Is America turning CyberPunk?

Cyberpunk is my favorite sub-genre of sci-fi, because it always has some politics in it, and it's always mysterious and dark, with lots of action. Watching the Matrix for the first time, and realizing it was a cyberpunk movie, I look up cyberpunk on Wikipedia, and see what they have on it.

In some cyberpunk writing, much of the action takes place online, in cyberspace, blurring the border between actual and virtual reality. A typical trope in such work is a direct connection between the human brain and computer systems. Cyberpunk depicts the world as a dark, sinister place with networked computers dominating every aspect of life. Giant, multinational corporations have for the most part replaced governments as centers of political, economic, and even military power.

Networked computers dominating every aspect of life? Check

Giant, multinational corporations have for the most part replaced governments as centers of political, economic, and even military power? Check

Blurring of cyberspace, and real life? Almost there, have you seen the games that are coming out for kids, and how real they are?

Here are some examples:






Thoughts?

Come on, no one has any thoughts on this?

reply to post by Phlynx


Viva La CyberPunk
=)

Originally posted by '___'omino
reply to post by Phlynx

 

Viva La CyberPunk
=)

I don't like the poverty that comes with it. For me it's Viva la Virtual Reality.

So does this mean the return of good techno, brilliantly attractive women with wires in their hair and raves? I'd be all for that!

Seriously though, this is an incredibly exciting time! These are the kind of future innovations we were all promised in our childhood. True there are no flying cars and no Starship Enterprise, but the kind of things that are in the pipeline now are just astounding.

I agree that the politics of the age need to be addressed with regards to such technology though. Machines, any machines, are tools, they are not good or evil, but they have capacity for both. We must always ask the hard ethical and political questions regarding new technologies. The Natal looks like tons of fun, but I see how it could also be used for incredible invasions of privacy in the wrong hands.

reply to post by Phlynx


Excellent thread, applauses deserved!

The question is not, is America turning Cyberpunk, but has it already become it? In the short answer yes.

You and I are not privy to the vast amount of technological achievements of the military and intelligence agencies. Sophisticated computers, with powerful AI that monitor and control certain aspects of society. The rise of the surveillance society has given birth to monstrous computers that can track individuals, store physical features and access private records.

The matrix is very much real.

reply to post by Phlynx

I think this genre of story-writing has its roots in some aspects of life that are quite real. There is always the risk, though, that we will take our story writers too literally, too seriously. The theme of hidden controlling forces has actually been with us for a very long time. CyberPunk is just a recent form.

As far as I can tell, human experience is full of the feeling of being over-controlled by some sort of almost mindless mechanism (some sort of government, even if computer-aided) that is based on a total fear of anyone exhibiting the slightest degree of free thought. Of course, our story tellers also usually remind us that without some amount of free thought, the game of life does not really survive.

In telling stories, most story tellers hope that their audiences may learn some lessons from their stories, even if the tellers aren't totally sure what those lessons are.

Some stories are told to try to get the audience to agree with a reality that isn't totally true. Those stories may actually be more common than those told to liberate the thinking of the audience. Judge a story by what it communicates to you and the story teller's purpose, or the purpose of the people who chose that story to publish (or create a movie with).

The world is certainly a dystopia that is for sure, I dunno if its cyberpunk yet tho, tho there are cyberpunks around.

poverty: check

Please read these books, cyber punk is not a Wii. And untill we have fully immersive VR it isnt going to happen. America is cyber punk, lol. S.Korea, Japan maybe.

en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...