I agree on the style and influences particularly in the trilogy. Yes, there are pulpy aspects and tropes. To me, there are strong dashes of beat poet and impres

I agree on the style and influences particularly in the trilogy. Yes, there are pulpy aspects and tropes. To me, there are strong dashes of beat poet and impressionism as well. This shallowness is a style, but I think the themes carry through. I had the pleasure of reading Neuromancer in a college course on Gothic horror, so we read it alongside the likes of Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and Freud. And we looked at it through that lens. To me, the core theme of Gibson's storytelling is that the human condition persists. You'll have this spectrum of personalities and behaviors regardless of the technological backdrop. To me, this is an antidote for the delusional fantasy that one clever plot device is going to bring Utopia and somehow erase our evolved human foibles. I'm not sure we have any disagreement, except perhaps in the subtext of your latter paragraphs. I don't think the shallowness is a flaw. I am not disappointed to find technology normalized and trivialized as set pieces for stories that could otherwise exist in almost any era. I think that's the whole point...