Semiotic Bulimia: Branded Cyborgs of Late-Capitalism and the World of William Gibson's Pattern Recognition
Douglas Shoback
Independently Published
2017
nidottu
Science Fiction (SF) author William Gibson has never been one to shy away from the problems of semiology in late-Capitalism and post-modernism. His novels deal extensively with the functions of the technological apparatus in relation to human bodies. Bodies in Gibson novels are depicted as flesh machines, a fusing of biological and mechanical parts creating something not quite human but not without humanity: a cyborg.With Gibson, The natural world becomes attached to and defined by the gray starkness of technology. In turn, these worlds are controlled by omnipotent corporations and hyper-Capitalistic enterprises, suspended between the identifiable "natural" human and the controlled and created identity of the machine. Because the "natural" human identity within Gibson novels is intertwined with the created technological identity, these novels inherently focus upon a crisis of representation in a world with no definitive separation between technological meaning and "natural" meaning-Gibson novels focus upon the crisis of meaning within a world overwhelmed by an innumerable amount of signs.In the 21st century, where the sign has become the main method of establishing and identity, it is increasingly important to see where these signs are created and, more important, where the signification comes from. And in 2017, the sign and siginifier both come from late Capitalism corporations. No longer is a product the focus of the Corporation, but the lifestyle of those who consume the product.Just like a William Gibson model, those of us living in the second decade of the 21st century have become cyborgs, branded by Corporations, our lifestyles determined by the branded ideologies created by these Corporations. Our identities reliant upon modern Capitalist methods of branding.We are cyborgs of the 21st century, both through technological enhancement and in identity formation. Our bodies the playground of the sign, the signifier controlled by the company.
