It's already happened. As William Gibson said, "the future is already here, it's just unevenly distributed."
In CP the "downtrodden underclass" has no agency or hope, they just exist to consume and trudge through their day. Just like now.
The protagonists in CP are usually the high function people who rise up through muck with skill, luck, and ruthlessness. Just like now.
The main difference between CP and current_year is that CP is far more utopian than reality. In CP the government has little power, as it is diffused between gov and the major corporations who are semi-sovereign. None of them give a shit about the "downtrodden underclass" except as units of production and consumption; they certainly don't care what the peasants think, say, or feel. They also don't actively try to genocide those people, as again, they simply don't care about them. In CP but not reality, super-science is still a thing. Corps aren't spending billions to "invent" an iphone with a different color scheme, they are spending billions to do raw science then finding applications later. Often horrifying applications, but science is advancing by leaps and bounds.
When I first read William Gibson's "Sprawl" series back in the 90s I thought it was a worst-case scenario of the future. I now realize it was the best-case scenario.
People are confused because we got cyberpunk with Central American bodega aesthetics instead of cool neon Japan aesthetics. Neill Blomkomp instead of Ghost in the Shell.
Yeah, they are unfamiliar with the works of the guy who coined the phrase and started the genre, Gibson. All they know is anime shit. Although I do like GitS, there isn't too much anime that I like.
I can't think of a single CP protagonist that cared about the Everyman. Usually they weren't trying to join the tech aristocracy, but were living in the cracks between the elites and the gutter.
I didn’t mean they were TRYING to join the aristocracy, obviously. Come on man, Hiro in Snow Crash or Case in Neuromancer were capable enough to be elite while holding anti-elite alignment, in a way that would more realistically be the early stages of joining them.
You explicitly stated they were trying to join the aristocracy:
"...while actually fighting their way into the tech aristocracy."
You are using different definitions of elite. We were talking about the elites defined as those who are at the top of society. Then when convenient you changed the definition to mean elite as in having high ability rather than high social standing.
Unhinged, dysgenic discourse. You can't have saddle bags without hip dips, and saddle bags are a prime indicator of reproductive fitness. What next for these moids, aggrieved bleating about her uterine pouch?
I see that's the point! But it appears to be capitalizing on an already well-established neurosis, based on the piles of trashy women's mag discourse I discovered while researching this issue. I even mentioned it to my wife and she was like, ugh, yeah, hip dips. So I'm already marginalized by my natural male appreciation for hip dips, I don't need these jabronis to seal us off any further into the donghouse. Stick to free-bleeding!
right-authoritarian: understands politics and economics
left-authoritarian: understands politics but not economics
left-liberal: understands neither politics nor economics.
===
Why are so many people whining about the SCOTUS decision on birthright citizenship? The point of demographic no-return was decades ago. There is no voting or suing our way out of this.
Hehehe - and Happy Two-Fifty, USAmericans! You earned it!
I'm mollified, confustucated and vexed by the AC-memes. I mean, AC is super-common here, and also dirt-cheap. A portable high-end unit with Wifi and shit?
$1 000.
Unit I've got is a wall-mounted one, that also serves as heater (if I want to pay the power bill to use it like that when it's -30C/-22F in Winter...). Cost me $2 500, and that's inc. delivery, installation, insurance, extended warranty - and my unit is a bare-ass basic-bith model.
Still, the memes are funny.
On the other hand, it's a rare Summer day that it tops +25C/77F hereabouts. Where I live, +16C/60.8F is t-shirt weather and anything above +20/68F is no-shirt weather.
Now, go set off a lot of red-white-blue fireworks, and here's to 250 more years!
Even Paris' climate is most similar to Seattle. Even a place like Istanbul is most similar to Portland Oregon. A sunbelt city like Phoenix has the same climate as Baghdad.
Yes, for example, there was the time I took my much younger sister to visit relatives on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in July, and she packed only tank tops and flip-flops.
Lol at the healthcare article. Please tell me more about these 0 dollar premium 0 dollar out out of pocket maximum plans. And get wrecked with that selfless doctor bullshit. For every hero, it takes two decades of my family suffering endless amounts of geriatric boomers with a God complex.
Thank, Dudley. I hope the main takeaways from my OGC National Conference speech came from the do’s and don’t’s of fraternal organizing, the second half of my speech
Interesting that it is no longer Mexicans as the barbarous other I see being shit on online. It is now replaced by the Guatemalan AKA Squatemalan. Its probably due to Mexicans getting nice and assimilated(lol). But does one even know about the history of the Central American Republics? Not to frame it as a Left wing talking point, but the US was a gnarly fella in the early 1900s. Banana Wars, Marine Invasions. Etc. America Empire done goofed!
"Cyberpunk’s never going to happen."
It's already happened. As William Gibson said, "the future is already here, it's just unevenly distributed."
In CP the "downtrodden underclass" has no agency or hope, they just exist to consume and trudge through their day. Just like now.
The protagonists in CP are usually the high function people who rise up through muck with skill, luck, and ruthlessness. Just like now.
The main difference between CP and current_year is that CP is far more utopian than reality. In CP the government has little power, as it is diffused between gov and the major corporations who are semi-sovereign. None of them give a shit about the "downtrodden underclass" except as units of production and consumption; they certainly don't care what the peasants think, say, or feel. They also don't actively try to genocide those people, as again, they simply don't care about them. In CP but not reality, super-science is still a thing. Corps aren't spending billions to "invent" an iphone with a different color scheme, they are spending billions to do raw science then finding applications later. Often horrifying applications, but science is advancing by leaps and bounds.
When I first read William Gibson's "Sprawl" series back in the 90s I thought it was a worst-case scenario of the future. I now realize it was the best-case scenario.
Smart analysis
People are confused because we got cyberpunk with Central American bodega aesthetics instead of cool neon Japan aesthetics. Neill Blomkomp instead of Ghost in the Shell.
Yeah, they are unfamiliar with the works of the guy who coined the phrase and started the genre, Gibson. All they know is anime shit. Although I do like GitS, there isn't too much anime that I like.
The day my teens told me what an NPC was (in 2012) I knew CP was here.
Every day there is a cyberpunk AF story that falsifies that guy's claim
https://youtu.be/xCa2d9amRlw
The guy that made that tweet has never opened a cyberpunk novel in his life.
Many are saying
Oh sure he did, he just made the mistake of thinking that cyberpunk protagonists were being portrayed as typical people in that setting.
They’re portrayed as future elites, claiming to care for the Everyman while actually fighting their way into the tech aristocracy.
I can't think of a single CP protagonist that cared about the Everyman. Usually they weren't trying to join the tech aristocracy, but were living in the cracks between the elites and the gutter.
"Low life and high tech" as Gibson put it.
I didn’t mean they were TRYING to join the aristocracy, obviously. Come on man, Hiro in Snow Crash or Case in Neuromancer were capable enough to be elite while holding anti-elite alignment, in a way that would more realistically be the early stages of joining them.
You explicitly stated they were trying to join the aristocracy:
"...while actually fighting their way into the tech aristocracy."
You are using different definitions of elite. We were talking about the elites defined as those who are at the top of society. Then when convenient you changed the definition to mean elite as in having high ability rather than high social standing.
You know what? You’re right. It was an attempt at juxtaposing fictional and realistic that didn’t work.
Congratulations, you win an internet argument. Rub one out, you earned it.
Unhinged, dysgenic discourse. You can't have saddle bags without hip dips, and saddle bags are a prime indicator of reproductive fitness. What next for these moids, aggrieved bleating about her uterine pouch?
In this house we are the neuron activated monkey meme
Fren, the point appears to be making foids upset and insecure about a completely normal body feature that they have no control over.
I find it hilarious.
I see that's the point! But it appears to be capitalizing on an already well-established neurosis, based on the piles of trashy women's mag discourse I discovered while researching this issue. I even mentioned it to my wife and she was like, ugh, yeah, hip dips. So I'm already marginalized by my natural male appreciation for hip dips, I don't need these jabronis to seal us off any further into the donghouse. Stick to free-bleeding!
What is the alternative to hip dips? They want to be men?
"Libertarians don’t understand power."
Reminds me of one of those 4square political maps on the axes of "understands/ doesn't understand economics/ politics.
right-libertarian: understands economics, doesn't understand politics
right-authoritarian: understands politics and economics
left-authoritarian: understands politics but not economics
left-liberal: understands neither politics nor economics.
===
Why are so many people whining about the SCOTUS decision on birthright citizenship? The point of demographic no-return was decades ago. There is no voting or suing our way out of this.
Great stuff, and may I say, the tweet about the Richmond DSA and occupied Confederate land is making Independence Day feel like Christmas for me.
Hehehe - and Happy Two-Fifty, USAmericans! You earned it!
I'm mollified, confustucated and vexed by the AC-memes. I mean, AC is super-common here, and also dirt-cheap. A portable high-end unit with Wifi and shit?
$1 000.
Unit I've got is a wall-mounted one, that also serves as heater (if I want to pay the power bill to use it like that when it's -30C/-22F in Winter...). Cost me $2 500, and that's inc. delivery, installation, insurance, extended warranty - and my unit is a bare-ass basic-bith model.
Still, the memes are funny.
On the other hand, it's a rare Summer day that it tops +25C/77F hereabouts. Where I live, +16C/60.8F is t-shirt weather and anything above +20/68F is no-shirt weather.
Now, go set off a lot of red-white-blue fireworks, and here's to 250 more years!
Latitude is destiny.
I'm so used to DC's subtropical climate, I don't even turn on the AC until it hits 90, unless the humidity is insane.
The American mind can't comprehend how much chillier NW Europe normally is in the summer compared with most of the US.
There is a huge difference between France and Norway summers.
Do a comparison between summer weather in july between Oslo and Caen. You'll be surprised.
Even Paris' climate is most similar to Seattle. Even a place like Istanbul is most similar to Portland Oregon. A sunbelt city like Phoenix has the same climate as Baghdad.
Yes, for example, there was the time I took my much younger sister to visit relatives on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in July, and she packed only tank tops and flip-flops.
Shetlands are colder even than San Francisco's Sunset District in July.
We shouldn't bag on the hiplets too much it's not their fault they look like a contorted Necromorph.
Lol at the healthcare article. Please tell me more about these 0 dollar premium 0 dollar out out of pocket maximum plans. And get wrecked with that selfless doctor bullshit. For every hero, it takes two decades of my family suffering endless amounts of geriatric boomers with a God complex.
Fr. Average doctor is unabashedly a pharmaceutical rep actively harming patients. They ostracize and disbar the ones who aren’t.
Thank, Dudley. I hope the main takeaways from my OGC National Conference speech came from the do’s and don’t’s of fraternal organizing, the second half of my speech
Interesting that it is no longer Mexicans as the barbarous other I see being shit on online. It is now replaced by the Guatemalan AKA Squatemalan. Its probably due to Mexicans getting nice and assimilated(lol). But does one even know about the history of the Central American Republics? Not to frame it as a Left wing talking point, but the US was a gnarly fella in the early 1900s. Banana Wars, Marine Invasions. Etc. America Empire done goofed!
I want regular health updates from the guy that ate the old spam.
For thise who want more reads, the MAMA article on SSRWives was nightmarish. https://mamathemagazine.com/my-zonked-out-wife/
Great job Dudley! I have less and less time to poast and your newsletter is always something I look forward to.
Thanks for the support PD!
Literature-wise, I'm a big fan of Kurt Schlichter's "Split" novels. The perfect way to blow off steam after too long being subjected to Reddit.
Oh huge, Dr Monzo mentioned
HELL YEAH DUDE