I wonder if people realize that cyberpunk is meant to be a dystopian satire, and not just a cool aesthetic. It should feel like a condemnation of a number of modern practices (including our over-commercialization and hypercapitalism). I guess the issue with Deus Ex is that reality has jumped the shark so hard that it doesn’t even look like much of an exaggeration in some spaces, and more like the logical outcome of another decade or two.
I’m sure there are some weird tech bros out there that see it as a utopia, and that’s where I stop being able to see eye to eye with them. Who would want to live in a world where the cycle of poverty is more vicious than ever, where literal under-cities of people have to subsist on artificial light and synthesized foods that keep them alive, but only barely?
Techbros see all cyberpunk as an utopia, Zuckerberg even renamed his entire company after the Metaverse in Snowcrash when that’s one of the obviously dystopian cyberpunk worlds.
I wonder if people realize that cyberpunk is meant to be a dystopian satire, and not just a cool aesthetic
No, they don’t… For years now most people have considered cyberpunk to be just “rainy cityscape with neons”.
But it’s not that surprising, since a lot of us already do live in a cyberpunk world, except for some of the advanced technologies usually appearing in the genre.
(Good) cyberpunk was always a documentary done through a slightly distorted mirror lighten up under neon glow.
I wonder if people realize that cyberpunk is meant to be a dystopian satire, and not just a cool aesthetic. It should feel like a condemnation of a number of modern practices (including our over-commercialization and hypercapitalism). I guess the issue with Deus Ex is that reality has jumped the shark so hard that it doesn’t even look like much of an exaggeration in some spaces, and more like the logical outcome of another decade or two.
I’m sure there are some weird tech bros out there that see it as a utopia, and that’s where I stop being able to see eye to eye with them. Who would want to live in a world where the cycle of poverty is more vicious than ever, where literal under-cities of people have to subsist on artificial light and synthesized foods that keep them alive, but only barely?
Techbros see all cyberpunk as an utopia, Zuckerberg even renamed his entire company after the Metaverse in Snowcrash when that’s one of the obviously dystopian cyberpunk worlds.
Wait, did he actually name it after snowcrash?
No, they don’t… For years now most people have considered cyberpunk to be just “rainy cityscape with neons”.
But it’s not that surprising, since a lot of us already do live in a cyberpunk world, except for some of the advanced technologies usually appearing in the genre.