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Gibson has apologized several times, and notably in the preface to the 25 year anniversary edition of _Neuromancer_, for the utter lack of cell phones. In an e

by kabdib 15y ago

Gibson has apologized several times, and notably in the preface to the 25 year anniversary edition of _Neuromancer_, for the utter lack of cell phones. In an earlier interview he mentioned the scene with Case walking down the length of a row of pay phones, each ringing exactly once as he passes, as one of the first things he wanted to write for the book. I don't remember the last time I saw a row of phones in the U.S.

ZeroGravitas 15y ago
You could have the phones belonging to passers-by ring instead, might even make the scary location tracking stuff more obvious?
- itgoon 15y ago
  Part of the "spookiness" was that he was so easily found. Not so easy in the 80s. Nowadays? Meh.
smosher 15y ago
I think that apology was a mistake. Gibson got it right when he said the future is harder to predict now. I think that covers any 'mistakes' he might have made. If he'd known the future in fact he wouldn't have been able to write such good fiction. When I first read Neuromancer it (obviously) didn't feel dated. I think going back and correcting things would make it bland. At the time the bit with the payphones was eerie, but now if you did that with cellphones and GPS it feels like less of a deus ex machina is messing with me and more the gov't is overstepping again. sigh. Which is really not the right vibe. I don't expect a youth to pick up Neuromancer today and comprehend it, no matter what you do to it. More than anything Gibson writes culture. He once said he writes descriptions, but he's focusing on describing people and subcultures. I think the cultural era which he wrote his first trilogy for has past. The cultural era he wrote the second trilogy for is waving goodbye, but I think it's still very accessible to youth. His following books practically document the very era they were written for, which is a fun consequence of writing science fiction set in the plausible present.
rbanffy 15y ago
It could be redone. The first solution is Case walking by a line or some other linear crowd and, as he walks, the closest cellphone rings, then the next and so on. I wouldn't do cell phones, but Fringe Redverse-like earpieces. Rings, in that scenario, would also feel weird as some other form of warning would be employed. A series of hello's and reactions to dropped lines, as Case turns back and realizes someone really wants to talk to him. Then he would walk up to a kiosk, and buy a discardable phone that would, immediately, ring. I would try to avoid the phone-in-an-envelope scene in Matrix, but someone perplexed could hand him a phone and say "it's for you".

by kabdib 15y ago

ZeroGravitas 15y ago

You could have the phones belonging to passers-by ring instead, might even make the scary location tracking stuff more obvious?

itgoon 15y ago
Part of the "spookiness" was that he was so easily found. Not so easy in the 80s. Nowadays? Meh.

smosher 15y ago

I think that apology was a mistake. Gibson got it right when he said the future is harder to predict now. I think that covers any 'mistakes' he might have made. If he'd known the future in fact he wouldn't have been able to write such good fiction. When I first read Neuromancer it (obviously) didn't feel dated. I think going back and correcting things would make it bland. At the time the bit with the payphones was eerie, but now if you did that with cellphones and GPS it feels like less of a deus ex machina is messing with me and more the gov't is overstepping again. sigh. Which is really not the right vibe. I don't expect a youth to pick up Neuromancer today and comprehend it, no matter what you do to it. More than anything Gibson writes culture. He once said he writes descriptions, but he's focusing on describing people and subcultures. I think the cultural era which he wrote his first trilogy for has past. The cultural era he wrote the second trilogy for is waving goodbye, but I think it's still very accessible to youth. His following books practically document the very era they were written for, which is a fun consequence of writing science fiction set in the plausible present.

rbanffy 15y ago

It could be redone. The first solution is Case walking by a line or some other linear crowd and, as he walks, the closest cellphone rings, then the next and so on. I wouldn't do cell phones, but Fringe Redverse-like earpieces. Rings, in that scenario, would also feel weird as some other form of warning would be employed. A series of hello's and reactions to dropped lines, as Case turns back and realizes someone really wants to talk to him. Then he would walk up to a kiosk, and buy a discardable phone that would, immediately, ring. I would try to avoid the phone-in-an-envelope scene in Matrix, but someone perplexed could hand him a phone and say "it's for you".