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Tag: Science Fiction

  • Living in a cyberpunk dystopia is weird

    Living in a cyberpunk dystopia is weird

    Living in a cyberpunk dystopia is weird. Most of the time we don’t even realize we are. We forget because it’s become so mundane, but we live in a highly connected online society largely influenced by giant corporations, and not for the better.

    Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a “combination of lowlife and high tech”, featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cybernetics, juxtaposed with societal collapse, dystopia or decay.

    …

    Cyberpunk plots often center on conflict among artificial intelligences, hackers, and megacorporations, and tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than in the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov’s Foundation or Frank Herbert’s Dune. The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to feature extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its original inventors (“the street finds its own uses for things”).

    Wikipedia: Cyberpunk

    It’s important to understand that “cyberpunk” as a genre and a concept got its start generally in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and enjoyed a popular heyday through the ’80s and early ’90s. Many—most—stories were written before much of the internet and everything that spun out of that even existed (things like wifi, webpages, smartphones, social media, and so on). William Gibson wrote Neuromancer without ever having used a computer; cellphones weren’t even invented yet.

    Go back and read some of those early works. Stylistically they are terrific, conceptually brilliant when done right, but much of the technology, extrapolated and imagined, well, it can be quaint.

    The point being, the online, near-future, “cyberspace” technologies imagined in most of those defining cyberpunk stories were for all intents and purposes surpassed in the mid-aughts. The cyberpunk “near future” is our “now future.” We’re living it.

    With that in mind, scroll back up and re-read that description again. We can pretty much tick every box. Artificial intelligence? Check. Hackers? Check. Megacorporations? Check. Extraordinary cultural ferment? Check.

    These don’t all look exactly like what was described in the books, of course. Instead of cyberdecks we have tablets and laptops; in lieu of cybernetic brain jacks, we have smartphones and wifi. But let’s face it: we’re living in a science fiction genre.

    And yes—dystopia? Check. Our day to day experience may not seem particularly dystopic, but taking a step back and looking over the big picture, there are definitely elements of a slow motion dystopia in action that come into view. Consider climate disaster, the creeping rise of fascism, the influence wielded over society by billionaires and corporations, the erosion and active suppression of individual freedoms, privacy, and education… Small pieces that we just live with, rather than the overarching dystopian societies of the genre, but still present.

    It’s a strange time, and just to top off this post and emphasize how weird it all really is, I asked ChatGPT to write a paragraph on this very subject:

    As we enter the year 2023, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the real world we live in is starting to resemble the dystopian cyberpunk futures that once only existed in fiction. From ubiquitous surveillance and the erosion of privacy, to the increasing influence of mega-corporations and the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, the signs are all around us. The world feels both familiar and alien at the same time, with strange new technologies and societal norms emerging faster than we can keep up. It’s a world where people are more connected than ever, yet more isolated and disconnected from each other. The pace of change and uncertainty is dizzying, and it’s hard to know what the future will hold. It’s a strange and surreal feeling to be living in a world that seems so out of step with the one we once imagined.

    There you have it.

  • Robopocalypse

    RobopocalypseI recently read the novel Robopocalypse, a science fiction-y thriller about the, er, robot apocalypse—the uprising of robots and technology and the attempt to wipe out humanity, and overall I quite enjoyed it: a good “popcorn” book that entertaining and mostly plausible if you don’t think about it too hard. Definitely movie fodder, and I see that Steven Spielberg is indeed attached to direct the movie that’s coming out next year.

    From a storytelling standpoint, it’s structured in much the same way as World War Z: a history of the robot apocalypse, from various records and recollections, from the initial incidents through the finale of the war. This is a good, logical and easy-reading structure to adopt and as a result reads pretty quickly. And, it’s good at building suspense: even though the conceit is you’re reading a history—something that’s already happened and resolved otherwise you wouldn’t be reading it—you’ll keep turning the page to see what will happen next and how it all comes together.

    The main quibble I have is the presence of a couple of “deus ex machina” (heh) plot threads that become key elements in the climax and resolution (one of which has a bit of a Matrix quality to it). Yes, I know it’s set in the (near) future and it’s sci-fi, but really that makes this type of thing even more jarring if you think too hard about it.

    Otherwise it’s a good read, and of course there’s enough wiggle room to allow for a sequel. Because really, you can’t get enough robot apocalypse!

    Further reading in case you’re interested.

  • V

    So the new season of “V” premiered tonight; you might recall it’s the TV remake (reimagining?) of the the original nearly-30-year-old alien invasion TV series. I watched it from the beginning last season, with the presumption that I’d bail if it looked like it was going to go off the rails.

    It must have been good enough, because here we are at the start of the second season and I’m still watching it; I’m still operating under the same ready-to-bail presumption though. Overall the show is better than I’d thought it would be, though it could very easily swerve into extremely cheesy territory. It’s this tenuousness, I think, along with occasional plot/character moments that seem a little too “What the–?” or convenient that have me wavering still.

    Plus, for an advanced alien race with seemingly godlike omniscient technology—and rampant lizard paranoia—it sure seems awfully easy to manage and get away with all sorts of conspiracy literally right under their leader’s nose.

  • Book report

    I’ve been on a reading tear over the summer, mostly all good books, and I thought I’d be a little self-indulgent and list what I’ve read with some comments.

  • Derivatives

    Cyberpunk:

    Cyberpunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, noted for its focus on “high tech and low life” and taking its name from the combination of cybernetics and punk. It features advanced science such as information technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or a radical change in the social order.

    Cyberpunk writers tend to use elements from the hard-boiled detective novel, film noir, and postmodernist prose to describe the often nihilistic underground side of an electronic society…. much of the action takes place online, in cyberspace, blurring any border between the actual and the virtual reality.

    Classic example: Neuromancer

    Steampunk:

    Steampunk… concerns works set in the past, or a world resembling the past, in which modern technological paradigms occurred earlier in history, but were accomplished via the science already present in that time period.

    The prototypical “steampunk” stories were essentially cyberpunk tales that were set in the past, using steam-era technology rather than the ubiquitous cybernetics of cyberpunk but maintaining those stories’ “punkish” attitudes towards authority figures and human nature. Originally, like cyberpunk, steampunk was typically dystopian, often with noir and pulp fiction themes, as it was a variant of cyberpunk.

    Further derivatives: Stonepunk, bronzepunk, ironpunk, sandalpunk or classicpunk, middlepunk, clockpunk, dieselpunk and atomicpunk, transistorpunk, spacepunk… though I don’t think most of these are full-fledged subgenres, and were developed for the GURPS Steampunk role-playing game.

    Classic example: The Difference Engine

    Biopunk:

    It describes the nihilistic, underground side of the biotech society which is said to have started to evolve in the first decade of the 21st century. Unlike cyberpunk, it builds not on information technology but on biology. Individuals are enhanced not by mechanical means, but by human genetic engineering.

    Postcyberpunk: Not so much a derivative as an evolution.

    Postcyberpunk describes a subgenre of science fiction which some critics suggest has evolved from classic cyberpunk. Like its predecessor, postcyberpunk focuses on technological developments in near-future societies, typically examining the social effects of an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized informaton, genetic engineering and modification of the human body, and the continued impact of perpetual technological change. Unlike “classic” cyberpunk, however, the works in this category feature characters who act to improve social conditions or at least protect the status quo from further decay.

    Includes a sense of humor, as opposed to the frequently deadly serious nature of cyberpunk.

    Classic example: The Diamond Age

    …At some point, you know, this all seems like a snake devouring its own tail…

  • The 10 best sci-fi films that never existed

    I just had to point to this: The Top Ten Sci-Fi Films That Never Existed. You gotta love it when he opens the Star Wars section with:

    Everyone remembers the exact moment when they realized that their Phanom Menace sandwich was filled with shit. For me, it was the scene on Tatooine where Qui-Gon is talking and Jar Jar is snatching fruit from the bowl with his tongue, eating like an insect. Annoyed, Qui-Gon reaches out and snatches his tongue out of the air and holds it in his fist while he talks. That was when I realized I was watching a cartoon.

    Good stuff. Via… I actually don’t remember where I first saw this. Oh well.

  • The Ringworld Engineers

    Blogging has been light lately because I’ve been reading The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven, and just finished it up last night. It was a decent enough novel, and a decent sequel to the original Ringworld, though I think I liked the original better.

    Niven does a great job of building a complex, consistent universe and then coming up with logical, consistent solutions to the puzzles he throws at his characters. And the Ringworld—and his Known Space universe—is a compelling one to play in. This story is no different. He brings back most of the characters from the first book, 23 years later, and drops them on the Ringworld with a seemingly impossible task: save it before it crashes into the sun. (The first book merely had them explore and ultimately escape when things went wrong.) He pulls this off in a satisfying way.

    One of things I thought was weak to the point of distracting was the overuse of interspecies sex. Niven contrived this practice among the Ringworld natives as a bargaining tool, to seal deals, to avoid mating within a species, and just as a general titillating contrivance. Yeah, odd, and unconvincing. It smacks of “dirty old man” syndrome, or a cheap male fantasy (a world with free no-strings-attached sex!). There’s nothing explicit or pornographic—it’s just annoying. There’s no real point to it, it just seems gratuitous, and that makes weak writing.

    In general, I like the stuff Niven and Jerry Pournelle produce together better than just Niven’s work alone—although granted, I’ve only read these first two Ringworld novels, and he has quite a body of work that I haven’t touched, so it may not be a fair comparison.

    Overall, Engineers is a good summer read. Watch out for sequel-itis, though: you defintely need to read the original Ringworld to follow what’s going on. (And speaking of sequel-itis, I observe that there are two more sequels in this series… good grief…)

  • A Fire Upon The Deep

    The latest book I’m immersed in (one of them, anyway) is A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge. So far I’m hooked (I’m about a quarter of the way into it), it’s totally compelling science fiction. And it’s a refreshing reminder that there’s really no limit to what you can do, story-wise, with well-done sci-fi.

    Ah, it’s always nice to have the “summer vacation” from TV and have time to catch up on my reading :).

  • The Years of Rice and Salt

    Over the weekend I finished reading The Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanley Robinson. Fantastic book, albeit one that defied my expectations, and I thought I’d write a short review.

    I picked this book up because I loved the concept: an alternate history novel that explores the question, what if the Black Death of the 14th century wiped out 99% of Europe? The world becomes dominated by Islam and Buddhism, the Chinese discover America, Christianity is a footnote in history.

    It’s divided into ten Books (basically chapters), each of which covers a later time and place as the alternate history unfolds. The breadth and scope of this project is surprising and mind-boggling; Robinson has gone to an obsessive level of thought and detail in constructing this history, and it’s entirely believable. The amount of research must have been enormous.

    It surprised me on several levels; the main one was the storytelling technique Robinson used in tying each story in the ten Books together to provide a sense of continuity while keeping each distinct. I won’t go into detail here—the Amazon reviews do, and I think that spoils it a bit—and while I had my doubts, it ultimately works.

    This isn’t science fiction in the die-hard sense, though (insomuch as alternate history tends to get classified as science fiction because nobody really knows how else to classify it). It’s much more a meditation on sociology, religion, history, politics, etc., on a world-wide scale. Very different than what I thought it would be. Yet very good. I totally recommend it.

  • Followup to the Time Traveler Convention

    Wired News has a followup article about the time traveler convention that I blogged about the other day. Apparently no one from the future showed up.

    But when attendees gathered outside for a raucous countdown at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, nothing appeared on the makeshift landing pad at the coordinates Dorai set for the time travelers….

    It’s actually a blessing that no one from the future showed up on Saturday night, said David Batchelor, the NASA physicist who wrote “The Science of Star Trek.”

    Speaking on his own behalf and not for NASA in a phone interview, Batchelor noted the same potential risks mentioned by speakers at the convention, such as the displacement of matter in a finite universe caused by the introduction of someone from another time. He also touched on the paradoxes arising from such acts as going back in time and killing one’s own ancestors.

    “We should breathe a sigh of relief,” said Batchelor, who considered his decision not to go to the convention a safe bet. “It means we were protected from the chaos that would result if someone came back and changed something.”

    The thought that struck me as I read this was, if time travelers came from the future to attend the convention “after the fact”—wouldn’t our memories change to match the altered timeline? In other words, we wouldn’t know that no one from the future appeared, because they in fact did and time was changed.

    Alternatively, travelers from the future did attend the convention, only that spun off into an alternate timeline and our own timeline is undisturbed.