Comments on: Post-Cyberpunk

By: Illusive Mind

Illusive Mind — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 01:45:00 +0000

There are those threads but then there are the threads that have come after, out and against the modernist, new-wave, utopian sci-fi, arguably the most identifiable being cyberpunk. Post-cyberpunk is a poor way of describing how the technological, political and philosophical climates that gave rise to the genre have since evolved, not changed so much that they warrant calling the death of anything, no transmogrification has taken place.

The use of the word punk is misleading because cyberpunk has actually very little to do with the punk movement or genre of music. It could have easily been called, Cyber-rebel. And it refers to two types of technological rebellion. One is that the powers that be (governments / corporations) are using technology in ways that do not conform to the modernist vision and people alienated by this nihilistic technocratic society do not conform to the powers that be themselves, using the technology for their own purposes.

The internet is still seen as the ultimate democratizing force, a borderless, governmentless medium of expression. But this forms the narrow realm of what could be called the idealistic vision of the dark views of 80’s cyberpunk. The internet is changing too, it is mostly made up of corporations who are as eager to please the forces of tyranny and oppression as they are in other mediums.

By: Kayelene Murphy

Kayelene Murphy — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 16:29:00 +0000

??? Post Cyber-Punk ???
Okay, how are we post anything, if, as you say, there are still threads in our cultural quilt that purport the technological endevours of the 1950’s??? Is that not modernism?

What was Punk in its “original” form? Musically, it was about rebellion, art for arts sake, stick it to the man, if thats what you felt like. So, does that mean CyberPunk is about hedonism/anarchism on the internet? If so, we can’t be Post Cyber Punk, otherwise blogs wouldn’t be so popular.

By: SFAM

SFAM — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:44:00 +0000

Hi Illusive Mind, thanks for the mention. Your post really lays out some critical issues with out society today engages in sensemaking. On the one hand, we are pompous enough to think we can “identify” the essence of the age we are currently in and expect this to last in perpetuity. Simultaneasly, we seem to want to disregard most attempts to come up with logical category structures for our constructions.

Also, I think the times are shifting towards a more hyper-realist stance. I expect to see lots more neo-noir style movies in the near future, for instance. I’d guess that Sin City and Renaissance are only the first among many. I say this due to, as you say, the darker trends in our society. They seem far more explicit and publicized than previously.