Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre based in the possibilities inherent in computers, genetics, body modifications and corporate developments in the near future.

The term cybernetics comes from the Greek kybernetes which means steersman or pilot and the concept developed during and after WWII to indicate the use of a systematic approach to complex issues such as managing a large number of computers at distributed sites or understanding the operationms of the brain.

Punk was represented in the music of bands such as Sex Pistols, Clash & Black Assassins.

Blade runner is an example of cyberpunk.

William Gibson is a US/Canadian writer whose fictional work has spawned a number of key concepts like 'cyberspace' and 'virtual reality'. His work sits uncomfortably in the sci-fi genre because its gritty realism about the near future makes it too close to the truth.

Matrix pushed the limits of cyberpunk so it became like the bloated soap operas that it had originally scorned. Nevertheless it deals with philosophical issues at some depth.

CYBERPUNK THEMES

1. Technology and Mythology

Cyberpunk sought to demythologise technology but effectively predicied/created the World Wide Web and so was used to remythologise technology.

There are many myths that link with technology such as –

Original play by Aeschylus - Prometheus, Chapter 3 of Genesis, Albert Camus' Myth of Sisyphus, Frankenstein novel by Mary Shelley and Faust which was made into a play and a novel.

2. Utopia and Dystopia

Some of the most powerful myths for and against technology have been intertwined with utopian writing. Utopias (from the Greek, meaning nowhere) are literary works that tell of imaginary places where everything is perfect, usually because people and technology are in harmony. Some famous Utopias are:

• Plato The Republic 4th century BC
• Sir Thomas More Utopia 1516
• Saint-Simon New Christianity 1825
• Samuel Butler Erehwon 1872
• William Morris News from Nowhere 1891

The last two hundred years have seen a large number of Utopian experiments where people have attempted to live out the literary myth, sometimes by embracing new technology and sometimes by eschewing new technology.

Will everything be controlled by technology if so when somebody / something switches off the lights. When the power goes off you may wake to discover that your technological paradise is really a hell.

3. Cities as Machines

The Shape of the City dictates the kind of lives that most people lead. The City in Bladerunner is avowedly post-modern, built up layer on layer but starting to lose its relevance - people are moving to the Off-World. Sometimes it is crowded; sometimes it is lonely - which is what cities are like: you can be anonymous in the crowd.

Three non-exclusive alternatives:

• the city is a machine for living ... it creates human lifejust as humans create it
• the city is a natural thing, created by natural beings (humans)just as bee-hives and ant nests are created by natural beings
• the city is a living being ... a cyborg which combines humantissue with synthetic infrastructure.

4. Technological change

The First Media Age (centralised dissemination) versus the Second Media Age (decentralised interaction)

Characterised by the use of one source (or relatively few) and many receivers.

The latest development to mimic the equalising structure of the telephone is the Internet. The Internet made it possible for an individual to 'publish' to a huge audience.

As Bill Gates stated - the Internet made it possible for an individual to 'publish' to a huge audience.

5. Modernism and Postmodernism

Shadowing this split between the technologies of dissemination and the technologies of interaction is the shift discussed by a variety of theorists from modernism to postmodernism, from the certainties of the 'grand narratives' of big institutions to the complexities of personal survival for individuals. Ihab Hassan has suggested some of the oppositions inherent in this shift in his book The postmodern turn : essays in postmodern theory and culture.

But just as postmodernism is built upon modernism, the second media age is built on the first and is thus largely dependent on the the world view inherent in existing technologies. It is through the combination of old and new technologies that new industries, uses and expansions have occurred, and continue to emerge. The new media brings with it a need for new understandings - particularly political ones - to protect the public interest. These discussions/strategies will need to include:

• the means to protect rights of access
• equity of access
• the means to strengthen and enhance existing community structures
• development of the democratic process/structure (why?)
• development of a global community
• development of strategies for developing, implementing and enforcing global laws
• intellectual property laws
• freedom of speech

Virtual reality brings with it even more complex questions about the nature of society.