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by bcp2384 2558 days ago
When people say Cyberpunk w.r.t crypto, do they actually mean Cypherpunk? Or can someone explain what the difference is?
5 comments
arkades 2558 days ago
In this case, I think the concern goes:

FB exerts increasing control over, and insight into, financial transactions. Alongside excessive insight into most other aspects of personal lives. The result becomes the sort of MegaCorp that cyberpunk novels are built off of. Except, you know... I don't think William Gibson ever expected the future megacorp to have sprung up from an undergrad pivoting his Hot or Not rip-off.

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mxuribe 2558 days ago
...Or, maybe William Gibson DID, but he hasn't published the prequel novel yet!! ;-)
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_emacsomancer_ 2558 days ago
Not in this case, no. Cyberpunk literature themes generally involve massive economic discrepancies and mega-corporations functioning as governments.

See, for instance, the fiction of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_gibson

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cyberpunk 2558 days ago
One is a very attractive bearded software developer, the other is something to do with crypto?

Unless they’re referring to the dystopian feel of this whole thing, which is more likely.

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bananocurrency 2558 days ago
no that doesn't sound quite right.
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hanslet 2558 days ago
Crypto in this case does mean cryptographic currency, and it is indeed part of an Cypherpunks wet dream, which is a movement since the 80s to 90s[0][1], and Bitcoin was largely enabled by people of this movement[2][3]. They basically strive to build society with cryptographic methods.

Cyberpunk on the other hand is just a science-fiction genre, which mostly play in futuristic orwellian dystopias and people like to draw comparisons to them.

[0] https://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/crypto-anarchy.html [1] https://www.chaum.com/ecash/ [2] http://www.weidai.com/bmoney.txt [3] http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2005/12/bit-gold.html

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ambicapter 2558 days ago
Cyberpunk doesn't necessarily have to do with crypto, it can just be internet and VR and being a rebel while being jacked in to your nine-CRT set up in your neon-lit basement techno club.

Cypherpunk refers to the same basement techno club but the freedom and rebellion comes from the privacy and inviolable secrets enabled by cryptography.

edit: Better comment below me, cyberpunk is very much set in economic dystopias, and the rebels are tech hackers.

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