A government run by hackers.
Sounds perfect for a cyberpunk story, doesn't it?
Imagine that there was no ministers to vote for new laws. Instead, autocratic hackers invade a digital lawbook, change the laws to their liking, and place a bunch of firewalls in the computer to prevent other hackers from changing the laws back. Ministers are just androids linkied to the National Network Service. (NNS) Hackers take control of the president android to talk to foreign officials. The strongest hackers are in control of society. The weaker fill smaller officials, such as governors.
Except, maybe both the Foriegn Minister and the Minister of State is controlled by the same hacker. The Defence Minister is a joint effort between two hackers. The Industry Minister is controlled by an AI. It's all a big concpiracy that hit our heroes hard so they must fight the violence inherent in the system.
Of course, the hacker know the best way to make sure an enemy doesn't bocme an issue is to eliminate them. Find their location and send some hitmen. Maybe the Chinese Triads would like a buisness opening in Lyon in exchange for a body that is never found? Maybe we can fake a hostage situation and get the GSG9 to take care of things? Better make sure no one finds out who you are or where you live. Total secrecy. The goverment is run by a bunch of infighting hacking bastards who no one, not even themselves, know who are.
This pretty much sums up the Hackoracy.
-LatwPIAT
20080531
20080530
Corporate Republic
A government that fits well into a cyberpunk universe is the Corporate Republic. Essentially, it's a government where all the members are company owners. All services are provided by these mega-corporations either a bonuses to it workers or paid services. The military is a conglomerate of Private Military Companies, Contractors and Mercenaries. The National Health Service(s) is paid for either by you, or your company. Same with the firefighters, police, detal service and everything.
In the Corporate Republic, everything is money, and money is everything. Citizens take up jobs. In return for their services, they can get insurances covering arson, accidents, theft. The higher up in the system you are, the more your contract covers. Employees are not only attracted with big salaries, but also contracts that has covering insurances. The more lucurative your insurance, the easier it is to get workers. This also creates a semi-monopoly for the mega-corporations. An upstart corner buisness can't give such an insurance. Burn their store down, and they won't have enough money to pay the police for the investiagtion. As a result, only the somewhat rich can create larger buisnesses. Sure, you can run a corner tobaccoist, but don't try to become the next Microsoft, because then Yakuza delinquents will come at night and steal your hard-drive. Guess who hired the Yakuza? Now, maybe you can sell some shared to Falcon Defensive Services. They protect against intruders, against a healthy 10% of the income, and $100,000 up front. Now, Falcon D.S. is owned by Thell International, who gets 10% of Falcon D.S' income. Essentailly, feudalism at work. A social/economic pyramid structure, with money moving upwards as shares, protection money and investments. Then it moves down again as payment. Our Next-Microsoft devlops some software which they sell for a few million. 1% moves into the hands of Thell International, who owns thousands of such daughter-companies. Thell invest it's money in something, and gets money back, or they withdraw their services.
Of course, there needs to be a legal system for this to be a single nation. The CEO's of the largest companies, as well as union representatives form a semi-democratic government that votes on laws. The unions are essentially companies that offer one thing. Votes. You pay to be a member. In return, you can vote for a representative, who can become the Union Representative in the government. In that way the unions serve as a buffer against abusive CEOs. The CEOs follow the law to a certain degree, held in place by PMCs and Mercenaries paid for by other CEO's and Unions. CEOs realize that it's easier to pay the fine and spend a few years in jail than start a civil war (Which is costly) so they buckled under for the law, and just plan to bribe their way out. Of course, because money is everything and everything is money, the CEO could easily bribe the judge and the jury, couldn't he?
Because of the pyramid system, there is a constant fluxuation of people up and down. The CEOs stay on top because they are well protected in bullet proof vests, not because they do a good job. The Unions prevent exploitation by paying for investiagtions and voting in the publics' interest. The CEOs are in a constant Mexican Standoff with their PMC and mercenaries. It's still a dog-eat-dog world though. Don't expect anyone to stand up for your rights unless you can pay a union.
Next, I'll try to cover the Netocracy.
-LatwPIAT
In the Corporate Republic, everything is money, and money is everything. Citizens take up jobs. In return for their services, they can get insurances covering arson, accidents, theft. The higher up in the system you are, the more your contract covers. Employees are not only attracted with big salaries, but also contracts that has covering insurances. The more lucurative your insurance, the easier it is to get workers. This also creates a semi-monopoly for the mega-corporations. An upstart corner buisness can't give such an insurance. Burn their store down, and they won't have enough money to pay the police for the investiagtion. As a result, only the somewhat rich can create larger buisnesses. Sure, you can run a corner tobaccoist, but don't try to become the next Microsoft, because then Yakuza delinquents will come at night and steal your hard-drive. Guess who hired the Yakuza? Now, maybe you can sell some shared to Falcon Defensive Services. They protect against intruders, against a healthy 10% of the income, and $100,000 up front. Now, Falcon D.S. is owned by Thell International, who gets 10% of Falcon D.S' income. Essentailly, feudalism at work. A social/economic pyramid structure, with money moving upwards as shares, protection money and investments. Then it moves down again as payment. Our Next-Microsoft devlops some software which they sell for a few million. 1% moves into the hands of Thell International, who owns thousands of such daughter-companies. Thell invest it's money in something, and gets money back, or they withdraw their services.
Of course, there needs to be a legal system for this to be a single nation. The CEO's of the largest companies, as well as union representatives form a semi-democratic government that votes on laws. The unions are essentially companies that offer one thing. Votes. You pay to be a member. In return, you can vote for a representative, who can become the Union Representative in the government. In that way the unions serve as a buffer against abusive CEOs. The CEOs follow the law to a certain degree, held in place by PMCs and Mercenaries paid for by other CEO's and Unions. CEOs realize that it's easier to pay the fine and spend a few years in jail than start a civil war (Which is costly) so they buckled under for the law, and just plan to bribe their way out. Of course, because money is everything and everything is money, the CEO could easily bribe the judge and the jury, couldn't he?
Because of the pyramid system, there is a constant fluxuation of people up and down. The CEOs stay on top because they are well protected in bullet proof vests, not because they do a good job. The Unions prevent exploitation by paying for investiagtions and voting in the publics' interest. The CEOs are in a constant Mexican Standoff with their PMC and mercenaries. It's still a dog-eat-dog world though. Don't expect anyone to stand up for your rights unless you can pay a union.
Next, I'll try to cover the Netocracy.
-LatwPIAT
Cyberpunk, it origins and essential works.
Cyberpunk is a genre that is quite hard to define. It's not defined by a specific set of visuals, a specific setting, or it's main characters. Nor it is defined by a time-period, or it's literary elementsm, nor by how many random biblical quotes appear. It can appear in unexpected places, including Fantasy, Victorian Anachronism, Spy Fiction set in the 60's or what is essentially now. The quite possibly best definition for cyberpunk would be stories centered around the negative impact of technology in specific, and philosophical themes stemming from that in general.
The classical cyberpunk was born from William Gibson, the so-called "godfather" of cyberpunk. In his novel Neuromancer, published in 1984, we see a future world that isn't pretty at all. The drug-addicted hacker Case is recruited (by some rather unconventional means involving his pancreas) to do a job together with the former-prostitute hired gun Molly and an artificial version of one of Case's dead hacker friends to hack into a bunch of places and steal a bunch of stuff. Fair enough. Here's the deal. I haven't touched the cyberpunk yet. No, the cyberpunk arrives when one or more of the important characters are revealed to be already dead, sucidal AI's trying to kill themselves without knowing it, or simply manipulating data for their own benefits. Now it's cyberpunk, because the possibilities and negative impact of technology are arriving. Then Neuromancer begins to question reality and the final cornerstone is lain down.
However, cyberpunk begins eariler than that. In 1982, Ridley Scott released a movie staring Harrison Ford. Besides Neuromancer and Ghost in the Shell it is perhaps one of first things people will think of when they hear cyberpunk. The name of the movie was, and is, Blade Runner. Blade Runner was based upon the Philiph K. Dick story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? released about two decaded earlier. In fact, most of the newer cyberpunk and semi-cyberpunk movies released are based upon stories by Philiph K. Dick, so if Gibson is the godfather, then K. Dick is the grandfather. Blade Runner centers around Deckard, whose job is to retire (Hint: It means kill.) Replicants. Replicants are genetically engineered clones of humans, used as slaves, prostitutes and soldiers on off-world colonies. However, because they are grown to adult size and thrown into their jobs, they have no emotional buffer, and can easily kill people without a shrug. Deckard's job is to find them and retire them before they slaughter more people. However, as the story progresses, we see more and more sides of the Replicants, and a lot of characters may or may not be replicants themselves, and we encounter one of the largest themes of cyberpunk. What is a human?
If Neuromancer is the most infulential in elements, briging us hackers, stealth camo, cyborgs, memory transfer and digital memories, then Blade Runner brough in the visuals. The world is dark, and it rains. Thousands of lights illuminate the horizon. Light and dark encapsule each other. Blade Runner is heavily influenced by Film Noir, and it shows. Femmes Fatales, Strippers, Prostitutes, the alcoholic Private Eye, and the Sexy Secretary. The world is lived in. It's not a happy, idealistic place. It's a run-down cynical world with thieves at every corner. And, just to show us that cyberpunk is illusive. There are no cyborgs, hackers or AI's in Blade Runner.
With the two corners of a triangle, elements and visuals, it's time for the third corner. Themes. There is no single work that is iconic for themes. The closes would be Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but it wans't influential. It just brought everything further. Themes are what distingushes cyberpunk stories from each other. It might be what constitues a human. Can a robot be human? Can an AI be human? Can a clone be human? (GitS, Blade Runner, etc.) Maybe the themes is what is reality. Maybe you're trapped in a fake world (Neuromacer, the Matrix, etc.), or maybe you're just being manipuled by a mountain of lies. (Metal Gear Solid 1, 2 & 3) other themes include social seregation (Gattaca, MGS1) identity (GitS) right & wrong and whatever theme can be expressed though the use of technology, only limited by the imagination of the author. (For better or worse.)
With this elusive triangle, a number of book, movies, animated series and graphics novels form what is known as cyberpunk.
-LatwPIAT
The classical cyberpunk was born from William Gibson, the so-called "godfather" of cyberpunk. In his novel Neuromancer, published in 1984, we see a future world that isn't pretty at all. The drug-addicted hacker Case is recruited (by some rather unconventional means involving his pancreas) to do a job together with the former-prostitute hired gun Molly and an artificial version of one of Case's dead hacker friends to hack into a bunch of places and steal a bunch of stuff. Fair enough. Here's the deal. I haven't touched the cyberpunk yet. No, the cyberpunk arrives when one or more of the important characters are revealed to be already dead, sucidal AI's trying to kill themselves without knowing it, or simply manipulating data for their own benefits. Now it's cyberpunk, because the possibilities and negative impact of technology are arriving. Then Neuromancer begins to question reality and the final cornerstone is lain down.
However, cyberpunk begins eariler than that. In 1982, Ridley Scott released a movie staring Harrison Ford. Besides Neuromancer and Ghost in the Shell it is perhaps one of first things people will think of when they hear cyberpunk. The name of the movie was, and is, Blade Runner. Blade Runner was based upon the Philiph K. Dick story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? released about two decaded earlier. In fact, most of the newer cyberpunk and semi-cyberpunk movies released are based upon stories by Philiph K. Dick, so if Gibson is the godfather, then K. Dick is the grandfather. Blade Runner centers around Deckard, whose job is to retire (Hint: It means kill.) Replicants. Replicants are genetically engineered clones of humans, used as slaves, prostitutes and soldiers on off-world colonies. However, because they are grown to adult size and thrown into their jobs, they have no emotional buffer, and can easily kill people without a shrug. Deckard's job is to find them and retire them before they slaughter more people. However, as the story progresses, we see more and more sides of the Replicants, and a lot of characters may or may not be replicants themselves, and we encounter one of the largest themes of cyberpunk. What is a human?
If Neuromancer is the most infulential in elements, briging us hackers, stealth camo, cyborgs, memory transfer and digital memories, then Blade Runner brough in the visuals. The world is dark, and it rains. Thousands of lights illuminate the horizon. Light and dark encapsule each other. Blade Runner is heavily influenced by Film Noir, and it shows. Femmes Fatales, Strippers, Prostitutes, the alcoholic Private Eye, and the Sexy Secretary. The world is lived in. It's not a happy, idealistic place. It's a run-down cynical world with thieves at every corner. And, just to show us that cyberpunk is illusive. There are no cyborgs, hackers or AI's in Blade Runner.
With the two corners of a triangle, elements and visuals, it's time for the third corner. Themes. There is no single work that is iconic for themes. The closes would be Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but it wans't influential. It just brought everything further. Themes are what distingushes cyberpunk stories from each other. It might be what constitues a human. Can a robot be human? Can an AI be human? Can a clone be human? (GitS, Blade Runner, etc.) Maybe the themes is what is reality. Maybe you're trapped in a fake world (Neuromacer, the Matrix, etc.), or maybe you're just being manipuled by a mountain of lies. (Metal Gear Solid 1, 2 & 3) other themes include social seregation (Gattaca, MGS1) identity (GitS) right & wrong and whatever theme can be expressed though the use of technology, only limited by the imagination of the author. (For better or worse.)
With this elusive triangle, a number of book, movies, animated series and graphics novels form what is known as cyberpunk.
-LatwPIAT
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