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Who Is William Gibson? MLL Creative Research project How did William Gibson’s knowledge of Cyberspace in the 80’s help shape the world today? By Ben Beeman and Jalen Milrad Research Questions How was William Gibson’s Neuromancer a catalyst for further scientific inventions? Was Gibson’s novel a premonition for how society operates today? Did his novel predict society's fascination/dependence with/on technology? Do the sci-fi and technological obsessiveness of the 1980’s stem from Gibson’s Neuromancer or was it rather a harbinger of the themes that the 1980’s were going to portray? Intro/ Who is William Gibson? Why is he important? This Project dives into the 80’s technical revolution and some of the concepts created in the 80’s created by William Gibson. William Gibson is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and pioneered the science fiction subgenre known as “Cyberpunk” Hee relates to the technical revolution, as he truly put himself in the future mentally, and wrote about it. He brought many concepts that we are still using today. Inspiration for William Gibson In The early 80’s William Gibson lived Vancouver, Canada and would teach writing classes for international students. A few of his students were from Japan and their stories of their own world created a canvas for Gibsons mind to run wild. When Gibson was writing Neuromancer writing student growing up, He would walk up and down the the aisles of the local arcades, and would see the kids standing there playing the games. But he would also see the kid inside the game, two different worlds. What is Neuromancer? Neuromancer was the first major breakthrough William Gibson had that was based on the science fiction world of “Cyberpunk” Written in 1984, this was a little while before the internet became a widespread thing. William Gibson had all of these ideas about “Cyberspace” will unite our world, and bring us into a future full of technological wonder. Neuromancer is about a date thief who fights against a corporate controlled society by breaking through the global computer network’s “Cyberspace” matrix Beginnings of “Cyberspace” and the future In 1982, William Gibson, when he was 34, used a new word that has never been heard before in his short story “Burning Chrome”. This word was “Cyberspace” It was not until 1984 when Gibson released his book “Neuromancer” that the word “Cyberspace” finally caught on in the general public. Gibson created a whole new world full of giant skyscrapers, artificial intelligence, and much more technological advancements that creates a dark and grim future. What is “Cyberspace”? “Cyberspace” is the term that William Gibson first used in his book, “Neuromancer” to describe the internet and our lives when we are accessing the internet. Gibson describing “Cyberspace” - "a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts…” “Cyberspace” was coined by William Gibson before computers and the internet became as widespread as they are now. These were just his predictions when the internet was in its ‘infancy’ What is the “Cyberpunk” Genre? “Cyberpunk” is a science fiction subgenre focused on dystopian futures with themes of Artificial intelligence, the future, and makinds reliance on technology Gibson’s neuromancer and his creation of “Cyberspace” pioneered the “Cyberpunk” genre and kickstarted the widespread use of the genre in the 1980’s What did Gibson “predict”? In a interview in the late 80’s Gibson talks about the potential of the digital world to bring us together as a species. Gibson later stated in a 1997 interview that he did not believe that he fully predicted the technological advances of modern society, but rather that he predicted “the centralization of power of the digital world” 80’s technological renaissance The 80s brought about a plethora of technological advances that irreversibly shaped our society for years to come Inventions such as the internet, the handheld cell phone, and the advent of affordable personal computers accessible to the masses proved the 80s a a staging ground for what we see as modern society Annotated bib part 1 Gaines, Benjamin. “Neuromancer by William Gibson: Synopsis, Characters and Analysis.” Study.com, 2016, study.com/academy/lesson/neuromancer-by-william-gibson-synopsis-characters-analysis.html. -This source gave us a look into Gibson’s novel, what it was about, and how it “predicted” future inventions and attitudes towards technology. It was very important for us to read to get a better understanding of Gibson’s novels themes and plot. Jones, Thomas. “William Gibson: Beyond Cyberspace.” Theguardian.com, 22 Sept. 2011, www.brainpickings.org/2014/08/26/how-william-gibson-coined-cyberspace/. In this article/video, Gibson goes in depth about his coining of the term “cyberspace” which is important to define with regards to our research. Gibson also describes how his new term “caught on like wildfire” which is what a majority of our research is based on (the cultural impact of Gibson’s new terminology). Annotated bib part 2 Rothman, Joshua, et al. “How William Gibson Keeps His Science Fiction Real.” The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2019, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/16/how-william-gibson-keeps-his-science-fiction-real. This article discusses how William Gibson kept his novels with a grip on reality despite his extraordinary scientific predictions. This source was key for proving that Gibson’s writings inspired concrete results in modern society. Despite Gibson’s fantastical ideas (at that time) they had root in reality which allowed them to take hold in society. “Internet History of 1980s.” Internet History of 1980s | Internet History | Computer History Museum, www.computerhistory.org/internethistory/1980s/. This source gives a timeline for major scientific inventions such as the internet throughout the 1980’s. This source was important to discern which scientific inventions followed Gibson’s Neuromancer and if/what their influence was during the time period of the 1980’s. Annotated bib part 3 (Final) Beres, Derek. “Watch William Gibson Predict Internet Culture Way Back in 1997.” Big Think, Big Think, 12 Sept. 2019, bigthink.com/technology-innovation/watch-william-gibson-discuss-the-unintended-consequences-of-ne w-technologies-in-this-1997-interview?rebelltitem=1. In this 1997 interview Gibson “predicts” societal dependence on technology essentially confirming our research topic that Neuromancer greatly prectided the influence of technology on society..
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