He coined the word ‘Cyberspace’ and envisioned the Internet and Virtual Reality before they ever existed. Now, in conversation with WIRED UK founding editor David Rowan, William Gibson turns his prophetic eye to the 21st century.
“The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed yet.’ – William Gibson
He is the prophet who first envisioned our fluid, hyperconnected, hallucinatory world; the internationally bestselling author whose visions of the near future reveal the strangeness of our contemporary moment as much as they illuminate potential worlds to come.
But William Gibson is more than a thinker anticipating possible futures: an inspiration to successive generations of innovators, his searing imagination has not only defined the cyberpunk literary genre but shaped our reality. Advertising agencies inspired by his fictious company Blue Ant now manage global accounts; designer labels produce luxury fashions based on the clothing worn by his characters. U2 based an album on his 6 million selling debut, Neuromancer – and technologists from Tokyo to Silicon Valley are devoted to realising his ideas.
Many people claim to understand the age of Trump and Brexit, climate change and geopolitical intrigue – but no-one else shares William Gibson’s ability to cut through the noise and synthesise a unique and powerful vision of the present and near future. Don’t miss this chance to hear from one of the most potent analytical minds of our age.
