LMST 345_Topic:Cyberpunk and Steampunk_Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson

LMST 345
Topic: Cyberpunk and Steampunk
Read: Mona Lisa Overdrive

In Mona Lisa Overdrive, Author William Gibson explores ideas about the possible effects of technological transformations and accommodations on everyday life and environments. Understanding the way in which the matrix has changed as a result of the raid on the Villa Straylight in Neuromancer, is the main question driving character Gentry, a direct “spiritual descendent” of earlier characters from older books, Case (in Neuromancer) and Bobby Newmark (in Count Zero). In trying to figure out the details of when and how everything evolved, he discovers that the answers he’s looking for all stem from the union of the two AI's in Neuromancer.

 The narrative follows “Simstim” star Angie’s story, as well as three other plot threads that all emerge to deliver the plot. The first and second thread introduce Kumiko, the young daughter of a Japanese yakuza boss and an artist known as Slick Henry, who lives out in the “Factory”. The remaining plotline surrounds the character Mona, a young prostitute who resembles Angie. Gibson takes the audience on a journey through cyberspace as he skillfully weaves together the four narratives, showing how the evolving technological innovation is perceived from different perspectives.  In the reading, Gibson begins to touch on topics of digital immortality, and vague ideas of being able to upload one’s “personality” into the matrix as a means to continue to function after death, Sense/Net technology is mentioned as it is utilized in the production of characters like Angie.  Through the novel, Gibson proposes the potential gains and dangers of a technology-reliant environment, suggesting that it contributes to a culture centered around being interconnected, and how it will ultimately change societal outcomes in substantial ways.