If you need to produce a block of filler text for a design, the standard has always been the Latin nonsense of Lorem Ipsum. But do you know what’s a lot cooler than insert-it’s-all-Latin-to-me-joke-here? Words based on the works of William Gibson. And yes, you can constantly refresh a wall of shifting cyberpunk-themed words for your designing pleasure.
Gibson essentially codified the cyberpunk genre with Neuromancer, bringing a new postmodern aesthetic to science fiction. But with so many heroes as hackers and digital cowboys, operating outside the law, does the creator of Lorem Gibson — David Weaver, if the site’s to be believed — see the irony in utilizing his work for the systematic and oft-overlooked framework of web design?
Or could they be shaping a meta homage to the author? His fictional contributions had tangible real-world effects.While a generation of wannabe escapists sought refuge in Gibson’s portrayal of the online world, and that of those who drew on his ideas as well, in a sense not only his language to describe it, but also his vision of the Internet became ubiquitous.
His first novel gained fame by word of mouth, starting quietly and ultimately winning several of the most prestigious awards in its field. Perhaps picking and choosing the words most emblematic of Gibson’s work is a fitting tribute to one who helped turn a previously denigrated genre into a cultural movement.
The real question is: How did it take so long to appropriate the words of the man basically responsible for the term cyberspace?
(Lorem Gibson via Boing Boing, image via Pierre Metivier)
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