Global warming, an issue that to this day is on forefront of many government official’s and citizens minds. Many have heard the common concept of keeping the planet clean in order to provide a better tomorrow for our children and grandchildren. At the rate were going this seems highly unlikely if not greatly improbable. With clean air alerts in china and huge amounts of people running around with masks covering their faces to try and keep healthy, this shows how for the most part were not moving in a positive direction.. When reading Neuromancer by William Gibson, this scary foreshadow of the future kept bringing to light the shape that the planet had become I couldn’t help but realize the parallels to the world, which we live in today.
“the air had gotten worse; it seemed to have teeth tonight, and half the crowd wore filtration masks.” (pg 15)
In the quote above it shocked me to see the similarity of today’s society. There were many times in my childhood when I was listening to the radio or watching television and the newscasters said we were on high alert for the quality of air. Global warming and the breaking down of our planet is a problem weighing heavy on many peoples minds. Gibson in Neuromancer was writing a cautionary tale of what he didn’t want the world to become how scary it is to see that in many ways it already has. While some aspects in the book may be a bit of an exaggeration
“Then a mist closed over the black water and the drifting shoals of waste.” (pg 44)
Our water hasn’t necessarily come to this, but everyday when we do nothing we are getting closer and closer to Gibson’s fictional story. We should have taken this and tried to learn from it, not only from a social aspect but also from an environmental stand point as well. If in the 80’s when the book was released, the whole world stood up and took notice, then who knows the effect it could have had on the planet today. All I know is that many people read Gibson’s book and instead of looking at the many negatives that could be derived from the text, such as the black water and harsh air, instead they looked to the high tech machinery and an easier way of life. If anything we need to take Gibson’s advice now and start reversing the damage created to the planet so that one day we don’t wake up and we really are living in Neuromancer.
I agree with your sentiments about pollution and global warming being a big threat for our future. I felt the same eerie feeling when reading the book that this book may be used as an example of what can happen if we do not ameliorate the current problems. I think that it is easy to say that although some of Gibson's descriptions are fantastical, as is the nature of fiction writing, but I feel that others are not too far off. Actually the quote that you added from page 44 about "black water and the drifting shoals of waste" does not seem to be so fantastical. I believe that our world has some parallels with the one created in _Neuromancer_ and that we should heed his warning or prepare ourselves for a bleak future.
ReplyDeleteI second that. While Gibson's main focus is warning us of technology, I think it's interesting to see how he thinks it'll affect us, like with increased pollution. It seems like he' pointing out that even if you don't care about technology, you SHOULD care because of this. It's scary how well he predicted most of it.
ReplyDeleteNote how the characters in the novel take global degradation for granted, just as they tend to ignore how cheapened human life has become?
ReplyDeleteIt's a constant theme in Cyberpunk lit.