A Random Thought on Cyber Punk in General
In the times we are living in, is it possible to have CyberPunk be relevant?
The NSA's PRISM program, most people having "smart" devices that are constantly monitoring everything we say, and the USA Supreme Court granting corporations the same rights as individuals.
How deep can science fiction explore the mess we have already found ourselves in?
Thirty years ago, CyberPunk was explored by William Gibson, Philip K. Dick, and Jordan Weisman in ways that pushed the boundaries. These stories painted a bleak future of what would happen when humanity began to actively trade in their humanity for the convenience of technology.
It's hard to get excited about playing a game with a bleak story about the bleak world we are currently living in and how much bleaker it can all be.
We all have genres and stories we enjoy. I think that if anyone wants to keep mining in CyberPunk (which is arguably lost any edge it had) we need to stop asking questions about "How much worse can this get?" and instead start offering solutions of some kind.
