> and individual empowerment through the use of that technology to fight back against either an overreaching state (a response to the complexity) and/or ubiquit

> and individual empowerment through the use of that technology to fight back against either an overreaching state (a response to the complexity) and/or ubiquitous hyper-corporations (built on the technology) I disagree on this. Neuromancer is generally considered the genre fighting work and it isn't really about fighting back against either the state or against a hyper corp. The protagonists are hired mercs and they are working entirely for mercenary means. Don't get me wrong it is a very common theme of Cyberpunk (Hardwired is a good example of this), but it definitely isn't something always present (Ghost in the Shell is a classic work of Cyberpunk and the protagonists are spec ops police FFS). I've gotten a bee in my bonnet about people trying to redefine Cyberpunk as being about rebellion and associate it with "punk" the music subculture that has occurred since Cyberpunk 2077 came out and people started criticising it for not being "punk" enough, but that wasn't what the "punk" in "cyberpunk" has meant historically. The "-punk" in "Cyberpunk" is better read as "outcast, misfit, lowlife" and when you understand that these works that are classically considered Cyberpunk make sense; yes Ghost in the Shell has the protagonists be cops, but they are all weirdo social outcasts because they are so heavily cyberized and like Neuromancer it deals with highly advanced AI and the impacts of tech on society