Cyberpunk is near. Plan Accordingly.
This is essay 1of 7 essays for The Tech Progressive Writing Challenge. Join our Discord
Do you know what the future looks like?
If you don’t have a model, let me suggest one. Cyberpunk.
Having a model for the future gives you an advantage over those that don’t. It’s a set of concrete things to expect and measure progress against. Then when you ask yourself what kind of career you should be in, what you should study, or how you should invest, you‘re not flying blind. It also paints a strong case that we may not be trending ‘back to normal,’ but instead somewhere very foreign.
Cyberpunk imagines society in the near future dealing with a surge in technology coupled with a general collapse of governance and social structure.
Here are three cyberpunk predictions that are coming true in real time.
1. The Rise of VR
At present, we’re struggling to get our arms around social media echo chambers and dopamine fueled scrolling binges. But there is a virtual guarantee (pardon the pun) that we will be spending most of our days in an immersive digital world in the not too distant future. The word for it is the metaverse, and no, Mark Zuckerberg did not invent it.
The term was coined in the aforementioned book, Snow Crash, and is most known these days from the recent book Ready Player One. It portrays a successor to the internet that you experience as a persistent three dimensional real place (VR). It’s so immersive and intoxicatingly cool that people wind up spending the lions share of their free time playing games, socializing, and gaining status there.
When Facebook recently rebranded as ‘Meta,’ Zuck specifically stated that it’s to align with the concept of the Metaverse, which he sees as ‘the future of the internet.’ Meanwhile, over $100 million in virtual real estate was sold just last month in separate online cities. The new owners plan to develop virtual properties for personal and commercial use.
2. Gross Wealth Inequality
This is a ubiquitous cyberpunk feature. Most of society is down and out, living closer to what would now be considered a third world existence. Take for instance Ready Player One, set in 2045. The book takes place in Oklahoma City which is then covered in slums called “the stacks” which are literally mobile homes stacked one on top of the other. This world is gripped by poverty and economic stagnation, leading to a loss of hope.
But look at our present trajectory. Fast forward twenty more years and imagine what society looks like. And keep in mind that it’s accelerating
3. The Decline of Government and the Rise of the Techno-Entrepreneuer
Snow Crash, written in 1992, is set in 21st century Los Angeles. After a world-wide economic collapse, the Federal Government has ceded most of its territory to private corporations and entrepreneurs.
That might seem a little crazy, but if we take stock of the present what we see is the government losing people’s trust at a rapid rate. CEOs and corporations are being asked to pick up the slack.
It’s not hard to imagine that as people’s trust in their governments decreases, their company becomes their surrogate.
To love Cyberpunk is not to want to live in it. In fact, the more you understand it, the more you don’t. Rather, these books are a prophesy and a warning. It would be good if as a society we could take it seriously, and resist the trend. But at the very least, it can help you navigate yourself into the future.
