on Burning Chrome
Cyberpunk is a different kind of futurist writing, and William Gibson is the champion of it. I think it’s main idea is the accent on super high technology and it’s contrast to low quality of life for people. Such view might have come from fear of growth of technology…. or not satisfaction with the way people are handling/ abusing technology…
I also think main difference between present and future that Gibson is describing is the cyberspace- a visual representation of code… as i saw in 3d softwares on Siggraph 2007, it’s not too far off, the 3d softwares are starting to create code “blocks” that you just arrange in order and get a high level simulation, such as fire…. where before it took a programmer to write, now takes creativity to arrange…. well, not quite yet, but in near future.
Gibson’s style of writing is very interesting to me…. he seems to be “surfing” the story, switching from one story to another, i think more for enjoyment of writing it, rather then for story’s sake….
The part about Russian program humored me quite a lot… “i felt like a punk who went out to buy a switch blade and come home with a small neutron bomb”… obvious present stereotype, but done in a great way…. it’s kind of funny that in Neuromancer he says that the world is mostly ruled by companies, while here, apparently Russia still has government military…
Anyhow, i think there are obvious parallels between present and the future that Gibson is describing, whether it’s reaction to resent explosion of technology or obvious stereotypes… Not only that, but Gibson touches on many issues of humanity in a science fiction way, such as new eyes and other body modifications are just a way to make yourself look good….
