The Cyberpunk of the 80's was a backlash in response to the utopia promised by science fiction writers in the 60's and 70's that readers grew up on and ultimately would become disillusioned by, as they saw their reality fail to meet the unattainable standards that had grown to be their expectation. Of course, in their frustration and desire to distance themselves rotating 180 degrees as they traveled in the complete opposite direction, they too would also fall into a similar trap of generalization and overly simplistic definitions. Because both utopia and dystopia are extremes that will never truly be able to describe reality as it is.
As we know today, technological growth especially in the last fifty years or so, has immensely benefited and impacted our world. Literacy, basic education, democracy, and vaccination rates have all steadily increased as child mortality, extreme poverty, and inequality correspondingly have decreased. Life on average has quite literally never been better than it is now. Yet at the same time, it's undeniable that a great deal of deeply rooted and structural issues exist today that technology in and of itself has not been able to solve. Yes, the world is getting better, but humanity still faces an innumerable number of existential challenges that we likely will continue to face in part for, well frankly, probably as long as humanity continues to exist.
Post-Cyberpunk, or Solarpunk, is an acknowledgement of this, accepting that our reality is one defined by nuance and complexity, showcasing a significant literary maturation, and in my eyes, a reflection of a corresponding development and growth in society that has been undertaken in parallel as well. Because, as I believe my generation has come to see, both hope and despair can and often does exist in equal propriety.
Better be an optimist and wrong than a pessimist and be correct or something like that.
For me the interesting part is the unexpected. So if you model the perfect world, a "solar punk world" for all I care, I would expect to be one or two "buts" in there. Nuance has always been a requirement for good literature in my opinion. The reverse is true for cyber punk. I don't know of a single example that just describes the worst dystopia immaginable. There is always the counter balance with something that warrants optimism.
So I would argue it to be the same genre group to be honest.
Still, from the description of solar punk or "post-cyberpunk" sounds just like a template for many horror novells that happen to play in the future.
As we know today, technological growth especially in the last fifty years or so, has immensely benefited and impacted our world. Literacy, basic education, democracy, and vaccination rates have all steadily increased as child mortality, extreme poverty, and inequality correspondingly have decreased. Life on average has quite literally never been better than it is now. Yet at the same time, it's undeniable that a great deal of deeply rooted and structural issues exist today that technology in and of itself has not been able to solve. Yes, the world is getting better, but humanity still faces an innumerable number of existential challenges that we likely will continue to face in part for, well frankly, probably as long as humanity continues to exist.
Post-Cyberpunk, or Solarpunk, is an acknowledgement of this, accepting that our reality is one defined by nuance and complexity, showcasing a significant literary maturation, and in my eyes, a reflection of a corresponding development and growth in society that has been undertaken in parallel as well. Because, as I believe my generation has come to see, both hope and despair can and often does exist in equal propriety.