Neuromancer

Q:

1. "Case found himself staring through a shop window. The
place sold small bright objects to the sailors. Watches, flick knives, lighters, pocket VTRs, simstim decks, weighted man-riki chains, and shuriken. The shuriken had always fascinated
him, steel stars with knife-sharp points. Some were chromed, others black, others treated with a rainbow surface like oil on water. But the chrome stars held his gaze. They were mounted
against scarlet ultrasuede with nearly invisible loops of nylon fishline, their centers stamped with dragons or ying yang symbols. They caught the street's neon and twisted it, and it came to Case that these were the stars under which he voyaged, his destiny spelled out in a constellation of cheap chrome."

What is the significance of old technology in such an advanced world? As a more specific example, Case carries a shuriken throughout the book, but never uses it. What might this imply?


A:

The reason Neuromancer was such a significant step for Science Fiction was that before the genera was mostly accepted as a fantasy world very apart from our own. Gibson makes a huge effort to create a bridge between the fantastical science fiction worlds and our own to create a dialog between the two. It finally becomes something that can seriously be talked about. What effects does the technology of the future have on our societies and humanity?

The reason Gibson uses old technology in his book is to help bridge the gap between the fantastical science fiction of the future and the world today. Old technology creates a ground in which people can start to finally think about what exactly this future could mean for humans. It makes them start to believe these possibilities Gibson presents in the novel and critique them.

The book won accolades for its push towards a possible future people could believe rather than an escape world people could dive into. He wanted people to connect the two, not separate them.