Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2025
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Cyberpunk
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What is Cyberpunk?
Cyberpunk is a science-fiction sub-genre dealing with the integration of society and technology in dystopian settings. Often referred to as “low-life and high tech,” Cyberpunk stories deal with outsiders (punks) who fight against the oppressors in society (usually mega corporations that control everything) via technological means (cyber). If the punks aren’t actively fighting against a megacorp, they’re still dealing with living in a world completely dependent on high technology.
Cyberpunk characteristics include:
- Dystopian city setting where mega-corporations rule
- Full integration of technology into society, featuring cybernetic implants
- Outsider protagonists (punks) who often are very familiar with the technology around them
- Hard boiled detective and film noir vibes and influence
- Themes dabbling in trans-humanism, existentialism, and what it means to be human.
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I watched Total Recall so many times as a kid that I've lost count. Yet I'll still rewatch it at least once a year.
My inner child wishes robotaxis were like Johnny Cab and would try to run down people that don't pay the fare.
The Detroit Free Zone series by Rachel Aaron. A magitech cyberpunk story wound up being far more interesting that I thought it would.
Robocop was the first true Cyberpunk movie I've watched as a kid and I keep coming back to it every two years.
I reread William gibson’s sprawl series (neuromancer, count zero, and burning chrome) and Neil stephenson’s snow crash every couple of years. They both get more and more prophetic each time (about some things anyway).
Burning Chrome is Gibson's short-story compilation. Mona Lisa Overdrive is the third Sprawl novel.
What’s crazy is that I deleted burning chrome to write Mona Lisa overdrive, and then apparently just wrote burning chrome again. Stupid brain.
The Matrix was what got me into the genre, and it's got a special place in my heart. Probably the one I revisit most.
I think Gibson stories are my main reread, partly because I think they work a little better when you already half remember what's going on.
I also reread the Murderbot books quite often, they're kind of comfort food stories for me.
I rewatch Cowboy Bebop sometimes for the same reason.
I reread the webcomic Black & Blue fairly often but that's mostly because the person making it has been absolutely hammering out pages for years now and I almost always need to reread before I can catch up.
I'd call murderbot more sci-fi but I can also see all the cyberpunk characteristics of it. Also I love that series.
It's definitely getting harder and harder to draw genre boundaries - cyberpunk quietly infiltrated mainstream scifi to the point where you can find cyberpunk elements in almost any modern scifi. Not bad for a subgenre the corporations and marketers misused and overused until it crashed. I remember people talking about it like a joke in the 2000s so I'm very pleased it won in the end (though I wish people treated it more like a warning than a roadmap).
I can definitely see the inclination not to include Murderbot (I thought twice about including it on the list) mostly because it doesn't feel cyberpunk. It's very clean, there's no sense of decline or collapse the corps are ruling over, and the locations by and large don't fit the usual. Heck one area is lowkey solarpunk. I think it has a ton of cyberpunk elements, story beats, etc, but it's almost fridge cyberpunk, you have to walk away and think about it before enough of them line up. And feel is a big part of the genre, I think.
I do find it Freudian that only evil corporations use fiction about evil corporations as a road map.
Given there are corp controlled areas and egalitarian government controlled areas, it is closer to the star trek universe with as many situtations as worlds.
Oooo, this is a really tough question for me. I don't tend to re-visit cyberpunk works, partially because there's so much new content to consume and partially because I don't want to get burnt out on those works. For example, when I was younger I watched Hackers and The Matrix so often that I have them both memorized, down to the inflection each line is delivered. Now if I try watching either of those movies I'm really just comparing them to my memory, not really watching them.
To answer your question though, I've definitely re-visited Tron 2.0 multiple times. That's one of the few "cozy" games for me where just the act of playing is fun to me; just the basic core gameplay loop. It doesn't matter what level I play, I enjoy it. I feel like any other video game I revisit always has "that one part" I really don't want to replay, but Tron 2.0 has so many great visuals I just love being in that world.
Other than that... hmm... maybe Blade Runner 2049 or Elysium. Those are new enough to me that they aren't stale but I'm also not obsessive about re-watching them. And I find both of them interesting.
I've listened to the Neuromancer BBC Audio Drama multiple times since it's short enough that I can just listen to it randomly. I don't tend to re-read books or re-watch anime since it takes so long to get through those and like I said, there's other (newer) content I could be disappointed by instead!
I think Altered Carbon is what I've reread most. Neuromancer is probably second.
The movies Ghost in the Shell, Tron, and WarGames (which is arguably a techno-thriller) all had a significant impact on my professional take on life, so I've re-visited them periodically over the years. Come to think of it, I should revisit them again soon, we should do a movie night lel.
Psycho-Pass! It’s my favourite anime and Imo the best cuberpunk anime there all
The original System Shock is one of my all-time favorite games, and the remake really did it justice.
On that note, a bit of a deep cut - Osman/Cannon-Dancer is a beautiful fever dream of a game I wish got more recognition. It's a beat 'em up involving a martial artist tasked with killing a manmade god, thrust into a borderline incomprehensible web of betrayal as his former comrades all turn on him. The english release is kind of rough, which makes it actually incomprehensible at times. It's also a sort-of sequel to Capcom's Strider. I'd recommend it to any fan of EYE: Divine Cybermancy for the vibes alone.
imho 'The Stars My Destination' is cyberpunk.
A scuzzy space tramp is deliberately left to die in the asteroid belt. He manages to reach Earth, where he hides out in a mental hospital while plotting his revenge. He turns himself into a cyborg and leads the police on a system wide manhunt. In the end he threatens to destroy the whole world.