Schismatrix Blues, Part One

You've probably heard the term Cyberpunk. It calls to mind neon lights, rain, sleazy noodle stands and full VR hacking with your mind jacked straight into the 'trix. And yeah, that's what Cyberpunk is today. But originally, the term had a different meaning.

In the early 80s, science fiction was a stagnant genre. The worlds portrayed were often near identical socially to modern society, just with lasers added in. Most of the greats- Bradbury, Asimov, Niven, Clarke, etc- were either on hiatus or had slowed down drastically since their heyday. By early 1982, Philip K Dick would be dead. Somebody had to take up the mantle.

Cue the early cyberpunk movement. Figuring that the thing holding back science fiction was its overly conservative take on sociology, cyberpunk was inherently countercultural. Neuromancer, which would go on to be the trope codifier for the genre, was laced with religious imagery, almost going so far as to equate consumerism with satanic pacts. But that's just a retelling of Faust, really. Schismatrix, though? Schismatrix marches to the beat of a drugged drummer about to be Shanghai'd to the Mare Tranquillitatis Circumlunar People's Monarchy.

But that's a review for tomorrow.