Cyberpunk course

Most people who are not very familiar with the vastness of the Science Fiction genre think that there isn’t a large difference between “Star Wars” and “Dune” or “Space Odyssey 2001″ and “Stargate”. They think that every movie or book containing space ships, robots and aliens belong to the same order. Fortunately, they are wrong. Although the various sub-genres of Science Fiction seem to blend with each other,  Cyberpunk is the one which couldn’t be more different from classical Science Fiction. Therefore I will contrast three important aspects between both genres in order to display the main substance of Cyberpunk. At first I will discuss the differences in the setting and the atmosphere of Science Fiction and Cyberpunk, secondly the nature of the protagonists and finally the impact of technology on mankind.

The setting in Science Fiction novels often display a future far from the present, in alternative time lines or on other planets. Science and technology makes space travel possible and provides a wide choice of opportunities for the main characters of a story. The vastness of space brings forth a feeling of departure an urge to travel to unknown worlds and have exciting adventures. The atmosphere often resembles western stories, treasure hunts and expeditions set in a futuristic world where the characters can be astonished of the unknown. An archetype Cyberpunk setting nearly always permeated with a sense of impending doom. The first line of William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” published in 1984 describes the atmosphere with an adequate metaphor:

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

The contrast to the “openness” of the sky in usual Science Fiction is evident. A Cyberpunk future is literally dark and not qualified for those of high hopes of the future. The most unsettling issue is the fact that the setting usually describes our own world in a postindustrial dystopian future. The timeline is set not very far from ours and underlines the uneasiness of witnessing a reality which makes its way of becoming ours. Over-sized and powerful multi-corporations replace governments, dominate the world, exploit people, resources and nature and leave nearly nothing for the little man. Rapidly developing science and technology have a negative impact on humanity and change society in every aspect of life. These apocalyptic circumstances echo the atmosphere of thriller and detective stories or the familiar film genre of the “film noir”. Characters placed in dark and gritty side streets of an exaggerated urbanized city filled with misfits, criminals and outlaws appear quite often in Cyberpunk.

The characters of common Science Fiction on the one hand resemble mostly classical heroes of a number of literary categories. They show humane and rightous traits and are equiped with honorable virtues. Even flawed characters seem motivated to do the “right” thing and overcome the obstacles which lay in their path, because they have a healthy optimism towards their future. The anti-heroes in Cyberpunk usually have twisted personal traits and give Cyberpunk the “punk attitude” the name deserves. The protagonists are always the losers of the game society plays. They come from the underground and are computer hackers, criminals, misfits, outcasts or dissenters who don’t mind bending the rules of ethics to their use. Not rarely does it happen that the main characters are placed in situations where they become manipulated by others and must do what is demanded from them. For example Rick Deckard in ” Do Androids dream of electric sheep?” who takes the job of retiring the escaped “replicants” from mars in order to buy himself a real animal. Having little choice or no choice at all how to approach the future leaves them pessimistic to upcoming developments.

The development of science and technology has its good and bad sides. Whereas Science Fiction experiences the light side of the coin Cyberpunk discovers the shady side of it. Of course does Science Fiction mention the abuse of technology when considering weapons of war and machines used for the maltreatment of human beings. But the storyline centers more closely around the application of new scientific principles such as time travel, space travel, robots etc. Humans in Science Fiction explore the differences from now and tomorrow and try to find more appliance possibilities to different situations in their lives. The impact of advanced science and technology on the average Cyberpunk seem to reveal philosophical issues like what it means to be human. The n0w possible fusion of man and machine accumulates the question: Where is the border of being human and where is it of being a machine? Encounters with cyborgs and humans with biological implants which enhance the neurological functions in the brain show that the distinction between humans and machines are not very obvious. But another question appears when dealing with the omnipresent information flow of cyberspace and the hackers who “jack” themselves in. Do these people know what is real and what is virtual?  They might not make a difference between the two anymore, because technology erased the human trait of their perception and left them with an unsettling truth. The flesh is weak and the machine is superior.

To put it all in a nutshell it is necessary to say that Science Fiction deals with issues exploring the unknown world of tomorrow with consideration of the development of science and technology. Cyberpunk approaches a similar topic but differently in order to display what could turn out bad if mankind doesn’t take responsibility for their future actions regarding the further development progress.

Tags: Coursework, Week1