CYBERPUNK & STEAMPUNK
Neil Stephenson, the author of the novel, was certainly a visionary. This book takes a look into the future and gives a glimpse of where our world is headed. It was written in 1992 yet, it features some elements that we use today in the cyber world with some that we are just beginning to use. The story envisions a hyper-capitalist future of America in which the central government has vanished and has broken into small city states each with their own laws and borders, but controlled by syndicates and corporations. Wow, what a mess! The genre of Cyberpunk and Steampunk is present along with computer science, culture, and philosophy.
I found this novel extremely interesting. I was very familiar with Steampunk as far as the aesthetics of clocks, gears, and Victorian Style Clothing because I have seen this at Sci-Fi Conventions and Renaissance Festival Themed Weekends. However, I had no knowledge of the literary genre of Steampunk. The main characters are young and trendy individuals. Hiro, the protagonist, is a sword slinging, freelance hacker who wears basic black clothing. YT is a tough, street wise, extreme skateboarding girl.
The Metaverse is a place where people go to communicate. They use audiovisual bodies, that they have created, to communicate with each other. The Metaverse was like the interactive 3D experience that we use today. A virus appears by the name of Snow Crash. Hiro and YT attempt to investigate it. The virus has been infecting members of the Metaverse and also infecting the user's mind in the real world. Computer viruses and hackers are very common today and it is amazing that Stephenson could foresee this happening almost 25 years ago! This book was really ahead of its time. It featured interactive 3D experiences and virtual reality which is popular today. It portrayed a government that became weak and fell apart. I hope this doesn't happen. Hacking was an ongoing item with professional and freelance hackers. There is more and more computer hacking and fraud taking place everyday.
The one idea that really left me thinking was that someone could become greater than their real world self in a virtual environment through their hacking skills. Also, information flowed freely between humans and computers to the point where you couldn't tell the difference between the two. Scary!! Today's world depends on computers, but are we becoming too dependent, cold, and impersonal by this?
Movie: PAPRIKA (2006)
I viewed the movie Paprika which is about a group of scientists developing a device which allows someone to interject their subconscious into and record another person's dream. This is really wild and I'm not so sure that I would want to share my dreams with anybody. This is actually what Paprika does and she is like a dream counselor. Typically, a thief steals the technology and uses it to terrorize and control others. I found the film confusing at times, but I just went with it and eventually I understood the plot. This movie had great anime. The theme that it seemed to express deals with contemporary and most likely to happen issues. It reflects on the positive and negative aspects of science along with the idea that our actual identities are difficult to understand.
I felt that this movie also explores our dreams and how as we are dreaming. We can be who we want to be in the dream, but when we wake up, we are who we are. It made me think about what would happen if dreams and reality merged. Some would be good and the others well, let's not talk about how bad it would be! I believe that this movie expressed the advantages of the internet is better in communicating, but also dehumanizing. Great Anime & Great Theme. I am definitely going to watch it again.
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