I think Gibson developed a slight complex because people keep telling him he's a visionary and he doesn't feel like that's the case at all. But he is, only not in the way that most people imagine or keep telling him.. like he has this prescience and can predict the future. Gibson instead is a brilliant world crafter and word smith who has a love for words and terms. He incorporated many words he barely understood in to his word back then and now he seems a little ashamed of it because they are used wrong etc. And I think part of that is because people keep saying he's such a visionary. The reality is he has nothing to be ashamed off, when I read the sprawl I don't read it and think "Microsofts!? But that's something totally different in my world!" .. I don't wonder why Case asks for a modem during a stressful "cyber space hacking situation"... because it's a stressfull cyberspace hacking situation and we're in an alternate reality future that is in many ways futuristic but in many other was super retro for our times, and that's fine, in fact it perfectly incapsulates that 80's and early 90's hollywood, punk sci fi we all saw in movies like bladerunner, strange days, running man, total recall etc etc. only ads its own flair. Absurdly pretty prose, the 80's "cool", low life's in a corpo owned world that's heavily influenced by Japan. Partially because Japan was the sci fi nation back then, with brands like Sony etc dominating. But partially also due to their pop culture like anime and also just the whole aesthetic they had going on in places like Tokyo that were direct inspirations for cyberpunk and all the neon / lights / ads in a concrete jungle.
The one thing completely missing from Gibson's remarks is the conception of political upheaval. Egypt, the Cairo demonstrations, the upheavals in Brazil, the London riots, OWS here in the states, these things all foretell a period in which the political consequences of the internet and the cell phone begin to coalesce into a kind of revolution with common elements in multiple countries....perhaps even the first worldwide revolution. So his focus remains narrow in one aspect while ranging imaginatively over the sociological and other consequences of technological advances. Again curious.
Gibson: I'm not a prophet but people don't her that Host: BUT you're MORE of a prophet than other authors eh? Gibson: I tell people I'm not a prophet and here's why... Host: Well we're not saying you're a soothsayer, but you've been closer than most, so... -_-
He just gave up on putting the interviewer down after a while, I hate it when journalists keep hammering their own irrelevant rehearsed talking points when talking to artists and writers. Like we're here to see William Gibson talk, not the snot-nosed assigned reporter.
The worst part is that Gibson seems super uncomfortable with it. And from the interviews I've seen from him it seems to have almost given him a complex where he feels a bit shameful about the words he used wrong or out of context or things he got wrong etc. In one interview it might have been this one he even talks about how he feels a bit ashamed when Case or some other character asks for a modem while he's hacking. Gibson says he had no idea what a modem was at the time, but now he knows he cringes when he reads it. And I think part of that is because they keep acting like the guy is this super futurist tech genius when he probably can barely check his emails without help from an assistant. The man write the Sprawl on a typewriter and isn't very on top of the latest tech. He's just an incredible would builder and creative with even more incredible talent for words.
Pay a woman for sex- illegal prostitution. Film a woman having sex with eight men and post it online for millions to see- business. Cognitive dissonance indeed. Pollution and carbon are a problem? Bring in 350,000 third world people per year and raise them to a middle class lifestyle in a northern nation requiring dozens of barrels of fuel per year! Nothing matters! Too much crime in an area? Stop policing! Housing too expensive? Make it harder to build homes with more red tape and standards that would make NASA flinch.
Gibson, curiously, finds the present "strange" or "absurd". This is a surprise. The fact that Gibson did not anticipate Facebook or cell phones is irrelevant. "I looked for possible bits and pieces of the future that might have arrived early", says Gibson. Well, that's interesting too. But I believe we readers are correct in ascribing more capability for prescience than poor Gibson himself will admit. Gibson has that ability to intuit the future that some people have. Also, interestingly, since I grew up essentially being Case (cf. Neuromancer) complete with my own razor girls (yes, there were more than one and it remains a source of puzzlement to me what attracted them to me), every time Gibson speaks, I hear elements of Case still strongly present. He seems loathe to read his own stuff, and that's understandable after lavishing such enormous effort to create them. But his reading of Neuromancer remains a model, and exemplar of how it should be done. As for me, I'd give anything to get some of my ideas on paper...I've got as many ideas as Gibson, maybe some better but the moment I sit at the computer and try to write anything, it's like someone hit the ctrl-alt-delete in my head. Nada. Nothing. Blank-out.
i had actually predicted something what would become Netflix streaming why back in the 90s. i kept on telling my buddies 'wouldn't it be nice if we could get full seasons of Star Trek on TV that we could watch whenever we wanted, in whatever order? i mean they already prerecord seasons anyway.' true story.
My literary idol! Eeeee!!
Love his work.
What a humble guy. Just finding out more about him watching The Peripheral on Amazon.
Love his sartorial style..............American Gothically speaking, w/o pitch fork, of course.
I think Gibson developed a slight complex because people keep telling him he's a visionary and he doesn't feel like that's the case at all. But he is, only not in the way that most people imagine or keep telling him.. like he has this prescience and can predict the future. Gibson instead is a brilliant world crafter and word smith who has a love for words and terms. He incorporated many words he barely understood in to his word back then and now he seems a little ashamed of it because they are used wrong etc. And I think part of that is because people keep saying he's such a visionary. The reality is he has nothing to be ashamed off, when I read the sprawl I don't read it and think "Microsofts!? But that's something totally different in my world!" .. I don't wonder why Case asks for a modem during a stressful "cyber space hacking situation"... because it's a stressfull cyberspace hacking situation and we're in an alternate reality future that is in many ways futuristic but in many other was super retro for our times, and that's fine, in fact it perfectly incapsulates that 80's and early 90's hollywood, punk sci fi we all saw in movies like bladerunner, strange days, running man, total recall etc etc. only ads its own flair. Absurdly pretty prose, the 80's "cool", low life's in a corpo owned world that's heavily influenced by Japan. Partially because Japan was the sci fi nation back then, with brands like Sony etc dominating. But partially also due to their pop culture like anime and also just the whole aesthetic they had going on in places like Tokyo that were direct inspirations for cyberpunk and all the neon / lights / ads in a concrete jungle.
The one thing completely missing from Gibson's remarks is the conception of political upheaval. Egypt, the Cairo demonstrations, the upheavals in Brazil, the London riots, OWS here in the states, these things all foretell a period in which the political consequences of the internet and the cell phone begin to coalesce into a kind of revolution with common elements in multiple countries....perhaps even the first worldwide revolution. So his focus remains narrow in one aspect while ranging imaginatively over the sociological and other consequences of technological advances. Again curious.
Idk why but this comment gives me chills today.
Gibson: I'm not a prophet but people don't her that
Host: BUT you're MORE of a prophet than other authors eh?
Gibson: I tell people I'm not a prophet and here's why...
Host: Well we're not saying you're a soothsayer, but you've been closer than most, so...
-_-
He just gave up on putting the interviewer down after a while, I hate it when journalists keep hammering their own irrelevant rehearsed talking points when talking to artists and writers. Like we're here to see William Gibson talk, not the snot-nosed assigned reporter.
The worst part is that Gibson seems super uncomfortable with it. And from the interviews I've seen from him it seems to have almost given him a complex where he feels a bit shameful about the words he used wrong or out of context or things he got wrong etc. In one interview it might have been this one he even talks about how he feels a bit ashamed when Case or some other character asks for a modem while he's hacking. Gibson says he had no idea what a modem was at the time, but now he knows he cringes when he reads it. And I think part of that is because they keep acting like the guy is this super futurist tech genius when he probably can barely check his emails without help from an assistant. The man write the Sprawl on a typewriter and isn't very on top of the latest tech. He's just an incredible would builder and creative with even more incredible talent for words.
Please any one can tell me whats the mark and model of his glasses...???
Pay a woman for sex- illegal prostitution. Film a woman having sex with eight men and post it online for millions to see- business. Cognitive dissonance indeed.
Pollution and carbon are a problem? Bring in 350,000 third world people per year and raise them to a middle class lifestyle in a northern nation requiring dozens of barrels of fuel per year! Nothing matters! Too much crime in an area? Stop policing! Housing too expensive? Make it harder to build homes with more red tape and standards that would make NASA flinch.
Gibson, curiously, finds the present "strange" or "absurd". This is a surprise. The fact that Gibson did not anticipate Facebook or cell phones is irrelevant. "I looked for possible bits and pieces of the future that might have arrived early", says Gibson. Well, that's interesting too. But I believe we readers are correct in ascribing more capability for prescience than poor Gibson himself will admit. Gibson has that ability to intuit the future that some people have. Also, interestingly, since I grew up essentially being Case (cf. Neuromancer) complete with my own razor girls (yes, there were more than one and it remains a source of puzzlement to me what attracted them to me), every time Gibson speaks, I hear elements of Case still strongly present.
He seems loathe to read his own stuff, and that's understandable after lavishing such enormous effort to create them. But his reading of Neuromancer remains a model, and exemplar of how it should be done. As for me, I'd give anything to get some of my ideas on paper...I've got as many ideas as Gibson, maybe some better but the moment I sit at the computer and try to write anything, it's like someone hit the ctrl-alt-delete in my head. Nada. Nothing. Blank-out.
i had actually predicted something what would become Netflix streaming why back in the 90s. i kept on telling my buddies 'wouldn't it be nice if we could get full seasons of Star Trek on TV that we could watch whenever we wanted, in whatever order? i mean they already prerecord seasons anyway.' true story.