The Value Of Life if You Need Technology To Survive

Categories: Human Psychology Technology The Value Of Life

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Neuromancer is a science-fiction novel written by American-Canadian writer William Gibson. Neuromancer is also considered as one of the best works in the cyberpunk genre. William Gibson observed the idea of breaking the mind and body through the computer in this novel. There are many characters in this novel who displays human characteristics. Some of the characters are Henry Dorsett Case, Molly Millions, Ratz, Armitage, and Linda Lee. After reading the novel, I believe it consists of the effects of technology on humanity and lack of recognition for the Asian characters.

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This novel includes a lot of interactions between technology and the human body. The effects that technology has as presented in Neuromancer are dangerous and frightening. Neuromancer is set in such a society where many people use technologies to advance their human bodies and minds to expand upon their usual human potentialities. According to William Gibson, “Julius Deane was one hundred and thirty-five years old, his metabolism assiduously warped.

His primary hedge against aging was a yearly pilgrimage to Tokyo, where genetic surgeons re-set the code of his DNA” (12).

In this future society, humans use implants and other artificial forms to change their bodies. Humans use such technology so that humanity can live on and grow stronger forever. In the Neuromancer novel, technological advance makes humans more 'human'. However, I wouldn’t say it. Human beings are being able to have surgery for anything they want. They are being able to have surgery thing that once made them human completely different, endangered, vulnerable and unique from others.

Human beings use such technology to have good physical appearance as well as to fulfill sexual needs. There is nothing for humans to grow passionate about and work hard for. Such technologies are making humans to become more self-sufficient from other humans, growing steadily more dependent on the power of computer technology.

These are the technological changes that make humans more machine and less human in the novel. Also, these technologies such as implants and other artificial forms to change the body are very dangerous. There are many risks of such technologies like surgical risks which occurs during placement or removal. I really want to know why to do human beings use such dangerous technology. Though people know that those technologies are risky, they still use it. Thus, I believe that technology has affected human life a lot. In Neuromancer's novel, Henry Dorsett Case was introduced as the drug addict and a hacker. Case was no longer able to enter cyberspace due to nervous system damage. He developed hatred of his physical self and felt like a prisoner in his own body. Gibson writes, “For Case, who'd lived for the bodiless exultation of cyberspace, it was the Fall.

In the bars he'd frequented as a cowboy hotshot, the elite stance involved a certain relaxed contempt for the flesh. The body was meat. Case fell into the prison of his own flesh” (6). Case identity was defined by his inability at this point in his life. At some point, Case was given an opportunity to reverse this damage. He was given an opportunity in exchange for exclusive work for another employer. Then, Case regained the image of himself and his identity shifted, as he returned to the Console. As we noticed Gibson also pointed to this technological dependency with his new nickname, the ‘Console Cowboy’, or ‘Cowboy’. In both stages of Case’s journey, we could see that his identity, although vastly altered, was defined by technology. As we knew Case was a drug addict and a depressed hacker in the beginning. He was unable to walk by the technology that damaged his life.

However, Later, Case returned to his Console and began identifying as a Cowboy once again. Technology was the main reason as he regained his image and confidence. Technology played vital role in Case of life in the novel. What is the value of life if you need technology to survive? Without technology, Case didn’t have his identity. He was nothing without technology. Therefore, technology has affected human life a lot. I think the main characters of the novel are white. And, I am pretty sure that Gibson has some small racial diverse characters in the novel. I think there was a lack of recognition for the Asian character’s in this novel. There was not significant role in the novel other than creator of technology for the Asian characters. Even though a large part of novel took place in Asian countries, there was the lack of Asian characters.

On one hand, humans are improving themselves with technology that can have a longer lifespan, more attractive features for humans, and the capacity to do what could not be done before, such as living in another’s body. On the other hand, all of these “improvements” are incredible and totally unnatural. It almost gives a sense of inanimateness to the previously alive. Neuromancer shows the relationship between human and technology. It shows how mental human and technology may slowly turn into each other. After reading the story I believe that human is more than just information within the brain. Although the idea of downloading one’s brain may be a new one, human have been downloading their brains for centuries in a sense with the use of autobiographies, journals to record memories and technologies. Nevertheless, we still think them dead, no matter how comprehensive their written accounts are.