FUTURE SHOCK: NIGHT CITY 2020

Cyberpunk... It has a certain ring, hasn't it? Well, it better. It's a fancy label which has been exploited and abused, but the fact remains: cyberpunk is one of the most explosive manifestations of futuristic fiction ever. It is basically a reinvention of science fiction in general, and dystopian fiction in particular.

It is often said that cyberpunk is dead, but that is far from true. It has just mutated: today, science fiction equals cyberpunk! Common science fiction themes like corporate dominion, monstrous urbanisation, terminal decay and environmental collapse, and likewise common concepts like cybernetics, cyberspace, mega-cities and mega-corporations — they are basically cyberpunk inventions. The impact of this obscure movement — given that it really is a movement — on science fiction can't be overestimated. Although the label might be obsolete today, the cyberpunk tradition continues to influence science fiction.

It all started as a small literary movement, based on a radical approach to science fiction. The origins of cyberpunk can actually be traced all the way back to the 60s and 70s when sci-fi became more brutal, bizarre, socially aware and high-tech oriented. This evolution was accelerated in the late 70s and early 80s, when the personal computer was launched on the market and the birth of punk changed the look of pop culture forever. But it was in the mid-80s it all began.

The publication of William Gibson's Neuromancer in 1984 became the very landmark of cyberpunk. Gibson, Rudy Rucker, Lewis Shiner, John Shirley and Bruce Sterling formed a group of science fiction writers inspired by authors like J.G. Ballard and Brian Aldiss and probably not unaffected by movies like Alien and Blade Runner. They were given labels like Radical Hard SF, the Outlaw Technologists, the Eighties Wave, the Neuromantics, the Mirrorshades Group... Only one label stuck, though, originally the title of a Bruce Bethke short story: Cyberpunk.

Cyberpunk is mainly a literary label today, but it influenced science fiction cinema heavily for many years, and still does in many respects. Sometimes it's difficult to decide whether the literature influenced the cinema or vice versa; sometimes it's examples of synchronism or even synergy. Two artistic fields where the cyberpunk tradition still is very much alive are comics and computer games, typical pop culture expressions. The label cyberpunk is seldom used nowadays, though. The public introduction of internet and virtual reality is to blame. When these technical phenomena became red hot property, mass media and computer companies shamelessly exploited the expressions "cyberpunk" and "cyberspace"; finally they basically became embarassing. Today, cyberpunk is usually dismissed as a fanciful phenomenon of the 80s.

As an interesting sidenote, the cyberpunk genre has generated an obscure subculture, an aesthetic and artistic movement without leaders or decrees. It's still more or less active on internet and has several communities and zines, not seldom of an esoteric nature.

The cyberpunk subculture attracts hackers, crackers and other computer wizards, artists, writers, musicians and designers, as well as political radicals, philosophers, mysticians, techno-fetishists and drug romantics. The most obscure expression of the cyberpunk subculture are probably the so-called trans-humans, individuals who wish to become post-humans through artificial enhancements of body and mind. There is also a music style which is explicitly called cyberpunk; basically, it is only a vague, collective label for electronic music like industrial, ebm and cross-over, trance techno and ambient techno.

If you wish to approach the cyberpunk movement on internet, be aware that it's an elusive and esoteric subculture in many respects. If you make a blunt approach, you will probably be shot down. It seems that life sometimes tends to imitate art within the cyberpunk movement.

 

THE DYSTOPIAN DEPTH

Cyberpunk dystopias are obviously very potent. Authors like J.G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss and Philip K. Dick, and movies like Alien, Blade Runner and Tron may have been the pioneers, but the movement stands on its own feet. Although usually of an implicit and abstract nature — at least compared to more traditional dystopias — cyberpunk dystopias often have strong political qualities. Cyberpunk is dystopian techno-horror at its very best: radical, imaginative, horrifying, innovative and controversial.

The central theme in the typical cyberpunk dystopia, is the slow, but certain break-down of Western society. It is a case of implosion: it bursts inwards. The essential, societal framework has been dismantled gradually, in a complex process of commercialisation, technologisation and globalisation. The engine in this doomsday machinery is the crass materialism and superficial narcissism of the Western man. It is basically a society on the verge of anarchy; a gloomy, harrowing version of the fall of the Roman Empire. In the cyberpunk vision, we have already entered the downward spiral today.

Cyberpunk societies are basically capitalist dystopias. The mega-corporation becomes the very symbol of the uninhibited greed, power hunger and merciless exploitation in the unrestrained, capitalistic society. The corporation has ceased to be exclusively an economical entity: it has transformed into a miniature state with own government, constitution, code of laws, police, army etc. The power of the national governments has been fatally weakened; perhaps by themselves even. The only governmental authority which has managed to preserve its power is the military; possibly also the police.

It's indeed a dangerous time to live. Thus, the key word of cyberpunk is egoism. It's simply a matter of survival of the fittest, but in such a complex world, it's uncertain who really is the fittest. Paranoia is instrumental, deception an essential strategy.

The protagonists of cyberpunk fiction are almost invariably street punks, cyberspace hackers, black market techies, mercenaries and their likes. They perform their dubious skills in the greyzones of this new world, this witch-broth of commercialisation, technologisation and globalisation gone wretched. In a sense, they are the only remaining rebels. They are rebels without a cause, though, driven by the same greed and egoism as the corporate leaders. There are no real heroes in the typical cyberpunk dystopia. 

Even if there were heroes, rebellion would be hopeless. How to combat a faceless evil? The corporations are basically collective entities — almost comparable to Ingsoc in Nineteen Eighty-four! — and the system has arisen spontaneously, probably welcomed and embraced by the uneducated masses. It is a self-feeding machinery, a pianola which plays the same soulless tune forever and ever. Pierre Bourdieu's theories about "fields" come to mind.

This inhumane society would be impossible without an inhumane mankind. Although the attitude towards technology is more or less objective and non-sentimental, cyberpunk fiction illustrates the possibly dehumanising effects of future technology. Technology leaven all through the cyberpunk society in conceivable ways: smooth indeed, but not necessarily humane. No technology is considered unethiqal any longer, be it bionics, genetic engineering or cloning. The line between man and machine has been blurred or even erased by phenomena like cyborgs, hologram constructs and artificial intelligences. Man is not only surrounded by technology, but basically integrated in the technology. Society has evolved into a gigantic, bio-mechanic machinery: a synergism between man and machine. As man ceases to be human, human values lose their meanings.

In the cyberpunk dystopia, we are not only watching the break-down of Western society and the dehumanisation of mankind, but even the destruction of our world. Under poisonous skies "the color of television tuned to a dead channel", the world is dying; slowly, but steadily. The smoke stacks and waste pipes are spewing out heavy metals and chemicals day and night. The atomic bomb taboo has been broken long since: limited nuclear wars have turned African and Asian countries into radioactive craters, and the mega-corporations do not hesitate to use tactical nuclear weapons against each other. It's not possible to escape the dying Earth, though. The space colonisation programme is limited to the construction of orbital cities, were the rich and powerful wallow in extravagant luxuries and decadent pleasures. Will these bizarre space cities become the last legacy of mankind?

Indeed, cyberpunk dystopias offer us horrifying pictures of a dark future — a future which still is possible to fight, though! The cyberpunk genre has much to say about our own time, but unfortunately, it has stagnated. The plot is almost invariably the same: a hacker stumbles over a dark secret in cyberspace and is hunted by evil organisations, either corporate, governmental or criminal. Nevertheless, the genre still has an almost indefinite potential. Hopefully, it's only a question of time before innovative writers and directors will find new ways to explore the most thorny offshoot on the science fiction tree. 

 

THE PROBABILITY

If our future will resemble the cyberpunk vision, is decided today. We have already entered the downward spiral. Our world is going through a crucial transformation, even though the changes may appear to be small and trivial. The signs of the cyberpunk nightmare coming true can be seen in the Western world in general, and USA in particular.

The Western world has already been technologised. Technology which was exclusive or even fictious in the 70s and 80s, we use in everyday life: mobile phones, computers, internet, microwave owens, GPS, DVD, and so on and so forth. In fact, we depend completely on technology: at a guess, a dozen powerful EMP charges detonated in carefully calculated places in the atmosphere would bring the Western world back to the Middle Ages. Furthermore, we have already blurred the line between man and machine; within the field of prosthetics even literally. Our bodies have become bio-mechanic systems which can be modified: to alter one's appearance artificially with cosmetic surgery is quite common, and to go through an organ transplantation in order to live is taken for granted; there is even a black market for organs. Our minds have become computers which can be re-programmed: thoughts are electric impulses which can be measured, depression and existential confusion are treated with chemicals and conditioning. Mankind is slowly becoming post-human; William Gibson claims it has happened already.

Basically, there are no scientific taboos anymore. We have already been eating genetically engineered food for years, scientists are researching stem cell applications at this very moment, the first human clone will be given birth within years, and so on and so forth. It will probably take 2-3 generations before the final consequences of these tamperings with nature can be seen. Today, it's not only difficult to monitor the scientific progress: it's even diffult to comprehend it. The gap between general education and advanced science is slowly becoming insurmountable. Soon, science will reach a point where there are no checks and balances anymore.

As predicted in most science fiction depictions, urbanisation has reached new levels never before seen in the history of mankind. Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro — they are all good examples of mega-cities in our own time. Where Tokyo and Hong Kong are futuristic, neon-glowing dreams, and Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro are over-crowded, worn-down nightmares, New York and Los Angeles are perfect cyberpunk hybrids. In the American mega-cities, the degeneration and segregation surpass the most bizarre cyberpunk visions: the rich and wealthy basically neighbour the poor and desperate; shacks and skid rows basically lay next to skyscrapers and financial centres. It's probably only a question of time before especially dangerous city areas will be officially labeled battle zones. Throughout history, almost every kind of criminality have prospered by urbanisation. Almost invariably, increased criminality results in increased segregation.

A common scenario in all cyberpunk fiction is that a few mega-corporations will dominate the world in the future. The depressive truth is that this scenario is slowly becoming a reality as we speak. The UN organ Unctad's World Investment Report 1997, Transnational Corporations, Market Structure and Competition Policy, shows that 350 mega-corporations stands for 40 % of all trade with manufactured goods in the world. According to Unctad's calculations, one third of all trade in the world — i.e. both goods and services — is transfer within mega-corporations, and another third of the trade is indirectly controlled by mega-corporations. These numbers are growing as we speak.

The global networks are in fact large pyramids. As an example, Nike had only 9,000 employees in 1994, but controlled another 75,000 employees through subcontractors. Needless to say, a majority of Nike's 9,000 employees work in the Western world, whereas a majority of the 75,000 subcontractor employees work in Asia and South America. The current world order is designed so that 20 % of the world population can exploit the remaining 80 %; the infamous 20/80 ratio. Of the 100 largest, transnational corporations, 87 have their headquarters in USA, Europe and Japan. The obvious consequence is transnational monopolies and oligopolies: a subtle, grand-scale Soviet system. Consumer power through product choises becomes a hoax. The only remaining option for resistance against mega-corporations will be non-materialism, the choise to not consume. Another, more abstract result of the corporate dominion is existential confusion. Everything can be commercialised, even anti-commercialisation; the real McCoy is dead. Just like during the autumn of the Roman Empire, essential concepts are rapidly becoming hollow and empty: politics, culture, art, religion etc. The psychological consequences of this social transformation are impossible to forsee.

The obvious result of heavy urbanisation and corporate dominion is environmental problems, although an environmental collapse doesn't seem to be imminent today. There are disturbing signs, though. We know less about mankind's effect on the environment than we would like to think. The alarming rarefaction of the ozon layer was basically discovered by coincidence; the measures which were taken can almost be described as panic actions. Nevertheless, many countries — and, of course, most corporations — have shown that they are prepared to gamble with the environment. In this respect, USA surpass the most bizarre cyberpunk fiction. Not only does the American government ignore international treaties: it even counteracts them. Not only is USA the largest consumer of oil and one of the worst polluters: it's also remarkably retarded when it comes to environment-friendly research and environmental education of the people.

An approaching threat against the environment is the economic growth in the Third World, most notably Asia. Understandably, the rest of the world is striving to aquire living standards comparable to those in the Western world; the Western man can't live in luxury and preach moderation. It's an impossible equation, though: if the whole world population should live by the same standards as the population in the Western world, it would actually require 10 times our available resources on Earth; these resources are almost exhausted already today. The consequence of the improvement of the living standards in the Third World might become severe. An illustrative example is China: if the Chinese population would buy and use cars to the same extent as the population in the Western World, the global warming would be fatally accelerated; an environmental collapse would probably be imminent. 

There are other threats against our environment as well. In cyberpunk fiction, the world often suffers from the lingering effects of wars. Unfortunately, devastating wars still constitute a real threat. On one hand, global or semi-global conflicts like World War I and II are unlikely to be repeated in the forseeable future. On the other hand, the evolution of mass destruction weapons has accelerated dramatically since the World Wars, be it nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Even a so-called limited war may lead to severe consequences.

The atomic bomb taboo will most probably be broken within a couple of decades; within a few years in the worst case scenario. When this is written, eight countries already possess nuclear weapons; some of these countries will most probably not hesitate to use them under pressure. The world's largest nuclear power, USA, has declared quite frankly that it's prepared to deploy nuclear weapons in conflicts, even against nations without nuclear weapons. Besides these aggressive nations, there are other possible threats: political extremists, religious fanatics; different kinds of terrorists. Nuclear charges can hypothetically be briefcase devices today. 

One can only speculate which countries possess chemical and biologichal weapons in their arsenals; the only countries we know for sure is USA and Russia. British experiments have shown that biological weapons potentially can make vaste areas of land uninhabitable. It's questionable if terrorists can perform large-scale attacks with such weapons, but they can potentially produce them. CIA experiments, basically in conflict with international treaties, have shown that it only takes 1 million USD and off-the-shelf products to create a laboraty which can produce biological weapons.

I believe we have come to an important turning point in history. Perhaps it's inevitable that the cyberpunk nightmare will come true in USA, but perhaps the process can be reversed in the rest of the Western world. The future will tell.

Finally, you may wonder: What about the cool street dwellers and the cool subcultures in cyberpunk movies? Well, maybe you should take a trip to Tokyo...

Picture: Japanese girls in individual streetware, "Harajuku" style. Cyberpunk fashion?