Season 5, Episode 11—Neuromancer

NEUROMANCER

Stephen Humphrey joins Troy and David on this episode where the novel Neuromancer is discussed. It looks like they are finally going to be bringing the book to the small screen, after a number of attempts.

Apple TV+ announced they are bringing Neuromancer to the small screen…

https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2024/02/apple-tv-announces-neuromancer-new-drama-based-on-the-multi-award-winning-science-fiction-novel-by-william-gibson/

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‘The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.’

The opening line says it all. Neuromancer was a game changer, a classic of the genre.

This is Stephen’s first guesting on the podcast, so Troy and David ask him what was his first childhood genre memory, and first genre love. They also ask him his favorite speculative genre author, novel, shorter work, movie, TV series, and TV episode.

Neuromancer won the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick award.

There is a William S. Burroughs influence / stream of consciousness in the novel. Almost like cut up poetry that tells a story. Gibson has said that Naked Lunch was an influence.

There is also an influence of music in the writing.

Should you assist A.I. in becoming sentient?

Gibson coined the term Cyberspace. Would the movie, The Matrix, existed without Gibson? Is Neuromancer a conversation about a world that we cannot see? As a novel of prediction, how accurate was it? Can we really see beyond the now? Would we miss WW3 if we blinked? Is everyone psychologically wounded in Neuromancer? Would a supermind care about humanity? Would they prefer to communicate with A.I. from the Centauri system?

And what are the traits of cyberpunk? Here are some of the things that exist in a lot of these stories…

DEFINING CYBERPUNK (from various sources)

= a sub-genre of science fiction
= a dystopian world
= THINK BLADE RUNNER
= features hackers and mercenaries
= power lies with big corporations and technology
= how people navigate the physical and cyber world
= technology evolves
= about the fragility of the human mind and body
= about the loss of control over decision-making
= often features addiction, which allows some to cope.
= Animals gone? (robot owl in B-R; horses in N)

Stephen Humphrey is a writer and radio presenter. He recently published a science/ecology book, ‘Paths of Pollen’ with McGill-Queens University Press. His nonfiction often explores science’s intersection with science fiction. As a result, he’s interviewed Gregory Benford, Robert J. Sawyer, Kim Stanley Robinson and Naren Shankar, showrunner for The Expanse—and, to date, three astronauts. He’s currently developing the science fiction serial Zone Boy and the Worm of Incidence, which has led to teaching himself electronic music. He’s performed his weird tunes around Toronto at Exit Points, Frequency Freaks and TEMOM (Toronto Electronic Music Open Mic). And then there’s the novel. Always the novel.

Paths of Pollen website: http://pathsofpollen.stephenhumphrey.ca/
Zone Boy stories:https://zoneboyworm.stephenhumphrey.ca/
Zone Boy One Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-479298104