Cyberpunk, Society, & Self
Cyberpunk 2077 is a highly anticipated video game which, after multiple delays, finally released this past Thursday. While people have been quick to discuss the glitches, crashes, and other issues that are typical of ambitious titles at-launch, perhaps the game itself has ideas to discuss as a commentary on present-day issues. Let me first start off by saying that I do not endorse the methods in which Cyberpunk uses to share its story. The world of Cyberpunk 2077 is rife with sex and violence in a way one might imagine a society that has either collapsed or is on the verge of collapse. There are no qualms about using profanity in the interactions of everyone you meet. The citizens of “Night City” themselves are physically a mix of cybernetic enhancements, with varying levels of grotesqueness to an otherwise intelligently designed model. Yet for all the inflated forms of vile found in the different corners of this city, I cannot help but see the echo of the moral decay America in particular has developed. You begin the story by choosing one of three pathways— Nomad, Street Kid, or Corpo (short for “Corporate”)— each having a different experience and different lens through which to view a crumbling existence. I chose the Corpo, whose very livelihood is dominated by a system of “bottom line” mentality, a cog in the machine of business without a soul, thriving only on profit no matter the cost. While I am very happily employed by a good company outside of Cyberpunk 2077-land, I could not help but feel affirmed by which the greed and thoughtlessness portrayed by these fictitious companies imitate employment in 2020. The effect of COVID-19 bears largely on that sentiment due to companies prioritizing certain actions to survive, from enacting hard policies to reducing employee benefits. Working from home all the time, with nowhere else to go, further adds to the feeling of a cold business scheme in which “9 to 5” is a formality to the growing absence of work/life balance. Reliance on virtual communication as a replacement for in-person meetings adds to the perception of being swallowed up by a machine. This thread-bare science fiction tapestry may hold up in code, but the real-world implications are disastrous. Technology is a feeble god, because its human creators are feeble by nature. 2077 probably tries to sit in neutral territory by way of having you, a cyborg-ish human with the opportunity of doing good things with your tech, interact with freakish thugs who look like science experiments gone too far. Perhaps there is something deeper within us which rejects these “evolved” half-human forms, however, for despite the people with “less shocking” cyber enhancements, I have found it hard to not consider these abnormal appearances as disturbing. Furthermore, with technology as the vehicle of progress (really, as the standard for morality), boundary lines of all categories such as gender identify, spirituality, humanity, and machination (to name a few) become less and less relevant, giving birth to an openness to pretty much anything. A society which operates on that level of liberation freely invites its own destruction. My own playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 is still in its beginning chapters, and I am sure there is more to uncover, explore, accept, and reject. What is clear is that for a story created as entertainment, there is an ugly truth (or truths) that can be found without traversing too deeply into Punk’s waters— one (surprisingly?) relevant to our 2020 societies and selves.