The Formation and Absorption of Telos in William Gibson's Neuromancer (1984)
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Summary, in English
Abstract
William Gibson’s influential Cyberpunk novel Neuromancer (1984) raises many questions about the effects of rapid technological advancements. The novel presents a Baudrillardian hyperreal situation for the individual characters in the story. Their desires and goals are shaped and directed by the environment in which they live. This essay builds on the work of scholars who have approached Gibson’s text with a focus on the relationship between humans and technology. It adopts Baudrillard’s ideas surrounding hyperreality and simulation and addresses a handful of entities in the novel which belong to one of the three categories: individual, corporation or Artificial Intelligence. The essay will show that the teloses (end goals) of individuals in the story are formed within reproduced simulations of life which originate from corporations or from the sentient Artificial Intelligence named Wintermute. In addition, by treating corporations in the novel as characters, the teloses of those corporations will be shown as parallel to that of the individual characters in a process of absorption whereby the teloses of smaller entities are swallowed by larger entities. Further, the telos of the AI Wintermute will be examined to reveal a reversal of man and machine which is evident both in behaviour and how the end goal manifests.
William Gibson’s influential Cyberpunk novel Neuromancer (1984) raises many questions about the effects of rapid technological advancements. The novel presents a Baudrillardian hyperreal situation for the individual characters in the story. Their desires and goals are shaped and directed by the environment in which they live. This essay builds on the work of scholars who have approached Gibson’s text with a focus on the relationship between humans and technology. It adopts Baudrillard’s ideas surrounding hyperreality and simulation and addresses a handful of entities in the novel which belong to one of the three categories: individual, corporation or Artificial Intelligence. The essay will show that the teloses (end goals) of individuals in the story are formed within reproduced simulations of life which originate from corporations or from the sentient Artificial Intelligence named Wintermute. In addition, by treating corporations in the novel as characters, the teloses of those corporations will be shown as parallel to that of the individual characters in a process of absorption whereby the teloses of smaller entities are swallowed by larger entities. Further, the telos of the AI Wintermute will be examined to reveal a reversal of man and machine which is evident both in behaviour and how the end goal manifests.
Department/s
Publishing year
2021
Language
English
Full text
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Document type
Student publication for Bachelor's degree
Topic
- Languages and Literatures
Keywords
- Neuromancer
- Baudrillard
- simulation
- hyperreality
- cyberpunk
- science fiction
Supervisor
- Ellen Turner