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Curious if someone can find a URL for Gibson saying such things. I've never seen Gibson describing Neuromancer as a critique of Reagonomics or having any parti

Curious if someone can find a URL for Gibson saying such things. I've never seen Gibson describing Neuromancer as a critique of Reagonomics or having any particular political agenda. Interested to see it if so! I don't think of Gibson having nearly as much "political" agenda or grounding as some other early "cyberpunk" writer's like Bruce Sterling or Rudy Rucker. (I don't think Gibson himself referred to his work "cyberpunk" or "punk" originally)

NoraCodes 5y ago
Have you read much of Gibson's other work? He's very clear about his attitude towards sci-fi as a way to examine the present day in many of his essays.
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  Yep! Oh for sure, as a way to examine the present! Just his political commitments or agenda, if any, aren't as obvious as some peers. i'm curious for places he's revealed them in interviews!
kemayo 5y ago
I did a cursory search, and there's certainly "What I tried to do was give people a future that is the world of the Reagan ’80s carried five steps forward and the volume turned up 20 clicks" in an article[1] from 1994. [1]: https://ew.com/article/1994/08/26/william-gibson-first-man-cyberspace/ https://ew.com/article/1994/08/26/william-gibson-first-man-c...
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  This sounds very hand-wavy, and I wish Gibson was more explicit in drawing the connections. Slums and the dominance of megacorps and the ultra-rich I understand, but what do cyberspace and AI's (two of Neuromancer's more original and iconic themes) have to do with Reagan? Nothing, from what I can tell.
  - jrochkind1 5y ago
    Based on other stuff I've read him say, I feel like he might actually indeed be implying that things like slums and the dominance of megacorps and the ultra-rich are to him more central/significant themes/aspects of Neuromancer than AI's or cyberspace! Or at least that they are more central/significant than people focused only on the cyberspace thing recognize. Gibson had of course famously never used the internet when he wrote Neuromancer (on a typewriter).
    - jdkee 5y ago
      In the year of Neuromancer's publication, 1984, very few people on earth had used the internet. See https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1988/demo/p23-155.html https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1988/demo/p23-15...

NoraCodes 5y ago

Have you read much of Gibson's other work? He's very clear about his attitude towards sci-fi as a way to examine the present day in many of his essays.

jrochkind1 5y ago
Yep! Oh for sure, as a way to examine the present! Just his political commitments or agenda, if any, aren't as obvious as some peers. i'm curious for places he's revealed them in interviews!

kemayo 5y ago

I did a cursory search, and there's certainly "What I tried to do was give people a future that is the world of the Reagan ’80s carried five steps forward and the volume turned up 20 clicks" in an article[1] from 1994. [1]: https://ew.com/article/1994/08/26/william-gibson-first-man-cyberspace/ https://ew.com/article/1994/08/26/william-gibson-first-man-c...

pmoriarty 5y ago
This sounds very hand-wavy, and I wish Gibson was more explicit in drawing the connections. Slums and the dominance of megacorps and the ultra-rich I understand, but what do cyberspace and AI's (two of Neuromancer's more original and iconic themes) have to do with Reagan? Nothing, from what I can tell.
- jrochkind1 5y ago
  Based on other stuff I've read him say, I feel like he might actually indeed be implying that things like slums and the dominance of megacorps and the ultra-rich are to him more central/significant themes/aspects of Neuromancer than AI's or cyberspace! Or at least that they are more central/significant than people focused only on the cyberspace thing recognize. Gibson had of course famously never used the internet when he wrote Neuromancer (on a typewriter).
  - jdkee 5y ago
    In the year of Neuromancer's publication, 1984, very few people on earth had used the internet. See https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1988/demo/p23-155.html https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1988/demo/p23-15...