Cyberpunk course

Among its myriad sub-genres, cyberpunk stands out as one of Science Fiction’s most unique. Indeed, to some people, many cyberpunk tales may not seem to be Science Fiction at all. In order to identify the ways that Cyberpunk differs from the rest of Science Fiction, we must examine three important aspects of any story: the setting, the characters, and the themes. By analyzing these three factors we will not only see the differences, but also a few similarities that I think will show that cyberpunk is still firmly within the boundaries of Science Fiction or at least somewhere close to them. I will illustrate my observations with examples from three science fiction stories and three cyberpunk stories. The stories I will use are: Contact by Carl Sagan, The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series by Nathan Lowell, the TV series Star Trek The Next Generation, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick, The film The Matrix, and Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (which some might argue isn’t all that cyberpunk but I think is firmly inside the genre).

Traditional Science Fiction has always had a wide diversity of settings. In fact, I think that is one of the things that differentiate it and other speculative fiction from other genres of fiction. However there are some trends. Science fiction is very often set in the distant future. It is also very often set off of the planet Earth. Sometimes it even takes place outside of our solar system or even our galaxy. These stories can take place on distant worlds or moons, gigantic city sized space stations, star ships large enough to support thousands of passengers, even alternate dimensions. Contact is set on Earth in the near future and in a futuristic alien designed transport system and on a enormous space station. The Golden Age Series takes place mostly on an interstellar cargo ship that uses solar sails and wormholes to travel to and from huge space stations in orbit around the planets that they transport goods to and from. Next Generation takes place on a Starship that houses one thousand people and on countless alien planets.

Cyberpunk settings, while still being quite diverse, tend to have more similarities to each other than general science fiction. Cyberpunk is more likely to be set in the near future. They are also more likely to be set on Earth. A common Cyberpunk setting is that of virtual reality or cyberspace. Almost all cyberpunk settings have a dystopian feel to them. Often the settings are post-apocalyptic. There is usually some authority, be it corporation or government or something else, that wields enormous control over most peoples lives. Do Androids Dream is set on Earth after a major world war that involved nuclear weapons and wiped out a significant amount of life; much of the remaining humans have chosen to emigrate to other planets where they are assisted by androids. Some of these androids then return illegally to Earth. The Matrix is set in both in hellish post-war future in which the environment has been destroyed and machines rule the Earth, and in a machine controlled virtual reality called the Matrix in which most of the human race is enslaved without their knowledge. Little brother is set in near future San Francisco after a major terrorist attack after which the Department of Homeland Security sets up a surveillance system using advanced technology such as RFID tags and Internet wiretapping.

The characters in Science Fiction have as large a range as just about any fiction. They can be explorers, scientists, warriors, princes, genius children, etc. In Contact the main character is a devoted and brilliant scientist who is dedicated to making contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. In the Golden Age the protagonist is a young man who works his way from making the coffee on an interstellar cargo ship to an officer in charge. In The Next Generation the characters are officers on the Star Ship Enterprise who explore worlds and deal with many an alien race.

Characters in cyberpunk have much more in common with each other than the character of general science fiction. They tend to be alienated and are very often technologically adept. Rick Deckard is an android killing bounty hunter who works for the system but begins to question his actions. He is more than capable of using high-tech gadgets to hunt down and dispatch his query. Neo, from The Matrix is a computer hacker who has the ability to control many aspects of the virtual reality that humanity is trapped in. The protagonist of Little Brother, Marcus Yallow, is a tech savvy teenager who uses his computer skills to fight back against the DHS.

Science Fiction has many themes. It deals with Space Exploration, interplanetary travel and colonization, alien contact and encounters, futuristic technologies, and the like. The main themes of Contact are Alien Contact and the effect that has on society. Star Trek deals with a range of themes from exploration to the potential of Humanity. The Golden Age Series primarily deals with Colonization and Terraforming and what that will mean for the Human Race.

Cyberpunk is largely about the ways information and other technologies effect human interactions. Especially those of fringe peoples. Technology is extensively used to manipulate people in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. It is even used to create people (if you consider androids people). In The Matrix, computer systems have been used to deceive and enslave most of the human race. These systems were implemented and put into place by the very technology that we designed to help us. In Little Brother both the DHS and Marcus use Information Technology to achieve their goals. The DHS uses it to surveil the entire populace of a city and Marcus uses it to gain privacy and wreak havoc against the DHS’s designs.

Cyberpunk is a very distinctive genre of Science Fiction. It has a definite flavor to it that is easy to identify. But Science Fiction and Cyberpunk have a lot in common as well. They both usually take place in the future. Most importantly, they both deal with the effects Science and Technology have on Humanity. Keep in mind that long before mankind ever set into space or walked on the moon, before we explored the depths of the ocean, before we harnessed the power of the atom and used it against ourselves, that all these things were written about in Science Fiction. The details of the Science and the operation of the technologies were not usually accurate but the ideas appeared in Science Fiction before they were made into a reality by the hard work of engineers and scientists. I have no doubt that someday we will have intelligent machines, virtual reality, ubiquitous computer networks, and the like. Most of these technologies are being actively developed. An important role of Cyberpunk and Science Fiction is to get people thinking about the implications of such Technologies and Sciences. We, as a race, can look forward to the possibility of a bright and fascinating future, if we can manage to not screw it up.