Neuromancer is widely known as the defining novel of the “cyberpunk” subgenre (of which I am particularly a fan) – so, regardless of what has happened in science fiction since then, the term “cyberpunk” was specifically applied to this novel as a defining mark. Therefore, disassembling that word should provide some insight into the defining features of the novel.

The claim has been made that Neuromancer celebrates in a way previously unattested to in the annals of SF the existence of mind without body. While I am not wholly convinced of this, I think the secondary readings that we had this week offer a window to a reading that balances on the scales of class the consideration given by the novel to the possibility of thinking without feeling.

Molly's long nails: In class on Monday when we discussed Molly, there was a comment made that long nails in America have this stigma of impracticality, and that Molly's nails are useful. When I thought about her nails, especially in relation to Asian culture, I pictured instead those sharp metal nails (I wish I knew what they were called) that Chinese women used to wear on their fingers.

Probably one of the oddest books I have read...Neuromancer was a swirling melting pot of futuristic visions and stereotypes, having connotations in the area of future politics, the role of women, and the overall predictions for the future world.

Perhaps the most preeminent theme in William Gibson’s Neuromancer is the conflict between body and mind. In the futuristic world presented, those specializing in tasks of the mind are given a special status among the rest of society. These elite are known as “cowboys,” specially trained and skilled individuals who are able to comprehend and even manipulate the workings of cyberspace, essentially a more developed form of the modern internet.

This is just an entry in response to some of the comments made in class today.

It took about two-three chapters, but I realized that I had already read Neuromancer before. I finished the book, and I enjoyed it. Both the first and second readings were enjoyable. But one of the things most enjoyable to me was just like in Starship Troopers, and a number of other great Sci-Fi books, things happen behind the novel that prop it up. Never is it said explicitly in the novel that there was a World War, or some kind of culmination of the cold war. I inferred that from the Screaming Fist incident with Corto that at least some sort of conflict occurred.

One thing I've noticed in many more recent sci-fi and other-genre works detailing near futures of our world is the tendency for some of humanity's most animalistic and basic (as in low) behaviors to become much more widely accepted and popularized. In the Neuromancer, we have the entirety of Night City essentially run on illegal trade of drugs, data, sex, and other blackmarket operations and goods.