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Cyberpunk Watch:
Witness to the advent of the networked age...
Created on 2006-03-28 23:38:33 (#9906997), last updated 2009-12-10
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binswang@umich.edu AboutAccording to Neil Stephenson, Cyberpunk is dead. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), he was referring to cyberpunk as it relates to fiction.
Outside of the pages of Neuromancer and The Difference Engine, Cyberpunk is only just beginning. Increasingly, the news reflects developments that suggest a future that should be familiar to anyone with a passing interest in cyberpunk fiction.
This journal posits that while a cyberpunk future is not a certainty, current trends certainly seem to be pointing our civilization in that direction. Indeed, the first requirement, the rise of networking and distributed culture, is certainly near completion (For more on this, I recommend Samuel R. Smith's article on the Network Age below).
This community is intended to both record these developments and provide commentary on them. While some of these trends (decline of the environment, abuses by big business) are generally viewed as negative and others (technological developments) are generally viewed as positive, this community allows for either viewpoint. Defenses of the RIAA and condemnation of brainjacks or genetic engineering will both be allowed, provided the conversation is constructive and allows for reasonable debate. Flaming will not be tolerated.
Suggested reading:
Postmodernism is Dead. Now what? Distributed Culture and the Rise of the Network Age, by Samuel R. Smith.
Cyberpunk, a Wikipedia entry.
Outside of the pages of Neuromancer and The Difference Engine, Cyberpunk is only just beginning. Increasingly, the news reflects developments that suggest a future that should be familiar to anyone with a passing interest in cyberpunk fiction.
This journal posits that while a cyberpunk future is not a certainty, current trends certainly seem to be pointing our civilization in that direction. Indeed, the first requirement, the rise of networking and distributed culture, is certainly near completion (For more on this, I recommend Samuel R. Smith's article on the Network Age below).
- Trends that suggest the rise of cyberpunk culture include:
- the continued deterioration of the environment
- rapid technological development, including advances in biotechnology and cyborg technologies
- distributed culture and the rise of online communities
- the increased exploitation of consumers by big business (RIAA/MPAA), and a disinterest by big business for the well-being of its employees and customers (Enron, tobacco industry)
This community is intended to both record these developments and provide commentary on them. While some of these trends (decline of the environment, abuses by big business) are generally viewed as negative and others (technological developments) are generally viewed as positive, this community allows for either viewpoint. Defenses of the RIAA and condemnation of brainjacks or genetic engineering will both be allowed, provided the conversation is constructive and allows for reasonable debate. Flaming will not be tolerated.
Suggested reading:
Postmodernism is Dead. Now what? Distributed Culture and the Rise of the Network Age, by Samuel R. Smith.
Cyberpunk, a Wikipedia entry.
ConnectInterests (42):
androids, artificial intelligence, bionic technology, biotechnology, books, bruce sterling, cognitive science, computers, cyberpunk, cyborg, distributed culture, environmentalism, fiction, file sharing, futurists, genetic engineering, genetics, hacking, human-computer interface, internet, medicine, mmorpg, movies, mpaa, nanotechnology, neil stephenson, networking, neural science, online communities, online dating, physics, popular culture, postmodernism, prosthetics, riaa, second life, slashdot, technology, the matrix, theoretical physics, wearable computers, william gibson
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