What do you view as the necessities in a cyberpunk setting? What places and people, conflicts and friendships...

Contaminated air by the industry or nuclear war is quite common.

Don't you mean
>Virtual reality

Wrist mounted computers.

Also monochrome displays.

>Trench coats
>Virtual reality
>Cybernetics
>Megacorps
>Mirrored sunglasses

Body modification, both inorganic (robot arms and laser eyes) and organic (blue skin and a new set of cat/fox/elf/whatever ears)

Back alley doctors

Our haircuts are way too shitty for us to be living in a cyberpunk dystopia.

Pink suits are cool.

use of technology in conflict

wouldn't nuclear war fall more into "apocalyptic" theme?

Drugs.

Street samurais

Dunno, man, some of these kids today don't look like they'd be at all out of place in a William Gibson novel.

Human life so cheap, people can be bought as if they were slaves.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

Neuromancer takes places after one. Europe is a nuclear wasteland.

Flying cars

They aren't strictly mutually exclusive, but the point of cyberpunk is to point the finger at a certain development in your own country. Changes on the political landscape stemming from a hypothetical war wouldn't really fit into that.

Megacities.

youtube.com/watch?v=NTJQTc-TqpU

No, flying cars are a thing of the past, just like most laserguns.

Divided/fallen US is pretty common.

In classic times, Japan Superpower. In modern times, China is the big one. .

How about road airplanes?

Tech Noir. The story usually takes place entirely during the night. You never see the sun.

Something oppressive to rebel against.

A new and improved type of criminal. See Almost Human.

Besides the obvious of "defense" and "electronics", what are the big areas for megacorps to dominate in? Crossover in other fields, of course.

Space travel

Giant screens with hot chicks on them trying to sell you something.

High tech low lives.

and Megacorps

...

Poverty existing side by side with advanced and wealthy city life.

The picture is from Chongqing, China.

At least they still have their farms - are self-sufficient. Plenty of people in the western world are just poor.

Cyber and punks.

Play Saint's Row III/IV, Watch Dogs/WD2, Deus Ex, DXHR,DXMD. Metal Gear optional.

Those are the worlds you want.

Elves

Cyberpunk and Transhumanism are diametrically opposed, so don't fall into that trap. In cyberpunk fiction, humans are rubbish and technology won't change that. The actual philosophical issue is up in the air of course, but don't go around offering a 'perfect morality' head-chip in the setting or something (unless it's a horrific mind-control scheme, then it's kosher). There's no one more snobbish than a cyberpunk fan (especially the old-school), but I can gurantee to you that this is a vital feature of the genre, miss this point and you're no longer in-genre. This is a fine point to realise you're not into cyberpunk as much as you thought, too

High Tech Low Life is the motto, but don't be afraid to show the High Life too, the contrast really drives the point through: humans are still garbage. There's room for optimism in cyberpunk, but it's about noble individuals in a flawed world, poor sods victim to their nature, etc. In the grand scheme of things, it's not going to get better, but maybe your heroes can find something better for themselves after all. Kick an addiction, settle a debt, get revenge, save someone from someone else (or themselves), etc.

I (not OP) write post-cyberpunk. Am I trash?

Not to my knowledge. It's a different genre, no?

>Am I trash?
You are a beautiful soul

Thanks senpai.
It's a different genre with a lot of cyberpunk trappings (obviously). A lot of cyberpunk fans hate it for being too optimistic and the focus on transhumanism and philosophy.

Pure snobs, I told you. But in my only experience in the matter I'd say it was justified, I mean during 4e shadowrun switched from cyberpunk to post-cyberpunk (all the while still selling itself as cyberpunk), and then back to cyberpunk in 5e (possibly because of the backlash), everyone's panties was in a twist.

Could you recommend me some decent cyberpunk stories and novels, Veeky Forums?

I've read Neuromancer, but that was ages ago.

Google already was linked see

Palantir is way more cyberpunk than Google.

I could stick Peter Thiel straight into any cyberpunk worlds and he'd be right at home.

Also, Facebook.

Although Alphabet is really catching up in recent years on the whole cyberpunk megacorp vibe.

>Neuromancer takes places after one. Europe is a nuclear wasteland.
Uh, no. There was a short conventional war that was ended by several cities (like Bonn) being nuked by tactical forces, but it's definitely not a wasteland. There was no full-scale nuclear war.

The Glass Hammer by K W Jeter.
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner.
Synners by Pat Cadigan.
Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling.

Snow Crash.

Read Snow Crash LAST. It's a satire of the genre.

Healthcare, insurance, pharmacy

True, but it's still a very good book in the genre, and a good conflicting approach to the endlessly-serious mainstream cyberpunk.

Defence isn't obvious at all. Those are not very big companies compared to the top 100.

Energy, Banking, Telecoms, Automobiles and Construction are some of the biggest megacorps fields, at least now.

What are the things you can't live without?

> clothing
> food
> fuel

You have your answer.

Ice cream

Food
Water
Entertainment
Education
Software
Machine Tools
Mining

It really doesn't have to be opposed. You can show that even with cancer an aging cured that people are still the same scum that they always were.

Classic cyberpunk is also largely lefty, while post-cyberpunk can be much more neutral. Anti-capitalism has declined since the 90s. Japan's economy crashed and the up-and-coming economic country is China, which is a "communist" dictatorship. That and their technological standard is shit compared to Japan and the US. Japan at least kept their edge in high-tech gadgetry and precision machining. People have to face the facts that classic cyberpunk is dead.

>You can show that even with cancer an aging cured that people are still the same scum that they always were.
But this is exactly the opposite of transhumanism, the idea that technology would allow one to transcend humanity's flaws. It's not about disease or cancer or whatever, but that technology will change humans for the better in a fundamental way. If technology in fiction doesn't provide this change, it is not transhumanist. Your example here is most definitely not transhumanist (by itself at least).

Mind uploading, transcendence of flesh, bio-optimization, etc, common tools in transhumanist fiction that delete the biological bases for some of humanity's flaws like irralionality, emotions, biological needs, and so. Cyberpunk most definitely avoids these tools because it needs those flaws for it's narrative.

I wish there were more noodle shops

I like noodles, but there aren't any good places for noodles near my work

Tbf crashing and burning when they're starting to get shit rolling is Japan's speciality. Usually these crashes are caused by Japanese themselves.
>start to show signs of westernizing and expanding
>get your asses kicked by koreans&chinese -> go full hermit kingdom mode after it turns out that spanish are also operationg in east asian area
>westernize and expand again, piss of yanks by commiting war crimes left and right in china -> us stops selling you oil&scrap metal, panic and blow up couple obsolete battleships in pearl harbor, get your asses kicked
>economy prospers and it seems that you're poised to become a global economic superpower -> turns out that it was mostly based on a bubble, bubble collapses and 20 years later your economy still hasn't recovered

Let's hope the Chinese follow the same pattern.

>> clothing
>> food
>> fuel
>
>Food
>Water
>Entertainment
>Education
>Software
>Machine Tools
>Mining

Clothing, food, water, education, machine tools and entertainment industries are highly atomized and not controlled by giant megacorporations. On the contrary, things like electricity, education and water are usually controlled by governments.

Fuel (energy), software, mining are controlled by megacorporations because they deal in internationally-traded goods that are fungible, generic in their application to all cultures and easily traded across national borders.

I'd say the biggest industry controlled by megacorps in the future will be biomed, which will include the health care, pharmaceuticals, cyberware and bioware industries.

based Magnasanti

>Clothing, food, water, education, machine tools and entertainment industries are highly atomized and not controlled by giant megacorporations

user.

Look at the movie industry (5 companies control the majority of revenue, and they would have bought out the other ones but for anti-trust).

Sony, Microsoft, and Valve control access to the video game markets. Six companies control 90% of the media (and they combined have over 275 billion in revenue.)

Software - There is only one company that provides 90% of the heavy duty databases in the world. 90% of the OSes come from one company.

It also even stronger in specific fields. ESRI, SPSS, Autodesk all have effective monopolies in their field.

Food - Nestle , Anheuser-Busch InBev and Coca-Cola area all nearing megacorp size.

Water - Go look what happening to latin america if you think companies are not boxing out water sources.

What I miss most about living in a big city with a substantial international community is the food. I haven't had kimchi in years. Noodlesoup and curry I have to make myself and some ingredients are really hard to find.

You know there is this thing called the internet, through which you can buy a whole lot of ingredients and have them delivered to your door?

You know that cooked food tastes different from the raw ingredients?

>douchebag millennial doesn't know how to cook
Color me surprised!

He mentions cooking in his previous post you ADD-afflicted arse pickle, it's not like you can get every single restaurant food right with raw ingredients, some things never taste quite as right when you make 'em. sometimes it tastes better, but sometimes you're just disappointed.

Whatever, douchenozzle. Friday night is tom kha gai night in my house. I don't need to live in big city with a substantial international community to get my Pan-Asian on because I am not a child. Instead of crying like a bitch, try spending some more time in the kitchen to figure out why your cooking is crap.

Nice blog.

>it's not like you can get every single restaurant food right with raw ingredients,
Actually it basically is if you can cook.

>Inb4, b-but I can't do molecular gastronomy at home without a lot of equipment!
Mate, the guy metioned noodles and curry, it's not the same thing

where do you get your galangal and lime leaves?

Not him, but I just checked and they sell both those things on amazon.

The real problem I find for cooking stuff in the middle of nowhere is not finding herbs and spices, but quality perishables that can't go for even the shortest period of time without refrigeration. Seafood is a prime example.

Megacorporations, organized crime, prosthetics/augmentations, and widespread surveillance are all central core themes of Cyberpunk, but Cyberpunk itself is little with only just those things. I think militarized police isn't what makes Cyberpunk what it is, but there has to be some form of corruption going on, either it be on the whole grand scheme or if it was one bad cop, to add some spice to it.

While not the norm and not by any means required, my cyberpunk setting has a theme on returning to old ways in reaction to new developments, creating a sort of retro-noir culture niche alongside the prevalent hacker punk culture. Governments in real life do this, using old-ass obscure tech that is directly incompatible to all modern "hacking" techniques and devices. By applying technology and regulation to more things such as guns, there becomes a rise in home-made devices and the usage of antiques. The bad cop I brought up before is a character I've been developing, who brandishes two pistols, a standard-issue Five SeveN and his personal Single Action Army. His pistol has tech in it that will send data to the HQ about whose pistol it is, when and where it was fired, as well as the ability to force the safety on in case someone, his superiors or a hacker thug, wants to prevent him from shooting. His revolver, on the other hand, has no electronics, is from the 50's, and is in as pristine condition as a frequently used firearm of that age can get. He brings it along with him on orders so he can circumvent any locks that hackers may put on his pistol as well as dodge the police establishment from disabling his ability to dish out his brand of justice.

>every single restaurant food right with raw ingredients
A decent cook will be able to.

...

Do you think there are decent people on Veeky Forums?

You don't have to be a decent person to be skilled at something.

>The bad cop I brought up before is a character I've been developing, who brandishes two pistols, a standard-issue Five SeveN and his personal Single Action Army

See, now that's a quality post.

>American thinks the US is the world

What are you, Chinese?

Energy is so frequently overlooked.

Look at our current situation: Renewable energy is literally the keystone to peace in the 21st & 22nd centuries. It's also the biggest powderkeg we've got. Affluent countries across the globe rely on fossil fuels to secure their status of power. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and Russia. What happens when people no longer need oil? The current humanitarian crisis in the Middle East (which already revolves around dwindling resources); Saudi Arabia has been stockpiling weapons because neighboring countries are facing food shortages, and countries all over the world (United States included) are planning for what happens when, and not if, our water reserves reach critical levels.

Yes, there are questions of population sustainability, and yes, there are questions of effective resource distribution. But the reliance of the world economy, and the destruction of the world ecology, all hinge on energy technology.

Who's going to own the patents? Who's going to own the raw materials needed? Who's going to own the manufacturing and logistics pipeline? Which warmongering nations are going to raise hell when they find themselves without a chair, once the music stops?

Current energy corporations...are they bothering to invest in renewable R&D? Or are they content with bribing politicians to muscle out the startups that pursue these technologies? Are we going to beat the Chinese and the Russians to economic renewables? Or are they content with waiting to steal what we come up with?

Banking is another great area to explore from the cyberpunk perspective.

What about lobbying in the post-cyberpunk world?

US is not the main location for companies who do software, Movie, video games.

Not thinking Nestle, InBev, and Coca-Cola (only one is american) are not worldwide concerns.

So... anyone got anymore cute human/robot love pictures like in the OP?

But to actually contribute to the topic, human workers getting displaced by robots.

Not having magic
Not having tentacles
Not having Lovecraftian monsters
Not having non-human races, unless they are androids

Megacorps, privatised and militarised police, high-end media technology (which is part of constant surveillance system), absurd levels of income disparity (remember - it's about amount of poor people, rather than HOW poor they are), environmental destruction is fine game too.

I'm pretty sure that's at least 2 degrees of heretical.

What?
Did I say something wrong? Was my grammar fucked and I just didn't notice? Did you actually like the idea and said it in a way that I'm misinterpreting as sarcastic?

catgirls

feline females

If people can get some cyberware or bioware there will be people that get too much 'ware.