Love-Hounds-request@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (01/23/87)
Really-From: hsu%uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU@a.cs.uiuc.edu (William Tsun-Yuk Hsu) Recently Hof mentioned something about Penn and Teller claiming to be "punk" magicians. If you follow science fiction at all, you've probably heard of the latest subgenre, "cyberpunk". Unfortunately, cyberpunk is a misnomer. Cyberpunk novels really have very little to do with the spirit of punk. The first big cyberpunk novel which defined the subgenre was Gibson's Neuromancer, an impressive book in its own right. There have been older books treating the same themes, like Delany's Babel-17, Yermakov's Journey from Flesh, and Jeter's Dr. Adder. Cyberpunk novels treat technology as a part of everyday life instead of as a novelty item. Most portray technology in an ambivalent or negative light (Delany is an exception). They make subtle statements about our increasing dependence on technology (Gibson's computer operators get an almost drug-like high from hooking into their consoles) and the possible negative effects. The "punk" part comes from the mavericks who beat the system because they know the technology well (kind of like hackers). These romanticized rebels usually hang out in the sleazy parts of town and sport mohawks and leather, so I guess that adds to the punk label. All this cyberpunk stuff really has more in common with industrial music than punk. Bill