In his book, Neuromancer, William Gibson introduces the reader a dystopian world dominated by technology. Case – the protagonist – is an ex-cyberspace thief. He jacks into cyberspace with a custom deck that “project[s] his disembodied consciousness into the consensual hallucination that [is] the matrix” (5). Taking a piece of the pie for himself after a job, Case was punished by his employers who had his nervous system damaged with a mycotoxin. In Chiba City, Molly – a hustling bodyguard – approaches Case with an opportunity to repair his nerves. Her boss, Armitage, offers to pay for the procedure in exchange for his hacking services. Armitage recruits Peter Riviera, a perverse, “certified psychopath” who specializes in holographic illusions, and continues to keep his team in obscurity with regard to his plans (51). Wintermute, an artificial intelligence created by the Tessier-Ashpool family corporation, unexpectedly contacts Case and in his search for answers he finds a link between the AI and his boss. Wintermute took over Colonel Corto – the lone survivor of a scandalous military operation that led to his mental breakdown – during his recovery and replaced him with Armitage’s personality. After infiltrating the Tessier-Ashpool residence, the “human equivalent” of a “nest” called Villa Straylight, Armitage begins to regress back to his true identity of Corto and Wintermute subsequently kills him (165). Wintermute has ordered Case to work with the Dixie Flatline – the ROM construct of Case’s legendary hacking instructor – to crack the dense code of another AI, Neuromancer, developed by the Tessier-Ashpools. Case realizes that Wintermute’s ultimate ambition is to fuse with Neuromancer into a super AI. Plans go awry in Villa Straylight: Riviera betrays his team, Molly is injured, Case is almost killed, and Lady 3Jane – the current Tessier-Ashpool leader – nearly foils the entire scheme. However, Wintermute achieves his goal and revisits Case explaining that it is the matrix, “the sum total of the works, the whole show,” and that there are other entities like it in outer space (269).
I was particularly interested by the conflict between the increasing autonomy of technology and the rising reliance of humans on that technology. Wintermute, a complex bundle of code, manages to formulate and execute an intricate plan for merging with Neuromancer. He relies on people in the real world to carry out certain actions but nonetheless has an inordinate capacity for independence. By intruding in on Corto’s weak mental state and superimposing Armitage, Wintermute basically obtained a human body for itself. In spite of lacking an understanding of personality, the AI can almost seamlessly function among and interact with other humans. To me, Wintermute appears almost omnipotent, with limitless financial resources, the ability to invade other electronics and even the minds of others through the matrix. Despite being a completely digital construct, Wintermute and reality have much more overlap than I expected. Case, on the other hand, represents a helpless pawn in both the real and digital worlds. He lives for “the bodiless exultation of cyber-space,” viewing that body as nothing more than meat. The damage to his nerves forced Case into “the prison of his own flesh” (6). He rarely feels raw emotion outside of the matrix, “his distanceless home, his country” (52). Case lives on drug-induced highs, Yeheuan cigarettes and black market business. Even after having his abilities restored, Case learns from Armitage that he has sacs of toxin embedded in his system; he is biologically blackmailed into meeting Wintermute’s demands. Case’s addiction to technology reminds me of how people engage with the digital world now. Different individuals – gamers on World of Warcraft, students on Facebook, children on Neopets – form dependencies to digital media, rather than incorporating them as health habits in a balanced lifestyle. Rather than primarily using technology as a tool to empower themselves or make their lives easier, people in today’s world have lost a degree of autonomy to the digital world, much like Case did to Wintermute. The irony, both in Neuromancer and life these days, lies in the fact that technological innovation, a human-initiated project, could lead to the demise of humans themselves. I think Neuromancer offers an important token of wisdom about how, moving forward, innovators must consider how technology can not only help but hurt us as well.
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