Burning Chrome

Gibson’s style, unlike that of some science fiction, depicts technology not as a miraculous wonder, but rather as an ever-present aspect of everyday life—for better or worse. Several characters throughout the collection exhibit a fascination with technology, like Parker, who is attached to his ASP machine, and Deke, who is obsessed with the Fokkers and Spads game. Other characters have extraordinary talents with technology, like the brilliant coder Nance or the deft hackers Automatic Jack and Bobby Quine.

Nevertheless, there is a running thread throughout Burning Chrome that positions technology as a means of controlling individuals and societies. In some cases, technology is utilized to compel someone to do something. In “Johnny Mnemonic” there are multiple examples of this. Johnny’s body and mind are used to deliver data, for example, and his self-control is relinquished in the process. Likewise, the cyborg-dolphin Squid is used by the navy for data encoding and decoding, controlled by a combination of sophisticated technology and heroin. “Burning Chrome” shows a similarly sinister example when it reveals that Rikki and other women are used as prostitutes controlled by “neuroelectronics” to enable customers “to have it both ways” (203): sex with someone without having to communicate, because the neuroelectronics put the women into a coma-like state.