Fate Framework in Neuromancer

“This is the message. Wintermute.” He spelled it out.“From you?” Case took a step forward.“No,” Yonderboy said, “For you.” (pg 68)
This quote introduces a whole new complexity to the twisted world of cyberspace. As if this futuristic society of decks, jacking in, and societies in space was not advanced enough, Case and Molly spend days attempting to decipher what exactly Wintermute is. They finally conclude it is an artificial intelligence, but their discovery only further complicates things. Upon being asked, “Just thinking out loud…How smart’s an AI Case?”(pg 91), Case recalls that “…the real smart ones are as smart as the Turing heat is willing to let ‘em get.”(pg 91) In other words, with technology being as advanced as it has become, these artificial intelligences could be extreme and practically impossible to crack. A few pages later, Wintermute contacts Case via a series of payphones at a hotel. Upon answering the phone he hears, “Wintermute, Case. It’s time we talk.” (pg 95) This whole scenario ties in with the framework of fate and destiny. In a society with the ability to track people down to an exact location, especially someone like Case, who is constantly on the move, technology plays a prominent role in fate. It is almost as if these technologies are altering the destiny of the human race, without even giving them a fighting chance to resist this colossal alteration. Even though Wintermute is just “a simple cube of white light, [it] very simplicity suggesting extreme complexity.” (pg 112) Furthermore, the previous owner of the deck Case has been jacking into, admits that he flatlined attempting to break into an artificial intelligence, and he was known as one of the best out there. He claims that “It was the densest ice [he’d] ever seen.”( pg 111). The revealing of this fact makes the prospect of cracking into this artificial intelligence of Wintermute as a daunting, almost suicidal mission; this thought alone once again enforces the idea of technology altering fate.