In William Gibson's novel Neuromancer, he features the postmodern Cyberpunk lifestyle, giving rise to a new genre in science fiction writing. The culture centers around the computer and a form of virtual reality in which the characters live a separate existence. The setting is in the extremely urbanized and deteriorating city of Chiba, where crime and pollution are common place and overwhelming. The cyberspace serves as a logical escape for the inhabitants as their world is an unpleasant place to exist. While Neuromancer is fiction and is supposedly set in the near future, many view it as prophetic as it predicted virtual reality. Prophetic or not, the book brings with it some uncomfortable realities of the urban world that we live in and its future. It is possible that our world may become overrun with pollution and crime and society will need an alternative space which allows for a more humane atmosphere. It is ironic that a more human world could possibly exist due to a computer generated atmosphere and that possibly we will not feel human unless interfaced with the computer. The Japanese setting is appropriate as westerners have always viewed it as a fantasy land and manifestation of our imagination throughout history. Our view of Japan as a spiritual mystical place was upheld until the industrial boom when it became seen as a place of technology beyond the human imagination. For the west, Japan consists of technological mysteries and wonder- an artificial reality. Japan's overpopulation and pollution is a haunting reminder to Americans of what life could become and a further incentive towards virtual reality. In Neuromancer, Case is completely detached from his body, relying on his mind for pleasure through cyberspace. Case, like the other members of this society have no need for physical comfort, as shown by their living quarters, the coffins. The characters live through their minds not their bodies in a simulated environment allowing interaction. The Artificial Intelligence (A1) computer discussed throughout the novel is a computer capable of replicating the functions of the human brain. The computer is able to store information in a person's head, so that when they are deceased the mind can still be accessed via virtual reality appearing as a construct. Case appears concerned when he says: "It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct, replicating a dead man's skills, obsessions, knee-jerk responses...."(77) It is unclear as to whether such a construct posses consciousness, but regardless, the ability to catalogue an individual seems to trivialize birth, death and existence. If one is stored and accessible through a computer, reality is questioned because a person is given an infinite life span and there are no boundaries defining life. In a dream state, it is difficult to determine whether the dreamer is experiencing reality as he is there physically but his mind is not conscious. To avoid this anwserless question, we have defined reality as a living experience, which ends at death. The individual is no longer independent, because as with Simstim one is no longer private as many have access to the mind. It would seem logical then, that reality is no longer needed, people's personalities could be machine synthesized and programmed thus doing away with the individual all together. As evidenced by the Straylight library's description of books as extremely outdated, the world that Neuromancer portrays is one in which technology has forced the book to become obsolete. Computer generated synthetic environments have replaced the virtual reality obtained from reading books and the sensations from experiencing the real world. Because the environment is so altered, inhabitants are no longer to determine what is real and what is not. "The Villa Straylight knows no sky, recorded or otherwise," just as the prostitute that comes to Case's cubicle has had a "neural cutout" which disconnects her mind from her body removing her from reality. The characters are strangers to the natural world and live a hazy existence where nothing is ever as it seems.


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