The global computer network in William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” is the Matrix.
In Gibson’s novel, the Matrix is a worldwide cyberspace network formed from the interconnected databases and computer systems of humanity. Users access it through specialized equipment and experience it as a navigable three-dimensional environment filled with data structures, corporate systems, and artificial intelligences. The concept helped define the cyberpunk genre and strongly influenced later depictions of virtual reality.
The novel’s narrator and protagonist, Case, is a talented console cowboy who once operated in cyberspace until his nervous system was damaged as punishment for stealing from his employers. His chance to return to the Matrix drives much of the story. The network is therefore both a setting and a symbol of power, alienation, and corporate control.
“The Net” is a plausible descriptive nickname, but it is not the novel’s canonical name. The Matrix should also not be confused with the later film franchise of the same name, although Gibson’s terminology helped shape popular ideas about cyberspace.