Happy Friday, ya’ll – did you know that nobody knows what cyberpunk is? I didn’t, but it’s clear that these early 90s folks are as clueless as we are – check out this hilarious slice of 90s life for this Sci-Friday:
It’s funny that cyberpunk would be a non sequiter in the 90s – according to Wikipedia, Comics exploring cyberpunk themes began appearing as early as Judge Dredd, first published in 1977. By the end of that decade, Lawrence Person would define cyberpunk ethos as follows:
“Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body.”
We’re living in a cyberpunk dystopia right now, according to that definition. I would invite you to explore more, although cyberpunk frequently includes ‘pulp detective’-style themes with violence and sex – definitely not stuff for kids. That’s why I prefer ‘solarpunk,’ where we’ve gotten beyond the societal collapse, dystopia and decay for something happier and hopeful. We’ll see which way the future rolls out.
I hope you enjoyed this moment of scifi sociology! Please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great weekend! 🙂
