A Futuristic Writer Looks to the Future

Ask noted author William Gibson, who has been called the "noir prophet" of cyberpunk and coined the term "cyberspace" in one of his short stories in 1982, where technology will take us in the future and he gives a quick response - he doesn't know and no one else does either.

"It's an illusion that we decide where we are going with technology," Gibson says. "We can't predict what technology is going to do once human beings get their hands on it."

Gibson, the author of Neuromancer and a host of other science fiction best-sellers, appeared tonight at the Politics and Prose bookstore to read from and discuss his new collection of non-fiction articles entitled Distrust That Particular Flavor.

 But, not suprisingly the large crowd of fanboys (and quiet a few fangirls) most wanted to ask Gibson about the technology and the future which play such as integral role in his creations.

Gibson made it clear that he considers himself a writer who often uses the future as a setting, not a futurist. He said that while he can envision a world where "fridges ands toothbrushes are as intelligent as any other object, even you" it is impossible to know the future with certainty.

"It's an accidental process where the outcome can never be imagined by people who first bring it into the world," he said. As an example, Gibson noted that he is sure that the originators of the combustion engine did not sit around discussing the possibility that their invention could doom the environment.

Sometimes, an author can create a world which later comes true. Gibson said he wrote about a world that was "Ronald Reagan's vision of America cranked up to 11. There were only rich people and poor people and criminals. Sometimes I think it might be getting that way."

Gibson said that while all people probably feel they live in extraordinary times, today's world is actually "weirder than anything ever imagined before we got to it."

"You can't describe the world today without sounding like raging science fiction," he added.

Gibson said as a teenager he loved reading science fiction, but it was his intrigue with the fiction parts, not the knowledge of science that fueled his early writing. " My ignorance of computing was almost perfect," Gibson said. "Maybe that allowed to see the forest for the trees. Although that is a cliche, it is sometimes true. When I first heard the word 'interface' used as a verb, I thought that was the most scientifically sexiest thing I'd ever heard. I'd give anything to have made that up."

But, undaunted, the fanboys continued to try to pin him down -  will the future be a Utopian vision or a Dystopian nightmare? Gibson's final answer: "The world is as it is. Utopian ... Dystopian .. they are, or at least they should be absolutes. I guess it really depends on which side of the bed I get up on in the morning."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips

At book talks, some authors read from their work. Others don't. Gibson followed the first approach, reading tonight from a review he wrote about Steely Dan's released-in-2000 CD  Two Against Nature, their 1st release in 20 years. It seems that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the musicians behind the Dan, as their fans call the band, asked Gibson to write the review. Gibson, himself a huge fan, readily complied. "I was always including coded references and pieces of stolen Steely Dan in my work and I thought this would be a chance to pay them back," Gibson said. The author said he considers Steely Dan to be both lyrically brilliant and genuinely subversive. "I was walking in the supermarket and I heard this (Steely Dan) song about Cuervo Gold, and cocaine, and the ... shall we say ... pleasures of a younger girl and I thought 'Is this really what they play in supermarkets? Is anyone else hearing this?'' As for his review, after several pages of strikingly-worded insights (some of which I actually understood but all of which were fascinating), Gibson concluded most simply:" "I'm not a reviewer. I just want to say I like this record a lot."