The Definition of Cyberpunk
In Bruce Sterling's article, "Cyberpunk in the Nineties," he explained how public opinion had defined himself, Rucker, Shiner, Shirley, and Gibson as the cyberpunk "gurus" in the 1980's. Because of being labeled cyberpunk "gurus," the public had come to understand the definition of cyberpunk as "anything that cyberpunks write." To break this definition of cyberpunk established by popular public opinion, I will pursue giving cyberpunk a more definite definition. After reading numerous cyberpunk fiction stories, I noticed reoccurring themes in these stories. I believe these themes can form a criteria under which a story can be defined as cyberpunk. These criteria are total enhancement and integration of everyday life by technology, some degree of pleasure (by the author) in explaining this technology, cyber-lingo, and some degree of global connectiveness.
The first criterion or theme, total enhancement and integration of everyday life by technology is probably the most obvious and vital in order for a story to be deemed cyberpunk. Why is it the most obvious and most vital? It is the most obvious because cyberpunk writers use the "everyday," that is, objects, concepts, or places we causally shrug off as normal, and integrate/enhance the normal with technology. A good example can be found in John Shirley's "Freezone." Upon entering the "Semiconductor" the scene is unusual but appears to be a everyday freak club. An occasional flare dots the audience. They have multi-colored hair that is styled straight up. In reaction to the flares and much more frequent than the flares are minimonos; they have ultra-straight hair falling down past their shoulders and uniform monochrome colored clothes. Anyway, the ...
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...d projecting its evolution in the future, he is not intimidated, therefore he is able to enjoy himself in explaining this concept or technology. Furthermore, because the author is reflecting off of a society so obsessed with detail, he is obligated to present his story is such a detailed fashion. Basically, I think, that if cyberpunk fiction fulfills its purpose then the four criteria will fall naturally into place and therefore these four criteria build the backbone of the definition of cyberpunk.
Works Cited
Sterling, Bruce, Ed. Mirrorshades. New York: Arbor House, 1988.
Cadigan, Pat. "Rock On"
Shirley, John. "Freezone"
Browning, Tonya, Ed. Writing About Cyberpunk. Austin: Abel's Copies, 1995.
McCaffrey, Larry. Storming the Reality Studio
Gibson, William. "Johnny Mnemonic"
Tiptree, James Jr. "The Girl Who Was Plugged In"
It could be the near future or the distant future. It could be in the biggest companies or in your den. It could be traditional science fiction or it could be cyberpunk. Technology is pervasive. There is nothing in our lives that technology does not touch; it doesn’t matter if you use it directly, chances are that something (if not everything) in your life relies on technology to function or even exist. "Traditional" science fiction, if there even is such a thing, uses extrapolation as a foundation for its stories. Extrapolation, predicting or tracing a path of continuation for an idea or event, is also used in cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is known for its use of extrapolation in the fabric of daily life. (Sterling 348) It takes common science fiction themes, such as body and mind manipulation, and events of daily life and describes them with intensely dizzying detail. Neuromancer by William Gibson is a perfect example of cyberpunk writing because it uses this dense, rapid-fire description and language in combination with the themes of body/mind manipulation.
Different genres of literature are particular responses to society; therefore, cyberpunk, as a genre, is a response to our contemporary society, known as the information age. One of the attributes given the genre is that it has an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic tone, warning the reader of the perils of technology, while at the same time celebrating the possibilities of technology, usually through a strong character in the novel. In Greg Bear's Blood Music, technology is seen as having a destructive and creative forces as it reshapes the world biologically, and incorporates every living thing, including a slow girl named Suzy, into the system. Blood Music demonstrates the perils and benefits in a world full of diverse technology, typical of the cyberpunk genre, responding to frightening and powerful possibilities in the secrets of technology which are just on the brink of discovery.
Donna Haraway’s 1984 “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an enduring essay unceasingly analyzed, critiqued, and adored by scholars and students. The piece, in which Haraway uses the cyborg as a metaphor to scrutinize hegemonic problems and refuse the binary, claims that “the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion.” In other words, like the cyborg who cannot distinguish whether it is a machine or an organism, in society there is no difference between male and female; rich and poor; black and white. There is only gray, and there are countless shades of it. “A Cyborg Manifesto” is an influential essay that has been relevant to the past and is still relevant to the present. Hence, it is no surprise that it has inspired
Ray Bradbury is a well-known author for his outstanding fictional works. In every story he has written throughout his career, readers will quickly begin to notice a repeating pattern of him creating an excellent story revolving around technology. However, unlike how we perceive technology as one of the greatest inventions ever created and how much they have improved our everyday lives, Bradbury predicts serious danger if we let technology become too dominant. “Marionettes Inc.” and “The Veldt” are two short stories written by Bradbury that use multiple literature elements to warn society the dangerous future if technology claims power. In “Marionettes Inc.” two men, Braling and Smith explain to each other the hardships they must deal with their
That's not to say that science fiction authors stopped writing it, that would be false, but it was absorbed into the science fiction genre so quickly that what was being written may or may not have been deemed Cyberpunk. This in itself, the process of science fiction blending and merging with the fiction around it, of broadening the spectrum, became a common occurrence. Science Fiction began to accept new approaches, styles and scenarios that would have been ignored in decades past. Now writers were crossing over and writing multiple styles such as science fiction, mystery and more. More science fiction books were being written than during any other time, but authors felt that the genre was disappearing because "everything else is looking more like science fiction, and science fiction is looking more like everything else" (Del Rey,
Gibson, William. "Johnny Mnemonic." Writing About Cyberpunk. Ed. Tonya Browning. The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 1995.
During the sixties Americans saw the rise of the counterculture. The counterculture, which was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation, was embraced by the decade’s young Americans. Because many Americans were members of the different movements in the counterculture, the counterculture influenced American society. As a result of the achievements the counterculture movements made, the United States in the 1960s became a more open, more tolerant, and freer country.
Works Cited The Matrix. Larry Wachowski, DVD, Warner Brothers, 1999; Bruskman, Amy. "Finding One's Own in Cyberspace" Composing Cyberspace Edited by Rich Holeton, San Fransisco: McGraw Hill, 1998, 171-180 Rheingold, Howard. " The Heart of the Well" " Composing Cyberspace Edited by Rich Holeton, San Fransisco: McGraw Hill, 1998, 151-163
In the field of Science fiction, there is a novel called The Difference Engine, which is regarded as a classic by many science fiction fans. This novel based on the historical background of Victorian Britain in which great technological and social change has occurred after entrepreneurial inventor Charles Babbage succeeded in his ambition to build a mechanical computer (Gibson and Sterling). In that period, the industrial revolution and the revolution of information technology had changed the entire world political, economic and military situation. This novel is regarded as the “Bible” of steampunk. So a question has been raised up: what is steampunk? According to Oxford Living Dictionaries, steampunk is defined as “A genre of science fiction
"Finding One's Own in Cyberspace." Composing Cyberspace. Richard Holeton. United States: McGraw-Hill, 1998. 171-178. SafeSurf. Press Release.
Gibson chooses words to aid the reader in imagining the "dystopia" of the Freeside, a place where the main portion of the book takes place: "For Case, who'd lived for the bodiless exultation of cyberspace, it was the Fall" (6). "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel" (3). Gibson describes Freeside as if it is one of the worst places to go. Katie Cooper also describes the dystopia portrayed in this book as well. Gibson also uses words out of the science fiction terminology such as "jack-in and flatline" to encourage the reader to feel as though he or she is actually in the mist of cyberspace. Even the title of the novel depicts a certain characteristic of the book: "'Neuromancer,' the boy said, slitting long gray eyes'The lane of the land of the dead. Where you are, my friend Neuro from the nerves, the silver paths. Romancer" (243). Through Gibson's use of specific words he creates a constantly depressing mood and he allows the reader in many ways to visualize cyberspace themselves.
In the early 1980's, cyberpunk was used as a label to describe a new form of science fiction written by a group of five writers, which challenged the traditional genres associated with science fiction (Shiner, 7). SF used highly imaginative ideas to project scientific phenomenas, resulting in dreamy, stylized stories of space colonies and flying space crafts. This new science fiction was different, because it incorporated present global, social and technological situations to help induce the future of the world. It generated new outcomes for the future's high technological, society and global environment that would help categorize it into a specific form of writing known as cyberpunk.
History has evolved through a series of counter-cultures, contraries to a community's subjective, shared system of beliefs that provide meaning to objective reality. Timothy Leary has defined the evolution of countercultures that range from the beatniks of the early fifties, the hippies of the sixties and seventies to the present day cyberpunks and new breeds (Vitanza 365). These groups have been met with resistance over the years as a result of their expressive attitudes and tendencies to break the molds of conformity which their culture had previously set. I will focus of the latest stage of evolution, the cyberpunk. The cyberpunk counterculture has encountered mixed reviews over the years. Many people feel as though it is a movement that is made up of no good troublemakers who pose a threat to the computer world. On the contrary, I feel that cyberpunks are taking a lot of heat from a small number of hell raisers who roam the data-highways looking to cause havoc. For the most part, cyberpunks have contributed to society in beneficial ways. As computer technology is rapidly increasing everyday, the issue is becoming relevant to society as a whole. We are all affected by its presence and therefore should become more aware of what lurks in the cyberworld.
In Conclusion William Gibson created a cyberpunk/ postmodernism tale that has blurred not only the physical state between mechanics and human anatomy, but has as well blurred the line between the natural and virtual world. He is making the reader contemplate how both software and hardware have influenced the natural world. Gibson’s fictional world would have not been possible without the existence of software and hardware, that is why the distinction between them is very crucial and play a different part within the text. Without these two things, the reader would not be able to comprehend and relate to Gibson’s view on how our society is interlocking with the advances of technology and the normality of today will no longer exist in the future.
I thought that Aldous Huxley's style was good and easy to understand and follow. He used descriptive words when they were needed. They gave you the illusion of being in a futuristic world. The beginning is filled with technological information mixed in with the description of the world. The word "Ford" is often used instead of "God" and obscenities.