What is CyberPunk?

Definiton:

Cyberpunk is about expressing (often dark) ideas about human nature, technology and their respective combination in the near future.

Cyberpunk, essentially, is a form of speculative fiction that deals with a high-technology future. Cyberpunk is almost never happy, and usually leaves the reader in a 'life sucks' mood. The reader should not want to enter the little world that you create. Cyberpunk is a warning as to what might happen in the future.

Required reading material for people who want to know more about cyberpunk is:
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Count Zero, by William Gibson
Snow Crash, by Neil Stephenson
Mirrorshades, a cyberpunk anthology, edited by Bruce Sterling

Most important cyberpunk themes:

Negative Impact of technology on humanity

Fusion of man and machine

Corporate control over society

Ubiquitous Access to information

Story focuses on the underground

More into the world of CyberPunk...

The words 'cyber' and 'punk' emphasize the two basic aspects of cyberpunk: technology and individualism. Meaning of the word 'cyberpunk' could be something like 'anarchy via machines' or 'machine/computer rebel movement'.
The technology of cyberpunk is ultratechnology, which mixes genetic material from animal to animal, from animal to man, or from man to animal. This technology raises human embryos for organ transplants, creates machines that think like humans and humans that think like machines. This is a technology designed to keep people within the 'system' that dominates the lives of most 'ordinary' people. This is the science of controlling human functions and of electronic, mechanical and biological control systems designed to replace them.

Cyberpunk is a combination of high tech and low life. In this world of the future cities have become 'sprawls' where only the strong survive. There is bleakness and dread and 'extacy'. In this world, as in any world, there are those who live on its margins: criminals, outcasts... and those who live in the world of the 'sinless', who are not necesserily registered in the world database. Cyberpunk focuses on these people, these 'lovers of freedom' who often use the ultratechnology designed to control them to fight back. The story lines usually bend toward the world of the illegal and there is often a sense of moral ambiguity; simply fighting the 'system' does not make these characters 'heroes' or 'good' in the traditional sense.

Jana:)