LEWIS@cs.umass.EDU (11/03/87)
Here's a brief summary of the assumptions of Cyberpunk SF (based on True Names by Vernor Vinge, The Net by <author forgotten>, Hardwired by Jon Williams, Neuromancer and Count Zero by William Gibson, plus a few short stories): --Computer networking carried to the nth degree. Humans will interface with the network via scalp electrodes or implanted hardware. Usually it is assumed that other sensory perceptions are ignored or blocked out during use of the network. Patterns of data are "displayed" as visual, audio, and kinesthetic sensations. --All or almost all information used by civilization is accessible via the global/solar system network. (Occasionally a plot twist will be based on the fact that a bank or government in some obscure Third World country actually uses paper for something.) --The idea of hacking has been carried to the nth degree in the form of "interface cowboys", etc. Hackers hold great power due to their ability to gain access to information and money. Some are hired by wealthy sponsors, others operate as solo criminals/avengers. Some spend most of their waking time in "cyberspace"--i.e. plugged into the net. --Advances in genetic engineering are often postulated, but have not greatly changed the nature of huamn beings. Additional human capabilities instead come from mechanical means--implanted weapons, augmentation of reflexes/memory/reasoning, etc. --Artificial Intelligence programs of superhuman capabilities often play a role. They are veiwed as dangeerous entities with great power. (Gibson has an organization called the Turing Police which makes sure no AI program gets too smart. I wish I had such problems with my code!) --"Downloading" or transmigration of human intelligences into software or "ROM casettes", or transfer of human minds between brains, is a standard plot fixture. --Multinational/interplanetary/interstellar corporations are the major wielders of political and economic power. Traditional governments have disintegrated or been weakened so that corporations essentially make their own laws. Often the most powerful individuals/corporations are associated with orbiting space colonies. Individual rights and legal protections for individuals are ignored by corporations. --Scientific discoveries are usually viewed as originating from corporations. Industrial espionage, kidnappings and defections of corporate scientists, and smuggling of valuable products/information are major themes of these stories. --Time frame for all this is anywhere from twenty to several hundred years in the future. Dvid D. Lewis Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst lewis@cs.umass.edu
hirai@swatsun (Eiji "A.G." Hirai) (11/04/87)
For everyone's information, there's a newsgroup solely devoted
to the discussion of cyberpunk, named alt.cyberpunk. The people who
read that newsgroup will find these cyberpunk articles interesting.
So please post the articles there. Perhaps cyberpunk discussions should
be confined there too? I know that this newsgroup's interests cross-relate
to cyberpunk discussions but I always believed (you may not) that
narrowing down the newsgroup of discussion is better than the reverse.
And if you cannot get the alt.* newsgroups, well, I sympathize.
To cross-post or not to cross-post, that's your choice.
-AG Hirai
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