I think the Cyberpunk genre needs updating, it borrows a lot of it's aesthetics from Blade Runner nowadays, which just seems like a hopeful view of the future from the 80's.
We all know the future is going to suck, and the advancements in technology will only go towards selling us products until it reaches a point where it gets too costly so they stop spending money.. So it'll probably be like small holographic bus stop ads, but they're poorly maintained so the shit's broken half the time, cities feel like dying malls. Neon signs used to mean a hip, ritzy place, but have been around so long that they no longer have that sort of appeal, trends changed and now you have the flickering neon sign look cause shit's broken and there's no money to fix shit.
So cyberpunk assumed shit was gonna suck in a specific way, it just has to be updated.
Edit: I'll elaborate, the aesthetics are hopeful, the technology seems more developed than what we have today. With capitalism at the helm, pushes on tech only come if there's profit in them, like for example, cell phones. Future tech worlds has advanced technology because it's just believed they should.
idk in 2041 it seems like most of the west coast is a dusty barren waste, and in the OG the natural world is so fucked real snakes are insanely rare. sure we may not get sickass holograms and hovercars, but otherwise it seems fairly grounded
the bad stuff is spot on, but the dress up of the world is where i think the aesthetic needs updating. We kinda already see capitalism shift from outspending to extracting every dollar back to the point where it gets in the way of it's own profit generation. That dysfunction, without the prettiness of neon 'miami nights' light.
Maybe it's because i still see that as a part of that 80s nostalgia.
I think the Cyberpunk genre needs updating, it borrows a lot of it's aesthetics from Blade Runner nowadays, which just seems like a hopeful view of the future from the 80's.
We all know the future is going to suck, and the advancements in technology will only go towards selling us products until it reaches a point where it gets too costly so they stop spending money.. So it'll probably be like small holographic bus stop ads, but they're poorly maintained so the shit's broken half the time, cities feel like dying malls. Neon signs used to mean a hip, ritzy place, but have been around so long that they no longer have that sort of appeal, trends changed and now you have the flickering neon sign look cause shit's broken and there's no money to fix shit.
So cyberpunk assumed shit was gonna suck in a specific way, it just has to be updated.
ok but how is bladerunner hopeful
compared to today?
Edit: I'll elaborate, the aesthetics are hopeful, the technology seems more developed than what we have today. With capitalism at the helm, pushes on tech only come if there's profit in them, like for example, cell phones. Future tech worlds has advanced technology because it's just believed they should.
idk in 2041 it seems like most of the west coast is a dusty barren waste, and in the OG the natural world is so fucked real snakes are insanely rare. sure we may not get sickass holograms and hovercars, but otherwise it seems fairly grounded
the bad stuff is spot on, but the dress up of the world is where i think the aesthetic needs updating. We kinda already see capitalism shift from outspending to extracting every dollar back to the point where it gets in the way of it's own profit generation. That dysfunction, without the prettiness of neon 'miami nights' light.
Maybe it's because i still see that as a part of that 80s nostalgia.
Post-cyberpunk is already a thing