Technoshock

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Technoshock

I'm starting to see Cyberpunk stuff everywhere again. Just like when I was young. This time, though, it's not only in my head. Ironically.

So, Technoshock. That feeling CP2020 people get when their sense of place in their environment becomes so loose, unpredictable and unreliable, they begin to slide into a psychotic reaction. It can be a long-term disorder or a very short-term, violent psychotic reaction.

Not everyone who suffers from technoshock is a cyberpyscho. Not at all. That is the most dramatic negative response, but there are many other sufferers with a variety of issues. You could argue the entire cyberpunk population suffers from it to one degree or another and this mad desire to artificially enhance themselves, to better themselves, is a defensive reaction of society. Or a symptom of it's illness. The Braindance you see in 2077 could be another.

Technoshock begins with small things, though, and is really the cumulative process of technology and culture changing at a rate the individual cannot cope with. Of course, it usually affects adults, as children are more pliable. But even children can be affected. It starts in small places, changing small things that we've taken for granted for centuries. A creeping sense of dislocation and invasion.


Here is one amusing example of how Technoshock might start.



Our world has changed and is changing, in sneaky, creepy and subtly distorting ways, at a rate never before seen.

It's very important, in Cyberpunk 2020, this idea of technology overwhelming culture. It's a big part of the cyberpunk ethos that "more tech does not make life better". Making it a pervasive but not overwhelming influence on the gameworld of 77 is going to be a challenge. If possible, it would be nice to inflict a limited version of the feeling on the player. Ideas?
 
Ever see Minority Report? Those retina-scanning advertising screens that know who you are and recommend things for you to buy based on personal information data-mined from the seemingly insignificant transactions of day-to-day living? That's something I think fits the theme perfectly. Imagine walking into a gun shop in-game only for some hologram to address you by name, ask you how that new Militech Avenger is working out for you, and suggesting you buy some hollowpoint ammunition for home defense. It's enough to make anyone paranoid, especially if the ad in question happens to be for a corporation that you may have recently taken some kind of hostile action against, and you just know the corps have ways of identifying people who break into their high-security facilities. Better hope you remembered to wear your scan-blocker shades on that last run, Choombah...
 
So it's safe to say i'm already suffering technoshock then lol. I always split my wig when people pull out their phones where a group of us goes out to dinner or some social event where it's supposed to be about personal interaction. The hell are they doing on their phones looking up facebook e-mails or scouring google or youtube for something i absolutely must see. The best snap i had recently was when my friend told me to check facebook for the details... i went 'politely' mental "dude... i'm right freaking here asking you in person just frikkin tell me." He said all the info is on facebook, i said that it's also in his head since he is the one organising the damn event.

but i digress

In response to Ghost Machine - dude we already have that jsut minus the retna scan. Social media sights are always pushing advertising based on my 'profile' oh it noticed i'm single - lets bombard the hopless looser with 50 million dating adds. How about google pushing vids in youtube that you might like or are sponsored based on a similarity to what you are watching. It's alsmot not noticable, but we are already totally there.

On the one hand it scares me how much information they know about me despite putting up all the restrictions and hiding as much information as possible, I almost think that they say, other users will not be able to see it okay but we will and we will also use it. I'm not really cool with that but i also see the benifit in social media and connectivity.

Sard's comic probably shows that i'm truelly skitz as well because i love the idea of the first pannel, physically unobtrusive vis augment = cool, but pannel 2 which is more accurate as to what its' actually doing, that just totally grinds my gears, I guess that probably just makes me a hypocrite lol.
 
I think that contrast is at the heart of technoshock and what becomes, in CP2020, the Luddite movement, Cipher. On the one hand, being human, you see a new tool and are impressed by it as your brain does it's thing and assimilates, creates and adapts around the new tech.

On the other hand, that same brain struggles to incorporate these new value-sets in an already full container, where new ideas often have to push aside old ones and social prejudices, like invasion of privacy, are violated.
 
It is definitely something that i and i assume alot of people will struggle with. I hope that i can accommodate the things i dream of without too much of an issue. We will see as the years roll on and technology becomes more and more intrusive.
 
I guess I should've specified that those ads in Minority Report talk to people. That's the key difference, at least as I see it. It's one thing to see some FB ad and assume someone's been spying on your interests through the net, it's quite another thing to have some hologram start talking to you like it's an actual person.

While I'm on the subject, here's a related idea: what about an ad screen with a built-in camera that edits your face into whatever ad it displays? I don't know about anyone else, but seeing my own face Photoshopped into some ad for cologne or sportswear. The idea of walking through the mallplex seeing myself everywhere I look, staring back at me, framed by brand names and logos...actually, I think I had a dream like that once. Still creeps me out, thinking about it.
 
Yeah, that sort of stuff is nasty-creepy. Anything personal to you, in what is an unasked-for intrusion, makes it doubly unpleasant. Facial triggers add an element of the uncanny.

You start to wonder how much of you is you and how much is what they made of you.
 
If i were to see myself superimposed all over advertizing cam-pains... i have to say, i think i'm vain enough to think fuck i look good with that i'll go check it out for myself. I'm sure i would be freaked out by alot of it but i jus tknow that there will be something there that will make me want to check it out for myself to see if it really did do what the add was promising.

It is extreemly creepy... but i have to say it sounds extremely effective at the same time.
 
If i were to see myself superimposed all over advertizing cam-pains... i have to say, i think i'm vain enough to think fuck i look good with that i'll go check it out for myself. I'm sure i would be freaked out by alot of it but i jus tknow that there will be something there that will make me want to check it out for myself to see if it really did do what the add was promising.

It is extreemly creepy... but i have to say it sounds extremely effective at the same time.

Hells yeah! I want me a pair of LightSpeed TM briefs
 
I suppose everyone with an obvious cyberlimb or cyberoptics, cyberaudio or even "prescription" glasses would suffer some kind of discrimination even in a future where cyber is common, and even in corporate pro-cyber environments. Wouldn't people be paranoid not only about what you can do with that cyberarm of yours (I know, I know, no superpowers... but I bet you can squeeze hands when handshaking like no natural ever could) but about what you might be hiding there, maybe a cyberarm (how good are scanners?). Aren't there rules for people spotting your cybernetics? What if they became more cautious around you if you had an arm that could have a buzzsaw installed?
How freely can people talk, act or show in front of someone that needn't bring a modular camera or mic into a room?

Oh, by the way, the Minority Report ads already received an homage in Mass Effect 2:
 
Ever see Minority Report? Those retina-scanning advertising screens that know who you are and recommend things for you to buy based on personal information data-mined from the seemingly insignificant transactions of day-to-day living? That's something I think fits the theme perfectly. Imagine walking into a gun shop in-game only for some hologram to address you by name, ask you how that new Militech Avenger is working out for you, and suggesting you buy some hollowpoint ammunition for home defense. It's enough to make anyone paranoid, especially if the ad in question happens to be for a corporation that you may have recently taken some kind of hostile action against, and you just know the corps have ways of identifying people who break into their high-security facilities. Better hope you remembered to wear your scan-blocker shades on that last run, Choombah...

I'd love to see something like this. If the devs were insidious enough they could actually require the player to invest in some type of ad blocking software to minimize the bombardment.
 
Discrimination is there... although its also there every bit as much in reverse, where if you DON'T have cyber not only are you considered unhip and dull, but you won't be eligible for certain jobs as cyber is required.

And the number one reason people take corporate gigs is so they can get the medical insurance, which will cover cybernetic replacement if something goes wrong... 90% of full conversions are the result of workplace accidents... which usually only pay for the most basic, cheapest body... same with other cyber. Hell, break you arm, the company will pay for you to get it replaced with cyberarm, because it gets you back to work faster, and they don't have to pay for workmans comp as you recuperate, pay to have you replaced in interim while they hold your job for you, and to get the kick backs from the cyber corps.... It also indebts you to the company, as you now have to work longer to make the co-pay,e specially if you get an advanced model or upgrade it (they don't tell you that you have to pay for it up front), because no one wants that POS skeletal cyberarm that can;t get wet without shorting out and looks worse than if you had a hook there instead.... standard boiler plate contract.
 
Our world has changed and is changing, in sneaky, creepy and subtly distorting ways, at a rate never before seen.

It's very important, in Cyberpunk 2020, this idea of technology overwhelming culture. It's a big part of the cyberpunk ethos that "more tech does not make life better". Making it a pervasive but not overwhelming influence on the gameworld of 77 is going to be a challenge. If possible, it would be nice to inflict a limited version of the feeling on the player. Ideas?

totally right. everything goes so fast, but people wont learn that better technology means not better life,,,,
 
actually i was sitting around teh house with a bunch of 19yo's who were progressivly getting drunk but thats really beside the point, i was listening to their conversations and i was like whoooaw you guys need to step outside for a while and try some face to face intereaction.

Their conversation consisted intierly of what everyone was doing on facebook, not as you may think what they were doign in life... no no this was all totally face book this face book that like, dislike, unlike. the phrase "it's a thing" was also very popular lol. Ahhh but see then teh topic changed from facebook to twitter.. then to instagram and other social media site i dont' have a clue about.

it was pretty amazing, i finished my tea and left them to it - perhaps i'm jsut jealous about how 'in' technology they are... but also annoyed that they havn't got the fuzziest clue about how it works, i mean they couldnt' solve a software issue to save their lives, and forget about actually coding a skript and making software do whatever you need. They were total users lol. Nothing wrong with that, but for being more thechnologically capable i found i was a little out of touch with it's advancement.

and i'm only 2 frikkin 6 o_O
 
it was pretty amazing, i finished my tea and left them to it - perhaps i'm jsut jealous about how 'in' technology they are... but also annoyed that they havn't got the fuzziest clue about how it works, i mean they couldnt' solve a software issue to save their lives, and forget about actually coding a skript and making software do whatever you need. They were total users lol. Nothing wrong with that, but for being more thechnologically capable i found i was a little out of touch with it's advancement.

and i'm only 2 frikkin 6 o_O

Get used to it bud. The technological singularity is approaching faster and faster. The time of inattention to these new applications that it takes to make you a "techno peasant" is becoming shorter and shorter. But fear not, the ability to actually manipulate and create the underlying technology stays relevant for a longer duration than being current with the latest applications of said tech.

Just think of all the fun you will get to have when you can scream at those 19 year olds to "Get the fuck off of my lawn!" you know clean your on the front porch at them and other crotchety shit like that. It makes getting old bearable.
 
Get used to it bud. The technological singularity is approaching faster and faster. The time of inattention to these new applications that it takes to make you a "techno peasant" is becoming shorter and shorter. But fear not, the ability to actually manipulate and create the underlying technology stays relevant for a longer duration than being current with the latest applications of said tech.

Just think of all the fun you will get to have when you can scream at those 19 year olds to "Get the fuck off of my lawn!" you know clean your on the front porch at them and other crotchety shit like that. It makes getting old bearable.

lol yeah true, there are perks to being older and people will dismiss you more easily. I always felt technology was a full package, know how to use it and know how to operate it technically. If i'm going to use apps i want to know how they work, if i'm going to use a computer i want to know that i can fix it's hardware as well as it's software to me that is 'in' technology but these days it's a world full of half wit users... and there overtaking me lmao. At elast i have a face book with a few people on it and i use it on occasion, it just doesn't govern my social life.

You can bet your bottom dollar tho when new hardware comes out i'll be there checking it out and getting used to it, next gen electronics here i come... just a little slower on the app side.

Why i remember in my youth lo those many years ago when apps were called application but that wasn't cool and i think tron got people into the habbit of callign them programs, which was much cooler and accepted after a while people would mix it up saying software for a bit then apple came along back from the dead god only knows how and people are like ooo app yeah it's all app this app that... i wonder if they even know the original meaning?

I want people to start usign phrases like ice and dixi flatline lol - i am so onboard with that, i'll skip the app phase, straight to the breakers and subroutines for me.
 
Bah! I remember in my youth when there was no Interwebs, people knew the difference between your, you're and yore, shit ur was a null set, AND lets not forget, people also capitalized 'i' when speaking in the first person singular.

Get off my lawn Neural Cipher!
 
The world get's progressively dumber as people's standards fall to the wayside for the fast fix of convenience.
 
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