A thought on Gibson, if you don't mind some slightly longer than one sentence commenting.
First off, gibson changed my life. Someone pressed a copy of neuromancer into my hand in high school, and it fucking broke me. It changed the way I thought. So let's go into this understanding that I have a great deal of respect for the man. Really, I couldn't find any success as a writer until I was able to get over that book. It was a literary event that resonated through my own work for years. More than a decade, actually.
But I don't think he's a visionary. He didn't predict the future we have today, not specifically. Neuromancer (and its ilk) was not written as a predictive book. It was written in the eighties, about the eighties. He was using the tools of science fiction to talk about reaganomics. His intent was to reveal yesterday's today.
Where it went from there is interesting, though. The people who read that stuff at a young age were also the people who decided what today would be like. He created an imaginary space, a technology and a worldview that these people adopted, then went out and made that imaginary space real.
What he was trying to do with cyberspace had nothing to do with the future. He was just trying to create an effective literary device.
I've hogged your comment-space long enough. Random! I'm random!
I mostly agree with Shad's comments re Gibson. Though the idea that he was "just" trying to create an effective literary device, um, "rather underestimates" the results, IMHO.
(I think Pattern Recognition may be his best work, actually.)
Mud: Thanks for the offer. The hardcopy is sitting on my bookshelf, waiting for me to find time to read the sucker. So, thanks, and much appreciated, but not needed.
Oh, I'm not talking about the results. The results were spectacular. I'm just talking about what he *intended* to do.
in response to Piracy's comments elsewhere, I don't think Sterling can write novels. Short stories, yes, he's a genius. But I don't think he can carry to long plot to save his life. Holy Fire may be an exception to this.
I love Mage. I started playing it in high school. I've found that it can really scare players, although there's enough resources in the system to come up with a mediocre character and learn the game from there.
Despite the fact that I dislike live-action, that does sounds like a fun idea.
Have any interest in combining role-playing games with the occult?
MUD !! 
And congratulations on land ownership.
[Edited on Apr 19, 2006 7:31PM]