This document discusses several topics related to new communication technology, including William Gibson, cyberpunk fiction, cybernetics, and the film Blade Runner. It introduces Gibson as a pioneer of the cyberpunk genre who coined the term "cyberspace" and explored themes of networked computers, global corporations, and human enhancement. Cyberpunk fiction is defined as a science fiction genre set in a gritty near-future dealing with topics like advanced technology, questionable morality, and hybrid influences from genres like detective fiction. The document also provides an overview of cybernetics as the study of communication, control systems, and feedback in living and mechanical systems. Blade Runner is mentioned as a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel that was influential to
1. New Communication
Technology
Week 4: Cyberspace and Cyberpunk: William Gibson and Bladerunner
2. William
Burroughs(1914-1997)
Burroughs Adding Machine Corporation
a "Beat" writer witha non-linearstyle
the 50s-"Interzone" plus cut-up technique
Paranoidlife inside a large, dysfuctioning
machine, sci fi
time as an insect exterminator was
particularly influential
predicted AIDS, the crack epidemic and
liposuction.
response to cybernetics and a forerunner
of cyberpunk
3. More on Cyberspace
Cyberspace as the collective imagination of
internet users
Cyberspace - Plato’s cave as a working
product?
Cyberspace as a meme
Information Superhighway (Al Gore) -geographical
metaphor
Virtual Reality (Jaron Lanier)- an immersive reality
Virtual Community (Howard Rheingold) –physical
Social Networking –egocentric representation of
personal connections
what occurs between people and computers
not some second order of reality but part of reality
digital devices in everyday life = cyberspace more
real.
4. Cybernetics
study of communication, command and
control
in living organisms, machines and organisations
from the Greek kybernetes = steersman, pilot
WWII - systematic approach to complex
issues
breaking codes, communication systems, radar
and anti-aircraft systems
then managing computers/networks
Human brain - neural networks - robotics
Game theory/Shannon and Weaver
feedback (positive and negative)
action occurs not through choice but
restricton
the flow of information produces noise
Think about the operations
5. Cyberpunk
science fiction genre
computers, genetics, body
modifications and corporate
developments
near future
CyberPUNK
fast, loud, short rock music
anarchist political philosophy
DIY, anti-expert, "seize the
day" approach
Sex Pistols, Clash, Black
Assassins and Pussy Riot.
reaction against "space
opera" - Asimov's Foundation
trilogy/Lucas's Star Wars.
6. Elements of Cyberpunk
(DH)
gritty aesthetic
high technology
questionable morality
hybrid genre:
hard-boiled detective fiction
anti-hero protagonist, crime
film noir (lust, money, power, seduction, murder)
science fiction - technology, apocalyptic?
multinational corps
literary postmodernism (fragments, quick
descriptions)
7. William Gibson
Canadian writer – "cyberspace"/VR
realism uncomfortable in sci-fi genre
not fantasy – social criticism,dystopia
balance to boosterism/Bill Gates
networked computers – matrix
global corporations eclipse
government
power depends on information
the "sprawl" is the jerry-built mega-city
sim-stim (simulated stimulation)
merging of organic&mechanical
bodies
malleability of human identity
8. William Gibson
Key Works
The Sprawl Trilogy: Neuromancer(1984), Count Zero (1986), Mona Lisa
Overdrive (1988)
The Bridge Trilogy: Virtual Light (1993), Idoru (1996), All Tomorrow’s Parties
(1999)
The Blue Ant Trilogy: Pattern Recognition (2003), Spook Country (2007), Zero
History (2010)
Plus early short stories: Burning Chrome&"steampunk" nThe Difference Engine
9. Blade Runner
PK Dick Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep
Ridley Scott – director
Retrofitted, neo-noir
Title from Burrough’s
treatment of Nourse book
Replicants are computers
More human than human
Director’s cut
Is Deckard a replicant?