Articles & Essays

Years ago, in a World Bank publication on global poverty, Charles Tilly called sociological control which effectively keeps the masses stuck in the poverty cycle “The Politics of Exclusion” . . .

If within a grain of sand lies the gate of the universe, then Jorge Luis Borges’ The Garden of Forking Paths emerges from the center of that grain as a twirling pinwheel. 

If you’ve ever wondered about cyberpunk travel destinations, then you’ve gotta take the cyberdelic pilgrimage to Akihabara (Akiba for short). The cross section of Tokyo is just like walking through Night City from Cyberpunk 2077 but without all the violence, mech enhancements and futuristic fascism. 

It is a fundamental premise that, even in the grittiest of cyberpunk futures, there’s always a way of keeping poor people alive and docile. Preventing starvation effectively wards off riots, bloodshed and people shouting ‘Eat the Rich’ as more than just a tongue-in-cheek, anarchist catchphrase. Flavored protein paste is the answer.

It’s no secret that huge chasms in equity exist at all levels of society, especially in the USA. If scientific research and academic theory is the way forward in all areas of progress, then what do these disparities tell us?

Reddit is the dark cyberpunk future of social media. No corner of Reddit is more cyberpunky than the r/cyberpunk subreddit itself. Here are five threads that illustrate why.

I started this article with an open mind about Gab.com. I didn’t set out to find the worst of humanity, It was just… unavoidable. I had never directly experienced the people of Gab and knew nothing about the Dissenter browser beyond it being a really cool idea. I really really wanted to be able to say something positive about either. That’s impossible.  There really are no redeeming features.

We live in the age of information. Whether this is so because it is the most advanced material at our command, as in the naming rights to the Iron Age, or whether this is our primary scientific area of pursuit and exploration, as in the Space Age or Atomic Age, information is the currency. The very least reason is that information is everywhere, and there is always more information ready to invade our space. So how do we get the attention of the brooding masses to arouse them in pursuit of a worthy cause?

I took Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering offered by DelftX, and Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python from MITx. But I’m never going to build an aeroplane, and it’s very unlikely that the people auditing the online engineering courses will build a bridge. At least I really hope not.

Released in 1992, Sneakers flew (and continues to fly) under the radar cyberpunk fans. Cyberpunk 2020, the popular tabletop roleplaying game was published just one year prior to the movie’s release. Snow Crash, often regarded by fans as the point in which cyberpunk literature officially “died”, dropped the very same year as Sneakers.