2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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cyberpunk
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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/si:berpuhnk/ , n.,adj. [orig. by SF writer Bruce Bethke and/or editor
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Gardner Dozois] A subgenre of SF launched in 1982 by William Gibson's
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epoch-making novel Neuromancer (though its roots go back through Vernor
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Vinge's True Names (see the Bibliography in Appendix C) to John Brunner's
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1975 novel The Shockwave Rider ). Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers
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and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role
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of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both
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irritatingly nave and tremendously stimulating. Gibson's work was widely
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imitated, in particular by the short-lived but innovative Max Headroom TV
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series. See cyberspace , ice , jack in , go flatline. Since 1990 or so,
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popular culture has included a movement or fashion trend that calls itself
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cyberpunk , associated especially with the rave/techno subculture. Hackers
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have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, self-described cyberpunks
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too often seem to be shallow trendoids in black leather who have substituted
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enthusiastic blathering about technology for actually learning and doing it.
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Attitude is no substitute for competence. On the other hand, at least
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cyberpunks are excited about the right things and properly respectful of
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hacking talent in those who have it. The general consensus is to tolerate
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them politely in hopes that they'll attract people who grow into being true
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hackers.
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