PC World looks at technology in Gibson's "Neuromancer", now 25 years old

Mark Sullivan's "Neuromancer at 25: What It Got Right, What It Got Wrong". [via Blog of a Bookslut]

This is about a week old.

* William Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic" aka "Molly Millions" (short story, science fiction)

A criminal gang is out to get a man. Jargon filled, in ghetto settings, & utterly unreadable.

Collected in.

1. David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer (Ed)'s "The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF".
   

Fact sheet.

First published: Omni, May 1981.
Rating: C
Download full text. Downloadable version contains a lot of spelling errors.

Note: Why is this post so short?

William Gibson's "Neuromancer" (novel): A world of cyborgs

I actually dropped this when I was may be one-fifth through - too much jargon, half sentences, & expectations of cultural familiarity with his world.

Even through this part, it is obvious this is a very influential book - going by number of authors that have imitated its plot elements. May be some day I will have courage & patience to return & finish!

Story so far is of a human cyborg, who is a computer hacker, & whose life was wrecked by his employer because he stole something. This was done by biologically changing him in a way that renders him incompetent to do his computer job. Employer apparently was some military organization - but I am not sure.

He is saved from footpath life by someone in position of power - for some job; benefactor also foots the medical bill to fix whatever was wrecked by old employer.

Then there is an AI which actually is controlling the benefactor - to ends that will likely become apparent later in story. Benefactor is also a cyborg.

AI apparently is working for a reclusive long lived family whose members periodically upload themselves to some computer archive - in the tradition of Arthur Clarke's "The City & the Stars" at a smaller scale.

Another major character is a female cyborg who becomes a bodyguard & lover of the wreck.

When reading it, I kept getting reminded of Hollywood movie Terminator.

Cyberspace & Matrix.
This story is often credited with the invention of these terms by the publishers.

As far as I can make out, & am not 100% sure, the meaning of the first term in the book is very different from the meaning we normally associate with it; later, of course, is not a common term at all. Definitions according to this story:

Matrix is what Windows applications refer to as "document", & application programmers refer to as "database".

Cyberspace is the immersive virtual reality interface of software applications; you interact with application via a device that directly plugs into your brain via a kind of head gear. Applications may be networked over wide geographical area. Note that internet already existed & was in widespread use in certain geeky communities when this book was written, though its widespread popularity among ordinary people via WWW was yet to happen. Also note that the term "cyber" has been around a long time - at least since the time of Norbert Weiner's book "Cybernetics".

Fact sheet.
Neuromancer, novel, review
First published: 1984
Rating: C
Winner of Hugo Award 1985 in novel category