metapunk

Metapunk:

1) noun; a subgenre of speculative fiction that appropriates the counter-cultural imperative of cyberpunk and blends it with a questing, mystical edge. Where cyberpunk asks: “what does it mean to live amidst constant cultural and technological change?”; metapunk asks: “what is reality at all, if culture and technology are fluid abstractions?”

2) noun; a person driven by a deep need to hack the core mythologies that drive his or her social reality. Someone who needs to inspire others to dream.

The Original Pitch:

Originally, metapunk was supposed to be a sort of e-zine; here’s the (somewhat pretentious) introduction:

Welcome to (r)evolution, the online magazine of metapunk fiction and philosophy.

Metapunk = A post-cyberpunk genre where themes of corporate power, urban sprawl, and social decay are transcended through spiritual exploration and ecological wisdom.  An optimistic counterpoint to classic cyberpunk.

As “punk about punk,” metapunk is counter-culture reaching critical mass, to embrace a life of constant revision through creative, distributed problem solving.  Revolution gives way to evolution. “The system” is no longer a cruel machine to be sabotaged, but a huge, ailing organism to be co-opted and transformed into something more healthy and free—the hacker ethic as memetic antivirus.

Metapunk is also “meta-” (metta?) in the sense of metaphysics: questioning reality itself, meeting uncertainty with wonder instead of fear to embrace limitless possibility.  The nihilistic delusions of blind faith and blind rationalism are overcome, giving way to intelligent faith and open-hearted rationality—the roots of wisdom, serenity, compassion, and real liberation.

As an emerging genre, metapunk incorporates many of the technological notions of transhumanist thinking, but differs from it by remaining skeptical and cautious.  It does not deny science, but rather argues that science alone is not enough to solve ancient human problems.

Development:

The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries will be remembered as a time when the struggle polarized—when the ancient culture war came down to two basic ways of life: one predicated on control, competition, and fear; the other on freedom, cooperation, and wonder.

The first path is an eerily feudal future—a corporate, consumerist police state constantly at war with itself; the worst nightmares of cyberpunk realized.  The second path leads us somewhere new—a world of environmental and spiritual renewal, liberation and mutual prosperity not bound by the hegemonic forces of state, church, and market.

It’s the blue pill: the devil you know—or the red pill: a life uncertain but open, free of the rusted legal-economic machine that shackles you, if only you’re willing to free your mind.

It’s the classic spiritual battle for the fate of humanity common to all literature and mythology: wisdom and compassion trying to overcome ideology, greed, and paranoia.

Metapunk is only the latest iteration/incarnation of this struggle—a call for humanity to overcome its angst-ridden adolescence and grow up into a healthy, responsible adult species.

Metapunk themes:

Negative (departure) themes:

• Nihilism—negative views of history, society, human nature, the future; lack of faith in life

• Domination—by mega-corporations or totalitarian governments, justified by nihilism…

• Economics—monetary measures of social success, justified by nihilism

• Competition & conflict—the supposed inevitability thereof, justified by nihilism

• False reality—escapist consumerism, cult of image, entertainment; retreat from nihilism

• Ideological fanaticism—secular and religious extremism; defense against nihilism

• Terrorism, Conspiracy theory and paranoia, shifts in paradigms of warfare

• Environmental crisis

• “edge”—fashion meets technology; the all-important X-factor of the cyberpunk

Positive (arrival) themes:

• Spiritual transformation or transcendence / overcoming nihilism

• Confrontations with wider reality

• Ecology, environmentalism

• Sustainable economics (creative cooperation leading to better resource management)

• Cooperation, heterarchy, distributed problem solving

• Dreams & virtual reality

• Artificial life and intelligence

• Self-directed evolution / modification

• Singularity—an era of historical / social / technological change of unpredictable consequence.

• Faith—hopeful uncertainty; comfort with the unknown

A small list of film & fiction:

• The Matrix (Film: Andy and Larry Wachowski, 1999)

• Ghost in the Shell (various manga, anime, and animated feature films)

• Solaris (Novel: Stanislaw Lem, 1961; film: 1972, 2002;)

• The Lathe of Heaven (Novel: Ursula K. Leguin, 1971; film: 1980, 2002)

• Kung Fu Hustle (Film: Stephen Chow, 2004)

• Fight Club (Novel: Chuck Palahniuk, 1996; film: 1999)

• Baraka (Film: Ron Fricke, 1992)

• Possible Worlds (Film: Robert LePage, 2000)

• Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998 film)

• Abre los ojos (“Open Your Eyes”, 1997 film by Alejandro Amenabar; remade by Cameron Crowe in 2001 as Vanilla Sky)

• The Truman Show (Peter Weir, 1998 Film)

• Lord of Light (Novel: Roger Zelazny, 1967).

• Waking Life (Film: Richard Linklater, 2001)

• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Hironobu Sakaguchi, 2001 Film)

• Yellow Submarine (The Beatles, 1968)

• Battlestar Galactica (TV series, 2004-2009)

Typical metapunk characters:

• Hackers, gamer geeks, science nerds, and transhumanists

• Artists, idealists, & activists

• Street shamans & blue-jean Buddhas

• Ecovillagers, environmentalists, and techno-tribalists

• Anyone who knows the system isn’t working, but remains optimistic about the potential for change…

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Andre Canivet is a fictional character created by Grant Allen in 1890 to symbolize the tragedy of the commons in the French countryside. Now free of his papery bonds, driven mad by the onslaught of time, he waits on the edge of the world for the sun to rise, writing rants and role playing games to while away the night. You can read more of his angst-fuelled ramblings at www.metapunk.org.