In comparing and contrasting science fiction versus cyberpunk, I think it is important to look at the labels themselves.  As much as both genres have had great success in defying definitions, some broad generalizations can be made simply by analyzing words used to tag them.

From the two words science and fiction, which one is more representative of the field?  Fiction comes in many forms, but adding the word science instantly identifies a particular type of fiction.  Merriam-Webster Online defines science as a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study[1].  Science is a large topic covering many fields of study, and science fiction tends to portray ideas on a grand scale.  Worlds, galaxies, universes; these are all fair game for the science fiction writer.  Obviously, there are plenty of individual characters populating these worlds and telling their stories, but they are usually part of a much larger picture.

Taking that same approach and breaking cyberpunk down to its roots we again have two choices.  Cyber relates to technology, computers and networks, but adding punk on the end changes everything and once more identifies a certain genre.  One of the definitions for punk in that same Merriam-Webster Online is a usually petty gangster, hoodlum, or ruffian[2].  In other words, this is someone who breaks the rules, someone who doesn’t follow “the system”.  The focus here is on the individual and more introspective by nature.

In the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the protagonist Rick Deckard is immersed in a world of technology.  But it is the fallout from science that paints such a haze over that technology and brings the reader in to a closer examination of Deckard and what it means to be human.

Ironically, one of the first analogies that occurred to me when thinking about these two types of literature was that of the mainframe computer versus the PC.  Science fiction is like a mainframe shared by many users, and cyberpunk is like a PC that is by definition more personal.  Is it a coincidence that science fiction gave birth to cyberpunk not long before mainframes spawned PCs?

Retrieved September 15, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/science

[2] punk. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Retrieved September 15, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punk

“Critics, myself included, persist in label-mongering, despite all warnings; we must, because it’s a valid source of insight-as well as great fun.”

– Bruce Sterling, from the introduction to Mirrorshades¹

The topic of this essay is – I believe – something of a red herring. How can one differentiate between a genre that has steadfastly withstood attempts at defining it, from one of its most rebellious sub-genres? Encyclopedia Britannica attempts to define science fiction as:

“a form of fiction that deals principally with the impact of actual or imagined science upon society or individuals. The term science fiction was popularized, if not invented, in the 1920s by one of the genre’s principal advocates, the American publisher Hugo Gernsback.”²

But any aficionado of the genre will tell you it’s so much more than that, encompassing themes that range from space-adventure, to psychic abilities, to alternative realities. From the amazing, to the bizarre. Stories that examine human nature, politics, and social issues.

And then we come to the subject of our study, cyberpunk: Britannica takes a valiant stab at defining cyberpunk thus:

“The word cyberpunk was coined by writer Bruce Bethke, who wrote a story with that title in 1982. He derived the term from the words cybernetics, the science of replacing human functions with computerized ones, and punk, the cacophonous music and nihilistic sensibility that developed in the youth culture during the 1970s and ’80s. Science-fiction editor Gardner Dozois is generally credited with having popularized the term.” ³

Once again, the cold definition falls far short of reality. Cyberpunk, with its dystopian settings and themes of post-humanism, post-industrialism and post-nationalism,⁴ managed to extend the science fiction genre and create new frontiers.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is archetypal science fiction, in that it envisages a post-nuclear war future-world where most of humankind is forced to colonize Mars. Where it crosses into cyberpunk is mainly in the ‘film noir’ elements: the flawed ‘cop’ who is not driven necessarily by justice, but by money. The outcast who aids and then deceives the renegade androids. And finally, the androids themselves, who come across as more human than the de-humanised humans that hunt them.

Protagonist Rick Deckard of Electric Sheep is a bureaucrat, who sees himself as no different than his neighbours, despite his dangerous job. He is motivated most of all by the idea of owning a rare animal. While initially whimsical, it becomes clear that the populace has transferred the focus of its consumerism to the animals that have survived the nuclear holocaust, partly (I presume) because jewelery and fancy vehicles are no longer available. Rachael realises this, and takes revenge on him by killing Rick’s brand new goat. So Dick’s androids can be emotional, spiteful even… they just don’t have empathy, which sets them apart from humans.

Another factor seems to be the concept of emotional stress and depression. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World has soma, a drug that enables one to cope with the stresses of everyday life, or even take a chemical ‘holiday’. Electric Sheep has the Penfield mood organ, an electronic antidepressant. While Rick seems perfectly happy to use it to control his moods, his wife seems to regard it with animosity, as if the moods are somehow not genuine.  Dick amusingly takes a ‘swipe’ at the prevailing chauvinist trend in mainstream SF, with Rick setting his wife’s mood organ to “594; pleased acknowledgment of husband’s superior wisdom in all matters”.  Perhaps then, we can start to consider cyberpunk as a more intelligent form of science fiction?

This novel was also a critique (on a certain level) of a society controlled by an apparently benevolent dictatorship: the world seems to be controlled by corporations… android producers and Mars colonizers. The corporations mirror those of today: as long as there is a profit, they are in business. Human rights fall expediently by the wayside, and they milk their client-base, whatever the cost. (Shades of Haliburton?) So one may extrapolate that this story has elements of community anarchism underpinning it, which could reflect a yearning on the author’s part for an escape from the realities of the Vietnam and the Cold War.

Conclusion:

Inasmuch as cyberpunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, I suggest that Electric Sheep is a science fiction story, with pioneering cyberpunk elements.

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.

Science fiction as literary genre can encompass an infinitely wide spectrum of subjects and themes, and because of this some argue that as a genre it is still attempting to define itself. There are no hard and fast rules about what defines a fictitious work as science fiction, it is sometimes suggested that for a work to be science fiction the imaginary elements of the story are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature, however it’s unclear whether even this maxim needs to apply, as Lester Del Rey once noted:

“Even the devoted aficionado– or fan- has a hard time trying to explain what science fiction is … there are no easily delineated limits to science fiction”

Cyberpunk is a Science Fiction sub-genre, and as a sub-genre it emphasizes and focuses on a more specific set of themes. Cyberpunk literature tends to eschew far-future settings in favour of exploring dystopian near-futures in which every aspect of daily life is impacted, and often manipulated, by technology; and the protagonists in these stories are often depicted as lone-heroes fighting against some form of injustice as Lawrence Person observed:

“Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body.”

These sentiments were also echoed by Lewis Shiner in his article Confessions of an Ex-Cyberpunk:

“We believed that science fiction needed to take its cues from the present–computer technology, corporate power structures, Japanese economic ascendency–rather than the mid-century pipe dreams of World Governments and Galactic Federations. For me, the movement was about global culture, anarchy and high-energy prose.”

The term Cyberpunk has been defined by many people, however for me personally, Steve Cook provides the most succinct definition in his essay Towards a Definition of Cyberpunk, when he states that Cyberpunk is

“science fiction literature that emphasizes, to a greater or lesser degree, the three attributes of post-humanism, post-industrialism, and post-nationalism.”

It is precisely the emphasis on these three attributes that truly distinguishes Cyberpunk from other forms of Science Fiction writing.

The emphasis on Post-humanism explores the idea of humanity transcending the flesh in a myriad of different ways. Post-Industrialism explores the idea that ultimately its information that is the currency of the future, but also touches on issues around cheap labor and slavery. And Post-nationalism explores the rise of the Corporate state. Embedded below is a short film entitled “Forbidden Dream” which was created by students for a class on Cyberpunk, which touches on the attributes described above.

We can illustrate this further in the form of another more literary example: In the various Ghost in the Shell novels and movies, Shirow Masamune, depicts a future in which much of the human race has been cyberized, where cities are inhabited by a dwindling number of non-cyberized humans, androids and cyborgs. Human beings can choose to swap-out their consciousness into fully prosthetic bodies, or simply augment their natural bodies with prosthetic limbs, eyes etc. The most transcendental of the technologies is the cyberbrain, this is the implantation of powerful computers directly into the brain, greatly increasing certain mental capacities such as memory, coupled with ubiquitous access to the informational net. This allows individuals to wirelessly communication just by “thinking”, offers massive informational recall capabilities, and digitization of printed media.

Crucially though Masamune explores the ramifications and social implications of such far reaching technological change on society through recurring themes such as the criminal and corporate hacking of cyberbrains, diseases such Cyberbrain Sclerosis which are precipitated by the cyberization process, Closed Shell Syndrome where individuals are so overwhelmed by the ubiquitious and ever connected nature of the net that they exclude themselves from society, Shared consciousness and the very nature of what it means to be human if we reduce our biological selves to bits in a data stream.

Cyberpunk literature is at its most compelling when we can see the near-future it predicts beginning to be reflected in the world around us. In fact I find myself agreeing with Steve Cook when he states:

“Cyberpunk gains much of its power from the fact that, more than any other subgenre of science fiction, it’s creeping into our peripheral vision. 1984 has come and gone, but, soon enough, cyberpunk may be here.”

Additional Resources

Whilst writing this short piece I found and read a number of resources which I have tagged on delicious (cyberpunk and week1) and can be viewed here. Update: I’ve also annotated these links with some comments, so they are slightly more useful .

Week 1 – Who’s That Punk?

This week’s course offers a broad overview of the genre, its history and development in terms of science fiction literature. Many critics feel that there was a distinct point at which some science fiction writers moved towards cyberpunk, and certain contrasts exist between examples of science fiction and cyberpunk writing.

Introduction Text for Participants:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick.

Week 1 Coursework

Read Do Androids Dream… which is considered by many to be the precursor to cyberpunk.
With this story, as well as your other reading as a background, write a short (+/-2 page, complete with links and references) paper on what you see as being the main differences between cyberpunk and science fiction writing. There are a great deal of resources online on this topic, so feel free to use any of them, as long as you refer back.

If you could upload your piece as a blog post (drop me an email if you need some help with this – it confused me at first too) by the end of the day on Monday 14th of September. That gives everyone the whole of Tuesday 15th to read, and then we can have our first discussion on Wednesday 16th.

Additional Resources:
These are just a starting point, but you may find them useful.
Cyberpunk culture, past and present – Project cyberpunk is a great place to go digging for any cyberpunk links. Some are a little outdated, but still useful.
The Four Eras of Cyberpunk This essay by Mr Roboto on Cyberpunkreview.com is a really nice chronology, as well as tying the different eras to real-world current events.
Cyberpunk – Terminal Chic An article by Nathan Cobb that originally appeared in the Boston Globe, November 24, 1992.
Fiction That Bleeds Truth – Jon Lebkowsky’s 1992 musing on cyberpunk as a social movement, originally in bOING-bOING #9.

Image by SecondLife resident Torley on Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0