GLOSSARY (taken from Neuromancer)

AI's: artificial intelligences. Not permitted self-awareness/autonomy, though are allowed citizenship of sorts via the Equivalence Act of '53. [p.73]

arcology: the term used for huge self-contained societies run by the corporates (or rather the megalith of a building that houses such an operation/location). Like huge malls, more or less.

BAMA: aka the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis, aka the Sprawl. [p.43]

clinic tanks: a quick way to make a buck is to roll some hopeless loser and sell his or her body parts. You'd have to be really shifty to buy such biologicals no questions asked, and probably really desperate to by such items back from the black clinics. Similar such urban myths abound today about organ theft, but I do not know of any hard evidence.

cloning: everyone knows what this is, but Gibson goes crazy with it (so that entire families are run by clones of the same people). Mixed with eugenics to form super-humans. Genetic engineering is also a way of life for the obnoxiously rich and powerful.

coffin hotels: exist even today in Japan and China. You pay for a tiny one-room room; about enough room for one person to sleep comfortably (if one is not claustrophobic).

construct: a digital copy of a human's persona/psyche. Not really self aware, but capable of make decisions like that of the original. [p.49]

cortex bombs: a few references here and there. Corperate types might possibly implant these in an employee's head. If that employee runs off, betrays the company, or is extracted, BOOM.

cryogenics: cold sleep, hybernation. A good way to waste a few decades and only age a few minutes.

cyberspace: the matrix (the web, the internet) --Gibson is responsible for this term (cyberpunk trope). The matrix is highly eroticised in Gibson's novels, and reaches the level of a spiritual plane in many respects. See page 51 for an in depth definition and history.

Freeside: an extremely affluent orbital colony. Home of Tessiere-Ashpool.

microsofts: circuits hardwired with info, programs, whatever. You plug them into your brain, you know stuff. Tech. Not Bill Gates.

New Yen: American dollars are worthless, and paper money itself is illegal (strickly black market). In a sense, much like the situation in Russia a decade or so past. Legit biz is done via bank chip. [p.6]

Panther Moderns, The: a gang/rogue band of scientists/anarchist group. (Also the name of John Shirley's punk band).

polycarbon suits: state-of-the-art camo. Notice the reference to gargoyles on page 67. Did Stephenson pick up on this?

sarariman: Japanese businessmen/corporates.

Screaming Fist: a unit of cyber-commandos. Someone glitched their operation during the war (they were after the Russians and their data centers). [p.28]

simstim: virtual reality pulled directly from the brain, recorded and played back for a full real-life experience (full sensory trip). A form of addition (like t.v.) though not without its uses.

Single Identification Number: we can assume this is just a social security number of sorts. But since this is cyberpunk it's probably much more Orwellian.

space adaption syndrome: why you start puking the first time you go topside.

the Sprawl: an unpleasant metropolis that stretches across the East Coast. Most people live (die) here, unless you're lucky enough to go up the well (orbit) or live in an arcology (corporate living on a grand scale).

street samurai: a ronin, a mercenary, and most definitely wired (bodily augmented and enhanced). Expect high reflexes, grafted muscle, extraordinary senses, and nasty implants (like razorblades). [p.30]

Turing Police: they moniter AI activity (each AI has a Turing Registry number). If an AI gets out of line, the Turning Police attempt to shut it down.