DOCSLIB.ORG

Information to Users

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Information to Users INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type ofcomputer printer. The quality ofthis reproduction is dependent upon the quality ofthe copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back ofthe book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann AIbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313n61-4700 8001521-0600 ='n..7!!TI!I!:l~.•.,-.....,.'~_,_,_ - _ _ _._ - .._----- THE FUTURE OF WORK AND DISABILITY: POLICY AND SCENARIOS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE MAY 1996 By: Robin L. Brandt Dissertation Committee: James Dator, Chairperson Douglas Bwy Neal Milner Deane Neubauer Gunnar Thompson Daniel Wedemeyer UMI Number: 9629811 UMI Microform 9629811 Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Aloha kakou! Mahalo nui loa to so many beings who made the completion of this project possible. Most of all, I want to say thank you to all the persons with disabilities, their parents, siblings, friends and advocates who have shared their lives, knowledge, wisdom, criticisms, humor and accomplishments with me. Without them, I would have never dared to start this journey. There are also some special thanks to my co-workers and former co­ workers who supported me through this process, especially Clara, Debbie, Kim and Joakim. Thanks go to the Department of Political Science at the University of Hawai'j at Manoa and East-West Center for funds to study here and participate in research elsewhere as well. Aloha pumehana to my family and 'ohana who have tolerantly watched and supported me. I thank my mother and grandmother who prayed endlessly for my success. Elizabeth and Vee, thank you for all the positive thoughts and perpetual enthusiasm. Janice and Leolani, my hula sisters, deserve thanks for sharing my journey. I am thankful to participate in hula and have learned to focus. Mahalo to my Kumu and his Kumu for sharing. Finally, I thank John for holding me capable. Aloha ·oe. iii ABSTRACT Tremendous change is occurring in the United States. Societal support for individuals who cannot work or do not display the capacity to participate as working members in our communities has diminished rapidly in the last decade. No longer are there guarantees of extended financial assistance, long term benefit programs, monies for training, or even goodwill for those who do not work and live independently. The future of vocational rehabilitation, disability and work can be approached in many ways. At one extreme policy, social programs, public perspectives and the economy could be seen as "fated," interacting and producing a situation beyond the control of anyone. Conversely, from a futures research perspective, the future can be approached as a creative process. Relationships between vocational rehabilitation, disability and work can be examined with a purpose, dedicated to fostering choice, and empowering individuals to strategically direct their efforts to meet a dynamic design of what they would prefer. This dissertation is dedicated to assisting people to consider alternative futures so that they might have an impact on the future to come, by acting in the present. This dissertation is a futures research study of vocational rehabilitation, disability and work, concluding with the creation of many scenarios. Initially current models, definitions and measures of disability are examined. A review of rehabilitation history describes how disability has been constituted in the past iv and how vocational rehabilitation services have measured efforts to serve persons with disabilities. Conventional expectations for the future of disability follow. Probable and possible alternate images of society and how work and disability could be constituted in the future are examined. The project concludes with a discussion of scenarios and their place in the process of planning. Suggestions for their subsequent use are also made. v - ----_ .._-_.__.---_.._--------~~-~~. _.. _--~_._---- TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES xiii CHAPTER 1 SOCIETY, DISABILITY, AND WORK: FIRST IMPRESSIONS .................................... .. 1 1.1 Dissertation Focus ............................. .. 1 1.2 Overview .................................... .. 3 1.3 The Dilemma of Distribution 4 1.4 Public Concepts of Disability ...................... .. 8 1.5 Conclusion. ................................. .. 9 CHAPTER 2 MODELS OF REHABILITATION:THEORY, POLICY AND FUTURES IMAGES ................................ .. 11 2.1 Theories, Maps and the Future ................... .. 11 2.2 No Single Theory, No Single Path. ................ .. 15 2.3 Rehabilitation Professional Theory Abounds. ......... .. 16 2.3.1 Theory and the Future 20 2.4 Rehabilitation Program Evaluation and Effectiveness 21 2.4.1 Historical Measures: Successful Rehabs 22 2.4.2 Public Perspectives, Government Response . .. 23 2.4.3 Accountability and Quality .............. .. 26 2.4.4 Unclear Relationships and Developments. .. .. 32 2.4.5 Effectiveness, Discrimination and the ADA .. .. 36 2.4.6 Rehab: Is It Worth It? ................. .. 41 2.5 Recent Medical Rehabilitation Models .............. .. 42 2.5.1 The Process ofDisability ............... .. 46 2.5.2 Medical Rehabilitation Research and Disability .......................... .. 47 2.5.3 The Quest for Healthy People ........... .. 52 2.5.4 Futurists Drawn to Health Care Broadly .... .. 56 2.6 Issues of Interest and Innovation 59 2.7 Rehabilitation Questions 63 2.7.1 Building Maps for the Future in Rehabilitation.. 64 vi CHAPTER 3 PREVALENCE OF DISABILlTY:DEFINITIONS, NUMBERS, AND WORK 67 3.1 What's in a Name: Definitions as Resolution . 67 3.2 Assumptions . 72 3.2.1 Possible Room for Error . 74 3.3 Work, a Primary Concern . 75 3.3.1 Incidence of Disability . 76 3.3.2 Factors Influencing Ability to Work and Disability 79 3.3.3 Socioeconomic Factors and Disability 80 3.3.4 Cultural Factors and Disability ........... .. 83 3.3.5 Summary: Cross Impact ofFactors and Disability .. ........................ .. 90 3.4 Disability in the Context of Seeking Assistance 91 3.4.1 Benefits for Disabled Who are Unemployed and Unemployable . 95 3.5 Vocational Rehabilitation . 103 3.5.1 Program History . 104 3.5.2 Vocational Rehabilitation Definitions . 107 3.5.3 Measures of Service . 111 3.5.4 Financial Resources . 116 3.6 Do Definitions Assist in Finding Solutions? . 119 3.7 Conclusion . 121 CHAPTER 4 A BRIEF HISTORY OF REHABILITATION 122 4.1 Overview 122 4.2 The Medical Profession and the Emergence of Vocational Rehabilitation 124 4.2.1 Impacts of Industrialization, World Wars, and Volunteer Agencies 126 4.2.2 Creating a Market and Vying for a Share 131 4.2.3 Technology and New Frontiers 139 4.2.4 Visions that Transformed 143 4.2.5 Political Prescriptions and Legislation 152 4.2.6 Summary ............................ 156 4.3 The Continuing Evolution of Vocational Rehabilitation ..... 157 4.3.1 Continuing Legislative Mandates ........... 159 4.3.2 Educationallnfluences 161 4.4 Conclusion.. ................................. 162 vii CHAPTER 5 CONVENTIONAL VIEWS OF THE FUTURE 164 5.1 Introduction. ................................ .. 164 5.2 Conventional VR Images of the Future 164 5.2.1 The Official Future ofRehab and Work 165 5.2.2 Visions from Experience ................. 168 5.3 The Reemergence of the Consumer ................. 174 5.3.1 Evolution ofa New Constituency? 180 5.3.2 Warning from an Elder .................. 185 5.4 The Future Economy, Work and Disability 188 5.4.1 Incidence ofDisability ................... 189 5.4.2 Economic Outlook 198 5.4.3 Ability to Serve VR Clients 201 5.5 Government Funds and the ADA: Contradictions and Spin 205 5.5.1 Promise and Possibilities: Legislation ........ 206 5.5.2 Into the Abyss of Scarcity ................ 209 5.5.3 The ADA Spin on Scarce Services 212 5.5.4 Philosophical Outlook on Legislation 216 5.6 Technology: Promise and Threats ................... 223 5.6.1 Professionals See Opportunities and Advances. ........................... 224 5.6.2 Technology: Stalemate, Solution or Genocide? 229 5.7 Conclusion..... .............................. 232 CHAPTER
Load more

Recommended publications
  • "The Infinite Plasticity of the Digital"
    "The Infinite Plasticity of the Digital" http://reconstruction.eserver.org/043/leaver.htm Ever since William Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" in his debut novel Neuromancer , his work has been seen by many as a yardstick for postmodern and, more recently, posthuman possibilities. This article critically examines Gibson's second trilogy ( Virtual Light , Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties ), focusing on the way digital technologies and identity intersect and interact, with particular emphasis on the role of embodiment. Using the work of Donna Haraway, Judith Butler and N. Katherine Hayles, it is argued that while William Gibson's second trilogy is infused with posthuman possibilities, the role of embodiment is not relegated to one choice among many. Rather the specific materiality of individual existence is presented as both desirable and ultimately necessary to a complete existence, even in a posthuman present or future. "The Infinite Plasticity of the Digital": Posthuman Possibilities, Embodiment and Technology in William Gibson's Interstitial Trilogy Tama Leaver Communications technologies and biotechnologies are the crucial tools recrafting our bodies. --- Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto" She is a voice, a face, familiar to millions. She is a sea of code ... Her audience knows that she does not walk among them; that she is media, purely. And that is a large part of her appeal. --- William Gibson, All Tomorrow's Parties <1> In the many, varied academic responses to William Gibson's archetypal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer , the most contested site of meaning has been Gibson's re-deployment of the human body. Feminist critic Veronica Hollinger, for example, argued that Gibson's use of cyborg characters championed the "interface of the human and the machine, radically decentring the human body, the sacred icon of the essential self," thereby disrupting the modernist and humanist dichotomy of human and technology, and associated dualisms of nature/culture, mind/body, and thus the gendered binarism of male/female (33).
    [Show full text]
  • Space and the Re-Purposing of Materials and Technology in William Gibson's Neuromancer and Virtual Light Submitted by Grigori
    Space and the Re-Purposing of Materials and Technology in William Gibson’s Neuromancer and Virtual Light Submitted by Grigorios Iliopoulos A thesis submitted to the Department of American Literature and Culture, School of English, Faculty of Philosophy of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English and American Studies. Supervisor: Dr. Tatiani Rapatzikou June 2020 Iliopoulos 2 Abstract This thesis explores the relationship between space and technology as well as the re-purposing of tangible and intangible materials in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) and Virtual Light (1993). With attention paid to the importance of the cyberpunk setting. Gibson approaches marginal spaces and the re-purposing that takes place in them. The current thesis particularly focuses on spotting the different kinds of re-purposing the two works bring forward ranging from body alterations to artificial spatial structures, so that the link between space and the malleability of materials can be proven more clearly. This sheds light not only on the fusion and intersection of these two elements but also on the visual intensity of Gibson’s writing style that enables readers to view the multiple re-purposings manifested in thε pages of his two novels much more vividly and effectively. Iliopoulos 3 Keywords: William Gibson, cyberspace, utilization of space, marginal spaces, re-purposing, body alteration, technology Iliopoulos 4 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Tatiani Rapatzikou, for all her guidance and valuable suggestions throughout the writing of this thesis. I would also like to express my gratitude to my parents for their unconditional support and understanding.
    [Show full text]
  • Polish Journal for American Studies Yearbook of the Polish Association for American Studies
    Polish Journal for American Studies Yearbook of the Polish Association for American Studies Vol. 12 (Autumn 2018) Special Issue (Re)Examining William Gibson Edited by Paweł Frelik and Anna Krawczyk-Łaskarzewska Polish Journal for American Studies Yearbook of the Polish Association for American Studies Vol. 12 (Autumn 2018) Special Issue (Re)Examining William Gibson Edited by Paweł Frelik and Anna Krawczyk-Łaskarzewska Warsaw 2018 MANAGING EDITOR Marek Paryż EDITORIAL BOARD Izabella Kimak, Mirosław Miernik, Paweł Stachura ADVISORY BOARD Andrzej Dakowski, Jerzy Durczak, Joanna Durczak, Andrew S. Gross, Andrea O’Reilly Herrera, Jerzy Kutnik, John R. Leo, Zbigniew Lewicki, Eliud Martínez, Elżbieta Oleksy, Agata Preis-Smith, Tadeusz Rachwał, Agnieszka Salska, Tadeusz Sławek, Marek Wilczyński REVIEWERS Katherine E. Bishop, Ewa Kujawska-Lis, Keren Omry, Agata Zarzycka TYPESETTING AND COVER DESIGN Miłosz Mierzyński COVER IMAGE Photo by Viktor Juric on Unsplash ISSN 1733-9154 eISSN 2544-8781 PUBLISHER Polish Association for American Studies Al. Niepodległości 22 02-653 Warsaw paas.org.pl Nakład 160 egz. Wersją pierwotną Czasopisma jest wersja drukowana. Printed by Sowa – Druk na życzenie phone: +48 22 431 81 40; www.sowadruk.pl Table of Contents Paweł Frelik Introducing William Gibson. Or Not ...................................................................... 271 Lil Hayes The Future’s Overrated: How History and Ahistoricity Collide in William Gibson’s Bridge Trilogy ............................................................. 275 Zofia Kolbuszewska
    [Show full text]
  • Movement SF and the Picaresque Robert Glen Wilson University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
    University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 5-2014 You Can't Get There from Here: Movement SF and the Picaresque Robert Glen Wilson University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons, and the Modern Literature Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, Robert Glen, "You Can't Get There from Here: Movement SF and the Picaresque" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 2337. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2337 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. You Can’t Get There from Here: Movement SF and the Picaresque You Can’t Get There from Here: Movement SF and the Picaresque A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English By Robert G. Wilson Campbellsville University Bachelor of Arts in English and History, 1999 Western Kentucky University Master of Arts in American Literature, 2002 May 2014 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. ______________________________________ Dr. M. Keith Booker Dissertation Director ______________________________________ ____________________________________ Dr. Robert Cochran Dr. William A. Quinn Committee Member Committee Member ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the crisis of authenticity in postmodern culture and argues that contemporary science fiction, specifically the subgenre of Movement SF, has evolved a unique answer to this crisis by adopting, perhaps spontaneously, the picaresque narrative structure.
    [Show full text]
  • Architecture”: Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow’S Parties
    Chapter Six 6.William Gibson’s “Architecture”: Virtual Light, idoru and All Tomorrow’s Parties William Gibson’s latest publication, All Tomorrow’s Parties (1999), serves as a “prequel” to the two previous novels, Virtual Light (1993) and idoru (1996). Its significance lies in the fact that all three seem to share many common motifs and themes, even characters, without being sequential. Gibson, when interviewed about the literary intentions behind writing All Tomorrow’s Parties, stated: Without my having intended it, it seemed that both Virtual Light and idoru emerged with more than the usual number of inexplicable connectors hanging off them. They were clearly connected to each other, but there was something that suggested that both of them were connected even more profoundly to some nonexistent third. They sort of triangulated on a nonexistent book – All Tomorrow’s Parties is it.1 This sort of intertextual hybridity, fuelled by the recycling of themes explored in the three novels, is also reflected in their narrative structures, which follow a layered pattern of storylines and character formations. Each novel is comprised of a number of separate story plots, appearing in a serial form and developing in parallel, before intersecting and fusing into a cognitive whole where the voids and hollow spaces of narration are filled with the valid explanations and connections required. The process of structuring and restructuring data and images finds these novels caught up in a mechanism of compulsive repetition, giving rise to what Anthony Vidler calls an “uncanny sense of déjà vu” (1992: 13). The depictions of digital technologies and the cyberspace representations, which were so 1 Therese Littleton.
    [Show full text]
  • Translating and Reviewing Canadian Sf in Post-Communist Romania
    JOURNAL OF ROMANIAN LITERARY STUDIES Issue no. 5/2014 TRANSLATING AND REVIEWING CANADIAN SF IN POST-COMMUNIST ROMANIA. THE CASE OF WILLIAM GIBSON Ana-Magdalena PETRARU ”Al. Ioan Cuza” University of Iași Abstract: This paper examines the Romanian reception of a reputed English Canadian writer of science fiction, William Gibson, via the translations from his novels and the critical studies published in periodicals. Our aim is to establish the place of the SF genre in post- communism, based on the allegations in the Romanian Translation Studies discourse and assess the writer’s role in the Romanian cultural and literary polysystem as compared to other Canadian authors. Keywords: Canadian science fiction, Romanian reception, polysystem theories, Translation Studies Discourse, Romanian periodicals Introduction During post-communist Romania, Canadian literature has flourished due to the set-up of Canadian Studies centres and academic programmes in most universities of the country, not to mention that doctoral theses and academic papers in the field are now published. As tackled by our previous research (Petraru, 2014: 536-537), the increasing interest in Canadian Studies and literature also showed in the higher number of translations from Canadian writers and the criticism devoted to them. If before 2000 works that were unavailable during the communist years were mostly published (not only various cheap sensational novels, but also translations from William Gibson’s SF novels), the new millennium has also seen the publication of translations from novels by important Canadian authors. Furthermore, there are the critical pieces devoted to them, both in periodicals and academic writings that enjoyed book-length treatment; thus, the works of major postmodern Canadian authors such as Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen and Michael Ondaatje are usually analysed in individual chapters (cf.
    [Show full text]
  • Several Authors Blank
    “William Gibson”1 Christophe Den Tandt Université Libre de Bruxelles (U L B) 1997 Biography William Ford Gibson was born on March 17, 1948 in Conway, South Carolina; he was raised in a southwest Virginia small town. His father, a contractor, had worked on the Manhattan project—the development of the American atom bomb during WWII—and died when William was six. In the sixties, Gibson dropped out of high school and moved to Canada, where he joined the local hippie scene; he became a devoted rock fan—a cultural interest that would later influence his fiction. An opponent to the Viêt Nam War, he stayed in Canada in order to avoid being drafted. In 1972, he married Deborah Thomson, a teacher, with whom he had two children. The couple settled in Vancouver. Gibson took his B.A. at the University of British Columbia in 1977. He discov- ered his potential as a writer when taking a science fiction class in college. His first stories, "Fragments of a Hologram Rose," "The Gernsback Continuum" and "Johnny Mnemonic" were published in science-fiction magazines in the late seventies and early eighties. Gibson was at the time a member of the "cyberpunk" group—a set of authors gathering around writer and critic Bruce Sterling, the editor of the SF fanzine Cheap Truths. In the mid-eighties, two events contribut- ed to making cyberpunk the new vital edge of science-fiction: on the one hand, Gibson published his first novel Neuromancer (1984), which was granted the Nebula, Hugo and Philip K. Dick Awards the same year; on the other hand, Bruce Sterling published Mirrorshades (1986), an anthology of cyberpunk short stories, several of which by Gibson; Sterling's preface to the collection defined the characteristics of cyber- punk as a genre.
    [Show full text]
  • A Cyberpunk Timeline
    A Cyberpunk Timeline Last Update: May 2007 1926 Metropolis released. 1928 Early use of the word "punk" to signify a criminal 1938 Dave and Lucile Packard move into a house at 36 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Bill Hewlett rents cottage behind the house and Bill and Dave begin part time work in the garage with $538 in working capital. The company name is decided with a coin toss. The new partnership is known as Hewlett Packard. (June) 1948 The word "cybernetics" coined by Norbert Wiener 1955 The Naked Lunch published 1956 The Stars My Destination (aka Tiger! Tiger!) published 1960 The word "cyborg" coined by Manfred Clynes 1964 Nippon Apattchi-zoku [The Japanese Apache] by Sakyo Komatsu published 1965 MIT researcher Lawrence G. Roberts & Thomas Merrill connected A TX-2 computer in Massachusetts to the Q-32 in Palo Alto, California with a low speed dial-up telephone line creating the first (however small) wide-area computer network ever built. (Jan.) 1966 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress published 1967 Velvet Underground releases White Light/White Heat 1968 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep published Lawrence Roberts and the DARPA funded community refine the overall structure and specifications for the ARPANET, and bring it live. The Internet is born. (Aug.) 1969 Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and colleagues at Bell Labs create the Unix operating system on a DEC-PDP-7 microcomputer. (June) 1970 The Stooges release Funhouse ... From the Rise of Dr. Adder to the Fall of Johnny Mnemonic ... 1972 Pong debuts K.W. Jeter completes Dr. Adder
    [Show full text]
  • The Champion of Cyberpunk: on Two Works by William Gibson
    On SF by Thomas M. Disch http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=124446 The University of Michigan Press, 2005 The Champion of Cyberpunk: On Two Works by William Gibson Cyberpunk is the label under which a portion of the younger science ‹ction writers of the eighties have been marketing their wares, and as neologisms go, it represents a fair description of their product. Cyber- punk sci-‹, in its ideal form, is compounded of (1) a re-envisioning of the consensual future in terms not of space travel and other feats of mega- engineering but of a plastic (i.e., wholly malleable) mental landscape that derives from the new possibilities of computer graphics, and (2) punk style, in clothes, hair, sexuality, and the abuse of controlled substances. Like punk rock, and like most traditional rocket-and-blaster sf, Cyber- punk caters to the wish-ful‹llment requirements of male teenagers, but this is a job that can be done with varying degrees of panache, and in the whole ‹eld of sf there is presently no more accomplished caterer than William Gibson. He is the undisputed champion of Cyberpunk. Mona Lisa Overdrive might be considered the concluding volume of a trilogy, except that the book’s last chapter so patently advertises a sequel. These days nothing short of the author’s death can keep a commercially successful work of sf from being cloned into sequels as long as the prod- uct moves from the shelves. A sense of closure, and so of narrative archi- tecture, is not among the pleasures a reader should expect from Mona Lisa Overdrive.
    [Show full text]
  • Interference on the Brain Screen #6
    INTERFERENCE ON THE BRAIN SCREEN 6 Number 6 (April 2003) “The meat finds its own use for things.” – jael INTERFERENCE ON THE BRAIN SCREEN is an occasional publication predicated on the belief that reception is bad. And it’s no accident. This issue dedicated to the memory of Jean Heriot who passed away in November 2002. She was a good friend and supported Brain Screen from its early days. I miss her. Gibson's Exit Strategy by Jerry Denny In a recent interview British SF writer, Richard Morgan, expressed his disappointment that William Gibson's most recent novels are not being marketed as science fiction. I can sympathize with him. I understand him. But I cannot say I agree with him. It may be controversial to say so, but there is an argument that Gibson is not, and has never really been a science fiction writer. To justify this position you require a rather strict definition of science fiction. Here it is. Science fiction is the literature which turns on its scientific or technological ideas. By this definition Gibson is not the only author who would fall at the hurdle. But taking into account only his own fiction, it can be demonstrated that few of his stories pass the test. Furthermore, this is an indicator as to the underlying reason behind the shift in the way his books are being marketed. Look at his first published story, “Fragments of A Hologram Rose.” What we have here is mediation on love, loss and longing set against a futurist background. The technological idea is apparent sensory perception (which would reappear in his fiction as SimStim).
    [Show full text]
  • Cyberpunk in a Transnational Context
    arts Cyberpunk in a Transnational Context Edited by Takayuki Tatsumi Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Arts www.mdpi.com/journal/arts Cyberpunk in a Transnational Context Cyberpunk in a Transnational Context Special Issue Editor Takayuki Tatsumi MDPI • Basel • Beijing • Wuhan • Barcelona • Belgrade Special Issue Editor Takayuki Tatsumi Keio University Japan Editorial Office MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Arts (ISSN 2076-0752) from 2018 to 2019 (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/arts/special issues/cyberpunk) For citation purposes, cite each article independently as indicated on the article page online and as indicated below: LastName, A.A.; LastName, B.B.; LastName, C.C. Article Title. Journal Name Year, Article Number, Page Range. ISBN 978-3-03921-421-1 (Pbk) ISBN 978-3-03921–422-8 (PDF) Cover image courtesy of ni ka: ”Hikari” (Light). c 2019 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. Contents About the Special Issue Editor ...................................... vii Preface to ”Cyberpunk in a Transnational Context” .......................... ix Takayuki Tatsumi The Future of Cyberpunk Criticism: Introduction to Transpacific Cyberpunk Reprinted from: Arts 2019, 8, 40, doi:10.3390/arts8010040 ......................
    [Show full text]
  • A Thesis on Gibson and Cyberpunk
    A thesis on Gibson and Cyberpunk Damage 2002 0.0 INTRODUCTION "My intention is to tell of bodies changed to different forms." -- Ovid, Metamorphoses During the last half of the '80s, critics of cyberpunk identified its central narrative as the breakdown of boundaries between bodies and machines. Much of this critical writing was outright celebratory in its welcoming a new kind of science fiction which was obviously plugged in to present-state techno-reality. William Gibson even coined a term for the virtual space people started to spend time in - cyberspace, the other side of computer screens. Starting to make their first appearances in the mid-80s, cyberpunk's technologized bodies seemed to provide images through which the readers could imagine their fates in the near future, especially if they were young white males with access to computer hardware. A lot of current critical thinking has fallen into the prison of the flesh (the body as a central philosophical issue is particularly true among French philosophers, like Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre or Maurice Merleau- Ponty). Even today there is a determination on the part of many critical thinkers to reinsert the meat into the picture, to resist the dreams of a disappearing body which have been influenced by technological fictions of its looming obsolescence. Although, if there is such an intense fascination with the fate of the body, is it not because the body does not exist any longer ? Foucault is concerned with a continually disintegrating body, "traced by language, lacerated by ideology and invaded by the relational circuitry of the field of postmodern power" (Kroker, Theses on the..., 20).
    [Show full text]