Maneki Neko

WORKING

Sterling, Bruce. "Maneki Neko." 1998. Lightspeed Magazine 11 (April 2011). As of 13 August 2018 on-line at <http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/maneki-neko/>. "© 1998 Bruce Sterling. Originally published in Hayakawa’s Science Fiction Magazine (Japanese language) / Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (English language)."

Somewhat cyberpunk, but more comic. Michael J. Blouin in "A Western Wake" (p. 321) asserts that this "short story [...] offers the reader a Japan in which communal bonds have been strengthened to an excessive degree thanks to an omniscient computer that links human beings together. The protagonist [...] is told by his pokkecon (pocket computer) that he needs to give a cup of coffee to a homeless person [...]. This charitable act is initialy viewed in a utopian light, with a sense that in 'New Japan'" (identified by Blouin as a site of "the wired wilderness") "human beings are dependent on technology to help them become more human." The protagonist asserts he really believes "'that computers help human beings to relate in a much more human way' (9)." Against this "romantic notion," the story gives us "the Western protagonist," a prosecutor who worked against a hacker group" — or just hacker plus AI — "and got them forbidden "access to technology. Retribution for" her is a long series of minor attacks in terms of the annoyances of modern (mostly) life, including repetitions of maneki neko. "[...U]pon arriving in Japan, she is pursued by the simulated" VR "image of a 'maneki neko' (a ubiquitous tourist trinket sold in Japan, modeled after a waving cat)." This protagonist of the Western view legitimately complains that she is, in her harassment,"'up against something that is very very big and very very patient. And it knows all about me. And it's got a million arms and legs. And all those arms and legs are people' (17)." Blouin notes that in the story "'New Japan' and its link to and all-knowing technology, promises to dispose of any who challenge it" (p. 321). In Blouin's reading of the story for this article, "readers must either accept the 'wake' for human beings decaying at the hands of technology or, alternatively, spiritually 'wake' into a mystical Far East" — both options depending upon stereotypes (p. 321). The conclusion of the story and at least tentative resolution of the dilemma comes with the main protagonist's brother — "unable to co-exist [sic] inside of this virtual reality" — arrives "to save the day" with the suggestion of a retreat "to a Zen existence" in "'a sacred place in the mountains. No computers there, no phones, nothing ... it's a sanctuary for people like us'" (pp. 321-22).

For the idea of computer-mediated linkage of people as a good thing — on balance — see Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace.

RDE, Initial Compiler, 13-15AUG18