Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk (a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk) is a genre of science fiction that focuses on computers or information technology, usually coupled with some degree of breakdown in social order. The plot of cyberpunk literature often revolves around the conflict between hackers, artificial intelligences, and mega corporations, tending to be set within a near-future dystopian Earth, rather than the "outer space" locales prevalent at the time of cyberpunk's inception. Much of the genre's "atmosphere" echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction. While this gritty, hard-bitten style was hailed as revolutionary during cyberpunk's early days, later observers concluded that, literarily speaking, most cyberpunk narrative techniques were less innovative than those of the New Wave, twenty years earlier. Primary exponents of the cyberpunk field include William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, John Shirley and Rudy Rucker. The term became widespread in the 1980s and remains current today.

History

The science fiction editor Gardner Dozois is generally acknowledged as the person who popularized the use of the term "cyberpunk" as a genre of literature. Minnesota writer Bruce Bethke coined the term in 1980 for his short story "Cyberpunk", although the story was not actually published until November 1983, in Amazing Science Fiction Stories, Volume 57, Number 4. The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of Bruce Sterling, John Shirley, William Gibson, Rudy Rucker, Michael Swanwick, Pat Cadigan, Lewis Shiner, Richard Kadrey, and others. (See also John Shirley's articles on Sterling and Rucker {{ref|JohnShirley}}.)

Related Topics:
Gardner Dozois - Literature - Bruce Bethke - 1980 - Short story - 1983 - Amazing Science Fiction Stories - Bruce Sterling - John Shirley - William Gibson - Rudy Rucker - Michael Swanwick - Pat Cadigan - Lewis Shiner - Richard Kadrey

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Early observers hailed cyberpunk as a radical departure from science-fiction standards and a new manifestation of vitality. Shortly thereafter, however, many critics arose to challenge its status as a revolutionary movement. These observers pointed out that the SF "New Wave" of the 1960s was much more innovative as far as narrative techniques and styles were concerned. Furthermore, while Neuromancer's narrator may have had an unusual "voice" for science fiction, once one looked outside of the SF genre, one found much older parallels: Gibson's narrative voice resembles a moderately updated version of old Raymond Chandler novels, such as The Big Sleep (1939). In the same vein, other critics noted that almost all traits claimed to be uniquely cyberpunk could in fact be found in older writers' works — often citing J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison and Samuel R. Delany. Even more significantly, the generation which cyberpunk claimed to represent did not step forward to embrace it: the real punks of the 1980s read little, and most young SF readers of that era stayed with traditional storytellers like Larry Niven and Anne McCaffrey, not to mention the literary giants Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke. William Gibson's prose, too dense for novice or casual readers, was more appealing to academics. Television via Max Headroom and magazines like Heavy Metal did more to popularize the "cyberpunk vision" than did the original fiction. {{ref|PaulBrians}}

Related Topics:
New Wave - 1960s - Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep - 1939 - J. G. Ballard - Philip K. Dick - Harlan Ellison - Samuel R. Delany - 1980s - Larry Niven - Anne McCaffrey - Asimov - Heinlein - Clarke - Max Headroom - Heavy Metal

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Science-fiction writer David Brin describes cyberpunk as "...the finest free promotion campaign ever waged on behalf of science fiction." It may not have attracted the "real punks", but it did ensnare many new readers, and provided the sort of movement which postmodern literary critics found alluring. (One illustration of this is Donna Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto"; an attempt to build a "political myth" using SF cyborgs as metaphors for contemporary "social reality". {{ref|DonnaHaraway}}) Cyberpunk made SF more attractive to academics, argues Brin; in addition, it made SF more profitable to Hollywood and in the visual arts generally. Although the genre supporters' "self-important rhetoric and whines of persecution" were irritating at worst and humorous at best, Brin declares, "the CP rebels did shake things up. We owe them a debt. But," he continues, "were they original?" {{ref|DavidBrin}}

Related Topics:
David Brin - Donna Haraway - Metaphor - Hollywood

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As new writers and artists began to experiment with cyberpunk ideas, new varieties of fiction emerged, sometimes addressing the criticisms leveled at the original cyberpunk canon. Lawrence Person argues,

Related Topics:
Canon - Lawrence Person

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:Many writers who grew up reading in the 1980s are just now starting to have their stories and novels published. To them cyberpunk was not a revolution or alien philosophy invading SF, but rather just another flavor of SF. Like the writers of the 1970s and 80s who assimilated the New Wave's classics and stylistic techniques without necessarily knowing or even caring about the manifestos and ideologies that birthed them, today's new writers might very well have read Neuromancer back to back with Asimov's Foundation, John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar, and Larry Niven's Ringworld and seen not discontinuities but a continuum. {{ref|LawrencePerson}}

Related Topics:
Neuromancer - Asimov - Foundation - John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar - Ringworld

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Person also advocates the term "postcyberpunk" to label the new works produced by such writers. In this view, typical postcyberpunk stories continue the preoccupation with the effects of computers, but without the assumption of dystopia or the emphasis on cybernetic implants. Shortly after Person posted an essay where he elaborated his stance on the Internet forum Slashdot, readers observed that the term was possibly superfluous—one more piece of jargon invented to shore up false distinctions. Like practically all categories discerned within science fiction, the boundaries of postcyberpunk are likely to be fluid or ill defined.

Related Topics:
Postcyberpunk - Dystopia - Cybernetic - Slashdot

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Among the subgenres of cyberpunk is steampunk, which is set in an anachronistic Victorian environment, but with cyberpunk's bleak film noir worldview. The Difference Engine was probably the novel that helped bring this genre to the forefront. The early nineties saw the emergence of biopunk, a derivative subgenre building not on informational technology but on biology, the other dominating scientific field of the end of the 20th century. Individuals are enhanced not by mechanical means, but by genetic manipulation of their very chromosomes. Paul Di Filippo is seen as the most prominent biopunk writer, although Bruce Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist cycle is clearly a major influence.

Related Topics:
Steampunk - Victorian - Film noir - The Difference Engine - Biopunk - 20th century - Genetic manipulation - Paul Di Filippo - Bruce Sterling

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Cyberprep is a term that reflects the flip side of cyberpunk. A cyberprep world assumes that all the technological advancements of cyberpunk speculation have taken place, but that life is happy rather than gritty and dangerous. Since society is leisure driven, uploading is more of an art form or a medium of entertainment while advanced body modifications are used for sports and pleasure.

Related Topics:
Cyberprep - Technological - Uploading - Body modification

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:See also the list of notable precursors.

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