brad@pheasant.cs.utexas.edu (blumenthal @ home with the armadillos) (04/09/88)
So, here's a question in a lighter vien. Does anyone else out there have any recommendations for cyberpunk humor (no, I don't think that's oxy-moronic). To get things started, I'll nominate "We're All Bozo's on This Bus" by the Firesign Theatre. It definitely has high-tech motiffs (if you call Tenex and MAC Lisp high-tech :-); it includes a Big Brother-esque future world; and it has a cowboy-like hero.
doug@eris (Doug Merritt) (04/10/88)
In article <11170@ut-sally.UUCP> brad@pheasant.cs.utexas.edu (blumenthal @ home with the armadillos) writes: > [...] "We're All Bozo's >on This Bus" by the Firesign Theatre. It definitely has high-tech >motiffs (if you call Tenex and MAC Lisp high-tech :-); it includes a >Big Brother-esque future world; and it has a cowboy-like hero. What's the definition of cyberpunk, anyway? I had thought that it included something like Gibson's cyberspace, not just high tech plus grim surroundings, like Blade Runner. Doug Merritt doug@mica.berkeley.edu (ucbvax!mica!doug) or ucbvax!unisoft!certes!doug
brad@pheasant.cs.utexas.edu (blumenthal @ home with the armadillos) (04/10/88)
>What's the definition of cyberpunk, anyway? I had thought that it >included something like Gibson's cyberspace, not just high tech plus > Doug Merritt doug@mica.berkeley.edu (ucbvax!mica!doug) Well, we've hashed this up recently, but I wasn't under the impression that cyberpunk necessarily required the "consesual hallucination" (I love that term) notion of cyberspace. Even if it did, I would argue that the amusement park world in "...Bozo's..." comes close: it's an environment that reflects the underlying organization of a high-tech, yet somewhat grim, construct-oriented society, and it requires a certain amount of cooperation from its non- indigenous inhabitants (Case cum Worker as opposed to Wintermute cum Artie Choke). But let's not get too sidetracked here; I really do want to know if anyone else sees any cyberpunk humor out there. It's bound to be somewhat black humor, but I guess I'm easily amused. Take care, brad
rpw3@amdcad.AMD.COM (Rob Warnock) (04/11/88)
Well, the cover blurbs claim that Rudy Rucker's two novels "Software"
and "Wetware" are "cyberpunk", though I disagree. (Basic background is
that robots on the moon escape their Asimovian programming, become an
independent form of life, and eventually start competing with humans.)
Still, they have a certain slapstick humor, and the future they portray
of the humans left on Earth has its grim/sick aspects....
So call it borderline cyberpunk humor.
(Hmm, better graph that: humor
\___cyberpunk
\___borderline )
Rob Warnock
Systems Architecture Consultant
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