The fact that this statement feels accurate every week since we hit 2020 (and likely before but my memory is a bit fuzzy on the before times) is really sad.
To fight this, I’m going to become a wizard. Beard check. Just need the robes and hat and I just bought the materials!
I’ve been getting the Demolition Man vibes for awhile from the smug dictator to the stupid cars and Taco Bell being haute cuisine. I still don’t know what to do with the seashells.
Genuine question: Are there any good cyberpunk novels? I'm almost done with the book I am reading (Out of the Drowning Deep, by A. C. Wise) and am looking for a good read.
So what do you actually wish for? Because the only thing of substance the universe heard is "bad cyberpunk novel" and what you wish for grows. Any other wishes whatsoever?
Cool guys get nanotech implants and cyberwear. We get corps making people wear headphones that measure your brain activity to make sure you're not distracted during Zoom meetings.
Seriously! Where's all our cool cyberware and ultra-tech gadgets to compensate for our super-sucky corproate oligarchy? Yeah okay the phones are pretty cool, but where are the street corner ripperdocs offering me bargains on infrared cybereyes with killer lasers?
Yes! Or, hear me out, let's get the cool clothes, neon motorcycles/cars, cybernetics, neuroimplants, and super cool AI.
Where are the "stims" that solve cancer, disease, and all other forms of sickness that in 100 years, people are going to look at us like we do the world pre-vaccines.
Ugh, for like the last ten years, cyberpunk as a genre has held no charm for me. The real world, in particular the US, has seemed hell-bent on adopting all of the worst aspects without any of the meager upsides.
Not true - a bad cyberpunk novel would at least have much cooler looking locations. We aren’t nearly neon enough yet. But as for the rest…yes. So do I.
God is just as much in control of the world now as he was 2,700 years ago, when the Assyrians were steamrolling the entire known world: "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other." -- Isaiah 45:22
He orchestrated the return of the Jews from exile, humbled Nebuchadnezzar, prophesied the coming of Cyrus and Alexander, and sent Jesus to be the savior of the world. He is and always has been in control.
Would you like a soft or wetwear upgrade today, sir? Or are you in the mood for human-cyborg relations? I know a vacuum cleaner, who's a bit of a goer, if you catch my meaning. Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more.
Yer, no-one want to live in cyberpunk. It was never meant to be a future we wanted. Solarpunk is future to want and to fight for. Cyberpunk is a future to fight against.
I know. Although for me it seems more like a composite of Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Plot Against America, Fatherland and Darkness at Noon. dystopian in the extreme.
That's the part that bugs me the most, too. If I were reading this story, I'd've thrown the book out the window in fury by now, angry that the author had wasted so much of my time on the most transparently contrived nonsense featuring cardboard villains and an implausibly stupid populace.
Is this a bad time to bring up one of my favorite lines by William Gibson ( I think, it's been a while). "The future is here, it just hasn't been evenly distributed yet."
Speak for yourself. I got this nifty thing under my arm that will shock my heart if it tries to get out of line. Regularly sends an EKG to my cardiologist.
It has at least inspired me to write a speculative fiction novel in a “Utopian” future where corporations run everything and everyone thinks it’s great but they’ve just accepted how bad it really is.
Comments
To fight this, I’m going to become a wizard. Beard check. Just need the robes and hat and I just bought the materials!
I suppose that’s the point, really.
You’re a childhood hero of mine, Billy. You’ve done better, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fu40YANO1M
Also When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger. That one's a nice change of pace simply because of setting and cultural context.
Of course, I read it back in '87, so I have no idea if it holds up.
Y i k e s . . .
Where are the "stims" that solve cancer, disease, and all other forms of sickness that in 100 years, people are going to look at us like we do the world pre-vaccines.
Par for the course when you get your information from a guy at a podium giving cliff notes on a book that’s mostly made up stories.
squeek
https://bsky.app/profile/memphisbelle1114.bsky.social/post/3lcqa46e54327
Norbert Wiener, where are you? Come home, all is forgiven!