The more I read Neuromancer by William Gibson, the more I begin the think about how dark our future looks. In this type of science fiction novel and other science fiction works (another example is the movie, The Matrix) the overall mood is dark and sinister. I think this is because the future is so unknown. I believe as a society we are scared as to what the future will bring and how these new technologies introduced in science fiction genres will change the way we live. For example, in Neuromancer the trees are described as being, “small, gnarled, impossibly old, the result of genetic engineering and chemical manipulation” (128). The futuristic description of what the natural world will look like is scary. The natural world will become engineered and no longer rely on its natural ways of reproducing and growing. In the future will we be so involved in cyberspace and technology that the natural world will become insignificant?
Science fiction while it is dark, it is very popular. This type of genre allows us to immerse ourselves in a world where life is so different than our own. We are taken out of our element and thrown into one where it is possible to “jack into a matrix.” Science fiction also sells because it can be used as a springboard for new technologies, a way to open up our imagination to new ideas about inventions and the future. This dark portrayal of our futuristic cyberspace world leads us to image a place where trees are not real or where cowboys are not men on horses but instead computer hackers. However this new world is exciting as we try to picture how our lives would change. Our flesh and connection with the natural world could be replaced with computer chips and new technologies. While our future seems dark and a little bit ominous there is the exciting anticipation of what a new world focused on cyberspace would be like to live in. Would we be more like Molly or more like Case? Would we feel powerful with our new abilities?
You bring up a good point with the notion that maybe one day the real world will become insignificant. We rely on the Internet more and more until eventually it is all there is. I think that possibly one day our current world could be reversed. Cyberspace could become the new real world and the old real world will be where we only go occasionally.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how you point out that most tales about the future of technology and the power it may hold are dark. The unknown can be a frightening concept but I wonder why people don't more often think about the future of technology in a more positive light. Like you said, it's exciting to think about the possibilities that such technology could bring us. Who says it has to be all bad?
ReplyDeleteI keep hoping we find a cheap method to take folks into space. If we do, we won't spread "like an oil slick," to use Gibson's terms, out of our gravity-well.
ReplyDeleteHaving a physical frontier, even one as inhospitable as Mars or the outer planets, might lead to a cultural optimism as keen as that of the Westward movement in the US or the growth of the British Empire.
But I've my doubts about humanity, in the near term, colonizing the solar system. We will have to stay here, and though I'm very concerned about how fast we can respond to climate change and the waning of global oil supplies, I suspect humanity will apply technology wisely to reduce the impact of these problems.
It keeps me going when the news gets bad.