The relationship between the rapid development and influence of technology and the extent of its presence in the future is a controversial topic that has been explored in almost every form of popular media. Some portray a future controlled by large corporations, exerting their influence over all communications and technology markets, as theorized by Tim Wu in his book, The Master Switch. Conversely, some see the future where power is still in the hands of the individual such as in William Gibson’s cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer. While the actual future will probably be a piecemeal combination of both ideals, the future will more than likely look more like Wu’s vision instead of Gibson’s dystopia. This conclusion can be drawn by the numerous instances of real world evidence that Wu provides, rather than Gibson’s fictional ideas.
The very heart of Wu’s book revolves around the notion of patterns of industrial rises and falls, a process that Wu dubs, “The Cycle”. The basis for this premise is that the “oscillation of information industries between open and closed” (Wu 6) is caused by a continuous cycle of individual innovation and corporate monopolization. From his numerous examples, such as “Bell and Watson toiling in their small attic laboratory” (Wu 17-18) to develop the telephone to Edwin Armstrong in “a laboratory at the very top of the new Empire State Building … testing a new radio technology” (Wu 125), Wu supports the fact that the process of technological innovation and enhancement comes from “a lonely room where one or two men are trying to solve a concrete problem” (Wu 18). It is rather the corporations themselves that stifle innovation in order to keep their power, both through market strength or even government interference, such as the control AM radio had or AT&Ts initial federal regulation of attachments to their products. This supported notion conflicts with the ideas presented in Neuromancer. Gibson actually presents the exact opposite idea, where the innovations made by corporations is torn down by hackers like Case. Advances in technology that are exclusive to the corporations, such as how “M-G employees above a certain level were implanted with advanced microprocessors that monitored mutagen levels in the bloodstream” (Gibson 10) or the AIs, were under constant attack by the individual hacker, just a man at a console in a lonely room.
Wu also makes the claim in support of the Cycle that even the controlling monopolies in an industry always either fall due to the introduction of a new disruptive technology or by government mandated breakups once their influence becomes too great to ignore. Wu supports this with the pattern of behavior from the past. The control of the AM industry was greatly diminished when FM was finally allowed to take hold, the telegraph titans fell under the new technology of telephone, and even AT&T was eventually broken up after the government could no longer ignore their size and amount of control. If the past is any indicator of the future, every corporation that is viewed as all-powerful, every company which is at the forefront of technology, “every consolidated entity may well have only until the next turn of the Cycle before being scattered” (Wu 253). However, this inevitable destruction of powers is not seen anywhere in Neuromancer. The main technological titan, Tessier-Ashpool, is a corporation whose main goal was immortality, and according to the novel it had achieved a lifespan far greater than any of the corporations noted in The Master Switch. Everything from the hundred children of Ashpool to the man’s own cryogenic freezing was designed to ensure the longevity of the company, a plan that is directly contradicted by the evidence that Wu provides.
One point however that both Wu and Gibson do seem to agree on is the expansion of the Internet into every aspect of our daily lives. Granted, Gibson’s idea of a 3D consensual hallucination is far from the state of the current and presumed future Internet, but the notion that a network like this would be so intertwined into our social, and especially our work, experience has already become a reality. The notion of a desk in an office space without a computer terminal is beyond us, and an employee sitting behind a monitor searching through archives and files is essentially the same as an unnamed worker in a Gibsonian space jacking in. Wu also supports this idea, noting that “our future … is almost certain to be an intensification of our present reality: greater and greater information dependence in every matter of life and word, and all that needed information increasingly traveling a single network that we call the Internet” (Wu 7). Entities like Facebook or virtual gaming worlds are indicators of our future heading towards an ever increasing digital dependence.
However, Gibson also makes valid points that are absent from Wu’s text. Neuromancer presents a future where the world is not controlled by governments, but rather by the ziabatsus, the multi-national corporations. He presents the idea that as technology becomes more and more prevalent in our society and the differences between individuals can be bridged by innovations such as the Internet, the controlling entities behind these innovations will have far more power than any government can. Governments and countries are still present, but actions such as space development in the orbital city of Freeside are undertaken by industry, rather than by the government. Surprisingly, some aspects of this belief can even be seen by current events happening today. The uprising in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak pitted the power of government and the Internet against each other. Surprisingly, the people were actually able to succeed in their mission and remove Mubarak from power, and their victory was greatly aided by coordination through the Internet. Now, the Internet is currently an open technology, with no ziabatsu backing it. Imagine the power that a company would have if it controlled the Internet. While it may not be enough power to overthrow a government regime by itself, this scale of control can undoubtedly influence the actions of the masses. Wu actually supports that idea this may be possible in our future. He cautions that signs of a corporate, closed Internet can already be seen, such as the potential partnership of Google and Verizon. Our future then could be controlled not by nations, but corporations.
Another aspect of the future that Gibson envisions is an idea not about electronic improvements, but rather physical ones. Throughout the novel, there are myriads of references to surgical and artificial improvements to the physical limitations of our body. While perhaps Molly’s razor-sharp flechettes reside more on the side of fiction than reality, a number of these surgical enhancements have their roots within the bounds of current technology. Ratz’s “military prosthetic, a seven-function force-feedback manipulator, cased in grubby pink plastic” (Gibson 4) is almost identical to the current advanced prosthetic technology. Molly’s optic lens implants bears a relationship to neural implants. Even the vast amount of cosmetic surgery seen in Neuromancer may reflect how we as a society may rely on a tummy tuck, implants, or Botox to improve our physical appearance.
Despite these plausible visions of our future, there are still many predictions made by Gibson’s novel that are simply too farfetched to exist in our current future. The notion of a fully aware, intelligent AI is simply not possible in the way Neuromancer describes. The technological limitations of computers and the premises that must be fulfilled for an artificial intelligence to be possible is simply nowhere near our current grasp. Also, while some biological and technological integration may be possible, our current understanding of human physiology makes it far from feasible that a rig like the simstim would ever be possible. Additionally, while the ideas of a 3D Internet or an organ market may be physically obtainable, society itself has abandoned these ideals. Currently, we as a culture have embraced the separation that a flat screen gives us, and most of us find the idea of a human chop shop appalling.
Therefore, while aspects of Neuromancer are more than likely to make themselves a reality, there are also many elements that have a very slim, if any, chance that they will become norms in our future life. However, the evidence that Wu gives to support his claims show that his prediction of the future is at least feasible, although maybe uncertain of its actual fruition. While the future is more than likely a harmony of both literary works, it would seem that the work of fact will beat out the work of fiction, unless drastic changes that not even Wu could foresee do indeed occur.
Works Cited
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York: Ace, 1984. Print.
Wu, Tim. The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empries. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print.
