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Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life."[1] It features advanced science, such as information technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order. Cyberpunk plots often center on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and megacorporations, and tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation or Frank Herbert's Dune. The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to be marked by extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its creators ("the street finds its own uses for things").[2] Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction. "Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body." Lawrence Person[3]
Setting
Cyberpunk writers tend to use elements from hardboiled detective fiction, film noir, and postmodernist prose to describe the often nihilistic underground side of an electronic society. The genre's vision of a troubled future is often called the antithesis of the generally utopian visions of the future popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Gibson defined cyberpunk's antipathy towards utopian SF in his 1981 short story "The Gernsback Continuum," which pokes fun at and, to a certain extent, condemns utopian science fiction.
Shibuya, Tokyo.
[4]
In some cyberpunk writing, much of the action takes place online, in genre, William Gibson said, "Modern Japan [5] simply was cyberpunk." cyberspace, blurring the border between actual and virtual reality.[6] 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. The economic and technological state of Japan in the 80s influenced Cyberpunk literature at the time. Of Japan's influence on the genre, William Gibson said, "Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk." Cyberpunk is often set in urbanized, artificial landscapes, and "city lights, receding" was used by Gibson as one of the genre's first metaphors for cyberspace and virtual reality.
Cyberpunk
Protagonists
Protagonists in cyberpunk writing usually include computer hackers, who are often patterned on the idea of the lone hero fighting injustice, such as Robin Hood. One of the cyberpunk genre's prototype characters is Case, from Gibson's Neuromancer. Case is a "console cowboy," a brilliant hacker who had betrayed his organized criminal partners. Robbed of his talent through a crippling injury inflicted by the vengeful partners, Case unexpectedly receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be healed by expert medical care but only if he participates in another criminal enterprise with a new crew. Like Case, many cyberpunk protagonists are manipulated, placed in situations where they have little or no choice, and although they might see things through, they do not necessarily come out any further ahead than they previously were. These anti-heroes"criminals, outcasts, visionaries, dissenters and misfits"[7] call to mind the private eye of detective fiction. This emphasis on the misfits and the malcontents is the "punk" component of cyberpunk.
Media
Literature
Probably the first novel to depict cyberspace and combat within it was John M. Ford's Web of Angels (1980). The science-fiction editor Gardner Dozois is generally acknowledged as the person who popularized the use of the term "cyberpunk" as a kind of literature, although Minnesota writer Bruce Bethke coined the term in 1980 for his short story "Cyberpunk," which was published in the November 1983 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories.[10] The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan and others. Of these, Sterling became the movement's chief ideologue, thanks to his fanzine Cheap Truth. John Shirley wrote articles on Sterling and Rucker's significance.[11] William Gibson with his novel Neuromancer (1984) is likely the most famous writer connected with the term cyberpunk. He emphasized style, a fascination with surfaces, and atmosphere over traditional science-fiction tropes. Regarded as ground-breaking and sometimes as "the archetypal cyberpunk work," Neuromancer was awarded the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards. Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) followed after Gibson's popular debut novel. According to the Jargon File, "Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both irritatingly nave and tremendously stimulating."[12] Early on, cyberpunk was hailed as a radical departure from science-fiction standards and a new manifestation of vitality.[13] Shortly thereafter, however, many critics arose to challenge its status as a revolutionary movement. These critics said that the SF New Wave of the 1960s was much more innovative as far as narrative techniques and
Cyberpunk styles were concerned.[14] Furthermore, while Neuromancer's narrator may have had an unusual "voice" for science fiction, much older examples can be found: Gibson's narrative voice, for example, resembles that of an updated Raymond Chandler, as in his novel The Big Sleep (1939). Others noted that almost all traits claimed to be uniquely cyberpunk could in fact be found in older writers' worksoften citing J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Stanisaw Lem, Samuel R. Delany, and even William S. Burroughs. For example, Philip K. Dick's works contain recurring themes of social decay, artificial intelligence, paranoia, and blurred lines between objective and subjective realities, and the influential cyberpunk movie Blade Runner (1982) is based on one of his books. Humans linked to machines are found in Pohl and Kornbluth's Wolfbane (1959) and Roger Zelazny's Creatures of Light and Darkness (1968). In 1994, scholar Brian Stonehill suggested that Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel Gravity's Rainbow "not only curses but precurses what we now glibly dub cyberspace."[15] Other important predecessors include Alfred Bester's two most celebrated novels, The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination, as well as Vernor Vinge's novella True Names. Science-fiction writer David Brin describes cyberpunk as "the finest free promotion campaign ever waged on behalf of science fiction." It may not have attracted the "real punks," but it did ensnare many new readers, and it provided the sort of movement that postmodern literary critics found alluring. Cyberpunk made science fiction more attractive to academics, argues Brin; in addition, it made science fiction more profitable to Hollywood and to the visual arts generally. Although the "self-important rhetoric and whines of persecution" on the part of cyberpunk fans were irritating at worst and humorous at best, Brin declares that the "rebels did shake things up. We owe them a debt."[16] Cyberpunk further inspired many professional writers who were not among the "original" cyberpunks to incorporate cyberpunk ideas into their own works, such as George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails. Wired magazine, created by Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, mixes new technology, art, literature, and current topics in order to interest todays cyberpunk fans, which Paula Yoo claims "proves that hardcore hackers, multimedia junkies, cyberpunks and cellular freaks are poised to take over the world."[17]
Cyberpunk
Gaming
Several role-playing games (RPGs) called Cyberpunk exist: Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk v3, by R. Talsorian Games, and GURPS Cyberpunk, published by Steve Jackson Games as a module of the GURPS family of RPGs. Cyberpunk 2020 was designed with the settings of William Gibson's writings in mind, and to some extent with his approval[citation needed], unlike the approach taken by FASA in producing the transgenre Shadowrun game. Both are set in the near future, in a world where cybernetics are prominent. In addition, Iron Crown Enterprises released an RPG named Cyberspace, which was out of print for several years until recently being re-released in online PDF form. In 1990, in a convergence of cyberpunk art and reality, the United States Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games's headquarters and confiscated all their computers. This was allegedly because the GURPS Cyberpunk sourcebook could be used to perpetrate computer crime. That was, in fact, not the main reason for the raid, but after the event it was too late to correct the public's impression.[20] Steve Jackson Games later won a lawsuit against the Secret Service, aided by the new Electronic Frontier Foundation. This event has achieved a sort of notoriety, which has extended to the book itself as well. All published editions of GURPS Cyberpunk have a tagline on the front cover, which reads "The book that was seized by the U.S. Secret Service!" Inside, the book provides a summary of the raid and its aftermath. Cyberpunk has also inspired several tabletop, miniature and board games. Netrunner is a collectible card game introduced in 1996, based on the Cyberpunk 2020 role-playing game. There are many cyberpunk video games. Popular series include the Deus Ex series, the Syndicate series, System Shock and its sequel. Other games, like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and the Matrix series, are based upon genre movies, or role-playing games (for instance the various Shadowrun games). CD Projekt RED are currently developing a Cyberpunk game, Cyberpunk 2077.
Cyberpunk
Music
"Much of the industrial/dance heavy 'Cyberpunk' recorded in Billy Idol's Macintosh-run studio revolves around Idol's theme of the common man rising up to fight against a faceless, soulless, corporate world." Julie Romandetta
Some musicians and acts have been classified as cyberpunk due to their aesthetic style and musical content. Often dealing with dystopian visions of the future or biomechanical themes, some fit more squarely in the category than others. Bands whose music has been classified as cyberpunk include Psydoll, Front Line Assembly, Atari Teenage Riot, and Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Some musicians not normally associated with cyberpunk have at times been inspired to create concept albums exploring such themes. Nine Inch Nails' concept album Year Zero fits into this category. Billy Idol's Cyberpunk drew heavily from cyberpunk literature and the cyberdelic counter culture in its creation. 1. Outside, a cyberpunk narrative fueled concept album by David Bowie, was warmly met by critics upon its release in 1995. Many musicians have also taken inspiration from specific cyberpunk works or authors, including Sonic Youth, whose albums Sister and Daydream Nation take influence from the works of Phillip K. Dick and William Gibson respectively. Industrial music can be seen as cyberpunk, as well as various electronic body music acts.
Social impact
Architecture and urban planning
Some real life places have been described as cyberpunk, such as Japan, the Sony Center in the Potsdamer Platz public square of Berlin, Germany, Cyberport in Hong Kong, and Shanghai.[21]
Related genres
As a wider variety of writers began to work with cyberpunk concepts, new sub-genres of science fiction emerged, some which could be considered as playing off the cyberpunk label, others which could be considered as legitimate explorations into newer territory. These focused on technology and its social effects in different ways. One prominent subgenre is "steampunk," which is set in an alternate history Victorian era that combines anachronistic technology with cyberpunk's bleak film noir world view. The term was originally coined around 1987 as a joke to describe some of the novels of Tim Powers, James P. Blaylock, and K.W. Jeter, but by the time Gibson and Sterling
Cyberpunk entered the subgenre with their collaborative novel The Difference Engine the term was being used earnestly as well.[22] Another subgenre is "biopunk" (cyberpunk themes dominated by biotechnology) from the early 1990s, a derivative style building on biotechnology rather than informational technology. In these stories, people are changed in some way not by mechanical means, but by genetic manipulation. Paul Di Filippo is seen as the most prominent biopunk writer, including his half-serious ribofunk. Bruce Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist cycle is also seen as a major influence. In addition, some people consider works such as Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age to be postcyberpunk. Cyberpunk works have been described as well-situated within postmodern literature.[23]
References
[1] Anonymous. (2009). What is cyberpunk? Cyberpunked: Journal of Science, Technology, & Society. Retrieved from http:/ / www. cyberpunked. org/ cyberpunk/ [2] Gibson, William from Burning Chrome published in 1981 [3] Notes Toward a Postcyberpunk Manifesto (http:/ / slashdot. org/ features/ 99/ 10/ 08/ 2123255. shtml) Person, Lawrence first published in Nova Express issue 16, 1998, later posted to Slashdot [4] Hidden Tokyo (http:/ / travel. nytimes. com/ 2007/ 06/ 17/ travel/ 17tokyo. html?pagewanted=print) [5] How did Japan become the favored default setting for so many cyberpunk writers? (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ asia/ features/ japan_view/ scifi. html) [6] Cyberpunk 2021 (http:/ / cyberpunk. asia/ index. php?lng=us) [7] FAQ file (http:/ / 18hz. deid. net/ cyberpunk. htm) (from the alt.cyberpunk Usenet group) [8] Brin, David The Transparent Society, Basic Books, 1998 Book link (http:/ / www. perseusbooksgroup. com/ basic/ book_detail. jsp?isbn=0738201448) [9] Clarke, Arthur C. "The Last Question," Science Fiction Quarterly, 1956 [10] Bethke, Bruce. "Cyberpunk" Amazing Science Fiction Stories, Vol. 57, No. 4; November 1983 Link (http:/ / www. infinityplus. co. uk/ stories/ cpunk. htm) [11] John Shirley. Two Cyberpunks: Sterling and Rucker 1999 Link (http:/ / www. darkecho. com/ JohnShirley/ jspunks. html) [12] Jargon File definition (http:/ / catb. org/ esr/ jargon/ html/ C/ cyberpunk. html) [13] Brians, Paul. Study Guide for William Gibson: Neuromancer (1984) Washington State University, (http:/ / www. wsu. edu/ ~brians/ science_fiction/ neuromancer. html) [14] James, Edward. Science Fiction in the 20th Century, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 1994. p. 197 [15] Brian Stonehill, " Pynchon's Prophecies of Cyberspace (http:/ / www. pynchon. pomona. edu/ gr/ bsto. html)." Delivered at the first international conference on Pynchon, the University of Warwick, England, November 1994. [16] David Brin, Review of The Matrix (http:/ / www. davidbrin. com/ matrixarticle. html). [17] Yoo, Paula. CYBERPUNK IN PRINT HACKER GENERATION GETS PLUGGED INTO NEW MAGAZINE Seattle Times. Seattle, Wash.: Feb 18, 1993. pg. G.3 [18] Ruh, Brian (2000), " Liberating Cels: Forms of the Female in Japanese Cyberpunk Animation (http:/ / www. animeresearch. com/ Articles/ LiberatingCels)." AnimeResearch.com December 2000. [19] Gibson, William. "The Future Perfect: How Did Japan Become the Favored Default Setting for So Many Cyberpunk Writers?", Time International, 30 April 2001:48. [20] SJ Games Raided (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ gurps/ Roleplayer/ Roleplayer19/ Raid. html) Jackson, Steve, Steve Jackson Games website, Friday 19 April 1990 [21] Sahr Johnny, "Cybercity - Sahr Johnny's Shanghai Dream" That's Shanghai, October 2005; quoted online by (http:/ / www. xyberia. com/ ). [22] Michael Berry, "Wacko Victorian Fantasy Follows 'Cyberpunk' Mold," The San Francisco Chronicle, 25 June 1987; quoted online by Wordspy (http:/ / www. wordspy. com/ words/ steampunk. asp). [23] McHale, Brian (1991). "POSTcyberMODERNpunkISM." in Larry McCaffery, ed., Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Science Fiction. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, pp. 308323
Cyberpunk
External links
Cyberpunk R.I.P. (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/1.4_cyberpunk_pr.html) Saffo, Paul, Wired Magazine, Issue 1.04 Sep/Oct 1993 On Books: Movements (http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0210_11/onbooks.shtml) Spinrad, Norman, Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2002. The Cyberpunk Directory (http://www.cyberpunked.org/cypkdir/) (a comprehensive directory of cyberpunk resources) Cyberpunk Review (http://www.cyberpunkreview.com) (comprehensive cyberpunk movie reviews and video clips resource, discussion forum about related topics) The Cyberpunk Project (http://project.cyberpunk.ru) (comprehensive cyberpunk links and resources) Cyberpunks Gaming Podcast (http://www.cyberpunksgaming.com) (featuring discussion about video games, technology, and "hi-tech and lo-life" issues) Cyberpunk World (http://cyberpunkworld.net) (comprehensive cyberpunk movie reviews and video clips resource, discussion forum about related topics) The alt.cyberpunk FAQ (http://18hz.deid.net/sugarape/nym/cyberpunk.htm) (the alt.cyberpunk frequently asked questions file, updated 2000)
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/