Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life". The name is a blend of cybernetics and punk. It features advanced science, such as information technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order. Cyberpunk works are well situated within postmodern literature.
Cyberpunk plots often center on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and mega-corporations, and tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels. The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to be marked by extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its creators ("the street finds its own uses for things"). Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction.
