The Difference between Technopunk and Sci-Fi

I have absolutely no idea, but I am looking forward to the explanations.

Hmm I searched technopunk and could only come up with the music genre. Didn't see much in the way of books. Cyberpunk, I've heard of--I think that's when you've got a really technologically advanced society that's falling apart somehow (so, potentially a dystopia too), and protagonists that are at the bottom of the social structure. Eoin Colfer's The Supernaturalists comes to mind for me. And maybe The Running Man? Wikipedia also cites The Matrix. So it's not different from sci-fi, it's just a specific subgenre of it.

Then again, maybe you had something entirely different in mind.

I agree with ceenindee. I haven't seen this as a genre, but if it were a genre like what you describe, it's a subgenre of scifi.

bongalak said:

Yea Cyberpunk was what I meant, not Technopunk.. not even sure where I got that from. My mistake

So going by the "high-tech, low-life" definition, would the Deus Ex series be considered cyberpunk?

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Deus Ex is like the epitome of Cyberpunk. Few things can come closer to cyberpunk than it. So yeah, it's cyberpunk.

Great, more silly -punk subgenres. Sometimes I fear for the future of science fiction.

I suspect that its future is just fine. The -punk genres are really more of a marketing tool, just like all the 'werewolf-and-vampire-urban-fantasy' tropes. A way to refine sub-genre and attract more niche readers. In aggregate, I'd say sf&f as a whole can only benefit when its sub-genres expand.

What we should be doing, though, is enticing more of the sub-genre readers into trying something new to them, so they get a broader picture of what is possible in spec fiction.

I'd also add that cyberpunk (as a sci-fi sub-genre) can often be identified not only by the dysto themes, but also a theme of blurring the line between man and machine - often featuring internet-fluent hackers, robots, cyborgs, etc who are more at home with technology than people.

It's usually the focus on vigilante/misfit heroes/antiheroes and how they combat a nihilistic sci-fi society.

froley said:

Great, more silly -punk subgenres. Sometimes I fear for the future of science fiction.

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Cyberpunk is probably around 30 years old, if not older.

froley said:

Great, more silly -punk subgenres. Sometimes I fear for the future of science fiction.

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No, no. This is not "more silly -punk genres". This is "the original punk genre." XD

Yeah, I'm hoping all this -punk stuff is in the past. I shall endeaver this November to write the first post-punk SF novel.

My comment wasn't in reference to cyberpunk, with which I've learned to peacefully but grudgingly coexist. Filigree, I hope you're right.

benbradley said:

Yeah, I'm hoping all this -punk stuff is in the past. I shall endeaver this November to write the first post-punk SF novel.

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Pony Express?

benbradley said:

Yeah, I'm hoping all this -punk stuff is in the past. I shall endeaver this November to write the first post-punk SF novel.

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Well, Neal Stepenson has been successfully publishing post-cyberpunk for quite a while now, sorry.

So have several other authors.

But of course my meaning isn't of a story based in a "post-punk era" but of a NEW story in which no "-punk" era has ever happened, getting back to Real True SF. <ducking >

I'm sorry kids are playing on your lawn >.>

bongalak said:

How does technopunk differ from sci-fi?

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Cyberpunk is a subgenre of sci-fi with most of the following characteristic themes:

A dystopian setting;

Cynical, "outsider" characters;

An emphasis on the man/machine interface and on cyberspace;

And a society in which governments no longer have a "monopoly of legitimate violence": The boundaries between government and corporations is fluid. Large corporations can behave as governments, with their own legitimate armies, and governments can contract out their justice systems, infrastructure and even sovereignty.

Other markers include an interest in Eastern cultures and martial arts; repurposing of old technology; and a celebration of the hacker aesthetic.

The seminal cyberpunk work is William Gibson's Neuromancer.

Xelebes said:

Pony Express?

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Cyberponies!

Robotic horses with real leather tack and harnesses because there isn't any room for living, breathing animals anymore now that the Earth is overpopulated! Feed them with a credit card to rent more time for them to deliver your packages!

"Sorry old hoss, you been the best of my herd for nigh on a dozen solar cycles but it's time for you to be gettin' on to that big roundup in the sky."

"NeeiiggghhhhEND OF LINE"