Neuromancer

by

William Gibson

Simulated Stimulation. A digital representation of the thoughts and feelings of another person. One individual is fitted with a simstim rig that broadcasts their senses to another person, who then rides along in their brain and body, seeing and feeling everything they see and feel.

SimStim Quotes in Neuromancer

The Neuromancer quotes below are all either spoken by SimStim or refer to SimStim. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11 Quotes

He vomited over a rosewood railing into the quiet waters of the lake. Something that had seemed to close around his head like a vise had released him now. Kneeling, his cheek against the cool wood, he stared across the shallow lake at the bright aura of the Rue Jules Verne.

Case had seen the medium before; when he’d been a teenager in the Sprawl, they’d called it, “dreaming real.” He remembered thin Puerto Ricans under East Side streetlights, dreaming real to the quick beat of a salsa, dreamgirls shuddering and turning, the onlookers clapping in time. But that had needed a van full of gear and a clumsy trode helmet.

What Riviera dreamed, you got. Case shook his aching head and spat into the lake.

He could guess the end, the finale. There was an inverted symmetry: Riviera puts the dreamgirl together, the dreamgirl takes him apart. With those hands. Dreamblood soaking the rotten lace.

Cheers from the restaurant, applause. Case stood and ran his hands over his clothes. He turned and walked back into the Vingtiéme Siécle.

Molly’s chair was empty. The stage was deserted. Armitage sat alone, still staring at the stage, the stem of the wineglass between his fingers.

Related Characters: Henry Dorsett Case, Molly, Armitage / Corto, Riviera, Lady 3Jane Marie-France Tessier-Ashpool
Page Number: 141
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

He bought a mug of Carlsberg and found a place against the wall. Closing his eyes, he felt for the knot of rage, the pure small coal of his anger. It was there still. Where had it come from? He remembered feeling only a kind of bafflement at his maiming in Memphis, nothing at all when he’d killed to defend his dealing interests in Night City, and a slack sickness and loathing after Linda’s death under the inflated dome. But no anger. Small and far away, on the mind’s screen, a semblance of Deane struck a semblance of an office wall in an explosion of brains and blood. He knew then: the rage had come in the arcade, when Wintermute rescinded the simstim ghost of Linda Lee, yanking away the simple animal promise of food, warmth, a place to sleep. But he hadn’t become aware of it until his exchange with the holo-construct of Lonny Zone.

It was a strange thing. He couldn’t take its measure.

“Numb,” he said. He’d been numb a long time, years. All his nights down Ninsei, his nights with Linda, numb in bed and numb at the cold sweating center of every drug deal. But now he’d found this warm thing, this chip of murder. Meat, some part of him said. It’s the meat talking, ignore it.

Related Characters: Henry Dorsett Case (speaker), Julius “Julie” Deane (speaker), Linda Lee, Molly, Lonny Zone
Page Number: 152
Explanation and Analysis:
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SimStim Term Timeline in Neuromancer

The timeline below shows where the term SimStim appears in Neuromancer. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
Identity and Personhood Theme Icon
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
...black rectangle—a “flipflop switch,” which, when plugged into his computer, allows him to access Molly’s simstim. Molly is being fitted with a broadcast rig later, and this technology will allow Case... (full context)
Chapter 4
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
Case sits in the loft and considers the simstim. He explains that cowboys had seem simstim as a “meat toy,” and had never been... (full context)
Reality and Perception Theme Icon
Case connects to cyberspace, then flips a new simstim switch, which jolts him into “other flesh.” He’s inside of Molly’s head, seeing, hearing, and... (full context)
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
...Moderns. He says he’ll help her, but that she can’t have anyone watching on a simstim. Case logs off. (full context)
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
...diversion for Sense/Net’s human security. During the heist, Case switches between the matrix and Molly’s SimStim. He watches her enter the building, disguised as a tourist, and then switches back to... (full context)
Reality and Perception Theme Icon
Case watches Molly’s simstim. She takes an elevator to the basement, where she stuns a security guard and locks... (full context)
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
Case flips himself back to Molly’s simstim. She places three endorphin dermadisks on her wrist, the chemicals helping her power through the... (full context)
Chapter 14
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
Reality and Perception Theme Icon
...the virus and jacks back in, watching it unfold around him. He then activates Molly’s simstim. She’s in Straylight, in free falling through some central tunnel. (full context)
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
Identity and Personhood Theme Icon
Case switches to Molly’s simstim but finds himself crashing through the Finn’s metal table. The Finn greets him, and Case... (full context)
Chapter 15
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
...matrix, Dixie tells Case he was brain-dead for five seconds. Unconcerned, Case switches to Molly’s simstim. Wintermute has accessed the digital display in her glasses, and displays Case’s name, letting her... (full context)
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
...in a cabinet in which a key is hidden. Molly speaks to Case through the simstim—explaining Wintermute told her he had watched someone lose the key twenty years ago, and then... (full context)
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
Identity and Personhood Theme Icon
...“it.” Case jacks out for a moment, assuring Maelcum he’s fine, before jacking into Molly’s simstim. He watches her ignore Wintermute’s instructions, and take the wrong fork in a hallway. (full context)
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
Identity and Personhood Theme Icon
Reality and Perception Theme Icon
...Ashpool killed the Jane in his bed. Molly looks at the woman’s face; through the simstim, Case sees the face transform into Linda Lee and back. He realizes Molly cannot see this,... (full context)
Chapter 16
Identity and Personhood Theme Icon
...then disconnects. Case tells Dixie to look General Girling up. He then flips to Molly’s simstim. (full context)
Chapter 17
Technology and the Body Theme Icon
Identity and Personhood Theme Icon
Through the simstim, Case watches Molly work her way through Straylight. He considers different types of insanity—he understands... (full context)
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
Addiction and Dependency Theme Icon
Case flips to Molly’s simstim, watching her walk though Straylight. Case can feel the pain in her once broken leg,... (full context)
Chapter 18
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
Reality and Perception Theme Icon
Case jacks into Molly’s simstim as Maelcum navigates the Garvey towards Straylight. 3Jane is telling Molly about her mother, Marie-France,... (full context)
Identity and Personhood Theme Icon
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
Addiction and Dependency Theme Icon
...Straylight’s custodial system, and let the virus take hold that way. Case returns to Molly’s simstim. Molly is unconscious, but still sends stimulus back to Case. 3Jane is upset that Molly... (full context)
Chapter 19
Identity and Personhood Theme Icon
Addiction and Dependency Theme Icon
Case flips to Molly’s simstim. 3Jane is bandaging her head and broken eye. 3Jane tells Molly that although Riviera wants... (full context)
Chapter 20
Identity and Personhood Theme Icon
Reality and Perception Theme Icon
...rival construct has been appearing to him with Linda’s face—in the sky and in the simstim of Jane’s dead clone. Angry now, Case tells the AI he knows it thinks it... (full context)
Chapter 22
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
Case realizes that Riviera doesn’t know about Molly’s simstim, although Hideo and 3Jane probably do, having patted her down. Therefore, Hideo and 3Jane know... (full context)
Chapter 23
Self-Interest vs. Human Connection Theme Icon
Case flips into Molly’s simstim; Molly is choking 3Jane to get her to say the code. Case jacks out. He... (full context)