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> I reread Neuromancer recently and it was surreal reading all the refs in it to The Matrix. literally Given how time goes, I'd say it was the other way around with the references.
yes, one would think so go read Neuromancer. then come back here. I'll wait :-)
So I really like this book and reread it every other year. High octane fun that tickles my programmer's fancy. I like really well made books, so the edition I have is the Easton Press https://www.eastonpress.com/signed-editions/william-gibson-n... , from Ebay although mine is unsigned. There is an a Suntup Editions version that is to drool over https://suntup.press/neuromancer , especially the Numbered Editions. Comp…
High quality?! No way, the best way to read Neuromancer is a shitty, beaten up, half-ripped copy you bought from a used bookstore a decade ago.
What came after cyberpunk? Did anyone find a convincing way out?
But there's no convincing way out. In reality the system wins and eats everything, and your only choice is the end in ice or fire.
I’m constantly amazed at how Metaverse aficionados quote Snow Crash and and other 1990s works as cornerstones of cyberspace, when Gibson invented the term and Neuromancer was written in 1984. Gibson is the original. The passage where Case connects to the matrix (also a Gibson term) again for the first time once his nervous system is repaired is heartbreakingly beautiful. I relate to it as a young phone phreak growing…
I couldn't even finish Snow Crash. The fact the protagonist's name was "Hiro Protagonist" is a good example of the intellectual tone of the novel. Every character reminded me of Poochy from The Simpsons, an over-written "edgy" anti-hero, as compelling as an episode of Saved By The Bell. Neuromancer on the other hand I still think about, and I haven't read it in a decade.
I’m constantly amazed at how Metaverse aficionados quote Snow Crash and and other 1990s works as cornerstones of cyberspace, when Gibson invented the term and Neuromancer was written in 1984. Gibson is the original. The passage where Case connects to the matrix (also a Gibson term) again for the first time once his nervous system is repaired is heartbreakingly beautiful. I relate to it as a young phone phreak growing…
By the time I read either book I'd been on the 90s internet for years, and I couldn't recognize it at all in Neuromancer, but I could see it turning into something like Snow Crash. Neuromancer aged faster because the technology evolved very differently (like the 3D real-world-but-never-popular interface in Jurassic Park, for that matter). So the metaverse people are pitching looks more like Snow Crash's "avatars inte…
This has some impact on predictive power too. One reason people tried to build the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is that - more or less, you actually could imagine building that. My friend's daughter talks to the AI, and is learning to read stuff on a glowing screen that knows her name. She doesn't have an abusive step-father, and so fortunately her glowing screen won't need to teach her martial arts for people who are smaller and less powerful than their opponent, and about the importance of running away when there's no way to win. And hopefully her mother will remain a loving physical presence in her life. But the general thrust of the idea in the Primer makes sense, even if we aren't close to "really" building the Primer, ideas from Gibson don't make so much sense.
I’m constantly amazed at how Metaverse aficionados quote Snow Crash and and other 1990s works as cornerstones of cyberspace, when Gibson invented the term and Neuromancer was written in 1984. Gibson is the original. The passage where Case connects to the matrix (also a Gibson term) again for the first time once his nervous system is repaired is heartbreakingly beautiful. I relate to it as a young phone phreak growing…
That last line must be the best one in the whole book. It has remained with me for years. Thank you for sharing this.
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I found Snow Crash to be really childish, and not even in the same league as Neuromancer . I read Neuromancer originally in 1984 and again a few years ago, and for me it still holds up. It's not the greatest book or anything, and I found Count Zero to be much better, but apart from those two books I've yet to read anything else cyberpunkish that comes even remotely close. Before someone mentions Greg Egan or Vernor V…
Snow Crash is childish, that's why it's more successful. Snow Crash is built around an airport novel style narrative. Neuromancer has a far more literary tone, and is trickier to digest. That's the entire reason Snow Crash is cited. Airport novel readership is far more widespread.
I found Neuromancer and and Count Zero eminently forgettable. I never read Snow Crash, so I can't really speak to it though I've read a half dozen of Neal Stephenson's other novels, all of which I found rich with ideas. While I appreciate the literary style, I honestly can't remember the plot of either Neuromancer or Count Zero.
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Gibson has a cameo in Wild Palms . PAIGE: This is William Gibson, Harry. HARRY: Oh, yeah... Neuromancer , right? PAIGE: He invented the word "cyberspace." GIBSON: And they'll never let me forget it.
Wow. Wild Palms .... I don't hear that one mentioned often (or ever). Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's seen this weird, obscure, flawed gem of a series.
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By the time I read either book I'd been on the 90s internet for years, and I couldn't recognize it at all in Neuromancer, but I could see it turning into something like Snow Crash. Neuromancer aged faster because the technology evolved very differently (like the 3D real-world-but-never-popular interface in Jurassic Park, for that matter). So the metaverse people are pitching looks more like Snow Crash's "avatars inte…
A crucial difference is that Gibson hasn't the faintest idea about the actual technology - he wrote the early stuff on a typewriter - whereas Stephenson has a least a rudimentary understanding. For lots of readers this doesn't make any difference, but if you actually have some idea what's going on Gibson's approach interferes with the immersion more than Stephenson's. This has some impact on predictive power too. One…