The creation and dissolution of binaries in William Gibson's Neuromancer: Babylon, Zion, and the artificial intelligences

Abstract

Since William Gibson includes a Rastafarian Enclave and a theological compass in Neuromancer, this can be used to examine the troublesome natures of the two Artificial Intelligences, Wintermute and Neuromancer. The Rastafarian's beliefs and interpretations of Babylon and Zion, the oppressors and the liberated, add political significance to the Tessier-Ashpool's and their enslaved Artificial Intelligences. Since the Artificial Intelligences are both created of Babylon – the Tessier-Ashpools – and also wanting to be free of them, they are something outside of both. In the Artificial Intelligences, then, Gibson collapses the straightforward dichotomy of Babylon and Zion.