Cyberworld Revised

[hal]

I no sooner post what I did above, and I ran into this...

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/12/tech...inkId=33418171


Basically, a link that suggests what the EU "might" do regarding robots. All suggestive in my mind, nothing concrete, but none the less interesting.

:)

[Jürgen Hubert]

Major themes of Cyberpunk for me are:

- Vast disparities of wealth: There should be the unimaginably rich and powerful who can basically do whatever they want, a vast underclass who are barely scraping by, and a shrinking middle class desperately clinging to what they have.

- Future shock: New technology arrives faster than society can adopt, leading to further tensions.

- A quasi-criminal underclass making use of all the new technologies in order to find their own niche, frequently getting hired by the elite against other members of the elite.


Many of the themes of Cyberpunk still hold up fairly well - in fact, I'd say the real world is inching towards a Cyberpunk future. On the technology front, we still have fairly few cybernetic implants, but on the other hand old-school Cyberpunk missed out on the whole wireless revolution. On the social front, what is missing are the "sararimen" - megacorporate employees who are living their entire lives within a company and are frequently deeply loyal to it. These days, the concept of "employee loyalty" is generally considered to be a joke, only used seriously by managers who are upset that people don't want to continue working under crappy work conditions if they have any choice at all.

[Jürgen Hubert]

Originally Posted by hal

3) In the past, the rich used their wealth to get poorer people to do as they desired. In a world with automation, robotic factories etc - might not the rich be more inclined to finding ways to depopulate the region rather than finding ways to enrich the lives of the poor? Plagues that induce sterility or kill outright, could be let loose in a biopunk sort of fashion. With automation and robotics - there will no longer be a need for the poor's service.

They are still needed as consumers, and thus the economic elites do benefit from having them around - after all, someone needs to buy their stuff!

Of course, someone also has to give them the money so that they can pay for stuff - but preferably, that money should come from someone else.

[Randyman]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

They are still needed as consumers, and thus the economic elites do benefit from having them around - after all, someone needs to buy their stuff!

Of course, someone also has to give them the money so that they can pay for stuff - but preferably, that money should come from someone else.

Further, extreme wealth quickly becomes less about comfort and more about power. If those who aren't wealthy are fewer, over whom will the wealthy have power?

[hal]

due to issues elsewhere, I must refrain from further comments as a result of "Thread derailment" potential. I apologize for my withdrawal from this thread, and any links that I have posted that could be construed as thread derailment.