After finishing Neuromancer by William Gibson, I decided to keep track of how often I use my smart phone in one day. I spent a solid thirty minutes during the day checking my email, looking up the weather, going on Facebook and reading the CNN headlines. I made two phone calls each lasting about ten minutes and sent about fifteen text messages. In total I spent about an hour using my iphone. I use my iphone so often because it is a mini computer that fits in my hand. I like keeping in touch with my friends and family, but I also like to know what is going on in the world and having the ability to access the Internet so quickly and conveniently. I would spend an hour a day being more productive if I did not have a cell phone, but I would miss talking with people like my parents who do not live near me. While we do have conversations without the use of technology, our cell phones especially the
use text messaging makes it easier to communicate.
In Neuromancer there is clear dependence on machines and the use of technology. In today’s world, there is certainly a dependence on computers and phones, but not quite to the extent in Neuromancer. I do not think that we have progressed to create the 3D consensual hallucination. I think we are afraid to fully leave behind our daily real human-to-human contact. I know I use my cell phone frequently, but I also like to talk with my friends in person. There is something about face to face time that we have a society are not so quick to relinquish. I believe we are a little apprehensive and scared to fully jack into a matrix. I don’t think that we want to put electrodes on our heads, but maybe that is just me. I think we have taken some of Gibson’s ideas and put our twist on them. We definitely becoming immersed in our phones when sending a text message, but we are still casual users of technology. Gibson had the idea for a futuristic world dominated by machines, but in today’s day and age we are not at the point where everyone would be comfortable mixing flesh and machines.
Style note: I want to wean my writers of "suitcase" transitions such as "In today's world." Work on specificity instead, such as "Among my family and also my peers on campus" to get the most precision you can.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that none of your classmates have yet noted that Case doesn't have any plugs in his head. One classmate noted that the electrodes, rather like ones you'd get in a hospital for an EEG. In theory, his sort of interface is feasible with contemporary technology.
Perhaps it's the idea of connecting to a computer with more than our fingers (or ears) that scares us, even as we spend as much time as some of Gibson's characters using cyberspace.