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What defined "golden age" cyberpunk that set it apart from ordinary science fiction? My modern mind associates the term with movies and video games that boil do
by justinlardinois 11y ago
What defined "golden age" cyberpunk that set it apart from ordinary science fiction? My modern mind associates the term with movies and video games that boil down to knock offs of Blade Runner and Deus Ex.
- sohcahtoa 11y agoThere's a fairly good analogy between SF and music. 70s music (and SF) was fat and bloated and slow. High concept stuff about galactic empires and gatefold sleeves and Serious Issues - Vietnam and the nature of reality. And suddenly this fast, spiky thing appears, that's all nihilism and dystopia and edge and noir and anti-heroes and technology abuse, and instead of looking ahead a billion years it's looking ahead about 15 minutes, and instead of sounding like an orchestra it sounds like the wind over tensioned steel cables, and it wears sunglasses at night and it thinks technology is power and its just so gosh-darned cool... Yeah, that's pretty much what it was like. Ok, it's all cliches now, but so's a modern punk band.
- PhasmaFelis 11y agoPeople forget that there was a reason for the "punk" in cyberpunk, and it wasn't mohawks and leather jackets.