Some of Gibson's 80s writing is almost prophecy, like New Rose Hotel >Set in the near future, huge megacorporations control and dominate entire economies. Thei

Some of Gibson's 80s writing is almost prophecy, like New Rose Hotel >Set in the near future, huge megacorporations control and dominate entire economies. Their wealth and competitive advantage reside in the human capital of their employees and the intellectual property they produce. Corporations jealously guard their most valuable employees and go to great expense to keep them safe and happily productive. There is little point in traditional corporate espionage as new products are developed at a lightning pace; there is no time to capitalize on the intelligence acquired from a rival firm, it will be obsolete before it can be used. Companies now hire extraction agents to steal each other's top productive employees.