LVL medium - My view of Cyberpunk culture, by Cyberbite

                                                                                                                                 Cyberbite

ENGLISH / ANGLAIS This blog is written in English, French and possibly in Binary...

Hello everyone and cyberpunkers. I am Cyberbite, 25y old croatian, cyberpunk visual artist and enthusiast. There is many explanations and descriptions of cyberpunk setting so I wanna provide my view of cyberpunk culture specially for CyberWart 3000 blog.

Cyberpunk as subculture arises in 80-ies as new subgenre inside science fiction books. It is mostly focused onto describing technologically high developed societies and low life of people who live on the borders of urban and strictly maintained sistem which function is to observe citizens and control their behaviour. There are also other kinds of cyberpunk societies, dystopian, utopian, post-apocalyptic and other. But we can see similarities between them, which hold the foundations of cyberpunk universe.
Main features of cyberpunk are highly developed technologies, biotechnology, genetics, cryogenics, nanotechnology, various implants with various usage, artificial intellitence, big brother surveillance systems, computer viruses, information technology, cybernetics and utopian / dystopian societies.
Features of the cyberpunk story plot often are conflicts between hackers and big multinational companies which plan something evil for the poor citizens, or hackers, lonely information riders, and street people that fight as one hero or group of heroes against big sistem. Persons can be hero or anti-hero, too. Also we can read about artificial intelligences that became aware of their existence and plan to do something with big effects on human kind. Well, more or less, it is future time, and settings can be on Earth or some other part of deep space.

Cyberpunk writers are very intelligent in putting the hypotesis questions inside their work; about how technology affects our lives, where will it take us, what could happen, whether or not the system – Big Brother is actually vulnerable, about urges of individuals to use their technological knowledge – skills (hackers, scientists , random passers-by) and join the fight against the system. Cyberpunk says that the truth should be revealed, that the information must circulate free. Without controls.
In this futuristic environment one of the most noticeable element is that individuals or residents have ability to use all their senses to move into the virtual world web – a new Internet era - using cyber equipment, implants, cyber arms and helmets. The human meat, flesh, body, is connected with electronics. Like that, human consciousness or awarness is real-life and real-time. You are INSIDE. The line between reality and virtual is blurred and cyberpunk works often examine the question – Which of them is actually a reality? - or better – WHAT is reality?

The most interesting fact is that the cyberpunk literature emerged
earlier than Internet appeared (!) describing the advances in technology, nanotechnology, visionary guessed that in the future – the East will begin to develop economically, creating new technology and the black techno markets, how people will be able to use medical implants and cybernetic arms, and also appearance of synthetic designer drugs , how politics will make even more pressure on the man, using the technology for unreserved control justifying their means with terrorism threats. With rise of sistems, the hackers will arise too exploiting all the bugs and holes in the programming code, fighting for future or just for pay (government of mafia one).

Cyberpunk emerging so early with such real visionary, today is implemented in various aspects of our society. From the ordinary science-fiction genre, the environment became our reality. Especially if you look at the rapid development of technology and its impact on us all. My opinion is that we are living in just started cyberpunk era.


In next post in couple of days I gonna inform you with cyberpunk writers, media, movies, dresscode, and other stuff which make cyberpunk a really rich universe.


Till then. Cheers and B’Cyber

Cyberbite

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FRENCH/ FRANCAIS Ce blog est écrit en Anglais, Français et éventuellement en Binaire...  

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