The short story "Stone Lives," by Paul Di Filippo showed the transformation of a man into the form in which he most feared. When Stone lived on the street, he was naive, afraid, but human. Once Citrine Technologies got a hold of him, his world slowly started to change. Before, he was satisfied living off frack and stale water. After just a little while, Stone was shown the evils of the world. Perhaps Di Filippo was trying to allude to the fall of man in the garden of Eden - after man receives the gift (cybereyes) he possesses the knowledge of good and evil. As Stone slowly learned the history of man as well as the society around him, he finally realized the unjust nature of life. In the end, Alice Citrine passes her powers to Stone; symbolically, I feel that this is the final step in the transition from an outcast into a integrated part of society. This society seemed to be typical of Cyberpunk literature in that the government is nothing more than a figurehead under which the megacorporations rule. After another war and revision of the constitution, the power is shunted away from a centralized system in that they have devised Free Enterprise Zones (FEZ's). These areas, with their lack of supervision, are completely controlled by the ever-changing supply and demand curves. The corporations battled not only with products, but also with weapons in an attempt to monopolize the power. Man now has to deal with his creation of capitalism. It is interesting to fathom why Citrine placed Stone in the Bungle. I believe that in this way, Stone could see every facet of society. Citrine must have been genuinely concerned with her constituents since she wanted her successor to be sympathetic to those in need. Moreover, this experience also allowed Stone to have heightened hearing and smell so that he may have a higher chance of survival. These enhanced senses allow him to detect danger ahead of time to avoid injury. In the end, Stone realizes the unfair the world is and accepts the task of trying to correct it.