Neuromancer’s Reality: More than Virtual

“Night City was like a deranged experiment in social Darwinism, designed by a bored researcher who kept one thumb permanently on the fast-forward button. “ (7)  This description of the opening setting of William Gibson’s novel , Neuromancer, encompasses the pacing and scope of this hypnotic, but occasionally overwhelming, cyberpunk story.

This novel, which is Gibon’s first (and considered to be his best), projects technology onto humanity in such a way that the two seem to be, and in many cases are, inextricably linked. Gibson’s Night City is the current dwelling-place of Case, his crippled “console cowboy” protagonist, who turns out to be searching for more than just the means to explore “the matrix…bright lattices of logic unfolding across that colorless void” that is cyberspace in the world of Neuromancer.

Case is a junkie in every sense of the word, and since he can no longer get his “fix” from delving into the matrix, thanks to the neurological damage implemented by his vengeful former employers, he gets his fix wherever he can – and it is his dealings with the city’s underground that gains him employment again.

Case is approached by Molly, a “razorgirl” who recruits him to join an operation being overseen by a deranged former Army Colonel and guided by an unseen entity, which instructs them as they assemble the rest of the team, gather their equipment, and begin their journey within both the physical and cyber worlds of Neuromancer’s universe.

To say that Neuromancer is a novel of vision would be an understatement. The depths to which Gibson goes to create a cyber universe that reflects his trepidations about the advance of technology cannot be faulted – his descriptions are detailed but poetic, his settings varied and appropriate, and his pacing of the plot creates ample suspense.  Gibson’s cyberspace is more than a place of information and networking.  Indeed, much of the novel’s most intricate action happens while Case is “jacked in” to the matrix, able to interact virtually with the entity that has compiled their team and which guides their progress. 

It is this action of “jacking in” to the matrix that is both the primary enabler and ultimate undoing of Case and his companions. Case discovers that an AI (artificial intelligence) is tainting and manipulating the information he is receiving, seemingly with an agenda all its own.  This leads to questioning of the team’s entire mission, and indeed the nature of its very creation. This questioning throws into relief the dangers of cyberspace, both for Case and his crew and also for the greater society by which this book was meant to be read. The reliance on something so varying, so intricate, and so manipulatable as cyberspace is portrayed as being dangerous, something to be done only with care and the knowledge that nothing should be assumed or taken for granted.

It is in this suspicion of technology, the subliminal messages about the danger of losing one’s humanity or of becoming too closely dependent on its powers, that readers might be overwhelmed.  Throughout the course of Neuromancer’s action-suspense storyline, characters, locations, conflicts and resolutions are all affected by humanness – characters either rise or fall due to their reliance upon (or dismissal of) their basal human instincts. For example, entire civilizations, corporations and even cyber intelligences are affected by the humanity of Case, which often results in their being found too mechanical and conventional, and therefore conquerable.

The underlying “human is better” theme results in a growing predictability of the plot. Case, being human, can be random, unpredictable, and most definitely selfish, which leads to an interesting, but hardly riveting, showdown with the ultimate AI.  Indeed, this man versus machine face-off has been done before – Gibson succeeds in making it marginally more interesting than others by putting it within the realm of cyberspace, which gives the AI home court advantage.  Still, the struggle between the two characters, though engaging and entertaining, is not ultimately shocking (or even particularly original).

However, it is in the relationship between humans and machines, overall, that Gibson makes his most subtle (and therefore most effective) points. The way in which technology pervades the society in Neuromancer is worth notice. Due to plastic surgery (here termed “cybernetic modifications”), many human characters have enhanced their personal existence with the help of technology.  Take, for instance, the “razorgirl” Molly. Because of her unusual line of work, she has had several modifications performed, including the insertion of retractable blades under her fingernails, the optimization of her reflexes, and the addition of "mirrorshades," which are implanted lenses that improve her vision and provide electronic information as well.  Characters such as Molly inspire the question of the role human identity plays in this novel.

As Claire Sponsler discusses in her article “Cyberpunk and the Dilemmas of Postmodern Narrative: The Example of William Gibson,” “Identity in this world is cast onto the surface of the body, but where the body can be so readily redesigned and customized, conventional notions of individuality and selfhood become meaningless.” (632) Because of the physical mutability of various characters, the question of the basic human identity comes to mind. If it does not look human, or concern itself with basic human needs, or address the needs of others, is it really human? Even Case himself begs this question upon occasion, like when, while “jacked in” to the matrix, he flatlines for several minutes, only to unplug and rejoin “reality.” If he has the ability to be dead but still alive, has he become something other than human?  Where is the line between human life and artificial life?  Is there one? Gibson might argue that there are many, of various shades and intensities of gray, that society flirts with and crosses as it serves and pleases (think of life-support machines or Pacemakers).

The blending of technology and humanity, reality and virtual reality, is what Neuromancer is all about. As Sponsler observes, Gibson has created a “radically mediated world, where no one can trust that the reality he or she encounters is ever really real.” (633) This state of balanced imbalance, and the various stages of characters’ awareness of it, reflects both the awe and fear that technology inspires.  Gibson recognizes the potential technology has to change the world, for both good and ill, and wants readers to see it too. And once one has sorted through the real and imagined, cyberspace and human space, paranoia and foresight, one might very well find that Gibson’s virtual reality is not so farfetched as it first appeared.

References

Gibson, William. Neuromancer. Penguin, New York: 2000.

Sponsler, Claire. “Cyberpunk and the Dilemmas of Postmodern Narrative: The Example of William

Gibson.” Contemporary Literature, Vol. 33, No. 4, (Winter, 1992), pp. 625-644.