Neuromancer turns 25: What it got right, what it got wrong
Anne & Lynn Wheeler
Neuromancer turns 25: What it got right, what it got wrong
http://www.macworld.com/article/141500/2009/07/neuromancer_25.html
from above:
What Gibson introduced was the idea of a global network of millions of
computers, which he described in astonishing detail--though the World
Wide Web, as we know it today, was still more than a decade away.
... snip ...
--
40+yrs virtualization experience (since Jan68), online at home since Mar1970
Rob Warnock
+---------------
| Neuromancer turns 25: What it got right, what it got wrong
| http://www.macworld.com/article/141500/2009/07/neuromancer_25.html
| from above:
| What Gibson introduced was the idea of a global network of millions of
| computers, which he described in astonishing detail--though the World
| Wide Web, as we know it today, was still more than a decade away.
As <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer> notes:
Gibson himself coined the term "cyberspace" in his novelette
"Burning Chrome," published in 1982 by Omni magazine.
which was two years earlier than Neuromancer, though Neuromancer
gives a more formal definition:
Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by
billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children
being taught mathematical concepts. A graphic representation of
data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system.
But everybody seems to forget Vernor Vinge's even earlier "True Names":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Names
True Names was the science fiction novella which brought Vernor
Vinge to prominence in 1981. It was one of the earliest stories
to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would
later be central to stories in the cyberpunk genre. Because of this,
it is often referenced as a seminal work of the genre.
...
The story follows the progress of a group of disaffected computer
wizards who are early adopters of a new full-immersive virtual reality
technology, called the "Other Plane". Forming a cabal, they must keep
their true identities -- their True Names -- secret to avoid prosecution
by their "Great Adversary" -- the government of the United States.
An HTML transcription (with illustrations) of the novel:
http://web.archive.org/web/20051127010734/http://home.comcast.net/~kngjon/truename/truename.html
-Rob
-----
Rob Warnock <rp...@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue <URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403 (650)572-2607
Tim Shoppa
> Anne & Lynn Wheeler <l...@garlic.com> wrote:
> +---------------
> | Neuromancer turns 25: What it got right, what it got wrong
> |http://www.macworld.com/article/141500/2009/07/neuromancer_25.html
> | from above:
> | What Gibson introduced was the idea of a global network of millions of
> | computers, which he described in astonishing detail--though the World
> | Wide Web, as we know it today, was still more than a decade away.
> +---------------
>
> As <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer> notes:
>
> Gibson himself coined the term "cyberspace" in his novelette
> "Burning Chrome," published in 1982 by Omni magazine.
>
> which was two years earlier than Neuromancer, though Neuromancer
> gives a more formal definition
I remember reading Burning Chrome back in '82. Wow, what a trip. I
remember exactly where I was sitting when I read that in Omni.
Defining and explaining IMHO is not the right thing to do. We use
google and xerox verbs, even though they're brand names. Someday just
like we today say "just google it" we'll be writing "the door
dilated". 99.9% of the population doesn't need to know how a door
dilates or how google and all the associated machinery just works.
Although I suppose when it's 100% that in itself is a sci-fi concept
too.
Google "the door dilated" if you aren't familiar with the
expression :-).
Tim.