In Neuromancer, Gibson shows us the world of the matrix and how the advancing of technology is a dangerous game. The main character, Case, is a former computer hacker, a cyberspace cowboy, who angered the wrong people and had his nervous system damaged by mycotoxins. He is now unable to “jack in,” the term for logging into the matrix (37). He resorts to making deals on the black market. Meeting Molly, however, changes that. She tells Case that her boss (Armitage) wants to fix his nervous system in order for him to complete a job within the matrix. Though neither knows what his job will be. Armitage, former Colonel Corto, informs Case that sacs of mycotoxins have been put in his body and will be removed upon timely completion of his tasks. First, Case and Molly must steal the ROM (read-only memory) of his former mentor, Dixie Flatline. Flatline is tired of being preserved in non-expanding memory and asks to be erased as soon as possible. After traveling from Japan to the United States (the Sprawl), the team enters Istanbul to recruit a “certified psychopath name of Peter Riviera,” a drug addict who can create hallucinations with the use of implants in his brain (51). We find out that Wintermute “is only a part of another, a, shall we say, potential entity,” that is, Neuromancer (120). It was Wintermute who convinced Armitage of his alternate personality. Riviera turns on Case and Molly in the matrix, trying to kill Case, but is run off by the bodyguard of 3Jane, the owner of the technology that is Wintermute and Neuromancer. Something is built into Wintermute, “the compulsion that had driven the thing… to unite with" Neuromancer (269). 3Jane gives up the password to unite the two, creating a greater, stronger, smarter entity. After having the mycotoxin bags removed from his bloodstream, Case destroys Flatline’s ROM (per his request). Case talks to Neuromancer, who has found another AI like himself in another solar system with whom he can communicate. Case finds a new home, new work, and a new girlfriend but never forgets his adventure or Neuromancer.
William Gibson spends much of the novel playing with the idea of humanity. He forces us to look at the characters and ask ourselves what makes someone or something human. There are countless examples of how answering such a conundrum is nearly impossible. For instance, is Case truly human, inside or outside of the matrix? Inside the matrix, he is mentally experiencing things, but he is physically in a lab or private room hooked up to trodes and a computer. Outside the matrix, he, as well as Molly, Riviera, and even Ratz, have as a part of their anatomy some sort of technological advancement. Does this fact mean that they are robots rather than humans? Then, we are introduced to the concept of Dixie Flatline, whose memory is preserved in a ROM. He is incapable of forming new thoughts or memories; he must rely on the information he had when he died in order to communicate with other characters. Is he really dead? Is he still human? He has the ability to request to be destroyed, to be able to move on, into the afterlife, seemingly. That is a very human characteristic, to will, to desire. The concept of the cloning that the Tessier-Ashpools have achieved also questions what it means to be human. 3Jane can think, feel, act; but she is the third clone of Marie-France. She does not have a mother who bore her, but she has genes, thoughts, and a company to run. Lastly, Gibson questions the humanity of such people as Wintermute and Neuromancer. These personalities are not derivatives of actual humans, nor do they have tangible human bodies. Case must be continually reminded that these personalities are “its” not “hes.” This exemplifies Gibson’s opinion about what it means to be human. In this world of technology a distinct line must be drawn between Molly and Case, actual humans, and the projection or memory of humans (such as Wintermute and Dixie).
No comments:
Post a Comment