What inspired Deus Ex?

Qaladar on 22/8/2006 at 17:27

Yeah it was... this is from Neuromancer.

"Case sighed. 'Well, I got a user-friendly Chinese icebreaker here, a one shot cassette. Some people in Frankfurt say it'll cut an AI.'"

I still think the world of Deus Ex doesn't at all feel like the world of Gibson, aside from the borrowed technical terms and plot elements. The cities aren't big enough. Maybe if you jumped forward about 30 years it could be the same.

Matthew on 22/8/2006 at 17:36

Well, supposedly it was coined in an unpublished manuscript written by his friend and fellow writer Tom Maddox. Gibson asked and received permission to use the term.

So Tom himself says on Wikipedia, anyway.

Vigil on 22/8/2006 at 17:43

Ahhh, I stand corrected Qaladar :o

Fingernail on 28/8/2006 at 08:13

I watched a TV documentary about conspiracy theories once and the presenter travelled to Austin, TX to meet several theorists - apparently it's a hotspot for such people and local radio and news supposedly often features letters/ramblings from these people.

So it's not surprising that being based in Austin, ISA had a rich source of inspiration.

The Illuminati were touched upon in the documentary but it was more about other secret societies and such.

Apparently the main bank is designed to look like an owl from some angles - some secret sign of some secret society or something, I forget what it's meant to be. BUT THEY ARE WATCHING YOU.

AxTng1 on 29/8/2006 at 05:29

Bump to remove the Nokia seller from the front page. Apparently no-one wanted to help the widow's son.

demagogue on 30/8/2006 at 19:50

Quote Posted by Fingernail

Haha ... practically a right-wing kook militia capital of the US. No coincidence that Waco (home of the Branch Davidian - Federal Gov't standoff) is right near by. I grew up surrounded by these kinds of kooks, but they are funny to listen to sometimes.

TheGreatGodPan on 31/8/2006 at 03:39

I had been under the impression that Austin was rather counter-cultural and less right-wing than most of Texas. There is supposed to be an annual "Keep Austin Weird" parade or something like that.

llorenth on 1/9/2006 at 01:59

Quote Posted by TheGreatGodPan

I had been under the impression that Austin was rather counter-cultural and less right-wing than most of Texas. There is supposed to be an annual "Keep Austin Weird" parade or something like that.

Indeed, Austin is the only blue city in the sea of red that is Texas. All around Austin it's hicksville with Waco and Killeen and such. Nasty little places.

demagogue on 1/9/2006 at 23:19

Yes, I should have clarified ... it's the areas around Austin that's more kookville, whereas the city itself is ... more like a little piece of California in Texas. Actually I've heard a good euphamisms for it "The hole in the bible belt."

(Another good euphamism for the city is "The velvet coffin" ... because once you live there, you don't want to leave. Nice standard of living. Nothing to do with being liberal. I just like the phrase.)

As far as conspiracy-culture goes, Austin is distinct in that it was, at one time, the heart of Lyndon Baines Johnson territory, one of the more attractive magnets for conspiracy-kooks. Apparently, locked in the law-library vaults of LBJ's law firm on Congress Ave is the most decisive proof of the legal steps LBJ took to shelter himself from his more egregious exploits, including (so they say) fixing his Senatorial campaign, bagging juicy deals for Texas oil companies, and of course assassinating JFK, among other things.

TheGreatGodPan on 2/9/2006 at 00:07

I thought the nature of LBJ's "landslide" primary victory was pretty much an open secret now, and his pork patronage of Texas (Houston, we have a problem, why the fuck aren't you in Cape Canaveral?) to boot. JFK, on the other hand, we all know was murdered by the C.I.A, the mafia, the Pentagon, the Soviet Union, Castro, homosexual bsdm fetishists, nazis, aliens, lizards and Jackie (soon to be) O all at the same time in a hilarious mix-up chock full of zany hijinks.