> William Gibson writing about a better future? That's not what I saw in his books

Neuromancer definitely wasn't optimistic, but the description of the software agents (can't remember the terms Gibson used) were so cool that I would interpret it as a kind of inspiration (the cousin of optimism). I'm talking about how the main character would be making his way through cyberspace and he would see the other programs, people, etc. as 3D forms.

I agree that this thesis around "SF needs to be usefully optimistic" is a bizarre presumption.