Body, Mind, and Technology in Neuromancer and The Sparrow

Introduction: The Body as a Central Concern

Change the body, and you change the nature of human existence. Change the body's means of sustenance, and you change the delicate balance that exists within a particular society. These are the two scenarios presented in the science fiction novels Neuromancer by William Gibson and The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Both novels underline the importance of the physical state of individual bodies in shaping society. A body can be surgically altered with computer technology, or a body's nutrition and reproductive rate can affect the ability of another populace to survive. Gibson presents a vision of the world where the body is rendered unimportant, while Russell suggests that the delicate cultural, ecological, and political balance of a sustainable economy on another planet underlines the importance of the body in maintaining a livable world. Both books, however, share the central thesis that modern humanity denies the effects of the body upon the mind and society at its peril.

The Disembodied Self in Neuromancer

The 1984 novel Neuromancer by William Gibson seems unusually prophetic in its treatment of many of the issues that grip the modern, Internet-obsessed world, particularly in its depiction of the relationship between body, mind, and identity. Gibson's protagonist, the hacker Case, uses his computer skills to make an illegal living. Case enjoys his work because it essentially allows him to feel disassociated from his body — from his "meat," his base physical essence (Gibson, 1984, p. 3). In Gibson's future world, people are so disconnected from their bodies that they make use of "simstim" decks, existing in virtual reality machines designed to simulate stimuli rather than to experience real life (Brians, 2005). A true product of his society, Case does not feel as though he truly exists outside of the computer world.

However, Case has been subject to a terrible fate. He is deprived of access to his favored matrix of computers after he fences some of the goods he steals on behalf of his employers, violating his agreement with them. In retaliation, his employers use a Russian mycotoxin to destroy his computer talent — a poison that acts upon Case's physical essence, eliminates his ability to enter the matrix, and deprives him of his livelihood.

This punishment suggests that the body under the influence of technology functions like a machine — specifically, a computer warehouse of data — that can be altered by an outsider's physical control. But unlike a computer, Case can feel genuine regret at his loss. He becomes severely and emotionally depressed after losing the rush of being immersed in his computer world. Case is physically addicted because he is still human, yet to regain the feeling that he has transcended all his physical needs, he must re-enter the computer matrix. Case's body outside of the matrix is something "which he treats as almost an alien entity with which he is not on friendly terms" — a kind of entrapment of his mind, of use only to fuse with in cyberspace, "no more significant in itself than the case of a computer CPU" (Brians, 2005).

Virtual Reality, Addiction, and Physical Dependence

After knowing what it is like to live outside of bodily constraints in the matrix, Case can never feel entirely comfortable in his body's natural state again. Rather, he feels as if he is missing something whenever he is outside the world of computers: "It's like my body's developed some massive drug deficiency," he says, describing the two long years he has been deprived of the pleasure of the matrix (Gibson, 1984, p. 3).

Much as The Sparrow inveighs against external interference and influence, in Neuromancer the influence of computers means that the living body becomes more dependent upon outside and artificial control to survive. Case is tormented by the loss of his endorphin rush when he exists as just an ordinary body and mind in reality (Brians, 2005). The intoxicating ability to manipulate the body through scientific means is underlined throughout the text: memories are created by attacking and attaching technology directly to the body, such as dermatrodes that fasten to the skin and allow the user to experience virtual reality. The naked, ordinary body is, in this model, unimportant. What matters is the person's perception — how the person experiences reality. Much as on the Internet, the impressions and images on the screen are more important to the user in virtual space than the physical appearance of the person in real life.

Later, when Case encounters Molly's body in a virtual vision, he observes: "Case stared, his mouth open. But it wasn't Molly; it was Molly as Riviera imagined her. The breasts were wrong" (Gibson, 1984, p. 135). The mind can change the flesh with the force of human desire, through the use of computers. In the novel, this is not simply true in terms of created images but also surgically — Molly's tear ducts are rerouted, and, less fancifully, Japanese women undergo surgery to make their eyes appear more Western. The characters freely use heroin, a drug that alters the mind by affecting the body. Change the body with technology, and you change the mind's need for a rush — body and mind are interconnected, and the future human is constantly subject to physical interference.

Conclusion: The Dangers of Denying the Body

Ultimately, both novels argue that the body cannot be dismissed, transcended, or interfered with without profound and often destructive consequences — for the individual, for society, and for the world at large.

Brians, Paul. "Study Guide for William Gibson's Neuromancer (1984)." 29 Aug. 2005. Department of English, Washington State University. [5 Jun. 2006].

Gevers, Nick. "Of Prayers and Predators: Mary Doria Russell Interviewed." Infinity Plus Non-Fiction. 1999. [5 Jun. 2006]. http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intmdr.htm

Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York: Ace Hardcover, 20th Anniversary Edition, 2000.

Russell, Mary Doria. The Sparrow. New York: Bantam, 1997.