Cyberpunk was unbelievably prescient.
I’ll criticize it for all the focus on weird body horror transhumanism though, I suspect that stuff will turn out to be metaphorical.
Just as I expect robots stand in for analytical systems of thought, I expect “cyborgs” are just idealogues.
So rather than having a bunch of people with weird implants grafted into their human bodies, we have a bunch of people with piecemeal ideology grafted in where their humanity would normally be.
Similarly, the more biological body modifications can be thought of as piecemeal culture.
So rather than people with genetically enhanced strength, we have Americans who are into one or two aspects of Japanese culture.
yep
So what do neon lights stand in for?
This kinda ties into last week’s thing on finishes and textures for color psychology.
atomization/dehumanization
harsh, no natural color nature, humanity, “normal” social relationships…etc
tying it to the color psychology stuff, soft and/or natural lighting is comfortable and homey
stark white light is industrial, artifical ,electronic…etc
Artifice?
I’m trying to account for the fact that neon lights are cool on the one hand, but also dehumanizing.
yeah, artifice is a good way of putting it
a world ruled by artiface
both on the technological level as well as the human/social level (men ruled by algorithm but the cyberpuk protagonist uses guile and knowledge of the system to hide in the cracks and behave in unanticipated ways)
And the neon sky blue lights in my Enderpunk world would then stand in for artificial heaven, i.e. advertising.
yeah, “building an artificial heaven” captures the techni-idealism aspect well
it’s funny tho think about how even though cyberpunk was a very cynical genre, it never questioned the idea that technolgoy was always progressing and things were getting materially better [Ed: It’s dark fantasy with automation instead of magic.]
I wonder how you update cyberpunk to account for degrading infrastructure and collapsing governance
“technolgoy”
The hero we needed.
the technogoy, a real american hero
Integrated circuits are half the battle!
“I wonder how you update cyberpunk to account for degrading infrastructure and collapsing governance”
That’s where all the browns and tans come into the color palette.
It’s nature reclaiming space.
i’m having visions of a city build right by a volcano and all the systems for preventing disaster are failing
Make this an expansion pack for your lying game…you’re a city councilor in city in the southwest and you need to get some sort of policy implemented to deal with a growing shortage of potable water
Geothermal?
something in that vein…we have captured nature with techology but we’re 3 generations on and nobody knows how to run things anymore
I was imagining a play on volcano demons.
could be a fun mix
it’s pretty rare to see magic/technology motifs get combined in most stories/vidya…etc but there’s a wealth of symbolic ideas to explore there
Oh, here’s a fun way to do it:
- Air purification systems are failing
- Everything starts smelling like sulfur
- The people start going insane
- The safety mechanisms get neglected and fail
- VOLCANO
- The poison gas-breathing people return to volcano worship to appease it
Then it turns out, surprise, that doesn’t actually help.
Directed by Fritz Lang.
ah, the classic “technology will save us, trust the science ” to “the gods are angry, throw some human sacrifices into the volcano” pipeline
tale as old as time
When I read Lord of the Flies in middle school I thought it was stupid.
Now I realize it’s real life.
Conservatives be like “I’ve got the conch!”
Muh conchstitution.
everybody wants to grab the magic conch, nobody wants to get down and dirty and actually take the job of allocating government contracts
rage-shares articles reposting tweets
doesn’t form a cabal with friends to take over the municipal adminstration
ngmi
Aeoli Pera 