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The History of Cyberpunk

  • Period: to

    Cyberpunk Timespan

  • The End of the Prototype Era

    The End of the Prototype Era
    It was pre 1980's, and ideas ran wild about the future and societal control. The term 'Cyberpunk' was yet to be coined, but there was plenty of history and material to spur the movement. Notable writings on early forms of cyberpunk from this period are 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' by Philip K. Dick, 'The Shockwave Rider' by Joh Brunner, and the novel-turned-film 'A Clockwork Orange' originally written by Anthony Burgess.
  • The Movement Era

    Bruce Bethke wrote a series of short stories entitled 'Cyberpunk', which was adopted as the title for the entire movement. During the years of 1980- 1993, IBM PC computers became household items, numerous books were written on the topic, and the first game consoles were rising in popularity. This era was critical to the cyberpunk movement.
  • The Mainstream Era

    After Time magazine and Billy Idol publicised the term 'Cyberpunk' around the world, the movement was no longer underground.
    In the years following, (1993-1999), Cyberpunk hit a peak in popularity, but shortly after began its decline.
  • The New Millenia Era

    This era, spanning 1999 to the present, has been characterised by cyberpunk events coming (somewhat) to life. 'The Matrix' films renewed interest in the cyberpunk genre. Hackers, global computer coorporations and rapidly advancing technology have and will continue to drive the themes and ideas that have emobdied cyberpunk into the realm of possibility.
  • The Millenium Bug

    Leading up to 1st January 2000, technicians and programmers scrambled to correct computer software that if not updated, could bring forth global chaos. The issue was concerned with an electronic fault that would send clocks on all electronics to 1900 instead of 2000. Thankfully, after damage evaulation on the 1st, no catastrophic issues were reported.