The evolution of cyberpunk into postcyberpunk: The role of cognitive cyberspaces, wetware networks and nanotechnology in science fiction
- Autores: Rafael Miranda Huereca
- Directores de la Tesis: Sara Martín Alegre (dir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ( España ) en 2011
- Idioma: inglés
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Pedro Gallardo Torrano (presid.), David Owen (secret.), Ángel Mateos-Aparicio Martín-Albo (voc.)
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Resumen
Cyberpunk became the most characteristic genre of science fiction in the 1980s by describing the influence of upcoming technology on daily life. Its dystopian descriptions of cyberspace, cyborgs and leather clad hackers constituted a baleful conjecture of our near future among machines. Nevertheless, in the early 1990s postcyberpunk debunked the myths created by cyberpunk in regard to the noxious effect of technology, and, instead, described a series of settings in which nanotechnology, cognitive cybernetic simulations and wetware networks are regarded as benefits for our modern societies as well as dangerous mechanisms of control. Postcyberpunk narratives thus examine the power of technology to modify and improve our lifestyles, and study the complexity of the modern societies that exist today. The present dissertation constitutes an attempt to define postcyberpunk as a true genre of science fiction through a detailed study of its main figures and symbols.
