Week 9 : Cyberpunk

Lecture:
From the lecture notes it would seem that the overall theme of cyberpunk is the idea of a dystopian future incited, or caused by technology. Technology is portrayed as a power growing beyond our own control and eventually comes to dominate it's creators. The film the Matrix is given as a prime example of this happening, where we create artificial intelligence, which surpasses our own, and eventually comes to dominate all of mankind. This theme has been very popular in media, films such as Alphaville, blade runner, and existenz also have elements of cyberpunk in its story (Alphaville in particular). It's a very negative view, yet not too fantastic, so it seems believable enough to actually worry about it.

Readings:
Allegory of the Cave. This ancient work is one of this first real reality-bending works to speak of. Because of the lack of methods to make this seem plausible, such as the cyberpunk themes prevalent today; he was able to get the same message across, that people of the time could relate to, and understand the message of unreliable perception of reality. It's a sort of anlalog version of the Matrix.

Burning Chrome. This story is a prime example of cyberpunk literature, in which technology has fuse with living creatures. In this way the lines between artificial, and real, human, and machine, reality, from fantasy. It's a good example of blurring the lines that are all assumed.