Introduction

The research underpinning the analysis and argument of this book originated from my interest in how technology interfaced with everyday life in science-fiction. I cannot think of any book that has such an influence on my perspective of the world as Neuromancer, the canonical novel of cyberspace and hackers by William Gibson, published in 1984. The book and the world that Gibson created in Neuromancer fascinates not just for precedence, but also for the uncomfortable, uncanny feeling that the present is reworked in a manner that estranges familiarity (see Kitchin and Kneale, 2005). Gibson’s vision is of a world where human beings and networked digital technology co-exist and perception of the world is dependent upon the co-existence and use of computational devices. The co-existence often borders on the hostile, but is also a way of understanding the how the world is made sense of by the characters in the book in a world imbued with and dominated by information, data and computer technology.