encapsulating the aesthetic of cyberpunk which centres on the impacts of new technology in interaction with the virtual reality and cyberspace.  

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The word, cyberspace, was first used by Gibson in a short story published in 1982, two years before Neuromancer appeared.  It refers to describe the virtual landscape made up of world information.  It is entered as disembodied consciousness, and becomes the battlefield over the ownership of and access to data, between the corporations and hackers.  Gibson also calls it the Matrix.  “The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games. … Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. … A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding….” (Neuromancer: 51)  It is noted that the fiction had an incredible impact not just on sci-fi fans but also on computer scientists, hackers and academics.

 

Works cited:

Gibson, William. "Neuromancer, (first published: Victor Gollanecz Ltd., London, 1984)." London, Harper Collins Publishers (1995).

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“Cyberpunk.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Mar. 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk.

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Images:

Wikimedia Foundation.  “Neuromancer Cover (First edition).”  Uploaded by Wikimedia Foundation,  by 1 Jun 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer.

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Chapman, Ashley. “Cyberpunk Classic Neuromancer Revisited.” Found, Helios Review, 16 Feb 2016.  wind65.me/2016/02/16/cyberpunk-classic-revisted/.