Transcendence and Technology in Neuromancer"Where do we go from here?" Case asks towards the conclusion of William Gibson's novel Neuromancer (259). A suggested answer in most of the narrative is nowhere to be found. True, geographically we will be catapulted into Earth's urban centers in the near future, Chiba City, the Sprawl, Istanbul, and then to the orbital pleasure domes and corporate stronghold of Freeside and Straylight. The type of movement I am referring to, however, is not overtly physical. Neuromancer articulates an inward movement, his attention focuses on subtle internal aspects; it is implosive rather than expansive, choosing to examine how technology affects the universe of the self, individual consciousness, rather than the universe at large (Csicsery 188). Every human character in the novel remains psychologically static, linked to a predetermined pattern of behavior, a seemingly inescapable identity. Human characters seem unaware or incapable of forming or reforming an individual, provisional and far from absolute notion of self. Wintermute, an artificial intelligence, a computer, however, recognizes and attempts to transcend itself. The lines between humanity and the machines it produces are blurred. The old paradigms of self, of identity seem obsolete. The character who has the greatest capacity for change in the novel is a machine. This is neither an indictment of humanity nor an endorsement of technology. Instead, the novel remains staunchly ambivalent toward what Gibson himself calls “the very mixed blessings of technology” (Interview 274). The novel asks us to consider the question of individual identity separately from human physical existence, within a technological context. . half of the document ......and UP, 1992. 263-285.Grant, Glenn. “Transcendence through detournement in William Gibson's Neuromancer.” Science fiction studies. 17 (1990). 41-49. Hollinger, Veronica. “Cybernetic Deconstruction.” Attack on the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992. Jameson, Frederick. “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” New Left Review. 146 (July-August 1984) Rpt in Storming the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992.McCaffrey, Larry. Introduction: Royal Desert. Attack on the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992. 1-16.Porush, David. "Foam in the synaptic bath." Attack on the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992. Slusser, George. "Literary MTV". Attack on the Reality Studio. Larry McCaffrey, ed. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1992.