Week 11: Cyber-verse

Cyberpunk and Steampunk are actually two of my favorite sub-genres of fiction, so I was excited to read something from them for the class because usually when I encounter cyberpunk it’s either in movies or video games. I read Johnny Mnemonic, which I think really screamed classic cyberpunk story. You have the bad-ass cyberpunk heroine that everyone relies on for her skills and a society where digital information is a commodity. But I think one of the main ideas of cyberpunk that I love was the main hacker’s ability to store information in his brain. We’re in a society right now that values that digital information above a lot of things, so how long until we start using implants and modifications that allow us to do the same thing?

Another reason why I liked it is because it reminded me of one of my favorite video games called Remember Me. It’s far into the future and things like memories have blossomed into a big industry. A company makes this device called a Sen-Sen that allows you to store and replay memories as well as remove bad ones and upload and share memories on the net. Nearly everybody in the world has one and it’s a booming industry but it’s not without its faults. Humans can become addicted to these memories, which causes their Sen-Sen to degrade and mutate them into sub-human creatures. These memories can also be stolen, hacked and “remixed” by “Errorists” to make you believe certain events had different outcomes, effectively manipulating the victims as they want.

I love all of these themes in both Johnny Mnemonic and Remember Me because in some ways I can see out futures becoming more and more like that. The social issues involved with these two pieces of fiction are heavily based in the reality we know now. The degradation of the Sen-Sens causes people to degrade and their slum like sewer environment reflects that. Next thing we know Facebook could be affecting us the same way after brain implants become a part of our regular culture. Our technology today could have terrible consequences for us in the future and we would have no idea because we’re blinded by the hope that these things might bring us together.