Isolation from Technology

12/4/08

William Gibson’s Neuromancer is an extremely interesting book for me because I have never been a fan of technoculture. Gibson portrays a world that is post-apocalyptic and is completely dominated by technology. The characters in Neuromancer are difficult to distinguish as human or cyborg, which does not matter because strides in technology have blended man with machine. I liked Neuromancer because Gibson tends to be somewhat anti-technology and believes that technology will not stop progressing until we all end up enslaved by it. I relate to Gibson in the sense that I oppose some technology because it often distracts us, but I think that technological innovation helps us in the long run. Obviously not by allowing students to text-message during an exam, but medical break-throughs to extend human life are undoubtedly beneficial. Technology will only go so far as the people who engineer it, and therefore I do not think we will ever become enslaved by it despite our dependency.
In the ten pages that make up chapter eight in Neuromancer, Gibson describes the counter-movement away from technology with the colony of Zion. Zion is a Rastafarian settlement in space that was founded by construction workers who refused to return to earth after building Freeside. It is composed of orbiting metal and discarded systems, which the founders of Zion constructed into a space station. The main characters, Molly and Case, go to Zion in order to practice working in an anti-gravity environment for their employer Armitage (Gibson, 103). While there Case meets the stations surviving two founders, who explain their movement away from earth, or as they call it, Babylon.
After initially reading chapter eight, I was somewhat confused by what Gibson was trying to portray with what is described as a junk space station founded by Rastafarians. The first thing that jumped out at me when I read it was the use of the word Zion. The Biblical meaning of Zion is the land of Israel, where God has his chosen people. In the Rastafarian movement; however, Zion represents Africa, or more specifically, Ethiopia (Rastafari Movement, par.1). In Neuromancer, Ethiopia is replaced by a space station in which the inhabitants practice Rastafarianism by smoking marijuana, adorning dreadlocks, and listening to reggae music. Another characteristic that Gibson uses in his novel is the Rastafarian use of the word Babylon. Babylon is used to describe the evil of the western world in Rastafarianism and likewise evil in the technological world of Neuromancer (Rastafari Movement, par.1).
With the understanding of Rastafarianism in the community at Zion, one can clearly see Gibson’s opposition to advanced forms of technology. The community at Zion is Gibson’s way of showing that it is possible to escape technology, but not to stop it. The Rastafarians do not fight technology or try to do anything to stop it; instead, they isolate themselves from it. Gibson even shows that people cannot completely escape technology because even though the Rastafarians are separated from Babylon, technology is present in their lives because Zion itself is a space station. The Rastafarians at Zion are very similar to the Amish in the sense that they isolate themselves from technology. Like the Rastafarians the Amish oppose technology, but they do not act to destroy technology.
By using Jean Baudrillard’s argument that signs have taken place over things, Gibson’s Zion takes on a new meaning (European Graduate School, par.3). Babylon, the technological world, is the same as the western world in Rastafarianism. According to Baudrillard’s argument, the western world is imperialistic and destroys natural environments and all things primitive (European Graduate School, par.7). Similarly, in Gibson’s Neuromancer, the technological world destroys all that is primitive, including the way we see individuals separate from computer programs. In Gibson’s world it is difficult to discern who is actually in the flesh and who is a computer program. The point is it does not matter because technology has already destroyed the way we perceive the world. In the same way, Baudrillard links his argument to Nietzsche’s “death of god,” Gibson has linked technology to the death of mankind (European Graduate School, par.2). As in the Bible, God created mankind, and mankind killed God with science; in Gibson’s world mankind created technology and technology is the death of mankind.
The Rastafarians view the western world, or technological world, as evil and the destroyer of all that is good in the world (Rastafari Movement, par.1). In Neuromancer the Rastafarians build Zion in order to escape the technological world because it is the destroyer of mankind. Like Baudrillard contends, all attempts to reverse technology and return to a more primitive state only speed up the process of technological innovation (European Graduate School, par. 7). This is the point Gibson makes when he shows that the Rastafarians are only able to isolate themselves from technology, not stop its progression. Gibson even demonstrates that they are only able to isolate themselves to a certain point. The visitation of Zion by Case and his comrades proves that even while isolating themselves from technology, the Rastafarians are still exposed to it. The fact that they isolate themselves in a space station only further cements Gibson’s argument.
The Rastafarians at Zion remind me of a book by John Christopher, The White Mountains. Like Neuromancer, this novel is set in a post-apocalyptic world; however, this world is completely devoid of most technology. The only remaining technologies are the tripods, which are the transportation for the aliens that control the earth. At the age of fourteen, there is a “capping” ceremony, in which the aliens take humans into the tripods in order to cap them with wire mesh on the tops of their heads (Christopher, p.12). Once capped the humans are unquestioning, uncreative, and believe the tripods to be their saviors (Christopher, p.34). The main character, Will Parker, and his cousin Henry are uncomfortable with the idea of losing their creativity and decide to run away (Christopher, 40). They follow a vagrant who has not been capped and he tells them about a resistance movement against the tripods (Christopher, p.36). The resistance movement is focused mainly in the White Mountains, which are the present day French Alps and one of the only places the tripods cannot go (Christopher, 36). Throughout the book, Will and Henry journey to the White Mountains and finally are able to join the resistance movement at the end of the book.
This novel reminds me of Neuromancer because like the Rastafarians escaping the technology of Babylon, Will escapes the alien technology that has enslaved mankind. The main difference is that Will does not use technology like Zion to escape from technology. Instead, Will journeys to the White Mountains in order to rebel against alien technology to not only regain free will, but human technology. Gibson and Christopher both show that technology is inescapable because the Rastafarians use the technology that is Zion to isolate themselves, and Will escapes the technology of the aliens only to unleash human technology upon the world once again.
One thing that interested me in the comparison between Neuromancer and The White Mountains was that in Neuromancer the A.I. of Wintermute and Neuromancer fused and became more powerful. Potentially the A.I. could control Gibson’s world due to its heavy dependence on technology, similar to how the tripods control Christopher’s world due to a lack of it. Gibson shows us that technology has the potential to enslave us and dominate every aspect of our lives, and Christopher portrays a world in which it does. Unlike Gibson, Christopher shows us that it is possible to triumph over technology, like the human resistance did over the alien technology, but shows us that another form of technology, in this case human, will take its place.
While looking at the two novels side by side, I could not help but notice humans being turned into machines. In Neuromancer it is much more obvious with Molly’s performance upgrades to her body to make her quicker, see better, and have what is described as claws in her hands. In chapter eight Peter Riviera has the ability to project holographic images into the minds of people around him (Gibson, 105). Case watches as a scorpion crawls across Riviera’s arm and then plunges its stinger into his flesh (Gibson, 105). As soon as it does this, the image disappears, and it is Riviera sticking a syringe of some sort of drug into his arm (Gibson, 105). Like the cyborgs in Neuromancer, people in The White Mountains are capped by the alien overlords at the age of fourteen, losing all free will and creativity, turning them into machines. Will and the resistance movement desire their free will and a clear mind to escape alien enslavement, while characters in Neuromancer, like Case, rely heavily on drugs to escape their world.
After reading Neuromancer I stumbled across an article in the Wall Street Journal called “Google Answers the iPhone.” The article describes a new handheld, do-it-all phone in the same class as the iPhone, the G1 (Walter, par.1). The new phone has the ability to do e-mail, take pictures, listen to music, surf the web, and of course you can use it as a phone too (Walter, par.2). The thing that amazed me the most was on a commercial I saw on television hyping the new phone. The phone has the ability to take a picture of a barcode on a piece of merchandise and find the cheapest place to buy it. The thing that strikes me about this article is that it brings about Gibson’s premonitions about technology. Not Gibson’s foresight on a do-it-all phone, but the way in which technology is progressing. The production of the G1 has essentially created an “arms” race in the handheld computer market. This seems harmless enough because these companies are just producing what people want; however, I think Gibson would agree with me when I ask the question, “Where does it stop?”
Mankind is at a point in civilization where we have become extremely dependent on technology. I am not trying to say that the smart phones are going to be the downfall of human civilization as we know it, but that technology is such a huge part of our life that it is not necessarily a good thing. Not to seem overly dramatic, but the way in which companies like Google and Apple are producing new and innovative technological devices is quite similar to the arms race between the United States and the former Soviet Union. Each major computer engineering company is going to enter the handheld computer market at an attempt to produce the best phone. It is similar to the way that the United States and Soviet Union competed to produce the best weaponry, military, and basically everything else. These companies will continue to produce new and innovative technology until they flood the market and move onto something else. In Gibson’s view technology will continue to be built upon until one company wins and gains control, similar to zaibatsus (Gibson, 37). Even after the companies and corporations achieve control, technology will still continue onwards.
As Jean Baudrillard contends, any attempt to reverse the progress of technology only makes its innovation move forward at a faster rate (European Graduate School, par. 8). Realizing this, Gibson demonstrates in his novel the Rastafarians’ attempt to isolate themselves from technology by building Zion. I am somewhat skeptical if it is even possible to isolate oneself from technology. Thoreau hid out in the woods for two years, but even he went to town on the weekends. Will in The White Mountains escaped alien technology by going to the Alps, but he was then exposed to lost human technology. I can choose to avoid the iPhone or the G1, but someone talking on the phone next to me could be using it. It seems that a person’s best attempts to avoid technology only bring them closer to it. Technology is driven by a capitalistic economy, and what is new and interesting always gets support. The iPhone and the G1 will gain support and then become obsolete when something better comes out.
After reading Gibson’s portrayal of the Rastafarians and Zion, I wonder about a person’s ability to isolate themselves from technology. Someone can choose not to use technology, but that still does not change the fact that they come in contact with technology. Throughout history there has been a counter movement for every movement, but it does not keep the movement from happening. It seems nearly impossible to isolate a person from technology especially when we live in a world that is so dependent upon it. I am not suggesting that everyone should embrace technology and support its advance unquestioningly, but trying to stop it is counterproductive. Will technology destroy mankind? Only time will tell.