Neuromancer provides intriguing insight into the predictions, concerns, and thoughts of a time that is on the cusp of the digital age. Gibson’s book provides a dark vision of the future world, filled with drugs, casual sexual encounters, and an underworld of technological crime. It’s interesting to see that Gibson’s imagined digital crime scene is so tangible and dramatic, linked with drugs and heists and danger (as opposed to today’s most unfortunately common identity theft). While part of this may be simply a way to drive the narrative forward, it may also hint that he and others during this time believed that these various types of crime, despite their differing contexts, would come together in a similar atmosphere.
Another interesting aspect to consider is a historical one. While geopolitical affairs are not at the heart of story, the few conflicts that are mentioned are telling. Armitage was supposedly a part of a conflict involving Russia, reminding us that this novel was written in 1984 during the Reagan administration, which briefly heightened the Cold War.
Technological crime is also depicted as very action-oriented. Case is a sort of cowboy in the digital world, harkening back to a very glamorized portrayal of a man-of-action, often seen in Westerns. While the heroes of these stories were often flawed, they were depicted as “doers”, even if they participated reluctantly. It’s interesting to see Gibson bring in these classic narrative elements, and apply them to a novel that helps establish a new genre of cyber punk.
This hints at the relevancy of the novel, even 30+ years later. Our modern understanding of hacking and cyberspace are very different from how they are portrayed in Neuromancer. But despite this, many of the themes and tropes Gibson fleshes out continue to be explored by modern sci-fi films and novels. A reluctant digitally savvy protagonist is seen in popular movies such as The Matrix. The dangers of artificial intelligence are seen in I, Robot. This last aspect in particular demonstrates some common concerns across generations. Could humanity be threatened by its own creations, similar to how Cronus overthrew his father, and was in turn overthrown by Zeus? What is sentience? What is free will? Can they truly be created? These questions, raised by Gibson, continue to be pondered today.
