Is our world cyberpunk or not yet?
Yes. At first glance, this is a strange question.But if you think about it, what distinguishes our civilization from this dystopia?
After all, cyberpunk is an extremely vague genre, and by and large, in order for some fictional dystopia to be cyberpunk, it does not need flying, robo-cars and electric vehicles, cyborgs, robots, neon, etc.
The main postulate of cyberpunk is "Hi tech, low life". And if I understood its essence correctly, cyberpunk in the form of the self of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is about the rapid development of electronics. But it is so rapid that human nature does not have time to adapt to it, and morality and morality simply collapse, which is why the vices of cyberpunk arise. So this is already partly applicable to our existence. Technology gives us a lot of information, but for all that, this information is not always for the good. Also, social networks have not united us, but rather divided us, and recommendatory Internet technologies can distort thinking.
An iPhone on credit, VR for poor people, or smartphones for the homeless - isn't this the very "Hi-tech, low life"? Cyberpunk implies a low standard of living, but sufficient to consume the products of large corporations, including high-tech ones.
In addition, cyberpunk combines the words cyber and punk. Cybernetics is all about electronics, and punk can be translated as decadence. When Elon Musk said that we are already partly cyborgs, he was right. Computers, smartphones, smart watches, wireless headphones, and other such technologies are cyber devices. Yes. Probably primitive (although smart rings are very complex gadgets)but nevertheless. And then there are NFC chips, which are already, in their essence, the first cyber implants that can already be embedded in the body. However, it's risky, and apart from shocking people by showing "look, I'm a cyborg," it makes almost no sense.
It is also worth noting that many of us live in megacities, some of which are already partially illuminated by neon. And all kinds of electric and robomobiles travel in many cities of different countries. China is already trying to develop flying cars.
Is there no corporatocracy? Everything is relative. You can be born in South Korea, graduate, and work for Samsung all your life. And even today's companies and corporations, despite the fact that they are not as influential as in the worlds of cyberpunk, do not care about the opinion and health of their subordinates right now.
We also have environmental problems. As in many countries, drug addiction, crime, and the like are on the rise. In addition, due to wars and epidemics, according to WHO, many people have gone mad.
And if we summarize the conclusions in this way, it turns out that we really already live in cyberpunk.Only it's probably "early" or "algorithmic". We have virtually everything that is characteristic of this dystopia, except transhumanism.
But with the pace of development as it is now, I assume that the "real" cyberpunk may come as early as 5-10 years and not in 2076-2077 and later.However, given that cyberpunk has a bleak future, this is soon a reason to worry. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that technology is not evil. It's just that we humans haven't changed in our bestial nature yet.
What do you think about this whole topic?