Frameworks of Neuromancer

“There was a kind of ghostly teenage DNA at work in the Sprawl, something that carried the coded precepts of various short-lived subcults and replicated them at odd intervals” (57).

This passage shows the framework of behavioral patterns in Neuromancer. It describes how a certain culture or clique of society can be replicated and repeated in the next generations. If this is true, then what may seem to be the unique personalities of one group is actually a continuation of the past. It suggests that people have become predictable, because they are basing their qualities on past fads, instead of making up their own. There is no more room to alter, tweak or improve because there is already a template to go off of. And to suggest that this continuation is somehow imbedded in people’s DNA, takes away the idea of individual choice. People are left with no choice but to follow this pattern because it is derived from the fundamental, biological coding established way before consciousness.

“A few letter-writers had taken refuge in doorways, their old voiceprinters wrapped in sheets of clear plastic, evidence that the written word still enjoyed a certain prestige here. It was a sluggish country” (84).

Within the technological advanced world of Neuromancer, there is always new technology available, another new model or new edition being introduced. Therefore, anything used previous to the new fad becomes out-dated. Just like the Apple products in our society, the iPod mini cannot compare to the 3^rd generation of iPod nano’s or the new Shuffle that is voice activated. The “voiceprinters” described in this passage are an older technology used to transform speech into text. Along with the technology, the “written word” itself is old-fashioned. There is no longer a need for things to be written down because everything is digital. Even just using pen and paper for writing is no longer applicable. What is more unusual is that something as advanced as a “voiceprinter” in our reality, is an older model in Neuromancer. Through these ideas, the vast difference between modern day and the future becomes tangible.