Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

Returning to active blogging after over a year off I was forcibly reminded just how fast the online world transforms itself. Podcasting is almost mainstream, MySpace is passe and where did Twitter spring from? My own struggle to catch up with this constantly involving information space raised a question in my mind: What is this decade’s Cyberpunk?

We are currently experiencing what has been termed the “Information Revolution”, an obvious play on the “Industrial Revolution” which had such a dramatic impact on the economic and social fabric of the western world. It’s a cutesy little name, much like calling every scandal “-gate”, but in this case there are a lot of parallels.

New forms of communication are springing up constantly (see Twitter). Additionally more sophisticated ways of collating and processing data are being created. If you look at all the little elements that are slowly being pieced together you can already see the potential to radically alter society again.

While I doubt we’ll be seeing Vernor Vinge’s Singularity in the next few years, it certainly feels as though the rate of change is accelerating. As I considered all this on my drive in to work (Hey I’ve got an hour to kill!), the obvious question occurred to me, will I be able to keep up?

But thinking about it, I have it easy. All I have to do is keep up with the new technologies as they happen. Science Fiction writers have to anticipate them and then predict their effects on society. If the leap from one thought to the next seems a bit sudden to you… welcome to my mind.

Of course near future science fiction isn’t really about predicting the future, its mainly about isolating themes from current culture and putting them under the microscope. During the 80s and early 90s it was the sub-genre of Cyberpunk that captured those themes best. Taking the public’s mixed fear and excitement about new technology and placing that in a setting where corporations had run rampant (in a time where the power of giant multinationals were really only just entering the public consciousness).

Reading that cyberpunk now though, it already has the dated feel that near future science fiction often gets. The zeitgeist has changed with the generations and cyberpunk no longer captures current fears in the way it once did. I don’t say that as criticism of the stories in any way. I see it more as an inevitable result of writing near future science fiction. It’s a moving target.

Nor do I mean to suggest that cyberpunk stories are somehow without value. On the contrary, a good story will remain a good story regardless of anything else. However I don’t think cyberpunk captures the spirit of the times in the way it used to.

So what is the new cyberpunk? What near future science fiction have you read recently that you feel captures where humanity is now?