"Anything that can be done to a rat can be done to a human being. And we can do most anything to rats. This is a hard thing to think about, but it's the truth. It won't go away because we cover our eyes. THAT is cyberpunk."
— Bruce Sterling
"The inevitable collision of punk sensibility — the unrest, the rebellion — with desk-top computers."
— Pat Cadigan
"Small minds play big time games, and everybody else pays."
"We've got the corporate control, news as entertainment, hacker revolutionaries, and class warfare of your typical cyberpunk future but somehow missed out on the android servants."
"The key pillars of the cyberpunk genre are advanced technology, dystopian society, and trenchcoats."
— Jane Douglas, Outside Xbox
A glaring neon glow illuminates this street
Breathe in these human vapors, sweat and heavy heat
High tech cathedrals rise and fall in great ravines
Colossal steeples to the gods in the machines
Broken body built anew
Spirit lingers, torn in two
Metal fingers grip my heart so cold
Fossil fuels to slavery, political duplicity
Every great commodity's been sold
Slave to the new black gold
There's a heartbeat under my skin
Search my electric soul
For the hidden man within...
Breathe in these human vapors, sweat and heavy heat
High tech cathedrals rise and fall in great ravines
Colossal steeples to the gods in the machines
Broken body built anew
Spirit lingers, torn in two
Metal fingers grip my heart so cold
Fossil fuels to slavery, political duplicity
Every great commodity's been sold
Slave to the new black gold
There's a heartbeat under my skin
Search my electric soul
For the hidden man within...
In the year 2091, pervasive advancements in technology and computerization haven't changed human nature. Playing with people's lives has never been more fun.
— Opening, RUINER
"Computers are running everything these days. Before long, human beings aren't even gonna have a say. So now I equip people with knowledge. The knowledge to make a computer do what you want, on your terms."
—Ghast, EXAPUNKS
We're the light in your screens, we're the lead in your veins
Then you wake from your dreams so we can sell them again
In the light, we distract with the shiny and new
So you’re blind to the fact that the product is you
So let your brain dance and replay the dream
But don't drown in the data stream
'Cause we see where you are and we see where you go
'Cause we know what you own and we own what you know
Then you wake from your dreams so we can sell them again
In the light, we distract with the shiny and new
So you’re blind to the fact that the product is you
So let your brain dance and replay the dream
But don't drown in the data stream
'Cause we see where you are and we see where you go
'Cause we know what you own and we own what you know
