Theme Of Personality In William Gibson's Neuromancer

Neuromancer is a novel written by William Gibson. It is a science fiction novel that impacted on the cyberpunk genre significantly. It broadened the ideas of the roles played by the computer in the science fiction. As technology develops, there is an increase in the fear that humans’ dependence on it increases and the fear of post-humanity. This fear can, for example, be seen in the idea that body and mind invasion will destroy the human sense of self hence make human something different. The fundamental belief in this is that one is not human if his or her body is altered using inanimate technological transformers; however, the essence of humanity is by no means the physical body.
In Neuromancer, there is no fear of human alteration. Instead, …show more content…
Near the end of the novel, it is revealed that the Neuromancer requires no mask to speak with Case. The Neuromancer develops its personality (Gibson 259). Its development of personality leads to a questioning the notion that personality, genuine personality, is a fundamentally human characteristic. Personality is defined as a combination of qualities and features which are influenced by previous experiences with others forming a person’s character. This is to say that an individual's personality is information that affects the behaviour of an individual. This, being the case, means that information is arguably not isolated to humans neither is personality. Artificial intelligence (AI) is also similar personality. The AI can make a character from the characteristics and experiences with humans. Gibson displays this by showing us that Neuromancer has the eyes of Riviera because the eyes are lovely to Neuromancer (Gibson 259). Through establishing Riviera’s eyes without any reason other than their prettiness, Neuromancer is articulating that the eyes help define who it …show more content…
These people would be mistaken because they would be mistaking Neuromancer to Wintermute. It is true that both depicted themselves as persons, their intentions for doing so were so diverse. Wintermute undertakes the form of somebody taken from Case’s memories to be more efficient. This AI resembles an actor with a planned out role. On the other hand, Neuromancer selects from various qualities and characteristics of humans and assembles them to form his unique personality.
We notice that Case has become an actual part of the Matrix because the Matrix has developed “the sum of the works, the entire show” (Gibson 269). Case is also still inside the Matrix but did not jerk in meaning that this sum total is not secluded to the matrix.
It is clear that the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority is the “stepped scarlet pyramid… scorching beyond the green chops of Mitsubishi Bank of America,” (Gibson 52). This is a location in the Matrix that we are part of during the involvement of Case with Panther Moderns. Linda and Riviera are also dead, but they have been presented as features within Neuromancer’s personality in the past. This suggests that they may live on but as an actual information contained by this new super-intelligence. Finally, Case sees himself as the third figure which makes sense because the Matrix has become the “sum total of the works,” which means