Significance of the Internet

In the William Gibson’s book Pattern Recognition, there are many examples of the internet and the prospects of online social networks. The use of the internet plays an important role all throughout the book and is the main source of communication. This being said, it is important to notice that there were two main online resources that led to the resolution of the mystery.

            The first online resource was Cayce’s hotmail. All throughout the book Cayce uses her hotmail to communicate with Parkaboy, her mom, Damien, and other characters. She was able to get valuable information that helped in the search for the maker of the footage. For example, Parkaboy and her emailed back and forth to keep each other informed about their plan to figure out who was making the segments. This is significant because if Cayce wouldn’t have kept communication with Parkaboy through the internet, she would have never discovered the watermark on the segment and wouldn’t have met Taki. The email with the watermark information that Parkaboy sent Cayce can be seen in pages 74-77. Thus, through the social network Cayce minted contact with Parkaboy and was able to obtain the information needed to find the maker.

            Aside from Cayce keeping contact on a business level with Parkaboy, she is able to communicate with Damien and her mom in a more personal level. There are clues in the book that hint affectionate feelings that Cayce has towards Damien. However, the only way that Cayce can know about him is through email because he is in Russia doing a documentary. When Damien sends her an email of where he is at and what he is doing she is able to get a peace of mind and relax, knowing that he is fine. In addition, Cayce gets information about her father through an email that her mom sends her. Cayce wants to accept that her father is dead but her mom assures that he isn’t because of recordings, which his voice is heard. This isn’t necessarily good news because it stresses Cayce and raises questions about Win that can’t be answered, creating ambiguity. Thus, through the more personal emails the reader is able to get an inside look of Cayce’s feelings and emotions in her mind.   

            The second internet resource was the actual footage. Nora, the maker of the segments, would produce her ideas in a studio and her sister Stella would distribute them to the internet. Once the footage was uploaded, all of the footage heads view it and write feedback or comments on it. This whole process is only possible because of the internet that socially connects the viewers and alters the mystery of the footage. In addition, through the footage Cayce met Parkaboy and began an online friendship with him. More importantly, the Volkova security would have never gotten so much information about Cayce if it weren’t through her posts about the footage. This can be seen in page 339, when everything is revealed and out in the open. Therefore, the footage is what ties everyone together and makes the plot ambiguous.