Anyway, Neuromancer. I really liked it, but I've been finding it hard to consider it in its own right because of how much of an influence it's had on a lot of recent media. The world Gibson writes in is realized in surprising detail.
This is the second book we've read where the use of drugs was a plot device, and I've decided that I like the way sci-fi treats substance use. It just is, it's a personal choice to someone; either way I found the treatment that Case's pancreas got amusing. I suppose that such casual treatment of illicit substances is easier in a genre where the question of what it means to be human is so prominent.
And oh boy that one was all over the place. Molly's whole idea about how what she is being dictated by what she does [or vice versa] was a part of that. The flesh doll thing was also... interesting, as a girl. It raises that interesting question of whether it matters that someone was having sex with my body if I wasn't technically aware of it. People that get date raped and aren't conscious for it still wind up feeling like they were violated; given there is the issue of choice, ie Molly had chosen to be a flesh doll, but it's still an interesting issue. Just that women would choose to not be conscious during the act is somewhat of an indication that they don't enjoy it, but to what extent?
What is really interesting to me is how all of this points to a nice big theme of the question of how much our consciousness makes us us versus our physical shell making us us. Obviously there's the matrix, but on top of that there's the issue of the drugs, and then the nice glaring issue of the implications of self aware AIs. Overall I thought it was a crazy interesting read and I definitely want to check out the rest of the series.
1 comment:
There is a big difference between date-rape victims and flesh-dolls, and that's the difference of whether or not there was permission given. Without permission it's sexual assault, because even if the girl isn't aware of it she can still be injured or impregnated by it. The flesh-dolls on the other hand have given their consent in some form and are being paid for it, give modern prostitutes the option of being able to turn their brains off and they'd take it I'm sure. Whether or not it's right or wrong is debatable however, because the laws instated can't be relied on to determine such a thing because they are written by mortal sentients and every now and then a bad apple will turn up and use that power for nefarious purposes. Who knows, maybe there is no right/wrong or good/evil relationships, it's all a matter of perspective. And remember, there is no spoon.
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