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Transcendence and Technology in Neuromancer
"Where do we go from here?" Case asks near the conclusion of William Gibson's novel Neuromancer (259). One answer suggested throughout most of the narrative is nowhere. True, geographically we are whisked around the urban centers of Earth in the near future, Chiba City, the Sprawl, Istanbul, and then to the orbital pleasure domes and corporate stronghold of Freeside and Straylight. The kind of movement to which I am referring is not overtly physical, though. Neuromancer articulates a motion inward, its attention focused upon subtle interiors; it is implosive rather than expansive, choosing to examine how technology affects the universe of self, individual consciousness, rather than the universe at large (Csicsery 188).
Every human character in the novel remains psychologically static, wired into a predetermined behavior pattern, a seemingly inescapable identity. Human characters seem unaware or incapable of forming or reforming an individual, provisional, less than absolute notion of self. Wintermute, an Artificial Intelligence, a computer, however, acknowledges and attempts to transcend itself. The boundaries between humanity and the machines it produces are blurred. Old paradigms of self, of identity seem obsolete. The character who possesses the greatest capacity for change in the novel is a machine. This is neither an indictment of humanity nor an endorsement of technology. Instead, the novel remains steadfastly ambivalent toward what Gibson himself calls "the very mixed blessings of technology" (Interview 274).
The novel asks us to consider the issue of individual identity apart from physical human existence, within a techn...
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...e UP, 1992. 263-285.
Grant, Glenn. "Transcendence Through Detournement in William Gibson's Neuromancer." Science Fiction Studies. 17 (1990). 41-49.
Hollinger, Veronica. "Cybernetic Deconstruction." Storming the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992.
Jameson, Frederick. "Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of
Late Capitalism" New Left Review. 146 (July-August 1984) Rpt in Storming the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992.
McCaffrey, Larry. Introduction: Desert of the Real. Storming the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992. 1-16.
Porush, David. "Frothing in the Synaptic Bath." Storming the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992.
Slusser, George. "Literary MTV." Storming the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992.
Levine, Robert S., ed. Martin R. Delaney: A Documentary Reader. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
Although the concept of identity is recurrent in our daily lives, it has interpreted in various ways.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a representation of the new prospect of upward mobility in colonial America during the 18th century and the development of the Age of Reason, which assisted in the conception of the idea of the “American Dream”; a dream that includes fundamentally social ideals such as democracy, equality, and material prosperity. Furthermore, Franklin’s autobiography exemplifies a significant shift in focus from religion to enlightenment and reason. Additionally, there were forces specific to Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia, that played an important role in his perspectives and the changes that occurred within colonial America during the 18th century.
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts January 17, 1706. Benjamin Franklin was one of a ton of children. His father's name was Josiah Franklin. He made soap to take care of his family. Benjamin Franklin’s mother’s name was Abiah Folger, she was Josiah's second wife in his life. Josiah was a father and caretaker of 17 children. Benjamin Franklin lived in a large and poor family.
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston Massachusetts. He was one of seventeen other brothers and sisters. His father, Josiah Franklin, who emigrated from Oxfordshire, England, worked as a soap boiler and tallow chandler. Benjamin’s mother, Abiah Folger, was from Nantucket but her family derived from England as well.
Rush, Benjamin. Medical Inquiries and Observations, upon the Diseases of the Mind. Diss. Philadelphia: Kimber and Richardson, 1812. Print.
In City of Bits, from which the above quotation was taken, William Mitchell outlines a digitally integrated future which we need only optimistically anticipate. He goes on to discuss the possibility, or perhaps inevitability, of cyborg citizens where digital and electronic devices will extend and enhance human perception, efficiency and overall convenience. However, what is noticeably downplayed in the above quotation is reference to the citizen component of this technological symbiosis. Beyond the nebulous assertion that it will be "you" who will be wearing or carrying these devices, the only element that approximates the notion of a human within this mass of interconnected gadgetry is Mitchell's concept of the "bodynet". But rather than implying that the human body is at the center of a network of technology, this term appropriates a human characteristic and applies it to an inert collection of digital devices. What Mitchell inadvertently alludes to is the fact that as our cybernetic components begin to communicate with each other, our biological half is increasingly relegated to the periphery of this communication, and by extension, of this new cybernetic existence. If technology is to play the pivotal role outlined in City of Bits, the most important development to come out of the notion of the cyborg citizen may well be the drowning out of the human voice under the increasingly boisterous voice of technology. Although Mitchell's concept of the cyborg citizen may be some years away, the groundwork for the removal of human language has already been laid. Not only does technology circumvent human language through intra-technological communication, it also devalues it as humans become more dependent on technologically mediated language transmission. The telephone, the television, and most recently the Internet and digital technologies deconstruct and then reconstitute human content at reception sites.
...e. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernatics, Literature and Informatics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Donna Haraway’s 1984 “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an enduring essay unceasingly analyzed, critiqued, and adored by scholars and students. The piece, in which Haraway uses the cyborg as a metaphor to scrutinize hegemonic problems and refuse the binary, claims that “the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion.” In other words, like the cyborg who cannot distinguish whether it is a machine or an organism, in society there is no difference between male and female; rich and poor; black and white. There is only gray, and there are countless shades of it. “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an influential essay that has been relevant to the past and is still relevant to the present. Hence, it is no surprise that it has inspired
"Of two things you can be certain; death and taxes," quoted Benjamin Franklin. Having a humorous outlook on life, Franklin tried to make others' lives better. Benjamin was a man who served others and tried to make the world its best until his death. Benjamin Franklin had many accomplishments. He had a busy and eventful life, he played a major role in defending his country, and he was known for his quotes. Franklin was always working to make something better.
Heath, Joseph, and Andrew Potter. The Rebel Sell: Why the culture can’t be jammed. Toronto: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.
In his 1971 paper “Personal Identity”, Derek Parfit posits that it is possible and indeed desirable to free important questions from presuppositions about personal identity without losing all that matter. In working out how to do so, Parfit comes to the conclusion that “the question of identity has no importance” (Parfit, 1971, p. 4.2:3). In this essay, I will attempt to show that Parfit’s thesis is a valid one, with positive implications for human behaviour. The first section of the essay will examine the thesis in further detail, and the second will assess how Parfit’s claims fare in the face of criticism. Problems of personal identity generally involve questions about what makes one the person one is and what it takes for the same person to exist at separate times (Olson, 2010).
Indispensable to understanding the complexity of the problem of technology, in both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and William Gibson's Neuromancer, is the historical context in which the two were written. Whereas Frankenstein was written in a period of dramatic change - that of the Industrial revolution, in Neuromancer, Gibson echoes the opinion of economists who believe that we are currently experiencing the beginning of a profound economic revolution, due to the breakthroughs in information and communication technology, and which some believe is equal in magnitude to the industrial revolution. The second leitmotif of my research is that of nature in reference to technology. Here I describe the relation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to technology and some of the crucial issues co...
What is personal identity? This question has been asked and debated by philosophers for centuries. The problem of personal identity is determining what conditions and qualities are necessary and sufficient for a person to exist as the same being at one time as another. Some think personal identity is physical, taking a materialistic perspective believing that bodily continuity or physicality is what makes a person a person with the view that even mental things are caused by some kind of physical occurrence. Others take a more idealist approach with the belief that mental continuity is the sole factor in establishing personal identity holding that physical things are just reflections of the mind. One more perspective on personal identity and the one I will attempt to explain and defend in this paper is that personal identity requires both physical and psychological continuity; my argument is as follows:
“With the exception of alphabets and number systems, the Net may well be the single most powerful mind-altering technology that has ever come into general use. At the very least, it’s the most powerful that has come along since the book”