Gwyneth Jones on developing robot technology | Features | Guardian Unlimited Film talks about how much more prescient the genre of cyberpunk was/is at looking at the future, as opposed to more general science fiction. The article also takes the slant that technology is a value-neutral instrument that only achieves moral dimensions when humans choose to use it in certain ways. I’m not convinced, because I think the socio-cultural forces that shape technological development contain values that are incorporated into the output of that development.
Anyway, the article fitted well with the book below that I’ve just finished reading. I’d give the book a C+, though. Apart from William Gibson’s short story ‘Burning Chrome’ and Philip K Dick’s short story that inspired the movie ‘Total Recall’ I wasn’t gripped that much by it. Maybe get Gibson’s own collection of short stories, also called ‘Burning Chrome’.
