Cyberpunk and Biopunk (Sub-genres of Sci-Fi)

Cyberpunk and Biopunk

These are the two sub-genres of Science Fiction. Among this the cyberpunk enjoys the priority.

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is a post modern form of science fiction in which the events take place partially or entirely within the ‘virtual reality’ formed by computers or computer networks, in which the characters may be either human or artificial intelligence. The term cyberpunk was coined in the late 20^th century that is used interchangeably with cyber fiction and hyper text fiction. The term cyberpunk acknowledges the increasing influence of computer technology in literature, whether manifested in terms of plot (e.g. computer oriented science fiction), medium of publication (any of fiction now available on the World Wide Web), reader participation (e.g. interactive novels that invite the reader’s creative involvement) or in some other way. Nihilism, post-modernism, and film noir techniques are common elements and the protagonist may be disaffected or reluctant anti-heroes.

          Cyberpunk gained popularity in the 1984with publication of William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer. Technology is important in cyberpunk fictions , hence artificial intelligence, laser, neon, synthetic music and so on. Among its better known practitioners are William Gibson, K.W. Jetter and Walter Jon Williams.

Biopunk

         

Biopunk is a techno progressive movement advocating open access to genetic information. The related biopunk science fiction genre focuses on biotechnology and subversives. Biopunk science fiction is a subgenre of cyberpunk fiction that focuses on the near-future unintended consequences of the biotechnology revolution following the discovery of recombinant DNA. Unlike cyberpunk, it builds not on information technology, but on synthetic biology.  A common feature of biopunk fiction is the "black clinic", which is a laboratory, clinic, or hospital that performs illegal, unregulated, or ethically-dubious biological modification and genetic engineering procedures.  Many features of biopunk fiction have their roots in William Gibson's Neuromancer, one of the first cyberpunk novels.

Paul Di Filippo’s Ribofunk, Paul J. McAuley’s White Devils, The Xenogenesis trilogy by Octavia E. Butler…are examples of biopunk science fiction.

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Dystopia / Dystopian Novel

Dystopia

         

        The word derives from Ancient Greek for "bad place". It can alternatively be called cacotopia or anti-utopia. A dystopia is a community or society, usually fictional that is in some important way undesirable or frightening. It is the opposite of a utopia. Such societies appear in many works of fiction, particularly in stories set in a speculative future. Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Dystopian novels usually include elements of contemporary society and are seen as a warning against some modern trends.

          A dystopia is usually set at some point in the author’s future and describes a society in which we would not want to live. Writers, presenting dystopias, generally want to alert readers to the potential pitfalls and dangers of society’s present course or of a course society must conceivably take one day. In the Russian novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin people are permitted to live out of public view twice a week for one hour. They are only referred to by numbers instead of names, but are "ciphers" which are neither. Unlike utopian fiction, which often features an outsider to have the world shown to him/her, dystopias seldom feature an outsider as the protagonist. The story usually centers on a protagonist who questions the society, often feeling intuitively that something is terribly wrong. The hero comes to believe that escape or even overturning the social order is possible and decides to act at the risk of their own life; this may appear as irrational even to him/her, but they still act. Another popular archetype of hero in the more modern dystopian literature is the Vonnegut hero, a hero who is in high-standing within the social system, but sees how wrong everything is, and attempts to either change the system or bring it down

         

There is usually a group of people somewhere in the society who are not under the complete control of the state, and in whom the hero of the novel usually puts their hope, although often he or she still fails to change anything. In Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four they are the "proles”, in Huxley's Brave New World they are the people on the reservation, and in We by Zamyatin they are the people outside the walls of the One State. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, they are the "book people" past the river and outside the city.

         

Examples of Dystopian Novels

Famous depiction of dystopian societies includes,

·       We (1920) Yevgeny Zamyatin

·       Nineteen Eighty Four (1948) George Orwell

·       Brave New World (1932) Aldous Huxley

·       The Hunger Games (2008) Suzanne Collins

·       The Time Machine (1895) H.G Wells

·       A Clockwork Orange (1962) Anthony Burgess

·       Fahrenheit 451(1953) Ray Bradbury

The film such as Demolition Man and Equilibrium etc. portrays dystopian societies.