The overwhelming complexity of this novel is what makes it a fantastic read. It captures the coexistence of technology with human reasoning and the inverse correlation between such advancement in technology and degradation of the wisdom that makes man unique. Many instances from the story hint or reveal the extent to which each character will engage in an outburst of cognitive dysfunction and mass hysteria. They tend to forgo their sense of reasoning, falling in total submission to what they perceive as the center of their livelihood, technology, no matter how obscene and unethical their actions might seem. Perhaps the person with the most explicit reason is Case because he is the main focus of the story. Once a technological wizard, he was intellectually endowed to discover any information, desiring the gratification of innovation that came with each practice and mission. This striking excellence was the purpose of his being, his niche. In essence, the loss of his niche meant the loss of fame and power, a systematic decay in his lifestyle. He would spiral down in to the permanence of emptiness. After his scientific demise, Case struggled to find himself because he lost the perception of reality in his character as an individual. He sought for the vanity of his passions, his interests in cyberspace and the matrix something not even the neurologic Japanese system could fix. And in extreme levels “he’d still see the matrix in his sleep,” explaining and affirming the intensity to which his reality had become warped (Neuromancer 5). He never seemed to grasp the next step when he reached the closure of his psychological journey. As a result, Case became mentally unconscious, much disjointed in his way of life. This also applies into the broad spectrum of our contemporary world. The book has given substantial evidence that we, as humans like Case, are disposed to making psychological, social connections with the array of gadgets we consider as technology or scientific. We want to beautify our phones and laptops, make them most suitable for ourselves and our styles. We cannot imagine a day, or even a moment without some high-tech system which, we understand, qualifies our sophistication. In fact, we want the all the benefits they can give us. Truth is, we enjoy the level of ease and contentment we receive these mediums, but we refuse to ponder what happens next when all else fails.
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Posi, while this is largely summary of the novel’s plot you start to move someplace interesting at the end of the post as you talk about our own relationships to technology. We don’t see people making their tech beautiful in Neuromancer, but it does appear that Case is pretty smitten with it.