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daremon commented on Reading Neuromancer for the first time in 2025   mbh4h.substack.com/p/neur... · Posted by u/keiferski
metroholografix · a month ago
Great story! I also read Neuromancer for the first time in Greek translation (Αίολος), around 1995, knowing nothing about the book otherwise. It was a blind buy in a bookstore solely because I liked the cover and the short synopsis on the back. It was a book that changed my life. I remember being drenched in sweat when I finished it, and I immediately re-read it without a break. I was already at age 14 hopelessly hooked on computers, but Neuromancer completely rewired how I thought about technology (it was the first book I came across that put forth a non-anthropocentric point of view, with Technology being presented as both an addictive drug and a force in itself, bringing about its own teleology).

That book was the main impetus for me connecting to the Internet, installing Linux and getting involved with the European hacking underground of the mid to late 90s. I also periodically re-read it (now in English): the prose still seems razor-sharp and the divergent feelings are still being evoked. Plus, it's an insanely hyperstitional book: one gets the feeling that Gibson (whose non-Sprawl work pales in comparison and who has never again reached these heights) didn't just write a heist-story filled with countercultural sensibilities but channeled something greater, something that has been intricately involved with how the world we experience has evolved.

Looking back on those days, I now wish I'd read it in English for the first time. The Greek translation is not bad but it feels kind of archaic and doesn't do justice to the brilliance of Gibson's dystopian vision.

daremon · a month ago
So many common things! It also inspired my love for Linux (I installed Slackware back then), for "hacking" and also pushed me into the demoscene which I much enjoyed!

PS I read the one by AQUARIUS

daremon commented on Reading Neuromancer for the first time in 2025   mbh4h.substack.com/p/neur... · Posted by u/keiferski
Kon5ole · a month ago
>To this day, I still re-read it every year or two, and it never loses its magic. And I can still describe what's happening on any given page although this has faded a lot.

That's interesting! I have a similar experience but for the opposite reason. I like the book and have enjoyed reading it several times, and listened to the audiobook just before the pandemic.

I know I like it and consider it to be a good book, but every time it's like I'm reading it for the first time. I can only remember thew "mood" so to speak, nothing about when, where, who, what. Even now, just 5 years after the last time.

I think it is related to Gibson's prose, but I remember Pattern Recognition quite well despite having read that only once.

Neuromancer is just a complete blank, except I know I like it. Wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience with a book?

daremon · a month ago
It gets better: I could not finish Pattern Recognition, it was a struggle and I cannot remember anything from it!
daremon commented on Reading Neuromancer for the first time in 2025   mbh4h.substack.com/p/neur... · Posted by u/keiferski
ilamont · a month ago
Wow. What a great story. An in translation, no less. The Greek translator must have been very talented.

(Kind of curious now ... were the other translated editions in non-English languages as powerful? Do readers of science fiction in other languages seek out works by specific translators or publishers known to have great translations?)

daremon · a month ago
Generally I don't like translations. After the Internet became a thing and Amazon started shipping to Greece (probably after 2000) I never read Greek translations of English literature again.
daremon commented on Reading Neuromancer for the first time in 2025   mbh4h.substack.com/p/neur... · Posted by u/keiferski
silenced_trope · a month ago
Nice!

Did you read the rest of the Sprawl Trilogy too? What do you think of the other books?

daremon · a month ago
Yes I read them and I loved them. Not the same effect of course, as Gibson's futuristic world was already described, but good nonetheless.
daremon commented on Reading Neuromancer for the first time in 2025   mbh4h.substack.com/p/neur... · Posted by u/keiferski
grujicd · a month ago
I believe parent was talking about translated book, not about the comment.
daremon · a month ago
Yes exactly, I had this story written in Greek and used GPT to translate it. The Greek edition I read was from 1989.
daremon commented on Reading Neuromancer for the first time in 2025   mbh4h.substack.com/p/neur... · Posted by u/keiferski
ilamont · a month ago
Wow. What a great story. An in translation, no less. The Greek translator must have been very talented.

(Kind of curious now ... were the other translated editions in non-English languages as powerful? Do readers of science fiction in other languages seek out works by specific translators or publishers known to have great translations?)

daremon · a month ago
He really tried IMO. Actually I wrote this story to him, the translator of the Greek edition when I happened to find him on Facebook. He told me he felt he didn't do justice to the original work and always felt a bit bad.
daremon commented on Reading Neuromancer for the first time in 2025   mbh4h.substack.com/p/neur... · Posted by u/keiferski
daremon · a month ago
I had the opposite experience with Neuromancer. I read it too many times! Sorry for the long post (translated by GPT as it was originally in Greek).

In September 1993, I started my final year of high school in Greece, aiming to study Computer Science. A girl I barely knew heard I was into computers and handed me Neuromancer, the 1989 Greek edition. I still have it.

I already loved science fiction, though my reading had mostly been Asimov, Dick, and Clarke — robots and space, not so much computers. Neuromancer hit differently. I devoured it. Then I read it again. And again.

That whole year because of the enormous pressure of final exams (I can't explain how important they make you feel these exams are) I didn't touch any other book. I just kept re-reading Neuromancer. It became like a comfort food — familiar but exciting. I must have read it over 100 times.

At some point, I realized I had memorized it. Someone would open it randomly, read a sentence, and I could continue reciting from memory. A real-life Fahrenheit 451 moment.

To this day, I still re-read it every year or two, and it never loses its magic. And I can still describe what's happening on any given page although this has faded a lot.

P.S. I did go on to study Computer Science, and I still love programming.

P.P.S. I married the girl who gave me the book, we had kids but eventually we divorced 29 years later. Still friends.

daremon commented on Show HN: AI dub tool I made to watch foreign language videos with my 7-year-old   speakz.ai... · Posted by u/leobg
leobg · a year ago
Thank you!

With movies, I think I could get into legally challenging territory. I guess all AI apps are, in a way. But with movies, there's an entire industry behind enforcing copyright. So I must tread carefully on that front.

I made the jump from the courtroom into VS Code years ago. I really don't want to go backwards.

daremon · a year ago
I honestly don't see how movies are different with any content ie YouTube videos. I am pretty sure MrBeast etc have the same lawyers as any big studio.

Could this run locally? I would certainly pay for that and you're off the hook on how anyone uses it.

daremon commented on Show HN: AI dub tool I made to watch foreign language videos with my 7-year-old   speakz.ai... · Posted by u/leobg
daremon · a year ago
This is really amazing! Well done.

I already joined the beta but I want to point out another use case here as well:

In many countries (ie Greece where I'm from) movies and TV shows never get dubbed. We rely on subtitles. This means that if you can't see well (disability or age-related eye problems) and if your English is not excellent, then you are doomed to only watch locally produced movies & shows.

This can be a real life-changer.

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KarmaCake day286September 25, 2008
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