5 ms·

He was prophetic but some of the eerie similarities of today's world to Gibson's imagined is that people shaping today were influenced by Gibson.

• jhbadger 11y ago
  Exactly. People wanted to create the world he presented, even though it was clear it wasn't a very nice place even if the technology was cool.
  • api 11y ago
    Interestingly, I recall reading once (forget where) that Gibson didn't see his world as that pessimistic. It was no utopia, but it was also not a radioactive post-WWIII or post-ecological-collapse wasteland. Keep in mind he was writing just after the 70s during the height of the Limits to Growth hysteria and also during the cold war when nuclear armageddon was viewed as a strong possibility. The series also ends on a positive note with what felt to me like a real sense that things could get better.
• stuxnet79 11y ago
  Maybe a relevant read: http://lesswrong.com/lw/k9/the_logical_fallacy_of_generalization_from/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/k9/the_logical_fallacy_of_generaliza... Yudkowsky's post doesn't support your argument, but I think you've identified one weakness of his argument - by being influential fiction can be its own self-fulfilling prophecy.
  • sireat 11y ago
    An example relevant to 2015: we wouldn't have so many hoverboard related startups/projects if not for Back to the future. No matter how aware you are of your fallacies and biases (as Kahneman attests) you are still influenced by them.