{"id":269,"date":"2015-09-24T16:01:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T21:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/?p=269"},"modified":"2015-09-24T16:01:23","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T21:01:23","slug":"technology-and-the-human-body-in-neuromancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/2015\/09\/technology-and-the-human-body-in-neuromancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology and the Human Body in Neuromancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In William Gibson\u2019s <em>Neuromancer<\/em>, I was particularly intrigued by the interactions between technology and the human body. Gibson openly explores the effect of technology on our society and culture, and makes bold statements about how beneficial but also dangerous it can be. In the ambiguously futuristic and dystopic society in which <em>Neuromancer<\/em> is set, many use technology to advance their human bodies and minds to expand upon normal human capabilities. As is the case with Julius Deane, who, with his \u201cseamless pink face\u2026was one hundred and thirty-five years old, his metabolism assiduously warped by a weekly fortune in serums and hormone\u2026genetic surgeons reset the code of his DNA,\u201d body modification is rampant for those who can afford it (12, 13). Humans in this future society use implants, grafts, and other artificial forms that allow them to change their bodies and mechanize them. The omniscient narrator goes on to describe another modified person, Armitage\u2019s face, as having \u201cthe effect of a mask,\u201d which further unerscores the inauthenticity of the body modifications (45). Various devices, such as \u201cmicrosofts\u201d, can be inputted in the body so as to essentially program the humans and connect them to cyberspace: \u201ca consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation\u2026unthinkable complexity\u201d (51). In this society, humans are becoming much more machine-like. It raises the question \u2013 does this allow people to get closer to each other, or does it push us apart? It would appear, via processes like \u201csimstim,\u201d when Case acts as a ghost-rider of sorts with Molly and can experience her sensory experiences as she does, that in many ways technology allows us to get closer and to understand each other in new ways. It is interesting to consider whether or not these augmented and adjusted human beings (both physically and mentally) are more or less human \u2013 are they <em>superhuman<\/em> or <em>subhuman<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In William Gibson\u2019s Neuromancer, I was particularly intrigued by the interactions between technology and the human body. Gibson openly explores the effect of technology on our society and culture, and makes bold statements about how beneficial but also dangerous it &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/2015\/09\/technology-and-the-human-body-in-neuromancer\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-neuromancer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/robot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}