is cyberpunk dead?

[Anonymous No.19517995]

it seems as if cyberpunk as a genre has more-or-less ran its course, I think this is mostly in part because of aspirations and ambitions which never came to be and act in some sort of hauntological manner. I feel as if, however, cyberpunk is still particularly telling of our times, especially with the rise of techno-corporatism (facebook, meta, amazon, etc) that seem to function both with and against the fundamentals of capitalism. look at this cyberpunk quote all the way back from 1991:

The future has imploded onto the present. There was no nuclear Armageddon. There's too much real estate to lose. The new battle-field is people's minds… The megacorps are the new governments… The U.S. is a big bully with lackluster economic power… The world
is splintering into a trillion subcultures and designer cults with their own language, codes
and lifestyles… Computer-generated info-domains are the next frontiers… There is better living through chemistry… Small groups or individual 'console cowboys' can wield
tremendous power over governments, corporations etc… The coalescence of a computer 'culture' is expressed in self-aware computer music, art, virtual communities, and a hacker/street tech subculture… the computer nerd image is passe, and people are not ashamed anymore about the role the computer has in this subculture. The computer is a cool tool, a friend, important human augmentation… We're becoming cyborgs. Our tech is getting smaller, closer to us, and it will soon merge with us.

is this not telling of our times? what "replaced" cyberpunk?

[Anonymous No.19518039]

>>19517995
cyberpunk genre is dead because we are already are in a cyberpunk world. Although our cyberpunk version is not cool and just sterile and friendly

[Anonymous No.19518052]

>>19518039
yea, I think i remember reading something by Jameson in which he stated that cyberpunk, particularly bladerunner, is particularly postmodernist because the dystopian world is both dystopian yet not at the same time--characters live in this fucked world but treat it as if it's normal

[Anonymous No.19518091]

>>19517995
The future of the 90s came to pass and people realized that technology and anti-establishment sentiment don't mix. Either that or they didn't realize anything and got distracted by the "counter-culture" on Twitter and Facebook. You can't use the internet to fight corporations and the government because they're the ones who own and operate it all. You can't fight the system with technology because technology IS the system. "Cyberpunk" doesn't make any sense, even as a theoretical concept separated from historical reality. The idea of combining Cybernetics and Punk is totally absurd if you think about it for more than a couple minutes.
If this sounds cliched it's because it's true and many people have said it before.

[Anonymous No.19518099]

>>19517995
>what "replaced" cyberpunk?
real life

[Anonymous No.19518114]

>>19517995
>what "replaced" cyberpunk

Nothing replaced cyberpunk. The movement went something like postmodernism->singularitarian->transhumanism

And after that the Issues & Inclusivity people succeeded at infiltrating the hugo and nebula boards, driving out all talent in favor of the Jemisins of the world. scifi has no remaining torch-bearers except Chiang, and he only writes short fiction -and not very much of it.

[Anonymous No.19518120]

>>19517995
>it seems as if cyberpunk as a genre has more-or-less ran its course

We're entering it in RL.

[Anonymous No.19518128]

>>19517995

[Anonymous No.19518134]

>>19518091
I do think that there was work in explaining how both the literal technology of cybernetics and also some of its other theoretical implications could be "punk," i think fisher gives a good account of this in his dissertation

[Anonymous No.19518139]

cyberpunk is too tied to the technology of a specific time to really last. it has a kind of comfy retro feel for the moment, but is it going to speak to anyone in another 100 years? doubt it

[Anonymous No.19518148]

>>19518052
it's not post-modern because it's basically just a noir detective movie from the 40s but with robots as a gimmick

[Anonymous No.19518162]

>>19518091
This anon stole my thoughts. 'Cyberpunk' is a contradiction in terms. At best it is a sort of aesthetic phenomenon.

[Anonymous No.19518176]

cyberpunk was a short-lived fad in sci-fi genre fiction. nothing more.

[Anonymous No.19518436]

Unironically the failure of the videogame killed it.
It would have survived if the game was actually well recieved.

[Anonymous No.19518558]

>>19517995
There are people ITT that don't realize that Cyberpunk is now!

[Anonymous No.19518582]

>>19518558
actually sometimes when u look at manhattan from across the river far enough that u can't hear the helicopter noises they look just like the ships from blade runner at night. hmm, that makes me wonder, how come no one ever did nautical cyberpunk? like they would have rusty ships with purple neon lights and everyone walks around in popped collars and thigh high boots n shit.

[Anonymous No.19518725]

>>19517995
I wonder if the genre could benefit by opening a history book and looking back at the Gilded Age and Progressive Era of US history, which I sometimes jokingly refer to as Cyberpunk 1877. A lot of the problems and fears that the genre draws from are a product of the 80's and those aren't necessarily problems that apply today. Sure there is a good amount of them (drugs, crime, corrupt officials, etc) carry over but those are problems that plague society across all eras. Cyberpunk deals with massive globalized business conglomerates and technology causing massive social upheaval. Yet our world is rapidly de-globalizing and returning to a world of great power conflict. Look at how the Telegraph and then eventually radio had an effect on society and how both were eventually handled. What might be a good theme now would be the balkanization of the internet or just like how the west was won, so to will the internet and all that entails.

[Anonymous No.19518734]

>>19517995
Is the Cyberpunk genre inherently left-wing?

[Anonymous No.19518773]

most of the technology that makes up the backbone of a cyberpunk world either already exists or has been tried and found to be a bad idea. "The Sprawl" in Neuromancer is just the North East corridor. Last week went out the eat at a Shanghai style restaurant. The hostess was a tall Asian girl in a black miniskirt and electric blue hair. Cyberpunk or bold fashion statement? You tell me.

William Gibson who helped start cyberpunk is still writing, but has moved on to fiction about a coming period of collapse called the jackpot.

[Anonymous No.19518799]

>>19517995
To continue >>19518725
Like how we tell folk tales of cowboys, bandits, and indians. We could or perhaps should be creating folk tales about hackers, and trolls. Tales of 4chan and how /pol/ once called in an Air Strike on ISIS and then stole Shia's flag, how anon's on /sci/ proved a mathematical theorm and got the proof published, /v/ vs. reddit during the Shazbowl, and the great meme war of 2016.

[Anonymous No.19519092]

https://presentpunk.com/state-of-dystopia-july-oct-2021/
We already live in a cyberpunk world considering nearly everything that the OG writers of this genre had in mind in terms of power relations and societal changes. The only thing that cp fiction writers get wrong (especially in movies) is that every corner of the street would be hyper digitalized when it's obviously not the case today - even the most modern cities in China still have a lot of neighbourhoods that are deprived of this cyberspace accumulation. It's usually only the inner city and the rich gated communities that "enjoy" the hyperdigital world. They're wrong to assume that such technology would be accessible to everyone. That "cool tech stuff" that gets fetishized in cp media is reserved for the higher-ups. We do get controlled by cyberspace technologies but not to the extent where it genuinely benefits like the rich. We will continue to live in dirty apartments for absurd amount of money but they'll make sure that everyone will have a smartphone and other addictive spyware.
We're once again at a point where the future (cyberpunk) has already arrives before we really noticed it and now are unable to imagine a alternative. Hence all the romanticized cyberpunk media like that video game and all those stupid netflix shows that get produced on mass scale to feed off of that feeling.

[Anonymous No.19519122]

>>19518734
Probably in its origin as it was to varying degrees a kind of pessimist response to the libertarian counter culture that tried to portray the internet as a liberation from government tyranny. But I wouldn't say it's inherently left-wing.

[Anonymous No.19519130]

>>19518734
Hard not to be. Even right wing off shoots of the aesthetic (going so far as neoreaction and nick land) speak and understand the world as leftists.

[Anonymous No.19519140]

>>19518799
embarrassing post

[Anonymous No.19519158]

>>19519092
Isn't cyberpunks main schtick the low life high tech dynamic though?

[Anonymous No.19519184]

>>19518773
hot

[Anonymous No.19519536]

>>19519184
Yes she was. Parts of metro NYC give off cyberpunk vibes, whether intentional or not. The Oculus in downtown Manhattan has a cyberpunk sci-fy feel to it, complete with gleaming white everywhere and armed soldiers discretely stationed around it. Parts of the various Asian communities also have a cyberpunk ghetto feel to them.

[Anonymous No.19520242]

>>19519158
Yes, but you'll notice how they romanticize that gap between rich and poor by making the poor life fashionable with le epic technology and cyborg aesthetic.

[Anonymous No.19520407]

>>19517995
>The world is splintering into a trillion subcultures and designer cults with their own language, codes and lifestyles…
Nope. We live in a monoculture world where only one cult is allowed: the globohomo. You will love human rights and democracy no matter their consequences OR ELSE....

[Anonymous No.19520680]

serious q is this cyberpunk i say yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEZ6wAuMMl0

[Anonymous No.19520796]

>>19519536
you should look up this artist hiroto ikeuchi they make just straight up cyberpunk esque fashion stuff... and its one of my growing hypothesis that metro systems act as micro-laboratories for both cyberpunk esque research and other shit
>>19520242
maybe romanticized looking outside in but definitely not from the perspective of the actual characters inside the work i think?

[Anonymous No.19520803]

>>19520680
yes

[Anonymous No.19520812]

How to live a more cyberpunk lifestyle since we live in a cyberpunk world already?

[Anonymous No.19520829]

>>19520242
>Yes, but you'll notice how they romanticize that gap between rich and poor by making the poor life fashionable with le epic technology and cyborg aesthetic.

Yes, but poor criminals are always romanticized. Most are bloodthirsty dirtbags, but that doesn't make for a sympathetic character.

[Anonymous No.19520833]

Are there any good cyberpunk comics or graphic novels?

[Anonymous No.19520843]

>>19518128
top kek
/thread

[Anonymous No.19520846]

>>19520812
In the US go to the coasts and get into a high stress, high tech field that has global reach. Banking, defense, biotech and media are good candidates.

[Anonymous No.19520854]

>>19520812
Download the turner diaries to get put on an alphabet letter agency’s watchlist.
Sign up and pay extra to have your Amazon packages delivered by drone.
Always use google so it’s algorithm can track what you search for.
Always turn on location services so the government knows where you are 24/7.
Learn to hack/crack.
Wear tacticool clothing.
Get a Zoomer haircut with exotic colors.
Get into an accident where they have to hack off a limb, get the most advanced prosthetic on the market.
Live in a tiny overpriced apartment in a major world city.
Smoke a pack a day.
Listen exclusively to dark techno.

[Anonymous No.19520855]

>>19520833
found this list pretty decent
https://shellzine.net/cyberpunk-comics

[Anonymous No.19520870]

>>19520854
A lot of that sounds the opposite of cyberpunk; shouldn't it be more hitech lolife radical cybercriminal who is off the grid?

[Anonymous No.19520886]

>>19520855
Sweet, didn't even know there was a Blade Runner comic put out by Marvel in the 80s.

[Anonymous No.19521236]

>>19520796
I checked out hiroto ikeuchi's work. Interesting but overblown for my tastes. I prefer things that are more understated and that blend into the background, rather than trying to stand out.

Yes, I agree that metro systems act as an incubator for the current zeitgeist. It a good place for those in charge to nudge their vision of the future in front of millions of people. You can find this in things build from the 1920's to the 1940's when romantic deco reigned supreme and almost every subway or train station had workers heroically at work.

[Anonymous No.19522939]

>>19518558
They should make one able to scream

[Anonymous No.19522951]

Yes cyberpunk is dead because we reached the future and its a more mundane boring version of it.
I would say the current and next hip thing in scifi is climate change fiction or dying earth genre, this is the actual future

[Anonymous No.19522996]

>>19517995
>what "replaced" cyberpunk?
biopunk

[Anonymous No.19523510]

>>19522951
dude the reason it's always raining in 80s cyberpunk is because back then people believed climate change, or the green house effect as it was sometimes called back then, would make it rain constantly and no one would see the sun. the environment is already included in cyberpunk.

[Anonymous No.19523576]

>>19517995

Apparently penetrating multiple layers of security and encryption by connecting a laptop to a phone booth isn't realistic

[Anonymous No.19523607]

>>19523576
why would that be unrealistic?

[Anonymous No.19523675]

>>19523510
there is a new movement called clifi which centers climate change as part of the story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_fiction

[Anonymous No.19523860]

>>19518128
I prefer the retro wood finish look. Podpunk is the future.

[Anonymous No.19523922]

>>19521236
exactly my thoughts surrounding ikeuchi's work, seems cool at first but there seems to be little depth behind it when u move away from le epic cool wow robots

[Anonymous No.19524035]

>>19523675
Cli-fi deals much more with the dystopic element, while solarpunk is much more hopeful

[Anonymous No.19524095]

>>19518128

[Anonymous No.19524261]

>>19524095
Just the insta part.

[Anonymous No.19524265]

>>19517995

>is cyberpunk dead

[Anonymous No.19524368]

>>19517995
Post-cyberpunk replaced cyberpunk. Sure, you can call it a literary genre, but it seems appropriate that in the modern era more easily consumed media bookended cyberpunk - it opened with Blade Runner and died with Ghost in the Shell. GitS brought in post-cyberpunk, which came at a time when computers and all were widespread and in everybody's lives at all times instead of being the bleeding edge of technology. Then things became about living in the world of cybernetics rather than acting out against it.
Then science fiction went to dystopias, like the 70s again, which is ironically what inspired Gibson to write WW3 out of his future of the Sprawl entirely - he reckoned that the post apocalypse was boring. If you read science fiction you can see that it is. Then science fiction followed the trend of readership and became YA shlock, but when people got bored of dystopias science fiction died because Harry Potter was the big thing and now the mainstream genre reader is a woman or a teenager into fantasy.

[Anonymous No.19524778]

>>19524368
yea, judging from the discussion in this thread this does seem to be the case of where has cyberpunk has ended up

gits is awesome

[Anonymous No.19524853]

>>19517995

Where is this quote from, anon?

[Anonymous No.19524863]

>>19517995
Cyberpunk is mainstream now.
The market is over saturated with cyberpunk.
Cyberpunk is has been dead for more than a decade, and it breaks my heart.

[Anonymous No.19524887]

>>19524095
Top kek. What's the fee? Who cleans it out when it's all over

[Anonymous No.19524898]

>>19524863
Cyberpunk was mainstream in the early 90s and became ingrained as a cultural term that just meant the then aesthetic of science fiction. That was when the market was oversaturated with cyberpunk, and it died then. Three decades ago, not just one.
"Cyberpunk" is only mainstream now because zoomers have nothing but the leftovers of past mainstream culture and use it as a relatively meaningless term akin to vaporwave or synthwave, it just marks out a certain brand of retrofuturism.

[Anonymous No.19525013]

>>19524265
How would they know about the "no choking feeling"? It's not like their customers are going to come back and demand a refund. Also what happens to the body? Do you get a discount if you are tender and succulent or have body parts worth harvesting?

[Anonymous No.19525025]

>>19525013
Does this void your life insurance? Can you be insured against someone committing suicide, like you take out a policy on their policy? I'm talking about that Big Short shit.

[Anonymous No.19525064]

>>19525025
>Does this void your life insurance?
Yes. Life insurance generally does not cover snuffing yourself. Various acts of high risk stupidity such as cliff diving may also be excluded.

https://www.investopedia.com/does-life-insurance-cover-suicide-5105027


>Can you be insured against someone committing suicide,
Maybe? People have insured for stranger things.

[Anonymous No.19525088]

>>19518734
No. It's libertarian.

[Anonymous No.19525092]

>>19517995
>The world is splintering into a trillion subcultures and designer cults with the same language, codes and lifestyles

ftfy