Cyberpunk and Science Fiction Essay

Science fiction helps us explore new ways of thinking. It gives us a better perspective on humanity by helping us see into our past, present and future. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury is a collection of science fiction short stories. The author uses stories set in the future that show human life in the future. He gives examples of innovative technology in every story, but also shows the reader that technology can be helpful or harmful. From creating a children’s playroom to making a human-like puppet without strings, the author shows how technology can be used for both good and evil. For example, in The Veldt and The Marionettes the main characters used it to deceive others. Conflict happened when technology was used in an unexpected

It is often said that technology is the future generation and I do believe that.

Many people in the past and today believe the future will hold advancements in how humans live and what they use. The most common advancement is technology. Technology is the future, from the simplicity of turning on a light, to an advance development of a robot. The future is commonly told through sci-fi movies and through non fictional books such as the stories “The Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury or “The Nethergrave” by Glaria Skurzynski. The story Nethergrave is better than The Sound of Thunder because it’s more entertaining, shows better imagery, and it’s ultimately easier to understand.

“The Masked Avengers” By David Kushner is about a group of people who are anonymous and hack into things like data web bases, this is pretty much all they have in common. Hackers are not a group who do things the same and together primarily because there are so many different types of people who are interested in different things although Wikipedia more commonly sees hacking as “skilled computer expert that uses their technical knowledge to overcome a problem”. For example a hacker can do their job not as the stereotypical way of bad but in helping out the common good in people, such as tracking down child predators and turning them into the police. Even though this may be seen as illegal hacking that violates the privacy of others, when its

Despite the patriotism and nationalism constantly encouraged in the United States, our society is far from perfect, and science fiction is just one genre that comments on these frailties. Science fiction comments on our world by creating a dystopian society in attempt to emphasize our civilization’s dangerous flaws. Two examples can be examined in the selections, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury and "Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut. Fahrenheit 451 is about a society consumed with every possible form of technology. The people neglect one another and find a family within their fascinating trinkets. This is not very similar to our society, yet our society could eventually go down this path. Most characters from the book ignore knowledge and it is also against the law to educate oneself from books. Overall, there is limited meaningful conversation amongst the majority of people and instead, a lot of propaganda provided by the government. All of these precautions are taken so that ‘every minority is happy,’ similar to the theme of "Harrison Bergeron.” Furthermore, this selection focuses on equality and the lengths that a government will go to in attempt to destroy

I believe that science fiction is definitely providing cautionary tales of our dependence on technology. We can see examples of this in feed in the way it portrays dependence on technology in our society. In the future, our Reliance on technology could lead us to a society much like “Feed’s”.

In this day and age living in the era of the computer, it has become more mainstream and common to hear of cyber attacks, and crime being committed on the internet. Activism however, has become a prominent way to protest or argue a political view. Using related technologies and the internet have become a vital way for some to share their views. With the rise of the internet, “hacktivism” has become a prominent way for protest groups to express while also promoting a political agenda often related to free speech, human rights, and freedom of information.

I chose the book “Ghost In The Wires” to read through for my assignment. Originally, as I glanced through the list, skimming the rather large assortment of possibilities, my eyes caught a hold of this particular book. Upon viewing what the book was about, I realized I had a small amount of prior knowledge on the book’s subject, the life of a man named Kevin Mitnick, and I was rather thrilled to learn more of this individuals rather hectic life. The book itself had already interested me in several ways as it covered the topic of “hacking” which obviously, is connected with the vast world of technology. The time in which the events of Kevin Mitnick’s hectic trouble filled adventure takes place, is a completely different world from today’s, as

The guiding question of all science fiction can be summed up by this sentence: “‘If this goes on, where will it lead?’”(Sawyer) By asking this basic, yet perplexing question, writers extrapolate on a known scientific principle to its most extreme case, and thereby create a catalyst for the events of the stories they write. Inside this story, the innate natures and behaviors of human beings are revealed through the characters’ reaction to the new threat that an advance in technology or scientific knowledge presents. The moral and ethical dilemmas created in these hypothetical futures allows the reader to better understand and examine the enigmatic state of the human condition. An example of this type of literature is the novel Frankenstein.

Adam Segal’s “The Hacked World Order” reveals many prevalent issues in today’s technologically centered society. Starting at Year Zero, June 2012 to June 2013, the battle over cyberspace witnessed world-changing cyberattacks. This was accomplished due to the fact that nearly 75% of the world’s population has easy access to a mobile phone, and the Internet connects nearly 40% of the total human population, which is nearly 2.7 billion people. With that being said, cyberattacks are becoming a more realistic form of terror.

Throughout this semester our literary material dealt with themes of technology, modernization, the imponderable bloom, human nature, and truth to name a few of the most overarching. Each text has woven an impression of the possible near future for humanity if the patterns we are creating continue at an exponential rate. Patterns such as consumerism, neglecting unpleasurable emotions, using drugs, and controlling the environment for our short term benefits will write an unsavory and inevitable future. Science Fiction often reflects on society by exaggerating their negative characteristics and advancements to seem far-out, but often it is ironic how close many aspects of the fiction are a direct reflection of the present condition. Even now, the possibilities of utopias and dystopias forming are not so out of reach. The ability of our culture to control an entire population with a self-satisfied culture of vices outfitted with technology is less and less science fiction as the years pass.

In a genre whose name ostensibly welcomes innovation—science fiction—resistance towards technology may initially seem counterintuitive. This, however, is where it is essential to delve into the annals of history. Writers, after all, write what they know. In an 1948 essay, George Orwell wrote, “When you are on a sinking ship, your thoughts will be about sinking

The film Killswitch was about the government trying to monopolize and control user traffic on the internet. Whether it is for security purposes or financial gain, our system of democracy is being compromised at a technological level. Several speakers including Tim Wu, expressed how “hacktivism” was a revolutionary tool used to take a stand against government interference.

Moreover, the positive messages embedded in science fiction works can have powerful influence on the audience and the society, both locally and globally. In particular, most of the messages embedded are prompted by the past events of world history or by the contemporary social phenomena, and

As the world becomes more and more reliant on computers the computer hacking industry is greatly rising. With people such as Kevin Mitnick, who is known as a "computer terrorist" (Kjochaiche 1), computerized information isn't safe any more. Kevin is known as "the most high-profiled computer criminal and responsible for more havoc in the computer world today."(1) He considered this a fun and easy task. He got caught and thrown into prison, but once he got out nothing changed. Kevin stated that as long as the technology is there it just calls to people to break into it. Computer hackers usually start off young, thinking that it is nothing but a little harmless fun. But as they get older, they realize it has turned into