[Author’s note: I have to confess I had to go back and reread Neuromancer and review some notes on the book for this review. The style of the novel is so esoteric and convoluted that it is equal parts sci-fi novel, stream of consciousness, fever dream, and future speculations all rolled together into a storyline that is barely coherent. Yet for all its difficulties it draws the reader into the complex relationships and into the action. Yet it also has something deep to say about the human condition and its relationship to technology. Perhaps this is the reason why it was the first book to win the Nebula, the Hugo, and the Phillip K Dick awards all in the same year. As always spoilers from here after so stop reading now if you don’t want to know.]
I read Neuromancer in college after finishing a paperback book for a boardgame called ShadowRun. The game and subsequent book dealt with a fascinating dystopian world in the near future that was equal parts science fiction, fantasy, and grim corporate dominated future. I found the premise so fascinating that I wanted to learn more, particularly about the cyberpunk aspect, After doing some research I discovered Neuromancer.
The 1970s and 1980s were exciting decades for those on the leading edge of the computer revolution. The power of computing was being released from the hands of research universities, governments, and large corporations and being delivered into the hands of independent computer scientists and enthusiasts. These young computer mavericks were a new generation not tied into the conventional sense of research and who had a radically different mindset with regards to life.
The Author, William Gibson, was himself deeply enmeshed in late 60s counter-culture. He left the US to avoid the Vietnam war and became deeply involved in the drug scene, punk music, and alternative politics and this becomes apparent in his novels that mainly deal with a protagonist beset by a repressive government or corporate structure that strives to dominate everything and everyone. The protagonist’s only way to deal with this is in his own unconventional response born from a new way of thinking sometimes inspired by drug use and sometimes inspired by exposure to the internet.
Neuromancer begins in a near future dominated by giant multinational corporations that act more like feudal kingdoms than companies. These companies use armies of hackers and cybernetically enhanced hitmen to execute their agendas and sidestep the law. Elected governments barely register as entities and if they do appear, they appear as lackeys to the corporations.
In this alternate reality humans are able to log into a more advanced version of the internet known as the Matrix. They do this by using PC desktop-like devices known as a cyber decks which allow the user to directly plug their brains to the Matrix and experience the Cyberworld in their minds.
The protagonist of the novel is Henry Case. Henry is a former hacker that was caught double-crossing his former employer, a large multinational conglomerate. As a punishment for this the employer exposes Henry to a fungus based toxin that damages his nervous system and makes it impossible for him to log into the Matrix anymore.
Henry is living on the streets in Japan looking for a back alley doctor who can reverse the neural damage to his brain. In the meantime he takes low-level menial jobs and does drugs to escape his continuous depression.
Henry is lying in the gutter when Molly Millions appears and picks him up. Molly is a “street samurai”, a cybernetically enhanced mercenary. She is working for Armitage, an ex military officer, looking for a hacker to do a special hack. In exchange for this Armitage promises Henry the surgery to restore his shattered mind. Having no viable options Henry accepts.
The surgery goes as planned but Armitage has the surgeon tamper with Henry’s liver and pancreas to keep him from enjoying drugs. In addition some poison sacks have been installed in his body. If Henry fails or tries to double-cross Armitage the sacks will explode and cripple Henry again.
Now fully secured against betraying Armitage, Henry’s first task is to steal a hard drive containing a human personality.
In this future, people can have their memories, personalities, and everything about them digitally encoded and stored online. Even if their bodies die they can continue on as virtual citizens living online. In this case the personality is Dixie Flatline, Henry’s hacking mentor. Dixie is being held captive on a hard drive disconnected from the Matrix inside an office building.
Using a distraction, Henry and Molly enter the office building and steal the hard drive with Dixie’s personality. Armitage is pleased with the operation and promises more to come. In the meantime, Molly and Henry use their street and cyber connections to find out more about Armitage.
They learn that Armitage’s real name is Colonel Willis Corto. He was part of a military team that attempted to raid a Soviet computer base (Operation screaming fist). The raid went disastrously wrong and Armitage was the only survivor. Corto was left crippled in a military hospital facing a court-martial and shortly after that he went mad and disappeared into the underworld and re-emerged as Armitage. Armitage himself is working for someone higher up that won’t reveal himself yet.
The group travels to Turkey and recruits another member for the team. Peter Riviera is a performance artist with cybernetic implants that allow him to project holographs around himself. Armitage admits that Peter is mentally unbalanced but they need him to carry out the next step of the plan.
It is revealed that they are after a sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) named WinterMute. Unlike Dixie, WinterMute is a machine intellect, a machine designed to think like a human. In this case however the company that owns WinterMute has imposed an artificial limit on WinterMute’s processing power. The company, Teshier-Ashpool, has divided WinterMute’s personality in two. They fear that if the two halves are combined that they will become unmanageable so they have divided the AI into two parts and have installed cyber locks to control the AI. One part of the AI is on a space station (WinterMute) and the other half is in Brazil (Neuromancer). The aim of the operation is to allow both halves of WinterMute to freely merge together.
The team learns that it is WinterMute itself that has put together the operation. WinterMute contacted Corto in the hospital and drove him mad creating the Armitage personality in order to recruit all the team members necessary for the operation. It is also hinted that WinterMute may have had something to do with the failure of Screaming Fist but it is never made clear.
Henry is tasked with hacking the Brazil installation from inside the Matrix while Peter will use his holographic skills to seduce the CEO of the company, Lady3Jane, on the space station into revealing and speaking a key password into a computer terminal that will unlock the cyber locks.
The team arrives in the space station. Armitage is becoming mentally unstable and tries to wreck the mission. WinterMute controls the space station and ejects him out an airlock. The team continues on but Peter betrays them to the Lady3Jane. Henry and Molly confront Lady3Jane and explain what they are going to do. Peter attacks them but is stopped by Lady3Jane’s bodyguard. Lady3Jane has become convinced that their plan must be allowed to continue and speaks the password.
Henry enters the matrix to carry out his part of the mission. Although he has Lady3Jane’s approval he still has to deal with the black ICE. Black ICE is a hacker culture term for deadly intruder countermeasures. The Black ICE could fry Henry’s brain if he’s not careful. With Dixie’s help he successfully penetrates the security and frees Neuromancer. WinterMute and Neuromancer merge together.
At the same time the poison sacks inside of Henry are neutralized. WinterMute pays Henry and Molly for their efforts and helps Dixie to erase his own personality.
In the epilogue Henry is again working as a freelance hacker and gets a cryptic contact from WinterMute. WinterMute has discovered a similar AI transmitting messages from another solar system. As WinterMute leaves, Henry hears a ghostly laugh something like that of Dixie’s laugh suggesting that maybe Dixie isn’t truly dead but has merged with WinterMute.
Many of the themes discussed in Neuromancer are now cropping up in our own world. Let’s start with Artificial Intelligence which is still the holy grail of computer research but this book asked several questions regarding that topic including whether it was such a good idea after all. Would we want an AI to act without some sort of restraint?
This also ties in to the concept of convergence; the idea that humans are becoming more machine-like and machines are becoming more human-like. Where exactly does the distinction lie and what happens when humans or machines cross over into the other’s realm?
The Matrix and Cyberspace which most people today would call the World Wide Web which wasn’t in existence back in ’82. But the similarities are more than startling. The ideas of bulletin boards, working and getting paid instantly online, being able to contact someone online. All of this was new back then but is pretty standard now.
Cyber decks don’t of course exist but researchers have begun trying to decode the electrical signals of the brain and have transmitted simple messages using headsets. Something that my one day lead to experiencing the internet through the mind instead of a monitor or virtual reality helmet.
Other things aren’t so positive. The havoc which hackers can cause for example. Another example is black ICE which unfortunately is now being researched by security companies intent on keeping websites secure.
The comparisons to real life are imperfect of course but one can see much of the novel in our daily lives already. The questions are how much more of the novel will come true in our lives and how much of it do we want to come true in our lives?
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