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"We [science fiction writers] always wanted to believe in "private sector" space -- hucksters make better characters than a government does."
- Larry Niven
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| Meat Puppet | ||
| A person with a neural cut out chip; the chip allows computer software to completely control their actions. |
| "Where's the meat puppet?"
"There isn't any. That's the most expensive special service of all.' She stood up. She wore her leather jeans and a loose dark shirt... "This cost a lot," she said, extending her right hand as though it held an invisible fruit. The five blades slid out, then retracted smoothly. "Costs to go to Chiba, costs to get the surgery, costs to have them jack your nervous system up so you'll have the reflexes to go with the gear... You know how I got the money, when I was starting out? Here. Not here, but a place like it, in the Sprawl. Joke, to start with, 'cause once they plant the cut-out chip, it seems like free money. Wake up sore, sometimes, but that's it. Renting the goods, is all. You aren't in, when it's all happening. House has software for whatever a customer wants to pay for..." |
| Technovelgy from Neuromancer,
by William Gibson. Published by Phantasia Press in 1984 Additional resources -
|
Philip K. Dick had this idea thirty years earlier - see the entry for hypno-motor control from his chillingly prescient 1954 story Sales Pitch.
Probably the earliest reference to this idea is found in The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
Also, compare to eccentric projection from The Girl Who Was Plugged In (1974) by James Tiptree, Jr.
‘Were the Scarecrow and I alone,’ said the Tin Woodman, ‘we would travel by night as well as by day; but with a meat person in our party, we must halt at night to permit him to rest.’
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More Ideas
and Technology from Neuromancer
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Tech news articles related to Neuromancer
Tech news articles related to works by William Gibson
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news articles:
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| Machete-Wielding Philodendron Isn't Going To Take It Anymore |
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| EctoLife Concept Video Artificial Womb For Baby Mass Production |
| T. Gondii And The Leaders Of The Pack |
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'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'
'the robot-boss was busy at the lip of the new lode instructing and egging the men on to greater speed...'
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...'
