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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 11, No. 9
Publication Date: September 25, 2024
DOI:10.14738/assrj.119.17573.
Suereth, R. (2024). New Modes of Humanity and Everydayness in Gibson’s Cyberspace. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 11(9). 27-41.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
New Modes of Humanity and Everydayness in Gibson’s
Cyberspace
Russell Suereth
Salve Regina University
Abstract
The problem this article addresses is that we disregard the impact of cyberspace on
our human development and everyday lives. We use cyberspace in our daily lives
today through virtual work meetings and internet games. However, cyberspace can
be more than a communication medium and game destination. It can be more than
a matrix of networks in a science fiction story. Instead, cyberspace can be a space of
human growth and where we experience our everyday lives. This article discusses
the cyberspace described by William Gibson in his Sprawl trilogy, composed of the
novels Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive. The article shows how
Gibson infuses cyberspace with everyday objects and situations. These everyday
things enable the characters and readers to participate in a cyberspace that feels
real and genuine. It depicts a cyberspace that is a new approach to being human and
the emergence of a new everyday world. The research aims to show how cyberspace
and our physical space are similar. It investigates how cyberspace contains a human
dimension and human places. It examines how cyberspace can be as genuine as
physical space. The research considers how cyberspace can provide a new
everydayness and pathway for human living. From this research, the article hopes
to show that cyberspace can be a place for human living in a world with fewer
constraints. In this way, cyberspace can be an avenue for a new form of
everydayness and greater human progress.
Keywords: Humanity, Posthumanism, Everyday, Cyberspace, Gibson
INTRODUCTION
Cyberspace is a form of space. It is much like other spaces, such as a large grass field or the sky
above us. That is, cyberspace interacts with other spaces and our human selves. However,
cyberspace has an interesting characteristic that differentiates it from other spaces. Cyberspace
exists because humans or their machines have built it. In that sense, cyberspace exists for
humans. More specifically, it exists for humans to play, work, and do any of the activity’s
humans do when interacting with others and the world around them.
In our modern world, cyberspace has become part of our everyday lives. It captured our
imagination in its beginning years and now cyberspace engages us with games, work, and every
imaginable human activity. It began with William Gibson’s Neuromancer.
Published in 1984, Neuromancer was a popular science fiction novel. It received critical acclaim
and won three science fiction awards: the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Philip K.
Dick Award. Neuromancer is the first of the three books Gibson wrote that are set in the Sprawl,
a vast metropolis spanning from Boston to Atlanta. The other two books in the trilogy are Count
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 11, Issue 9, September-2024
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. A common theme in the trilogy is cyberspace which is the focus
of this article.
The trilogy is a cyberpunk story infused with technology, AI, and human enhancement. It occurs
in a future dystopia. In Neuromancer, the main character is Case who is addicted to drugs and
cyberspace. Case and others jack into cyberspace through a hardware deck that interfaces with
the matrix, a vast aggregation of virtual networks. Case used to be a high-end computer hacker
but is now a small-time hustler who was caught stealing from his employer. He is often
accompanied by Molly, a hired killer or razorgirl with overly sharp nails and stalking
enhancements. The plot, in short, is about Case’s quest to return to being the high-end hacker
he once was. Yet Case and his quest are only part of the Neuromancer story. Another prominent
character is the world of cyberspace.
This article addresses how cyberspace is more than a matrix of networks in a science fiction
novel. Cyberspace can be a space where we experience our everyday human lives. In our
everyday world today, we already use a form of cyberspace when we participate in virtual work
meetings and play games on the internet. Gibson's characters show us that cyberspace has
similarities to our physical spaces. In his detailed descriptions of everyday objects and
situations, the difference between cyberspace and physical space becomes clouded. In this way,
cyberspace becomes another reality.
The article refrains from presenting a theory of space. Instead, it explores a realm of human
potential and the freedom that cyberspace hints at, without getting tangled in the technicalities
of physical constraints or virtual movements.
This article does not provide an analysis of virtual hardware and software. Although the
technical realization of Gibson’s cyberspace may seem close, in our modern world today, virtual
space and physical space offer quite different experiences. The differences become apparent
when we put on virtual headsets and enter an environment that does not match our physical
reality. The virtual reality of Gibson’s cyberspace goes far beyond the current capabilities of
technology today.
Gibson’s depiction of cyberspace is sometimes dystopian, yet we can still use it as a constructive
vision of human interaction in a virtual world. Cyberspace is constructive for the novel’s
characters because, in contrast to the physical and broken urbanscape, it communicates with
them. It is constructive for Gibson’s readers because cyberspace expresses freedom from the
social and physical constraints in our real world.
This article describes the human-oriented similarities between the cyberspace in Gibson’s
trilogy and the physical space where we are likely now breathing. It describes how cyberspace
is not an empty void. Instead, cyberspace has a human dimension that enables human
experiences and places to emerge. Cyberspace enables humans to go beyond social and physical
constraints that limit our individual and human capabilities. Cyberspace suggests a new way of
being human.
The article also shows how Gibson infuses cyberspace with everyday objects and situations.
Those everyday things are important because they enable the characters and readers to
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Suereth, R. (2024). New Modes of Humanity and Everydayness in Gibson’s Cyberspace. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 11(9). 27-41.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.119.17573
participate in a cyberspace that feels genuine. In this way, cyberspace enables a new approach
to everyday things and the emergence of a new everyday world.
This research aims to consider that cyberspace is a new place for human reality and freedom.
This new reality arises through communication and a sense of everydayness. The new freedom
emerges from a move away from physical and social constraints. The research further considers
that this new reality and freedom have limitations. However, the scope of cyberspace is wide.
Accordingly, this article shortens the scope by focusing on cyberspace as William Gibson
depicts it in his science fiction trilogy of The Sprawl in the novels Neuromancer, Count Zero, and
Mona Lisa Overdrive. Within this scope, the objectives of the research are:
1. Investigate Gibson's description of cyberspace.
2. Explore how cyberspace and physical space are similar.
3. Describe how cyberspace contains a human dimension and human places.
4. Examine the ambiguity between cyberspace and physical space.
5. Describe how cyberspace can be as genuine as physical space.
6. Analyze how Gibson saturates cyberspace with details and movements of
everydayness.
7. Explore how cyberspace can provide a new everydayness and pathway for human
living.
8. Consider whether Gibson’s cyberspace offers greater freedom than is available in our
physical world.
The methodology in this research employs an analysis of cyberspace in Gibson's Sprawl trilogy.
The methodology also employs literature that discusses cyberspace in these three novels and
the concept of cyberspace in science fiction in general. Through this methodology and
associated research, this article hopes to show that cyberspace can be a space for human living
that is genuine and with fewer constraints. It further hopes to show that cyberspace can be a
pathway for a new everydayness and greater human progress.
CYBERSPACE FOR LIVING
In our modern world, cyberspace has become part of our everyday lives. It captured our
imagination in its beginning years, and now cyberspace engages us with games, work, and every
imaginable human activity.
Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy is a cyberpunk story infused with technology, AI, and human
enhancement. It occurs in a future dystopia. The novel Neuromancer was published in 1984. Its
main character is Case, who is addicted to drugs and cyberspace. Case and others jack into
cyberspace through a hardware deck that interfaces with the matrix, a vast aggregation of
virtual networks. Case was once a high-end computer hacker but is now a small-time hustler
who was caught stealing from his employer. He is often accompanied by Molly, a hired killer or
razorgirl with overly sharp nails and stalking enhancements. The plot, in short, is about Case’s
quest to return to being the high-end hacker he once was. Yet Case and his quest are only part
of the Neuromancer story. Another prominent character is the world of cyberspace.
Cyberspace and Places
As humans, we work, play, and rest in some type of space. More specifically, we are situated in
a space, and that positioning occurs through our human experiences. In a way, we are not only