While many of us
are familiar with the notion of ‘cyberpunk’ from having read or heard about novels
such as ‘Snow Crash’ and ‘a scanner darkly’. Many more are introduced through
cinematic landmarks such as ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘The Matrix’ series, as well as
graphic novels and animation such as Transmetropolitan, Phantom 2040, Aeon
flux, and Ghost in the shell. While some of the precepts explored in these
dystopian sagas of our popular culture are already in place, we begin to ask
ourselves just how many of the defining elements presented in them may come to
pass within our lifetime. To most of us, they simply exist as an artistic
extrapolation taking the guise of entertainment media, though they often serve
as a portent of what has yet to come: Our world is in the throes of pivotal
changes and it is taking place at breakneck speed.
Perhaps one core theme that underlies the
notion of a truly cyber-punk future is the establishment of a corporate
technocracy controlling the population at large. We already live in a
postindustrial world of increasingly volatile socio-economic instability, and
this stratification has already resulted in two separate economies and social
orders running in tandem: The ultra rich controlling the vast majority of the
population at large, since the richest 1% has obtained 95% of the wealth and 90%
of the US population has become poorer since 2009.
Since then,
the richest 10% currently own 86% of all the wealth in the United States, and
this trend is increasing: stifling the masses in an endless loop of low-wage
service sector positions, unable to crack the top 20% of earners. In a future
where this class division will only become more stark, we will see the
disappearance of the “Middle-Class’, which will ultimately become one of the
defining events of the 21st century. The emergence of the global market has
tapped a substratum of workers in the third world, providing the elite with
even greater control of cheap labor markets. This is due to a simple fact:
Resources are scarce, and monetary privileges allow only the truly affluent to
direct the flow of wealth. In a dystopian future, government surveillance will
continue unabated against grassroots organizations and individuals promoting
change to this social order, and the poor and disenfranchised will continue to
fight our wars and become ‘heroes’, a favorite term of the propaganda machine,
when they are injured in combat. A nation’s
wealth is directly consistent with the overall power of its manufacturing and
industrial bases and the natural resources that they can access. With corporate
lobbyism and cronyism already firmly entrenched in our nations governments, the
cornerstones of a corporate technocracy, a ‘boardroom government’ are already
well in place.
This is the current state of social evolution
in America today. We have gone from an archaic, agrarian based economy to an
industrial manufacturing economy which has since transitioned into a service
sector economy. The economy of the future will further delineate into a
techno-centric hierarchy that will be controlled by those who can manage the
flow of data and engineer creative solutions to uphold this progression and
invest and develop the applications that fuel automation, particularly in the
fields of renewable energy, heavy industries, and the emergence of
hyper-sentient artificial intelligences. The
introduction of bit-coin, a crypto-currency, will have significant impact on
our future as well, and attempts will be made by congressional lobbyists to subject
it to taxation and FDIC regulation because of its innate ability of generating
monetary power to the masses anonymously. Access to information will also be
regulated.
Increasing
integration of technology into bio-mechanical synthesis:
With
smartphones and tablets already a common facet of everyday life, the seeds of a
bio-electronic revolution has already been sewn. If a cyberpunk dystopia were
to come to pass, and, one can argue that
it is inevitable, we would begin to see the fusion of such devices integrated
into cybernetic constructs that we will be interacting with at the speed of
thought. This bio-synthesis is the inevitable and logical evolution of such
devices gaining increasing importance into our lives. These changes will take
the form of neural implants, whereby access to a neural cloud-net will become
as routine a task as a simple cell phone activation. Physical augmentations,
grafting, and advanced bio-mechanical implants will become increasing
sophisticated, thus, the line between man and machine will only continue to
blur. The blind will see through the eyes of photoreceptors and the deaf will
hear with cochlear implants composed of advanced silicates and circuits. The
physically disabled will soon become stronger than the average man, retrofitted
with bionic limbs capable of feats of strength that would appear all but
superhuman by today’s standards. This progression will only be further enhanced
by the introduction of holographic displays and user interfaces that will
become commonplace as 3D projecting technology becomes feasible.
‘Too far’
A prominent
concept explored in the dystopian futurist’s repertoire is the dysphoria of
complete virtual immersion by neural interlace, which is most commonly
portrayed as a central plot device in the ‘matrix’ films and ‘Ghost in the
shell.’ The concept is predicated upon the circumstance of 4D graphics rendering
and quantum computing technology becoming so advanced and articulated that all
sensory perceptions would be re-routed as an avatar ‘rezzed’ into a digital
construct of a fabricated virtual reality. If all sights, smells, audio and
tactile sensations could be replicated in an artificial environment, then it
would follow that such perceptions would be indistinguishable to the human mind
, which, in theory, would blur the distinction between waking reality and a
computer generated world. The consequences of such a concept, if feasible, are
as profound as they are disturbing: the administrators of such a world could artificially
keep the physical body, (or merely the brain matter) alive whilst creating a
living hell or a never ending loop of sheer bliss for the end user to
experience at their discretion. This does draw certain parallels to the
allegory of Plato’s cave, a parable over 2500 years old; but there are a few
loopholes in the virtual immersion scenario which are entirely dependent upon
our understanding of the immaterial human mind (not physical brain matter):
That being, that even if the aforementioned technology were possible, highly
cultivated minds capable of piercing through procedurally generated fantasy and
deception would be capable of shattering the grand illusion and attain
knowledge of the physical waking reality as we know it. While this does raise
metaphysical questions of philosophical concern, such that the reality that we
believe we are experiencing is already little more than an illusory Ferris
wheel of never ending joy, but that’s another matter best saved for another
topic post.
Another
defining standard of a cyberpunk dystopia will be the gradual introduction of magnetic,
or possibly anti-gravitational forms of transportation that will radically
alter our lives. While the prospect of “Flying cars” has become as cliché as a
1950’s vision of ‘tomorrow’, the limitless possibilities associated with
anti-gravitational systems are manifold, if not just for the construction engineering
potential, but also for mobility in a highly urbanized world.
The land
will become increasingly denuded and the air quality will only continue to
degrade. In order to paint a picture of this landscape it would be crucial to
understand the factors attributed to these trends that are underlying:
Overpopulation, and man’s unceasing demand for energy and natural resources.
Without the advent of carbon scrubbers, urban centers will become stark
wastelands of pollution. Cities like Beijing are already toxic to breathe in
without masks, and this trend will continue elsewhere as developing megacities
are fueled by the burning of coal.
As the
world’s great cities continue to expand, physical space within those cities
will become increasingly limited. This will result in the exponential growth of
mega-skyscrapers throughout the world’s major cities .Niche species clinging on
to life will become extinct due to continued poaching and habitat loss.
Siberian Tigers, Panda’s, Orangutans, Rhino’s, and Polar bears will become
extinct in the wild. These species will be confined to game reserves and zoo’s,
preserved only in small pockets.
Global
warming will see the worlds coastlines changed dramatically. Oil drilling and
emissions will further warm the tropics, trapping greenhouse gasses and further
altering the biosphere. The oceans will rise, lapping at our concrete shores as
the polar caps continue to melt, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of millions
from coastal cities. The diaspora that would follow such a cataclysmic and
slowly unfolding event would be followed closely by disease, famine, and war
for the remaining resources. Humanity, of
course, will respond with levees, dam’s and gates to slow the inevitable
change. Rioting, social unrest,
religious zealotry and fanaticism, corporate cronyism, and class warfare are
all but a myriad of pressing issues that our world is facing.
The
challenge will be how we adapt to this brave new world, while maintaining economic,
social, and cultural homeostasis, despite the gradual decay that faces our
generation, and those to come.
