How many people here like cyberpunk?

VelvetCyberpunk

Velvet Queen of Cyberpunk
Joined
Feb 22, 2003
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I adore it. It is my very favorite form od science fiction, and I would like to get a feel for what other people think of it as well. Blade Runner is my favorite movie, and William Gibson is one of my favorite authors. So, what do you all think? I have put a definition here under my post for those who may not know what it is. Any feed back is appreciated...


Definition
Cyberpunk is a form of science fiction that is set in the very near future. It portrays a world that may very well come about. Cyberpunk looks at the way the world could turn out if everything that is going on now continues in the same stupid way. Environmental catastrophe, rogue megacorporations, social chaos, and technology out of control, all feature in large scale. Everything is bleak, gritty, garish, noir-ish, but in a world of fast high tech . Cyberpunk is fast, fast, fast.

Inner Space
Cyberpunk is based on inner space, not outer space. Inner space is what is happening here and now. You are accessing this document through a sort of inner space - the Internet. Cyberpunk just looks at this development and takes it further. It asusmes technological development in bionics, cybernetics, and/or will enable the enhanced hacker to "jack" directly into the Net, an actual brain-computer interface that creates a "consensual hallucuination" - cyberspace.

the Cyberpunk Landscape
The setting of cyberpunk is essentually urban, (or at the very least suburban), the endless artificial landscape of the city run rampant, the "Sprawl" as William Gibson terms it. It is a world where man's greed and stupidity has destroyed the ecological balance, where the battle for the Earth has already been fought and lost. There is no need to explore hostile alien planets and landscapes; this Earth itself has become an alien and inhuman place.

the anti-hero
The bleakness of the Cyberpunk universe is matched only by the kewlness of the protagonists that inhabit that universe. And they have to be kewl to survive in such an environment. The Cyberpunk hero is an anti-hero, a rebel, a person who lives on the edge, outside the safe enclaves of the protected and coccooned middle and upper classes. There are few legal work or job options available outside the enclaves and no welfare net for the unfortunate or disenfranchised. The protagnists have to live by their wits, making do as best they can. He or she more often than not lives a black-market existence outside the law, not through choice but through necessity, as part of an insurgent subculture living in the cracks and crevices between the giant megacorp superpowers. Yet what exists and is traded in those cracks may have the potential to overthrow the status quo.
 
Thanks for putting in a definition VelvetCyberpunk, I never understood the term.

As for being a favoutite genre, I can't say it is as such. But there are so many writers that do or have crossed into the field, from Asimov and Heinlein onwards and they are among my favourite writers
 
Originally posted by ray gower
Thanks for putting in a definition VelvetCyberpunk, I never understood the term.

As for being a favoutite genre, I can't say it is as such. But there are so many writers that do or have crossed into the field, from Asimov and Heinlein onwards and they are among my favourite writers

You're welcome Ray. I have been crazy about cyberpunk for at least a dozen years. I am not really sure why I like it so much, I just really do. Maybe it has to do with the fact I come from a dark, industrial, gritty, depressed factory town? lol! Hmmm, food for thought. :D
 
That would imply I don't because I'm a nice clean living Home Counties country boy, who has seen places like Coventry, Dresden and Beiruit where they almost came to pass.

Perhaps it is just because you like your Sci/Fi to have a firm grip on reality and earth, where I prefer a little more fantastic to mine? :)

As I said there are some good books that follow the Post-Holocaust theme. I quite liked books like Fahrenheit 451, Prisoner and much of Heinlein's work often falls heavily into the Cyperpunk genre. But Blade Runner I found rather too black
 
Originally posted by ray gower
But Blade Runner I found rather too black

Most of my SciFi friends love Blade Runner and think of it as a type of cult classic. I agree with you RG. I never loved it because it was too dark... and not just the scenery/cinematrography, which was also dark.
 
hmm i think i have read some things like that, dont know though if i love it that much, im more into the far future scifi:rolly2:
 
VelvetCyberPunk,

I am DEFINITELY into cyberpunk. In my case most of my teen-age years were spend around Tokyo, so I think I have an affinity for the urban scene as well.

Another factor you have to consider is age. A lot of the younger generation have a darker out look on the future than their parent's generation. Cyberpunk caters to this younger generation because it's comforting to know that some people understand what they're going thru (not to sound too judicial or anything).

As a member of this younger generation (i'm 25) I thought Bladerunner was awesome! My enjoyment of Gibson as well as this movie may have had something to do with my Japanese background however...

Velvet,

What other authors have you read and can recommend? I've read everything by Gibson, most of Neal Stephenson's work and half of Bruce Sterling's.
 
I'm usually more into steampunk, but recently I've been finding cyberpunk more and more interesting; I like how it acts as an inverse of the bright and shiny (and somehow cashless) future that 'classic' sci-fi like Star Trek promises, and as greyhorse noted, it's very applicable to modern society. And to the periods of history I like studying, oddly enough - the East India Trading Company, for instance, probably counts as the first rogue megacorp, dominating the local government and abusing power and people in the name of profit before it was cool. (Pity there's no hipster smilie, I could really use one. Just imagine there's an ironic smilie with sunglasses, a cashmere scarf, and, I dunno, a craft beer of some sort here, okay?)

Anyway, like I said, it's a fascinating genre, and one I've probably neglected more than I ought, as well.
 
If it is a good novel and it is cyberpunk I will probably enjoy it, but I dont fetishise the genre. I have read most of Gibson and Stevenson and enjoyed their stuff whatever the setting.

Your definition of cyberpunk is a bit more conservative than mine. I would include Snowcrash, and the Budayeen trilogy as cyberpunkish.
 
Our 'old thread' hero strikes again!
15 years since anyone posted and BAYLOR gets them chatting here once more. :)
Baylor the Necropostamist.


I liked the topic and thought it deserved a revival. :) I also revived a he Mortal Engines thread from 2004 because a film is coming out. :)
 
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Cyberpunk is a really visual genre. I read Neuromancer back in the nineties and don’t remember being too impressed. I’m not sure if I’ve read anything that could be classed as Cyberpunk since then. Any recent examples?
 
I'm currently reading an LP of Shadowrun Returns, which was released back in '13. Apparently it's got two sequels that are even better, but I don't know anything about those two. Granted, like the rest of the Shadowrun franchise, it's a cross between cyberpunk and fantasy, but cyberpunk is definitely the predominant genre by far. And TV Tropes probably has a lot more modern examples than I can think of.

I've heard that some cyberpunk fans don't consider Neuromancer to be Gibson's best work, although it's undeniably a major influence on the genre. Wouldn't know, personally; all I've read of his work is The Difference Engine, while Neuromancer itself has been on my to-be-read pile for ages.
 
The whole trilogy is a good read, and, of course, highly influential. Count Zero is my fave. MLO has one of the worst endings in all SF. Gibson is a great writer though, and well deserves his status.
I'd like to see much more proper cyberpunk dealing with AI. SF imo has dealt with this sub-topic appallingly badly.
 
The whole trilogy is a good read, and, of course, highly influential. Count Zero is my fave. MLO has one of the worst endings in all SF. Gibson is a great writer though, and well deserves his status.
I'd like to see much more proper cyberpunk dealing with AI. SF imo has dealt with this sub-topic appallingly badly.
Agreed about the ending of MLO. After Neuromancer and then Count Zero, it was a big let down. Still, it was heady stuff, especially for a teen.

As for AI, when our robot overlords have taken over, they can write something more appropriate.
 

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