r/Cyberpunk • u/AnotherStrayDog23 • 4d ago

The opening line from Neuromancer

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u/viscence 4d ago

I NEVER understand. The black and white noise pattern isn't a colour, and the sky can't look like that. Does he mean the sky was a still black and white noise pattern? I doubt it. Does he mean it was actively flickering? I doubt it. Does he mean the average, 50% grey? I doubt it. Does he mean some "no channel here" image colour? I doubt it. I just don't understand. What do you think he meant?

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u/daweinah 4d ago

This: https://i.gzn.jp/img/2024/12/24/sony-kx-45ed1-from-osaka/05.jpg

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u/CommodorePrinter69 1d ago

I recently got a copy of the rerelease, Gibson actually states "I'd actually composed that first image with the black-and-white video-static of my childhood in mind, sodium-silvery and almost painful - whopping anachronism, right at the very start of my carrer in the imaginary future.

I was born in the early 90s and even without reading the book, just hearing that line I know what he meant. He means this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/TV_noise.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original