As a fan of the genre and aesthetic, it's very understandable why the cyberpunk concept has been elevated to such high cultural prominence. Indeed, many hallmarks of it are already present in our society. A snowballing technological singularity bringing about new and fascinating innovations while all the same advancing tyranny and exacerbating societal woes; one could argue that cyberpunk presents an analog alternative to our digital reality, awash in hazy magenta fuzz and nostalgic whimsy. In other words, it could be that we are quite literally embracing a mirror of our own reality, seen literally through rose coloured glasses.
Despite all of its flashy imagery and nostalgic connotations, the cyberpunk universe is a dystopian one. The people who originally wrote the concept were portraying a reality that should be avoided rather than embraced. If you actually lived in that world, you would likely not feel as good as you do sipping your latte and consuming the fictional material corresponding to it. In fact, we're practically in it already. The differences between our modern era and the cyberpunk universe are superficial at best; we've just found a way to experience the entire cyberpunk world in the palm of our hands, right from the comfort of our homes.
Take for instance Ghost In The Shell, a noted cyberpunk classic, or the similar Netflix™ series Altered Carbon. You project your consciousness (ghost) into a new outward manifestation to your liking (shell). Quite like you do for the internet persona and avatar.
But does this add up to the classic definition for the genre, high tech and low life? Well, our modern internet certainly is high tech compared to when Cyberpunk was created, perhaps even higher tech considering that most things in cyberpunk fiction are wired, and this world is wireless. And low life? Well, one only look to the proliferation of new problems we face in the digital age to answer that question.
Not only are you in the cyberpunk world, but governments and other malign entities are hard at work to make sure you stay in it. One need only look at the year 2020 to see how apparent this fact is. But that's OK, because at least you can decorate it all in magenta and japanese texts as confidential data about who you are is sold off to China and other places, right? Cyberpunk is in a sense, a cope on our modern lifestyles. A cope that sells.
