goddess in progress
Remi, 23, she/her, sapphic
“The sky above the port was the color of television tuned to a dead channel.”
Thus begins “Neuromancer,” one of the most influential works of science fiction ever written. William Gibson’s vision of a dystopic future, where corporations have become the new governments and freelance hackers jack...
DARPA’s Reliable Neural-Interface Technology (RE-NET) program researched the long-term viability of brain interfaces and continues research to develop high-performance, reliable peripheral interfaces. These new peripheral interfaces use signals from nerves or muscles to both control prosthetics and to provide direct sensory feedback. Ongoing clinical trials present compelling examples of both interface types.
“Although the current generation of brain, or cortical, interfaces have been used to control many degrees of freedom in an advanced prosthesis, researchers are still working on improving their long-term viability and performance,” said Jack Judy, DARPA program manager. “The novel peripheral interfaces developed under RE-NET are approaching the level of control demonstrated by cortical interfaces and have better biotic and abiotic performance and reliability. Because implanting them is a lower risk and less invasive procedure, peripheral interfaces offer greater potential than penetrating cortical electrodes for near-term treatment of amputees. RE-NET program advances are already being made available to injured warfighters in clinical settings.”
A team of researchers at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) demonstrated a type of peripheral interface called targeted muscle re-innervation (TMR). By rewiring nerves from amputated limbs, new interfaces allow for prosthetic control with existing muscles. Former Army Staff Sgt. Glen Lehman, injured in Iraq, recently demonstrated improved TMR technology. In the following video, Lehman demonstrates simultaneous joint control of a prosthetic arm made possible by support from the RE-NET program.
"If they think you’re crude, go technical. If they think you’re technical, go crude"
Since Cyberpunk made the jump from subgenre to subculture some time around the end of the Cold War, people have been suggesting, arguing, and misinterpreting just what the accompanying fashion consists of.
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i think i’m gonna run an interface zero 2.0 game i want some cyberpunk
eclipse phase
wrong flavour of cyberpunk, fight me
classic cyberpunk is retrofuture at this point, go transhuman or bust
at least you’re not playing shadowrun
Someone should make a d100-based cyberpunk game with high lethality and semi-realistic rules, focused on playing the corporate wetworks people instead of the usual street rats in a cyberpunk setting.
I might need to start working on this.
I wish I could run a cyberpunk game that captures the same feelings I get listening to the Ghost in the Shell soundtracks.
I wish I could play in that game.
That’d be a wonderful thing.
When I think of cyberpunk RPGs, there are three different experiences that I look for, which different games deliver in different measures. These are just the ways I think of the genre, but I find that fans are often familiar with these archetypes to some degree. You can see the presence of all these elements in a lot of early cyberpunk, and see them blended together or spotlighted individually in various works.
I think of the first experience as being Sprawl Stories. They usually focus on high-tech criminals living under the shadow of oppressive governments and/or corporations. The setting plays up the bitterness of a used-up future, where the only rights people have are those they can buy, futuristic technology unleashes new vices and addictions, and all the food is made out of soy. The main characters usually don’t have a lot of power or influence; they’re trying to get by in a broken world, making a few bucks by breaking a few laws. Stories of this sort are usually concerned with social and economic inequality, small scale struggles, and questions of how far you’re willing to go in order to survive.
I’d call the second experience something like Suits and Mirrorshades. These stories all about trust, betrayal, and intrigue, usually in the service of powerful, amoral megacorporations. Expect lots of focus on slick action sequences and technology porn. Main characters are megacorporate troubleshooters, guns for hire, or other sorts of cybernetically enhanced freelance criminals doing cool illegal things for lots of money. Stories generally focus on grand and horrible ambitions, the paranoia of living under the gaze of ubiquitous surveillance, and questions about the worth of morality, loyalty, and honor in a society where betrayal is expected and self-interest is often the highest good anyone aspires to.
The last style, and the one I was thinking of when I wrote the original post, is Transcendent Cyberpunk, and it’s the hardest for me to define. These are stories that find moments of beauty and inspiration in a future where humanity stands poised to either rise and become something new and wonderful, or crumble and fall prey to the worst aspects of our own nature. These are often stories concerned with questions on the nature of artificial intelligence or fundamental humanity, the allure or horror of transhumanism, and a sense of wonder or holy terror at surprising new future opening up before us.
That’s the feeling I wish I could capture in my games: cyberpunk stories that match cynicism with wonder, a beautiful and terrible future of glass and light and numinous technology. I’m not sure if I just haven’t found the right system yet, or if I need to take a different attitude to how I imagine my games, or if, as I suspect, both of things are true. If I ever do find the right stuff for, though, I’ll be sure to let you know.
As a sucker for Suits and Mirrorshades with a hard espionage edge and as someone with a distant, respectful longing for Transcendental Cyberpunk, I’m there with you.
Beautifully put, by the way.
In undergrad I once took an English course on cyberpunk, hypertexts, and cyber culture. It was an amazing class, but the best part about it was the first day when the professor—a very proper and fashionable woman in her 60s I knew only from department functions and her...
I realise some people might not actually have read Neal Stephensons epic Snow Crash, one of the absolute best examples of cyberpunk novels ever. So, here’s the first chapter. It’s probably the best opening chapter I’ve ever read.
The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed...
Well, holy hell. Next purchase for sure.
I think I’m going to build a cyberpunk RPG.
