The "Cyberpunk Movement"
"Cyberpunk is a multi-faceted sub-genre of science fiction that has evolved and fragmented since its inception, leading to various definitions."
The term "cyberpunk" was originally popularised in a Washington Post article by Gardner Dozois in 1985. It referred to work by authors like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, who wrote stories about isolated hacker heroes fighting against faceless international mega-corporations in a gritty, high tech near future.
Paul Alkon relates it to realism, the Gothic, Epic Marvels, Pulp Fiction and Film Noir.
E.L. McCallum cites it as a continuation of the adventure/travel tale
Lewis Shiner traces it back to Western pulp heroes.
Gary Westfahl and Carol McGuirk both argue that cyberpunk is instead a logical continuation of a lengthy science fiction tradition.
Thus, the movement theme as a whole emerged, not as a result of one particular writer.
Cyberpunk deals with contemporary issues within a narrative structure that allows for dramatic extremes; it possesses an exploratory ability to tease ideas to their theoretical conclusions in a manner that might be difficult to achieve in more realist mainstream fiction. High adventure combines with a critical cultural voice to create a genre paradigm that is both conventionally exciting and potentially insightful.
The mission with Immersionn is to get people to take control of the content they consume and to continue exploring and learning. It's about changing the core of the Internet user journey and the entire business model. At Immersionn, we are starting by transforming 2D web navigation to 3D by delivering maps: the Web-Twin.
Additional resources & documentaries:
- "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz"
- "Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction: A Critical Study" by Carlen Lavigne
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