 One take on what happened to cyberpunk. |
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 Mar 14 2007, 05:55 AM
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#1
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Dragon  Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019  |
Here's a webcomic on a site called e-sheep. It's called "The Guy I Almost Was".
It's quite excellent. |
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Mar 14 2007, 06:03 AM
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#2
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
A User's Guide to the Postmoderns has a take on what happened to Cyberpunk. I recommend it.
~J |
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Mar 14 2007, 08:27 AM
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#3
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Target Group: Members Posts: 15 Joined: 9-August 06 Member No.: 9,050 |
Work blocks this. NSFW or what?
screen grab a comic n post low res? |
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Mar 14 2007, 09:07 AM
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#4
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 209 Joined: 25-January 07 Member No.: 10,771 |
Cyberpunk is still around though the genre has changed and branched off.
To me there seems to be several varieties/reletives of/to cyberpunk. 80's Cyberpunk - This is the pink mohawk, 80's fashion, chromed out rocker against the Man! style that many know and love. Transhuman Space - Best described in the Gurps Transhuman Space series this is a more updated offshoot of cyberpunk. The world in a TS setting isn't a dystopia generally, but rather a mix of dystopia and utopia. Transhuman space focuses often on what it is to be "human" and so Ai, bioroids, chimera, and other biological and cybernetic modifications are common. In many ways the metahumans of SR mirror the metahuman races of TS. Transhuman Space settings are also normally set around 100 years into the future. Present Day Cyberpunk - Cyberpunk with the techlevel as it is today or near today. PARANOIA - This little RPG deserves its own genre. The world is decidedly dystopian, but <user deleted> I'll add more when/if I feel like it, I'm sure you people cna think up some of your own. |
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Mar 14 2007, 10:21 AM
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#5
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 295 Joined: 10-July 05 Member No.: 7,492 |
It's technically NSFW, there are like 3 titties in the whole thing (yes, on different people). |
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Mar 14 2007, 01:02 PM
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#6
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
None of these are Cyberpunk, though. At most they may be descendants, but they've speciated. ~J |
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Mar 14 2007, 01:22 PM
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#7
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 209 Joined: 25-January 07 Member No.: 10,771 |
Well I didn't say all of them were cyberpunk but that some where and some were offshoots/relatives. As for Modern Day Cyberpunk, I'd say yes you could have cyberpunk w/present day tech and real world politics. We have corporations controlling government. A dominating world wide computer network. A stark division between the haves and the have nots. We even have emerging cyber-interface technologies. Sounds like cyberpunk to me. |
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Mar 14 2007, 01:36 PM
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#8
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Where's the punk, though? I just don't see the sort of anti-authority rebelliousness these days.
~J |
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Mar 14 2007, 02:04 PM
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#9
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,066 Joined: 5-February 03 Member No.: 4,017 |
Punk has been marketed to impotence by the corporations. Any remaining anti-authority rebelliousness has become more sinister and deviouse than blatant and harmless. How better to destroy the authority you despise that to command it? |
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Mar 14 2007, 02:20 PM
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#10
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ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333 |
I really enjoyed that. Thanks, emo. |
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Mar 14 2007, 02:42 PM
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#11
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Incertum est quo loco te mors expectet; Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,546 Joined: 24-October 03 From: DeeCee, U.S. Member No.: 5,760 |
I didn't think much of it.
I think punk is still around. It isn't so much rebelliousness, it's simply a complete lack of concern. Punks don't want to fight the big corporations, because ultimately, they can't, nor do punks buy their nice things at Hot Topic, where all punk clothes are sold (or maybe they do), because frankly, they don't care either way. A punk is simply someone who does what he pleases, regardless as to social mores. A punk is someone who neither tries to follows nor tries to contradict fads. A punk is simply someone with either the nonchalance or the internal strength to blaze his own path, where ever that might be. Perhaps punk was different before, but now, when everyone wears the same name brands, watches the same news stations, listens to the same RIAA-approved music, if a punk is anything at all, it is the one who is willing to be violently different, if only because different is far more interesting. |
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Mar 14 2007, 02:58 PM
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#12
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
I would put forth the idea that that view of "punk" is so broad as to be meaningless.
~J |
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Mar 14 2007, 03:44 PM
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#13
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Incertum est quo loco te mors expectet; Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,546 Joined: 24-October 03 From: DeeCee, U.S. Member No.: 5,760 |
I understand your view and reject it ;P
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Mar 14 2007, 11:22 PM
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#14
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 184 Joined: 14-January 07 From: Zurich Orbital Member No.: 10,642 |
I love how he quotes McLuhan and then calls his work "future crap."
Intriguing stuff. |
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Mar 22 2007, 12:12 AM
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#15
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 946 Joined: 16-September 05 From: London Member No.: 7,753 |
Hmmm.. ..Well, I'd say that Cyberpunk is generally a misunderstood term. Bladerunner is often taken as a classic piece of Cyberpunk, yet doesn't seem to have many of the trapping of 'true' Cyber. Neither does Steampunk. However, seeing Cyberpunk as a genre that embodies change and morality shows that it's alive and well in many places. I've read a fair amount of Cyberpunk fiction, and use them as my basis, my datum of what's Cyberpunk and what isn't. In fact, I generally don't consider the whole chromed to the max, walking around with lots of weapons and incessant violence to be very true to Cyberpunk at all. As for no rebelliousness in todays world ?? There's public demonstrations against all sorts of things, niche musical artists spouting religious and political messages, flashmobs of people bored with life, Second Lifers rebelling against the mores of society, small companies taking on the global ones.. But that's just my view.. |
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Mar 22 2007, 12:27 AM
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#16
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Steampunk is another "WTF?" for me. Maybe I'm just seeing the wrong steampunk—is there any reason it isn't just "steam"? Can someone point me to the punk? I mean, ye gods, it's usually set in the Victorian era!
Edit: according to Wikipedia, I need to read older steampunk. Anyway, I can't speak for Bladerunner, but if it's at all true to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, then I must denounce you as a blasphemer. ~J |
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Mar 22 2007, 12:44 AM
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#17
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 946 Joined: 16-September 05 From: London Member No.: 7,753 |
Ahhh, but therein lies the punk element [wikipedia - "In its original nature the punk culture is primarily concerned with an individual's perceived right to freedom. Devotion to the idea of freedom, tends to create strong beliefs in concepts such as individualism, anti-authoritarianism, political anarchism (though not necessarily), free thought and ethics. Punk ideologies often have a critical view of the world, seeing modern day societies as placing extensive limits on humanity. Punk ideology usually achieves its expression through music, zines -- independently published literature, and spoken-word albums."]. There's lots of similarity between the 21st century and the 19th century - big companies that own/control many things, corruption, social change, technological advancement, exploration, freelancer opportunities. Most people who've watched and enjoyed Bladerunner haven't read DADOES, and they're not really related. |
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Mar 22 2007, 01:08 AM
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#18
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Free Spirit Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,944 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Bloomington, IN UCAS Member No.: 1,920 |
Weren't the antogonists and the protagonist, the Harrison Ford character, supposedly all androids? How much cyber do you want in a movie? Or maybe you want chrome, obvious cyber. |
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Mar 22 2007, 01:43 AM
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#19
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
Punk is a well-defined subculture. That is the entire point of the pink mohawks. By definition, a cyberpunk is one who is both a member of this subculture and extremely computer literate. The whole point of the genre is the psycosocial impact of technology, but the core is the psycosocial impact of worldwide computer telecommunications on the punk subculture. Without pink mohawks it just isn't Punk. The point is, and always has been, to disturb others' senses of order with wild and eccentric fashions. |
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Mar 22 2007, 05:03 PM
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#20
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 917 Joined: 5-September 03 From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Member No.: 5,585 |
Off topic regarding cyberpunk, boarding the WayBack Zephyr....
...To steampunk! If you've only read fluff, for the love of all that's holy, read "The Difference Engine" (Sterling & Gibson - and if you've played Shadowrun, I should NOT have to explain who the authors are) Sure, it's a rambling story that is wildly disconnected, but after your read it, it makes sense. And you read it again, just so you can pause and go, "Oh, that's so clever." It's Victorian, sure, but there were massive, huuuuuuuuge advances back then too. Science, evolution, technology, socal upheavals - all these things and more were growing, stretching and expanding. A case in point, the main protagionist had placed a bet at the raceway, then wanted to enlarge it. Sure, he'd just invested all the money he'd had on him in the chosen mark, but he wanted more, so he wired (Telegraphed) his bank from the bookkeeper's telegraph service so he could release more. That's direct debit by freaking telegraph, people! A little over 100 years later, we have internet banking over the phone and a whole slew of quite clever technology designed to do the same thing... Wasn't that the enticement of cyberpunk? Not just 3-foot mohawks and leather (Although, mmm, yeah, moving on) but the smell of something so inherently new, so futuristic to us 20th Century dwellers... ...and so common that is was treated like a microwave by the characters. Mentioned in passing. A hint, a sniff of the wild crazy that was just around our own corner. Buck Rogers in the 24th century doesn't really cut it like that. Nor do the sprawling space operas of Star Wars/Trek. Sure, it's new, with the shiney. But where's the connection with Joe Average walking down the street buying a can of soup? You get that with Steampunk. You can breathe it in Cyberpunk. And with a decent GM , plot and crew, you can try to survive it in Shadowrun. -Rant off. Tir And for a quite amazingly-deep stempunk that I was looking forward to as fluff, check out Girl Genius. (Studio Foglio) Although as fluffy as can be...there's a deep down abiding chunk of dark sorrow and loss. And explosions. And cute people in underwear. And more explosions. ( Linky, likely no pop as no html-fu...) http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/index.php |
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Mar 22 2007, 05:15 PM
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#21
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Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490 |
...omigod it's a Phil Foglio work. I love that man's stuff. Have all the XXXenophile issues signed by him.
I'd love to see his take on some of my characters. |
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Mar 22 2007, 07:02 PM
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#22
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,006 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
I enjoy Girl Genius a great deal, but to call it "punk" would be in my opinion an immense absurdity.
I guess I need to make another try at reading The Difference Engine. It lost my interest pretty quickly the first time through. ~J |
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Mar 22 2007, 07:29 PM
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#23
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Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490 |
...it was a rather "thick" read, & not just referring to the size of the book.
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Mar 22 2007, 08:04 PM
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#24
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
This is one measure of the prestige of an artist/writer: you can collect and own the porn they put out and not need to hide it. |
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