Technology In William Gibson's Neuromancer

In the past six centuries humans have become more reliant on technology to take over the simplistic jobs to create a more efficient and widely connected world. The shift from the age of industry and production to media and information culture has raised the question of what it means to be human. Industrial jobs have been taken over by computers and society looks to humans to fill jobs that are a provision of service. William Gibson’s Neuromancer, is a blueprint of how the human reality in the postindustrial and neoliberal ages is dominated by technology. Overall, the novel shows that humans depend on technology to feel interconnected, human identity is found through the fixation on technology, and that human life revolves around business.
…show more content…

The current world is dominated by computers and advanced technology; it can be seen in almost any setting. If one walks on to a college campus all students will have a computer, a tablet, or some other smart device. In Neuromancer, Gibson describes his futuristic world as a place that people constantly use, wear, think about, and talk about technology in various forms. Gibson uses this fixation on technology to show a interdependence between humans and technology as a way for humans to define and identify themselves. This can be seen through Case’s journey through out the novel, in the beginning he is crippled by technology that damaged his nervous system and then later on he returns to his technology and becomes a console cowboy again (Gibson). Technology serves as the core of Case’s identity; he is the medium and when he finally returns to being the medium he gains the satisfaction and optimism that was missing when he was crippled. This futuristic look on what society could be in Gibson’s time has come true in the postindustrial and neoliberal age, people are defined by what technology they possess, it defines where you stand in society as a symbol of economic and social status. The most identifiable item of this trend is the upgrades on cellphones where each year there is a new generation to the iPhone. People feel the need to buy the newer and better version to shows how cultural savvy they are. This concept demonstrates how technology and identity have a massive interdependency, people buy the newest version, which then leads to an endless cycle buying and updating. Ultimately, identity is in a constant state of change due to the rapid evolution of