Science Fiction Novel: The Neuromancer, By William Gibson William Gibson's The Neuromancer is particularly important for the relationship it depicts between science and society. The novel, published in 1984, is prescient in the fact that it portrays a world in which the most powerful proponents of technology are not the governments, but rather corporate entities driven by conventional notions of greed and self-serving hegemony (which are the same impetuses for most governments, interestingly enough). Yet there is a degree of relevance in this aspect of the novel that reverberates in contemporary society, particularly in light of today's economic crisis and illustrations of socio-economic abuse by corporations such as Enron. Quite simply, the degree of autonomy and influence that corporations are able to exact today are not possible without government intervention and aid. In Gibson's novel this process is alluded to the point of extremity, with corporations directly in control of the...
The effectiveness of the military (which represents the government due to the fact that it is its belligerent arm) is contrasted with that of corporate power by the fact that in the service of the military, Corto was significantly less potent than he is in the service of corporations -- specifically the Tessier-Ashpool SA, which has created two of the most dominant artificial intelligences in the novel. As a military employee, Corto is severely injured and witnesses the death of his entire cadre. In the employment of Wintermute, however, Armitage is able to operate above the auspices of the government and access resources and technology to cure men of diseases (such as that which plagues Henry Case) and to pull off sophisticated technological espionage that significantly impact…
SCIENCE FICTION & FEMINISM Sci-Fi & Feminism Origins & Evolution of Science Fiction As with most things including literature, science fiction has progressed and changed a lot over the years. Many works of science fiction were simply rough copies and following the altready-established patterns of prior authors. However, there has always been authors and creators that push the envelope and forge new questions and storylines that have not been realized or conceptualized before.
Science fiction frequently portrays a dystopian reality to demonstrate the faults and failings in human nature or in human societies. Technology becomes an extension of human nature, enabling people to abuse or exploit. In William Gibson's novel Neuromancer, the author offers a bleak portrayal of the ways human beings use technology. Humans interface with technology in a way that obliterates their ability to relate to one another or experience emotions
Utopias Explored: THE TIME MACHINE and BLADE RUNNER Science Fiction and Film Utopian Societies Explored The Ancient Greek work for "no place," utopia has come down to modern readers as something to be the ideal -- the Eden. The actual word comes from the Greek 'ou -- not' and 'topos -- place,' and was coined in the modern sense by the title of a 1516 book written by Sir Thomas Moore. More's Utopia
William Gibson Born in 1948 in South Carolina, William Gibson was to become one of the most prolific representative of science fiction and an exponent of what is to referred to as the cyberpunk genre in science fiction. Even if he did not actually defined the termed (it has been used previously, see below), William Gibson became the most recognized writer of cyberpunk and he created and defined the term
Masculinism in Science Fiction Science fiction has always been a masculine genre, no matter that Mary Shelley invented it in her novel Frankenstein. Until fairly recent times, most science fiction writers were men, and they dealt with subjects like technology, power, space battles, featuring male heroes, explorers and adventurers. In film, science fiction has been a perfect subject for ultra-masculine actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, although Lieutenant Ripley in the Alien trilogy
697). Rutherford goes on to submit that Graham's narrative is more about the city within a city (cyberspace), in "all its forms and functions," than it is about the utopian of "dystopian visions of technology" that some authors have alluded to. As for Graham's book, in the Introduction he explains that he has put together a book with a myriad of inputs from scholars in several technology-related fields; and, in
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