What even is cyberpunk?

What is it?

 

With the popularity of Altered Carbon and Blade Runner 2049. Along with the rise and very high fall of cyberpunk 2077. The word cyberpunk gets thrown out a lot. But what is it? 

What does it actually mean?

Where did it come from? 

What are its implications? 

Let’s find out! 



History

So.. where did it begin? Well, the word cyberpunk was coined by the American author Bruce Bethke. He wrote a book called “Cyberpunk” The idea behind the name was to combine the word cybernetics (The act of replacing certain human functions with tech). And the word punk, (the loud, booming, and sometimes nihilistic music). 

Bethke did not invent the genre, only the term. The origin is believed to go all the way back to the 1940s and the author Samuel R. Delany. The purpose was to explore the idea that maybe high tech might not be as cool as we think it is going to be. Man, what a bummer!

What is it?

Okay, now that all the boring stuff is out of the way. Let’s get into what the hell cyberpunk is. 

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction. It is characterized by having an interesting contrast between high tech and a growing dehumanization. So basically the more tech the worst people are off.    

The quote that captures the essence of Cyberpunk the most is. High on tech, low on life.  

Most of the time there is an anti-hero type guy or gal who fights/rebels against the system (like punk music). 

Cyberpunk started as a literary work. The most influential people here would be William Gibson, Philip. K Dick, and Bruce Sterling. 

Cyberpunk started to really pick up steam when Ridley Scout made his masterpiece Blade Runner 1982. The movie is based on the novel “Do androids dream of electric sheep?” (Best title ever!). Blade runner has kind of become the quintessential aesthetic of what cyberpunk should look like.

The dreary, grey, and poor existence of people, struggling to find anything resembling hope or happiness. The ultra techno future of Los Angeles is the frame for cyberpunk. By the way, have you noticed it always rains in blade runner, what’s up with that? This is not necessary for all of cyberpunk, but it seems to be a popular choice. There are exceptions to this like with everything else of course. (there will be some sick recommendations at the bottom of this post). However, the real aesthetic inspiration for cyberpunk is actually Hong-Kong

In 1995 Ghost in the Shell, directed by Mamuro Oshii, based on a manga by Masamune Shirow was released. Blade runner draws on what is called urban space, this includes Asian cities like Tokyo and Hong Kong. Gibson’s work also included an Asian-inspired cityscape. So while we all might think of Blade Runner´s Los Angeles, the visual identity of cyberpunk is more on the Asian side. Hong Kong is the big daddy of them all. The thing about Hong Kong is that it has a large pool of people. People from all over the world, with different backgrounds. The instantly recognizable, yet alien city is the perfect backdrop for an ever-changing society. The diversity of people is important. See, in Blade Runner, the rich white guys have all the power. They live in this high-class mega building. Whereas, the rest of the people live on the ground. They are multicultural and they live in relatively poor conditions. In that way Blade runner is a critique of the class system.

So is Cyberpunk a dystopia or a utopia? Well, it’s neither. See, a utopia is the perfect version of the future. Where everything is awesome and we are all happy-go-lucky. A dystopia is the opposite, outlining the worst possible future. Cyberpunk is actually a heterotopia, a society that is different. The concept was elaborated by French philosopher Michel Foucault. What he means is basically a society that is different and strange that does not conform to the established rule. 

Another aspect of cyberpunk is the idea of cyberspace. This is essentially a network of data where you can upload your mind and navigate a virtual space while your body is idle. The most famous example of this is the matrix. 

Philosophy

Now! It is time to utilize the most powerful weapon of them all! Philosophy! You heard me, Philosophy fam. See here is the thing, science-fiction was, at least in a classic sense, more concerned with big ideas. rather than character or plot. This can be very off-putting for new readers of the genre.  

Our understanding of narratives and what they should contain has been limited over the past couple of years. Character development and plot have become the holy beacon of what stories most contain! (This is a rant for another post). Classic science-fiction is all about asking complex questions about the human condition and society. And let you think about the answers for yourself. Questions like: “what would first contact with aliens look like” or “if you could put your brain into a robot would you still be human?” 

Cyberpunk is, to me at least, the best genre when it comes to Philosophical questions. 

The themes we are going to look at is that of transhumanism, identity, and Ship of Theseus 

You might think this is too heavy and boring stuff. Rest assured, it is not. Plus, this is basically the whole point of cyberpunk. Engaging in these questions is what makes the genre “fun” to explore. 

Transhumanism

The first theme of importance to cyberpunk is that of transhumanism. Sounds fancy right? So, transhumanism is the belief that. Technology will help us surpass what we would believe to be normal for humans to do. The goal is to use technology to enhance strength, intelligence, lifespan, and so on. The term originates from British biologist Sir Julian Huxley (brother to Aldous Huxley). There is a lot of debate regarding Transhumanism, such as nature vs the artificial (a debate for another post). Huxley talked a lot about how humans had become more and more aware of their consciousness. This awareness also meant that we began to realize mental possibilities. He also noted that humans were surrounded by unused potential. Transhumanism and cyberpunk seek to bridge this gap. 

My first experience with this concept in media was in Disney’s Treasure Planet. In that film, the chef is a cyborg. He has a robotic leg, arm, and eye. A great example is also robocop. These kinds of robotic augmentation play a role in cyberpunk. In Ghost in the Shell the character Baku has synthetic eyes. The Major aka Makoto, the lead in Ghost in the shell has her entire body augmented. The last of the main characters is Togusa, a man who has refused any robotic transplant. The three main characters represent different states of argumentation. The idea of replacing a limb with something robotic and metal is nothing new, I could list hundreds more shows or movies that have done it. The idea is not inherent to cyberpunk, but I still think it is an important aspect of at least some cyberpunk tales. The whole point is to create an image where something cold and robotic merges with the living body. The warm blood ends and cold steel begins. 

Cyberpunk also has a connection with the horror genre in this regard. Specifically body horror. The idea of your body changing into something hideous with the help of cybernetics is a strong image. An example could be the movie Akira, where the lines between sci-fi and body horror are blurred. 

The peak of transhumanism is the singularity. Whoa, what is that you might wonder. Well, the simple version is that the singularity is the point where technology transcends human technology. By doing so the borders between humans and AI will be erased and the humans will merge with technology. Instead of having a robotic arm or left ear, imagine your whole body being a machine with your conscience inside. Imagine being able to upload or download your consciousness to whatever body you wish. Man that sounds pretty sweet, right? I am sure there is no philosophical problem with this at all.

Ship of Theseus

Okay, so there are some philosophical questions we have to raise. The first is the thought experiment of the Ship of Theseus. 

You have a ship made of a hundred pieces of wood. You then replace one piece every day till all the pieces have been replaced. You then take all the old pieces and build the same ship again. The question is, which one is the original ship? Obviously, there are a lot of answers depending on the approach you take. I find that the people I ask often say the latter is the original. This indicates that the original material is more important than the starting point of the set material.  

What does this have to do with cyberpunk? I’ll get to that now.

Let’s say you replace both your arms with cybernetic ones, so you look like Jax from Mortal Kombat. Then after some time, you replace your left foot, and then an eye. Finally, you have replaced your entire body, the question is if you stop being you at some point. You then reassemble your flesh and blood body, which one is the real one? The real question is are you as a being, your body, your thoughts, or your consciousness? Do you need all of them? Or can you separate them? 

In Ghost in the Shell, you can replace your body if you wish to. Your body is the shell, and your conciseness is the ghost. So, are you the ghost, the shell, or both? In Blade Runner Roy is an artificial human, with feelings, memories, and a sense of self-planted in him. Is he alive? should he have human rights? All questions that are worth pondering. 

Once all these questions seemed like wild hypotheticals, however, since AI is being developed real fast we must start to consider these themes. Here is my answer to the ship of Theseus. 

First of all, The ship is not a thinking being, it does not have a consciousness and therefore the example is a little more simple than it would be if we apply it to a human. However, the same sentiment is present.

Here is the thing. There is no original ship. You cannot point to one of the two ships and say that one is the original. The ship is constantly changing and the original wood is not what makes the ship. Imagine a book, you have different kinds of books, some are small, some are big and fat with thousands of pages. So if I had a big fat book and I started to tear out pages. You then have to say stop when the book is considered small. You can’t do it. There is simply no real point where the book becomes small. Is a book size all about the page count? Is it by how many words? Some books have thicker pages and thus appear bigger. The idea of a “small” book will be different from person to person. Some may think a book under 200 pages is small. Some a hundred, there are simply too many variables. You can’t say after x amount of pages being torn that the book is now small. For what if I were to put a page back? Would it then not be a small book? The ship is what it is, by removing and adding pieces the ship itself is changing. At no point can you say, now the ship is no longer the original. It all comes back to the ancient argument of the body and soul.

Identity

Okay, after all that my head is hurting, hang on a bit longer. We need to get through this last point before moving onto some badass recommendations. The final point is that of identity. This should be straightforward, right? Right? 

Identity is a tricky one, the field is vast and complicated so I will try to narrow it down a bit. One might feel inclined to identify oneself by physical attributes. Attributes such as eye color, height, weight, deformities, and so on. The problem with this is that under cyberpunk all these things can change. your physical vessel or shell is completely arbitrary at least in some cyberpunk stories. 

Okay, so my body is not me, great now what? What do I even have left? Well, how about my thoughts? are they not my own? They might be, but keep in mind that in most cyberpunk everyone is hooked up to some sort of network. And if someone was to plant a thought in your head via that net. Then the thought would not be your own now would it? This brings us to one of the most important themes, that of memory. 

Memory is a very fragile thing both in cyberpunk and in reality. The chances of you remembering a thing incorrectly is more likely than you think. That’s why when you talk to someone and you both recall the same incident, you can have two very different versions of what happened. The human mind doesn’t actually store memories like an archive. It is much better at storing feelings and sensory input. That is why when you think back to visiting your grandparents when you were young, you don’t remember specifics, but more like what the food tasted like, the unique smell in the house, and how you felt doing it. The mind is not fit to remember details like that. But memories are what happened to me. It is what makes up who I am, is it not? Indeed that is the problem here. 

 

In cyberpunk, we have plenty of great examples regarding the theme of memory. The first one comes in Blade runner. 

In Blade Runner, there is a scene where someone is playing the piano.

“Her memory of lessons allows her to play beautifully, so it means little whether she lived through the lessons or not” 

Here they reject the distinction between “real” and prosthetic memories. The fact that the memory is not her own plays little to no role. Your experiences do not matter at all. It does not matter if you have taken piano lessons or not, the point is that you play. The fact that it did not happen is nothing. This is a little scary, to say the least. Imagine that you go fishing with your friends. You set up, you drink beer, you catch some fish and crack jokes. Then when you get older it turns out that all those things never really happened. It is not important whether or not you went out with your friends on fishing trips. What matters is that you know how to fish and nothing more.  

A real problem here is that life is made up of those small moments, lessons, and experiences. Simply having them in order to obtain a skill (Like playing piano) takes the fun out of life. 

In Ghost in the Shell Makoto has captured a criminal. Doing the interrogation it is revealed that all his memories are not his own. His ghost has been hacked and his memories have been implanted by someone else. This is a truly terrifying implication. Imagen, not only that your memories were gone, but worse, false. Your memories are what makes you, you. All the experiences and memories in your life are what have formed you into the individual you are today. What if it was all a lie? 

If your body is artificial and your mind can be hacked do you even exist at all? 

Recommendation

Congratulations you made it through the article! Your reward are some recommendations if you are looking for more in the genre of cyberpunk. I will not be including things I don’t like or anything I have not experienced myself. So if you find yourself thinking he forgot this and that, keep in mind by then you would have already seen it and thus no recommendation is needed. Some works on this list are more “cyberpunk” than others, that is to say they incorporate more themes and ideas regarding the classic idea of cyberpunk. Oddly enough, movies are strangely scarce when it comes to cyberpunk. 

Film

Blade runner 1982

There are many versions of this film, I say go with the final edition. 

Upgrade 2018

A hidden gem about a guy merging with an A.I, it has some excellent action and a but load of cyberpunk iconography.

Games

cyberpunk 2077 

I feel inclined to include this, the reason should be obvious. 

Deus ex  

I understand this is a whole franchise. The one I played was Human Revolution. Deus Ex excels in the Transhumanist aspekt. The main character has plenty of augmentations to enhance his physical abilities.

Books

Neuromancer 

An absolute classic where an antihero hacker type named Case has to traverse cyberspace. At least, that’s what it is on the surface. It is worth mentioning that it can be a little confusing, at least it was for me, but hey, maybe I am just a dumbass.  

Snow Crash

This 1992 cyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson is also about a hacker exploring cyberspace. In the novel, it is called the Metaverse. The story is about Hiro Protagonist (yes, that is his name) he is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the Mafia. One day he receives something called “Snow crash” and stuff starts happening. It has a lot of colorful characters and neat ideas. 

Anime

Akira 

Is one of those quintessential anime movies and a great example of cyberpunk. The story is about a new version of Tokyo after the last one got nuked. In this new Tokyo, technology has advanced, but people still live in poverty. The school system is violent against children. In the midst of all this, a biker gang roams the street with their advanced bikes and neon lights. 

Akira also has some of that good body horror with some great disturbing imagery.  

The animation is absolutely jaw-dropping and still impressive to this day. 

Texhnolyze

is about a boxer named Ichise who gets paid a lot of money for losing a fight on purpose. This is exactly what happens, nothing else happens at all. Except that’s not true he wins the fight he was supposed to lose and the mafia cuts off his arm and leg. I am not sure I would classify this under cyberpunk, it barely fits under the label, and then again just barely. The reason for its inclusion is because it touches on the subject of augmentation. Ichise gets his limbs replaced, now he can really knock people out with a robotic hand. 

The show is high on technology (at least in some aspects) and VERY low on life, in fact, I feel I have to warn you. This show is the most nihilistic thing ever! It is crushing in its hopelessness. There is no bright moment except for Yoshi’s mustache. It feels like nothing good ever happens to anyone. So be warned it’s a bit of a downer. 

It does have exceptional execution, everything works well together, the visuals, the voice acting, the tone, the story, everything just works. It’s a sublime piece of work. It might not be high on tech, but it is very, VERY low on life. 

KAIBA 

This right here, this is a hidden gem. Don’t let the art style fool you, Kaiba is about body-swapping and selling bodies to the highest bidder. The story follows Kaiba, who wakes up with amnesia and has to piece a greater mystery together.

The cartoonish art style actually helps the show. The childlike style contrasts with the seriousness of the story in an eerie way.  

Ghost in the shell 1992 

Feels a bit odd recommending it after praising it so much in the post, but I still think it is a bit of a masterpiece. 

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone complex 

Here it is, I saved the very best for last. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a spinoff series of the original 1992 movie, it differs slightly in presentation. 

This is in my opinion the finest example of cyberpunk. Every single episode explores another aspect of the world while simultaneously moving the plot along. Where the movie is darker, more stilted, and a bit more philosophical. The show is more action-packed, while still exploring in-depth philosophical themes. The characters are also given more, well, character. They are more involved, more fun, existing, they also feel more relevant. 

Ghost in the Shell SAC might not be the pinnacle of cyberpunk in terms of the already established esthetic of the neo-Hong Kong look. However, in all other aspects, it stands as the best in terms of quality.

Bibliography

Cyberpunk. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/art/cyberpunk

Transhumanism. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/transhumanism

Huxley, J. (2015). Transhumanism. Ethics In Progress, 6(1), 12-16. doi:10.14746/eip.2015.1.2

Yuen, W. K. (2000). On the Edge of Spaces: Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Hong Kong’s Cityscape. SF-TH Inc, 1-21. doi:10.4000/resf.565