Waiting for the Movie

Regarding Russian (though possibly grassroots rather than state-sponsored) virtual attacks on Estonian web infrastructure, Robert Farley remarks that "lots of work has been done on "cyber war", the promise and vulnerability of networked military organizations" but:

Less attention has been paid to the economic prospects of cyber warfare, and to the ability of states to exert power and coercion through a new set of tools. When Russia tries to coerce its neigbors through threatening to destroy their economic and governmental activity, it becomes a problem for NATO and consequently the United States.

Of course, like many things all this could be anticipated by close readers of William Gibson's sprawl trilogy which clearly has just such a clash (between the US and Russia, even) as part of its backstory. I'm fairly confident that if this Neuromancer movie ever happens it's going to suck, though.

Comments

Confident? I can guarantee you that Neuromancer will be a terrible movie.

Posted by Clark | May 29, 2007 5:23 PM

Of course the movie will suck. But will suck even more than the book? That would be an impressive feat indeed.

Posted by Maynard Handley | May 29, 2007 5:39 PM

I can't imagine how a good movie treatment of Neuromancer is even possible. It's got lots of vivid scenes, but as a whole it's not one of those books that lends itself to the screen.

MY's link gave me an opportunity to revisit Gibson's blog, which I like to check in on every few months. Among the entries is a pretty good explanation (though not an intentional one) of why Neal Stephenson is a pale imitation of Gibson. At the risk of re-opening one of the classic minor flame wars, here it is:

"Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over worldbuilding.

Worldbuilding is dull. Worldbuilding literalises the urge to invent. Worldbuilding gives an unnecessary permission for acts of writing (indeed, for acts of reading). Worldbuilding numbs the reader’s ability to fulfil their part of the bargain, because it believes that it has to do everything around here if anything is going to get done.

Above all, worldbuilding is not technically necessary. It is the great clomping foot of nerdism. It is the attempt to exhaustively survey a place that isn’t there. A good writer would never try to do that, even with a place that is there. It isn’t possible, & if it was the results wouldn’t be readable: they would constitute not a book but the biggest library ever built, a hallowed place of dedication & lifelong study. This gives us a clue to the psychological type of the worldbuilder & the worldbuilder’s victim, & makes us very afraid."

Posted by sglover | May 29, 2007 7:41 PM

I've forgotten more Neuromancer film deals than you've ever heard of:

Myself, I'll be willing to entertain the idea that Neuromancer is really "headed for the big screen" when I'm watching it being shot

As the old saying goes, I'll believe it when I see it. ...

I no longer get very wrought up over the liminals, myself, except to be annoyed by people who seem to assume that feature films are the ultimate stage of novelistic creation, thereby relegating the book to the status of dull gray chrysalis.

Posted by josephdietrich | May 30, 2007 5:22 AM

Matt,

Global Nerdy put together a handy chart contracting aspects of cyber-war in Neuromancer and the current situation in Estonia.

Posted by Thomas Allen | May 30, 2007 12:59 PM