Book Review - “Neuromancer” by William Gibson

Going into Neuromancer all I knew about it was rumours about it’s influence on the development of cyberpunk as a genre, which quickly became apparent as Gibson introduced (and thus popularized) concepts that are now considered cornerstones of the genre, the most ubiquitous of which is the idea of cyberspace—the matrix. In this regard it was a very interesting read, as if seeing the pouring of a foundation after you’ve already been inside the completed building. As a fan of cyberpunk, I’m a bit surprised I hadn’t read Neuromancer before and while reading I could quite viscerally recognize the building blocks of what became such a beloved genre.

From the first lines of the book Gibson draws you into the drab underworld of Night City, with hints to the glamourous possibilities for those willing to risk it all. The world of Case, a cyber cowboy from the Sprawl of the Eastern Seaboard, who has lost his ability to interface with cyberspace—a disaster for Case, a true believer of the ghost in the machine, seeing his own body as a prison from which he can’t escape. Being offered a solution to his cyber-disfunction, Case embarks on a heist to set free an AI known as Wintermute—a true AI as known in fiction, not an LLM as we know them today. The concept of AI in fiction, while always framed with existential dread, has perhaps become even more interesting in recent years as real advancements in “AI” technology have made the concept more topical.

During the first few chapters of the book, I felt that there was some needlessly gratuitous sexual content that wasn’t properly built up and distracted from the plot, however this was clearly toned down as the book progressed and similar themes became more naturally embedded. I loved Gibson’s prose and storytelling where he “throws you in the deep end” instead of trying to explain the world to the reader. The use of what became cyberpunk slang (which, as I understand it, was born from Gibson’s incorporation of counterculture slang in Vancouver, where he wrote this book) also brings a great sense of immersion in this sad and magnificent world. All in all, a wonderful book and one I would thoroughly recommend to anyone even mildly interested in fiction and sci-fi.

 

- Stern Kittel 

Personal Data as a Commodity

Some musings on how personal data is gathered and sold, prompted by a discussion about this topic in a lecture. 

I usually don't really question personal data gathering that much because I'm pretty sure I already had all of it leaked when I was a naïve child 😅 but it does raise the question of why most of this information is being gathered. An example was brought with signing up for a store loyalty card and telephone nr was asked for; I would probably provide it without much thought but the question is why would a store ever need to know your phone number like this? And this is perhaps a relatively innocent case of unnecessary data gathering. A nice "gateway drug" into a cyberpunk dystopia.

The most interesting method of database acquisition discussed was where selling the database itself was difficult so the entire company was bought instead and the database was just an "extra". Creative if nothing else. 

As a side-step one interesting opinion about OSINT of public social media being unethical—you are the one who put your own personal data out into public, you can't expect only the people you want to look at it if you don't set these settings to private??

- Stern Kittel 

Exam Crunch

With exams starting there's a lot to do and not nearly enough time to do them. I can't really say I'm worried about failing anything and have enough points in some courses to pass already but as I mentioned all the way back in my first blog—I want to go on exchange to Singapore (and a stipend wouldn't hurt) which means I'm aiming for a 5.0 GPA. 

With some of the exams being in January there's perhaps more time than I think to prepare but certain courses have all of the exams next week and the week after so I got some prioritizing to do. Thinking back on this semester the courses have all been quite different from each other, both in organization and how much I feel like I learned—ranging from "what was this supposed to be?" to courses where I learned something new on a weekly basis. Overall I must say I've enjoyed my time in university so far—learned new things, met interesting people, and feel I feel that it's a worthwhile investment of my time. I do have a powerful tendency to procrastinate but so far I've managed to more or less keep on track. 

Here's hoping for good exam results.

 

- Stern Kittel