NEUROMANCER: Cyberpunk at 40.

It is 42 years since the publication of William Gibson's game changing science fiction novel 'Neuromancer' and in 2027 Apple TV's much heralded 10 part adaptation of the novel is being released. In this episode academic Curtis Runstedler references the novel's antecedents, including Burgess's 'A Clockwork Orange' and Ballard's 'The Atrocity Exhibition', but especially Ridley Scott's 1982 film 'Blade Runner' and authors it deliberately sought distance from, especially Asimov and Heinlein. After outlining the plot and main characters we discuss the hyper-capitalist world in which it is set, the major role of AI characters 'Wintermute' and 'Neuromancer' and the strong female character Molly in the novel. Feminist, transhumanist and other philosophical takes on the novel get a run-out in our discussion of visionary aspects of Gibson's writing and the wider punk and cyberpunk ethos, and parallels to the world of contemporary billionaires and their pre-occupations. We conclude with a discussion of more recent fiction the genre has bred, including the 'solar punk' stories of Becky Chambers and 'Murderbot' series. Terrific conversation about a culturally important novel.

Participants:

Curtis Runstedler is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of English Literatures and Cultures at University of Stuttgart, Germany. https://curtisrunstedler.ca/

Ken Barrett is an artist, writer and former neuropsychiatrist http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk/

Curtis's 'Seat Stuck movie' podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1y0MURjC3Y2ETVuQiJ7uD4

The novel 'Neuromancer': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer

Apple TV's teaser and trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvNCSw_gXXI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x0cY5LiBZA

Johnny Mnemonic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mnemonic_(film)

Robert Longo's black and white version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O0F3vISjqs

JG Ballard's novel 'The Atrocity Exhibition ': https://www.jgballard.ca/criticism/atrocity_exhibition_perry-wilkie.html

Becky Chambers 'solar-punk' novel 'Psalm for the Wild-Built': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Psalm_for_the_Wild-Built

Musical extract: Prelude from Act 1 of Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.