Topic 9 - Cyberpunk

Lecture – Cyber Punk

Although difficult to accurately define, Cyberpunk can be seen as a futuristic perspective of society in which technology has evolved well beyond the scope of current standards. Encapsulated in the futuristic world, nanotechnology, biotechnology and artificial intelligence are often explored to establish an impression of immense technological influence in every day life. A recurring theme in Cyberpunk is the segregation of society based on wealth and influence, often characterized by small, ruling elite of multinational corporations and a large, brutal mass of regular people. This creates a foundation for Cyberpunk as authors seek to establish a form of rebellion against the large conglomerates and governments which control the world. The ‘punk’ aspect is characterised by this rebellion against authority or controllers in society. Cyberpunk focuses on ‘inner-space’ which refers to the here and now but exaggerated to follow what we perceive to be its natural development in the future. Cyberpunk aims to differentiate itself from the sci-fi genre by creating a dystopia rather than the traditional utopia often portrayed in science fiction.

Reading – The Allegory of the Cave & Burning Chrome

Allegory of the cave
The basic premise of Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’ is the human perception of truth through conditioning can be altered. This also incorporates the notion that what maybe perceived truth isn’t actual reality. In this example people are kept in a cave from childhood and shown shadows of real objects projected onto a wall. Through conditioning their perception of reality is formed around the visual input of the cave shadows. Plato suggests that all humans are prisoners of our perceived reality and that our tangible world is our cave. The things we perceive to be real are the equivalent of the shadows on the wall.

Burning Chrome
The 1986 novel ‘Burning Chrome’ by William Gibson is one of the great works in the Cyberpunk genre. As a Cyberpunk novel the story unfolds in a futuristic world where biotechnology allows humans to plug directly into networks through artificial interfaces. This premise could be interpreted as a parallel to that depicted in the 1995 movie ‘Ghost in the Shell’ where both police and hackers entered a similar virtual network. As hackers illegally access networks in society today, Burning Chrome portrays this same concept but in a far more technologically advanced culture which aims to intensify the issue. The story depicts a fictional world controlled exclusively by computers, in this scenario hackers become a massive threat to everyday life. One can make the argument that our society is reaching or has already reached a point where we rely so heavily on computers that hackers pose a major threat.