What happened to cyberpunk?(motherboard.vice.com)
motherboard.vice.com
What happened to cyberpunk?
http://motherboard.vice.com/2012/6/5/what-happened-to-cyberpunk--2
1 comments
I agree; I think the main thing happened is that a good chunk of the cyberpunk world arrived, and we found out that it sounds way more interesting on paper than it ends up being in the real world.
Chinese kids sell their organs to buy iPads -- sad, but predictable, not some novel dystopian problem.
The CEO of IBM holds a meeting in a virtual world via avatar -- sure, a shitty pixelated avatar in a ho-hum world kind of like the one my Sony PlayStation 3 boots into
Hunter-killer robot drones swooping out of the sky to kill citizens (and nearby children) with no regard for law or constitutional rights -- ugh, again? Change the channel.
It's not all here of course; if Chinese black ice could kill me through my computing terminal, that would still be pretty interesting. But by now we're all familiar enough with the matrix to know that it can't really kill me, except maybe through a heart attack induced by annoying popup Flash ads for erectile dysfunction pills. Boring.
Chinese kids sell their organs to buy iPads -- sad, but predictable, not some novel dystopian problem.
The CEO of IBM holds a meeting in a virtual world via avatar -- sure, a shitty pixelated avatar in a ho-hum world kind of like the one my Sony PlayStation 3 boots into
Hunter-killer robot drones swooping out of the sky to kill citizens (and nearby children) with no regard for law or constitutional rights -- ugh, again? Change the channel.
It's not all here of course; if Chinese black ice could kill me through my computing terminal, that would still be pretty interesting. But by now we're all familiar enough with the matrix to know that it can't really kill me, except maybe through a heart attack induced by annoying popup Flash ads for erectile dysfunction pills. Boring.
Chinese kids selling their organs to buy iPads is straight out of a cyberpunk novel, as you say many things we read about 10-20 years ago are already here, but it's human nature to find the present the most boring place to be.
But as the article duly notes, -punk is about counterculture, and counterculture is timeless. And when you look at how many people still code in neon green on black background, or read those books, there still seems to be a need for these topics. The conversation is not over yet.
I'm a fan of the daydreaming induced by cyberpunk novels, although I don't understand why, since it's something we experience daily already anyway (and I can take or leave the leather coats, shades, matrix rain, and all other visual hallmarks of cyberpunk). But I think a modern cyberpunk work of fiction can be done, and I hope we will see it done someday.
But as the article duly notes, -punk is about counterculture, and counterculture is timeless. And when you look at how many people still code in neon green on black background, or read those books, there still seems to be a need for these topics. The conversation is not over yet.
I'm a fan of the daydreaming induced by cyberpunk novels, although I don't understand why, since it's something we experience daily already anyway (and I can take or leave the leather coats, shades, matrix rain, and all other visual hallmarks of cyberpunk). But I think a modern cyberpunk work of fiction can be done, and I hope we will see it done someday.
Another thought is to compare it to the other famous "-punk" style, steampunk. Steampunk benefits from the fact that all the technological foundation (steam, mechanical, analog) it is based on exists. I'd argue that the genre can thrive because a well-defined foundation exists from which to create. With cyberpunk, some of the foundations exist (computer hacking and espionage), but many are still left as future speculation (synthetic organs, cybernetic implants). It becomes harder to have a consistent foundation when there are still moving targets. I guess we can still have trench coats and mirror shades ;)
I really enjoy the cyberpunk aesthetic, and I wish it had more of a footprint in current music/film/TV. It may be though that true cyberpunk is really a product of the 80's. The spirit of what drove it, technology-driven dystopia, continues to this day.