In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated November 19 as World Toilet Day, which is coordinated by UN-Water in collaboration with governments and partners. Here: An open-air toilet and a hot spring shower are seen in the middle of nowhere on the road to the Krafla geothermal power station and lava fields, near Reykjahlid and Lake Myvatn in northeastern Iceland, on August 19, 2012. (Photo by Mariana Suarez/AFP Photo)

Workers carry a metal sheet at a dockyard in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 5, 2018. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

Revellers make the most of Boxing Day in Liverpool city centre, United Kingdom on Sunday, December 26, 2021. Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide. (Photo by London News Pictures)

Kenyan photographer and art director Barbara Minishi (L) takes pictures of her room mate and fashion stylist Wambui Thimba (R) wearing a creation by a Kenyan fashion designer on the rooftop of their apartment in Nairobi, Kenya, on June 1, 2020. After their scheduled works was cancelled due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Minishi and Thimba have started their own project called “the Kenya Fashion & Style Diary in 21 days” to showcase a Kenyan fashion brand everyday for 3 weeks on social networking services since May 22, 2020 by only shooting at their apartment. (Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP Photo)

Indian Christians take part in Christmas prayers at the Infant Jesus church in Bangalore, India, 25 December 2020. Most Christians celebrate Christmas on 25 December to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. (Photo by Jagadeesh N.V./EPA/EFE)

A tourist poses for a picture with the Sphinx at the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt, on October 19, 2011. (Reuters/Jamal Saidi)

Dark clouds bearing down on the city on April 17, 2011 in Foshan, Guangdong Province of China. According to flood control authorities on Monday, gales as strong as 45.5 meters per second, accompanied by hailstorm, cloudburst and strong wind battered cities including Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing and Dongguan of south China's Guangdong Province on Sunday, has killed at least 17 people and injured 118. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.