How the Cyberpunk Genre Died
Of all the genres of future-history science fiction, Cyberpunk is the first to fall
This will be a shorter article, but one that I think bares consideration from a cultural perspective. Cyberpunk, as a genre of science fiction, holds a unique place in the modern culture. For decades, from the 1970s “Running Man” to the 2020 release of Cyberpunk 2077, the genre has had a lasting impact.
Ultimately the death of this genre is a powerful cultural signal that it’s time for something new.
Death of a Genre
Cyberpunk is a genre of science fiction; high-tech societies overshadowed by corporate dominance, social decay, and rampant cybernetics. It is generally set in dystopian futures where megacorporations wield more power than governments and advanced technologies blur the lines between human and machine: artificial intelligence, cybernetic enhancements, and virtual realities. These settings are typically urban, neon-lit, and rain-soaked, evoking a gritty, post-modern noir aesthetic. The genre frequently examines themes of individualism versus state social control, the consequences of unchecked tech development, and the struggles of poor disenfranchised dissidents.
Importantly, as a genre, it is effectively dead. The neon lights are gone, replaced with modern LEDs. Gritty cybernetics have been replaced by iphones. Megacorporations commanding entire cities have become corporate lobbyists organizing a massive state bureaucracy to micromanage individual life.
A common trope of nearly every cyberpunk piece of fiction is the lack of children. Bladerunner 2049 is focused around the rarity of familial relations and (in my opinion) represents the final great social foray into the genre. Here’s the thing about gigantic grungy megacities where your every hearts desire can be had if you’re wealthy enough. Ultimately most fans of the genre completely fail to recognize:
No one living in those grungy megacities seems to be having kids. Those who do want kids don’t live in those cities.
As the neon glow was replaced with energy-efficient LEDs; as the corporate muscle-men replaced with plump childless women in their 40s explaining company policy over the phone; as underground communities were replaced with AI chat bots; one can now see “cyberpunk” receding in the historical rearview mirror. A has-been ideology like 1950s futurism. Only instead of an era of hope, it provides us with a final look at the culture of the era: one of fracture and despair.
In effect, the genre has become meaningless because it held meaning only as it existed as a potential future. We’ve now lived through that future. It turned out different than many thought it would be; less dingy and fewer cybernetics but equally alien to those that grew up prior to the 1980s.
This isn’t the first time such a thing has happened to a popular genre. A genre that truly lived for a single generation before receding into history.
Who Remembers Westerns?
The Western was a genre that underwent a similar rise and fall. A genre that remained relevant only for about a half-century (roughly 1900 to 1950) and which represented the noble hopes and dreams of the people of that era. While western adaptations will retain a place in media forever (see the proverbial space-western genre) the original western faded quickly from relevance once the social wheel had turned. The abundance and social hierarchy of the 1950s chaffed against the hyper-individualism of the western:
Unbounded land
Individual heroes
Lawless shootouts
The Western was generally a back-facing genre while cyberpunk is front-facing. Both possesses themes of individualism and a mythical escape from overbearing societal hierarchies. Westerns are possessed of an escape to the frontier while cyberpunk is possessed of a hapless (and often destined to lose) struggle against an inexorable faceless authority.
In both cases, there are few children. Children didn’t grow up to become cowboys, they grew up to work the rail lines and build businesses. Children didn’t grow up to become punks hiding from the corporate boot, they either weren’t born at all, or were born into an education system that set them on the path to interchangeable digital worker. The world of both the Cowboy and the Cyberpunk no longer exist, and only existed for a single generation. It seems that even fiction which does not bare fruit will wither on the vine.
A serious consideration as we move forward, past the age of cyberpunk into an unknown future.
Future Fiction: An Imperial Transition
I have stated several times that the United States and the West in a more general sense is going through an “imperial transition” heralded by the 2024 election, the 2020 pandemic, and the restructuring taking place under DOGE.
For those interested, my future prediction (which is betting against God and unlikely to be correct) is that Donald Trump and DOGE will fully restructure large swaths of the United States Federal Government. After 2 years in office, Donald Trump will step down in 2026 or early 2027 passing the torch to JD Vance. Vance will have 2 years to prove himself and run again in 2028… and win. Then in 2032, he will run for a 2nd term in office (totaling 10 years of Vance and 6 years of Trump at this point) and win again. The next decade will see a massive social and political change across the West as former political dissidents are given authority over federal systems. The removal of birthright citizenship will pass and spawn a citizen-serf distinction in the United States. Sometime 30 to 60 years from now, a labor-shortage will be recognized and the federal government will create a permanent “resident-worker” program which will serve as a plebian underclass.
The future of various fiction genres could evolve in a number of complex ways. I do suspect that stories of unapologetic heroism will make a return some time in the next 10 years as the general population gives up on anti-hierarchy individualism. The behavior of feminists and the Woke Left has generated a strong (and reactionary) response. A general refusal to accept any “identity” will permeate the population as requesting any type of consideration based on an intersectional identity will cause an immediate knee-jerk response (again, warranted).
The next type of fiction will be artists standing for masculine heroism, or it will be fiction recognizing the decline of various nations into micro-managerialism. Stories like Warhammer will emphasize the traits of an empire clawing its way back to relevance after a long decline. Stories more resembling Strugatsky soviet-era fiction will focus on the decline itself with more traditional Shakespearian stories like Titus and Julius Caesar.
I am looking forward to seeing the cyberpunk genre replaced by something new; less bound by the visions of futures-past. To remain relevant, a genre must be capable of reflecting the changes in its own society. I don’t know what the future holds, but I sense something distinctly imperial on the horizon.
Empire America: Reflections on Rome
Donald Trump was not supposed to be elected to office. This image was not supposed to grace our headlines. He was supposed to be shot and killed as an example to others before he touched the levers of power again. We are are off-script. History, it seems, does not repeat.
You know, I was tired of cyberpunk after Eric Nylund's A Signal to Noise basically became king of cyberpunk in my brain. There's nowhere else for the genre to go. It's a dying culture. Like you pointed out, nobody has kids, and that generation will effectively vanish. My personal pet theory is that Babylon in Revelation is the ultimate cyberpunk city, and it goes out in a giant fireball. As it should. :-D
I wonder if there is a place for stories set during a time of cyberpunk cities, but not within them. Some of the coolest parts of Blade Runner 2049 take place outside the archetypical cyberpunk city of LA. We are living through the revenge of the middle American family man upon the tech-obsessed urbanite childless man. I think there is good potential there for a new direction of the genre.