History of the Future

1
History of the Future

• 11 Cyberpunk and the 1980s

2
This Session

• Overview of 1980s
• Focus on elements found in Gibson Card
• New trends in the future
• Framing of Cyberpunk movement
• Including earlier depictions of computer
• Real-world developments in technology

3
The 1980s

• Global Politics dominated by Cold War
• Early 80s intensification
• Late 80s collapse of USSR
• Domestic politics shift
• Conservative revival gains pace
• Growing social inequality (yuppies)
• Brashness materialism in pop culture
• Strong reaction in alternative media
• Lots of new consumer technology

4
The Reagan Years

• Morning in America
• Feel-good appeal
• Budget shifts
• Social programs cut
• Military programs grow high-tech buildup
• Large tax cut (supply-side economics)
• Recession follows
• Rustbelt industries crumble
• Cold War revives
• Promise to defeat Evil Empire

5
Strategic Defense Initiative

• Pitched to Reagan as magic shield
• Did he believe? We may never know.
• Science fiction authors help to promote
• Ben Bova (editor of Omni)
• Jerry Pournell (author, computer columnist)
• also Edward Teller (hydrogen bomb physicist)
• Massive plans
• Lasers, killer satellites
• Massive software, network challenges
• Few independent scientists support
• America spends many billions
• Soviets start to get worried

6
Nuclear War Re-emerges

• Arms-race intensifies
• Nuclear Cruise Missiles based in Europe
• Trident submarines
• Missiles more accurate, more warheads
• Anti-nuclear movement grows
• Large demonstrations common
• Theme common in popular culture
• Missile Command video game
• Wargames film (1983)

7
Rightwing SF

• Enjoys something of a revival
• General mood, Star Wars movie may help
• Many stories of survivalist or libertarian bent
• Fervently pro-technology, pro-space travel,
  anti-government
• Generally militarist
• Specialized sub-genre
• Baen Books publisher
• Writers Jerry Pournelle, David Drake, etc.

8
Rise of Japan

• Will computers follow TVs?
• 5th Generation Project
• breakthroughs in artificial intelligence sought
• Advances feared in software, processors
• Japanese pursue software factory approach
• They have all the coolest electronics
• Japanese pop culture becomes dweeb-cool
• Very futuristic comics, videos
• Cartoonish fashion, clothes

9
Japan The Pop Group
Synth-pop, Asian-influenced futurism meets Tokyo
chic
10
Shifts in Pop Culture

• Music and fashion subcultures fragment
• Punks
• Post-Punk (including New Romantics)
• Many others -- Heavy Metal, Rap, Techno
• New entertainment forms
• MTV arrives in early-80s
• Atari and home videogames in late-70s
• Escapism is common thread

A Haircut Band
11
The Future Changes Slowly

• Many suspicious of Glasnost, is it just PR?
• Genuine progress in arms control late 80s
• Cruise missiles eliminated
• Treaties to reduce warhead levels
• Nobody predicts sudden collapse of Soviet union
• CIA or science fiction writers
• 1980s future suddenly looks very dated

12
New Trends in the Future

• Virtual Reality (new term circa 1982)
• Immersion in simulated world
• Key theme of cyberpunk fiction
• Idea spreads rapidly into mainstream culture
• Genetic Engineering
• Recombinant DNA is new technology
• Though cloning often appeared in 70s
• Nanotechnology
• Creation of machines at molecular level
• Creeps as theme at end of 80s

13
Cyberpunk The Idea

• Term coined in by Bruce Bethke
• punk part reflects streetwise attitude
• Tone tends to be dark, cynical
• Virtual Reality as central idea
• Other themes
• Alteration of human bodies, genes
• Popular culture, media power
• Critical of corporate power
• Often romantic, rebellious

14
Cyberpunk The Movement

• First self-conscious movement since New Wave
• Neuromancer (1984) is defining statement
• Gibson Bruce Sterling are key proponents
• Push to shake-up science fiction
• Sterling publishes Cheap Truth magazine
• Fame soon spreads beyond genre
• Largely faded as movement by late-80s
• Influence remains strong on later work
• Neal Stephensons Snowcrash (1994) is popular

15
Computers in SF

• Common by mid-1950s
• Futuristic technology lags history
• Big, expensive, central computers
• Used mostly for mathematics
• Nobody much predicts
• Personal computer
• Microchips, miniaturization
• Interactive graphics
• Main extrapolation is artificial intelligence
• Often arrives spontaneously

16
Cybernetics

• Coined by Norbert Weiner, 1947
• Popular 1948 book, Cybernetics
• From Greek steersman
• Idea tied to automation
• Generalization of feedback, as control principle
• Animals, machines both seek goals
• Idea gets tied to Artificial Intelligence
• Also cyber is popular prefix

17
Networking Real Life

• First networks military
• SAGE air-defense system in mid-1950s
• Networking research funded in 1960s
• ARPANet built for computer science researchers
• Ties together existing computers
• Computer Utility idea popular in late-60s
• Pipe computer power into homes, offices
• Thousands of terminals on one big computer
• Never really pans out

18
Networking, Reality II

• Idea of terminal (rather than personal computer)
  lasts into early 1980s
• Academic attention given to computer
  conferencing from late 70s
• Commercial videotext networks of mid-80s
• News, reference material, home shopping and
  banking
• Limited, controlled by big corporations
• All fail in US slow, expensive, not useful

19
Networking Fiction

• Little realistic treatment pre-1980
• Much more focus on AI than networks
• John Brunner, Shockwave Rider, 1975 invents idea
  of computer worm
• Vernor Vinge, True Names (1981)
• Hackers adventures in virtual environment
• Comic-book story anti-government ideas
• Influential on libertarian new activists of 90s

20
The Information Society

• 1960s idea of Knowledge Worker popular in
  1960s
• Increasing importance of science, technology,
  education
• 1970s post-industrial society
• Popular phrase
• Associated with micro revolution, new faith in
  automation (idea from 50s resurfaces)
• 1980 Toffler publishes Third Wave
• Utopian, libertarian, decentralized future
• Very influential

21
The Micro Revolution

• Integrated Circuit (silicon chip) technology
• Used from mid-1960s for computers
• Initially just a few components on chip
• Rapid Progress
• Densities grow, Moores law coined
• RAM chips from 1970

22
The Microprocessor

• Intel 4004 is first one
• Intel introduces 8080 microprocessor in 1972
• Simple but usable computer on a chip
• Forms heart of inexpensive electronic devices
• MIPS offers Altair computer as kit in 1975
• Useless but expandable
• Personal computing takes off among electronics
  hobbyists

23
Home Computers

• Apple II, 1977
• First mass produced micro
• Purchased for home, school, office
• Cheaper home machines follow
• VIC 20, Atari 800, Commodore Amiga, etc.

24
Actual Use Unclear

• Computer literacy is main selling point
• Designed to be programmed
• BASIC built in
• Talk of home productivity applications
• Balance checkbook
• Organize recipes
• Videogames become main use!
• Many converted from arcade

25
Hackers

• Term originally has positive association
• geeky pranksters at MIT
• By mid-1980s means electronic vandals
• Sometimes credited with superhuman powers
• Media fascination continues into 1990s
• Problem for science fiction
• Actual hacking very boring