Is there such a thing as Cyberpunk-lite?
Don't get me wrong, I love Neuromancer and Wolfbane and all that. But I'm looking for something a little more light.
More optimistic thematically and less harsh in their imagery. The cities are massive, but not run-down shitholes everywhere except the Towers. The mega-corporations are huge, but not out to buy your soul. Things like that.
I don't think so honestly. That comes with the "punk" aspect of the title.
Post-Cyberpunk.
While not all examples are lighter (in fact, many of the darkest cyberpunk novels are post-cyberpunk) post-cyberpunk is on the while gentler and softer. It's from writers who grew up with Apple and who watched the Japanese economy implode on itself.
I'm interested to see Post-post-cyberpunk in the coming decades from writers who've grown up with the smart-phone arms race and watching China take over the world.
Anything set in the contemporary real world
Stephenson in general is more positive.
>>7804242
Any examples of this?
>>7804846
>Implying even the west in 2016 is anywhere near cyberpunk standards
sorta
>>7804881
>Constant "policing actions" in the third world that take countless civilian lives every day
>Society is still 70's level racist, with the guards to the main character's university being suspicious of him because he's black, then main character being almost mugged as soon as he leaves campus
>3D printers supposed to provide for everyone, but are playthings for the rich with some use left over for the rest of the population
It's pretty dark still
>>7804899
Yeah but it mostly just gets lighter as it goes on.
>cyberpunk
>light
Won't ever exist. There's nothing light about humans mixing with machines.
>>7804197
>Is there such a thing as Cyberpunk-lite?
Yes. Real life.
Open a newspaper or something
>>7804242
>and watching China take over the world.
more like the chinese economy imploding on itself
>>7805036
>This is what Americans actually believe
The American blindness to the going-ons in Africa will always be their blindspot. China's second continent will provide for the motherland for centuries.
>>7805042
I'm not American.
I'm very aware of what its going on in Africa.
It seems like its you who is unaware of what is going on in China. Or in the Developing Economies in general.
Unfortunately what happens in China doesnt just stay in China.
>>7804211
So we'll call it Cybergeeks
>>7805042
>Setting world records in job loss
>Not imploding
Okie dokie
Check out Postsingular and the Ware Tetrology.
>>7806392
The Ware series is pretty fucking dark, what with its implied and actuated genocides.
>>7806392
Seconding Rudy Rucker's Software. Also Vurt by Jeff Noon, Bruce Bethke's Headcrash. Rim by Besher. Synners by Pat Cadigan.
>>7807234
But on the other hand, they're all literally in a better place.
Not to mention that great things tended to rise out of the ashes of what was left behind. Like the moldies.
op you sound lame as fuck tbqh
>>7804197
IRL in 2016 is Cyberpunk-lite, in the worst way possible. The megacorporations are out to buy your soul, but the promise of a gee-wiz fun tech future has been withdrawn. Though they tend to be quite discreet about it, Silicon Valley elites really buy into even the most bizarre/ill-thought ideas relating to transhumanism/libertarianism/life-extension.See for example, google's founders appointing Ray Kurzweil as 'Director of Innovation' or some shit like that.
>>7806255
Remember how the USA had a catastrophic economic meltdown with massive unemployment in the first half of the twentieth century and was relegated to status as a second-rate power? It's the same thing with China.
>>7809529
It's called whistling past the graveyard, anon. Leave the laowai to their fun; in a few decades they'll be dancing in lederhosen for slanty-eyed tourists to get enough money to buy rubbing alcohol from Levantine street vendors.
hey that's my wallpaper you fucking thief
You guys are fucking stupid. Read vurt by Jeff noon. It exists.
>>7810771
Vurt's darker in places than most cyberpunk. Nightmare world of drug addiction and slums filled with half-human creatures. Shit's fucked up.
>>7810778
It might be darker but it's not filled with the usual cyber punk shit. The shadow cops are about as cyber as it gets.
>>7810786
That's not what OP was asking for though.
>>7810787
I thought he wanted less cyber punk bullshit. My bad. Vurt has less cyber aesthetic but it's a dark tale. Sick book though. Check it out one day.
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
(and the whole series Laundry Files)
It's a mix of the Lovecraft universe with a bit of low-level cyberpunk with humor, an IT-support guy who works for a MIB-style government agency which fights the occult in the UK
It's not the best thing in the world but it'll keep some people entertained.
