As you all know, Wednesday, December 6 will be a long day for me due to the 2nd Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium. In case my voice or my energy (or both) are done before our class begins, let’s flip our class and present the lecture beforehand (embedded below). Perhaps appropriately, I let my computer read it to you. Check Google, the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, and the Encyclopedia of SF for spellings and details that you might miss. During class, we can discuss the reading, watch “Kill Switch,” and hand out the take-home final exam. After class, remember to write your final 250-word summary on William Gibson and cyberpunk.
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In class on December 6th, Professor Ellis had us watch an episode of the X-Files called “Kill Switch”, and we spoke of Cyberpunk and William Gibson.
William Ford Gibson was born in 1948 and is an American-Canadian science fiction writer and known bringing “cyberpunk” to the forefront as apart of science fiction. Gibson wrote 11 novels, that include Neuromancer, Count Zero, All Tomorrow’s Parties, Zero History and so on. Cyberpunk was rooted in the “New Wave” of science fiction, but it was Gibson that brought Cyberpunk into the mainstream audience in the 1980’s. Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction mostly featuring a futuristic setting that focuses on an oppressive society dominated by computer technology. Such examples include, Blade Runner, Robocop, the Ghost in the Shell movie and anime and the Deus Ex video game series.
On December 6th, we watched a full episode of X-Files called “Kill Switch” from Season five. After a man manages to hack into some sort of system at an all night diner in DC, a anonymous caller sends several drug dealers with grudges to the diner. As the hacker is about to do something with a CD, two people with guns enter and a massive shootout erupts, killing Donald Gelman who was said to originally to have disappeared in 1979 after he helped to co-create the internet. The episode leads main characters Mulder and Scully to investigate a super-intelligent virus that has been let loose on the internet and created by Donald that has begun evolving on its own that has the ability to track and kill anyone, including a character the main characters run into, Esther Nairn.
Saif Ahmed
Prof. Ellis
ENG 2420
12/8/2017
In class we saw an episode of the EX Files kill switch and this is related to the era of Cyber Punk that we also talked about. The final Summary for the semester will finish off with an explanation of what was noticed during the lecture. Cyberpunk is an idea that incorporates Science Fiction and technology and making it advanced with artificial intelligence just like the EX files kill switch where the computer is trying to protect itself from human interference in what it was trying to do. So the Developer created code which is called the kill switch and the goal was to hack into the system to destroy it but he was killed in a heavy gunfight which he did not expect and this was setup by the computer to protect its self from the human interference. Mulder and Skully investigate this case only to end up almost dead due to the computers defense system but the software maintainer Esther sacrifices herself and destroys the computer. Next “Burning Chrome” by William Ford Gibson who was born 1948 and is still alive. He created the Burning Chrome which consists of many short stories within to reflect to his idead of the cyberspace. He loved the idea and he wanted to deliver interesting stories of stories with cyberspace. This is all part of the idea of Cyberpunk. The Episode Kill switch from EX Files and the series from Burning Chrome completed the Definition of Cyberpunk.
Rebecca Delgado
ENG2420
Professor Ellis
12/13/17
Cyberpunk was the theme for 12/16/27. Cyberpunk is an idea incorporating SF and technology though the use of artificial intelligence. Cyberpunk was coined by writer Bruce Bethke in 1980. The five characteristics of cyberpunk are:
1. Stories about near future
2. Interfaces body with a machine; cyborg
3. Networks global capital information, political grows stronger but interpersonal networkers the connections between the individual become weaker or more difficult to realize
4. We know characters by their names, what they do, what they buy, their performance of their identity, who they work with, networks.
5. Sensibilities including a challenging authority. Describes postmodern condition
William Gibson was born in 1948. He wrote “Burning Chrome” which came out in July 1982. “Burning Chrome” is about two freelance hackers, Automatic Jack and Bobby Quine, who steal money from criminal Chrome. They end up trying to woo a girl named Rikki who they both later fall in love with. As it turns out, Rikki was working with Chrome all along.
The X-Files is a SF show created by Chris Carter. In class we watched the episode “Kill Switch” which released in 1998. The episode was written by William Gibson and Tom Maddox, two writers known from their involvement in the cyberpunk movement. “Kill Switch” is about a computer software system (artificial intelligence) that has become self aware and will do anything for self preservation. Upon finding that the creator of the program has been killed Sully and Mulder search for people involved with it. Once the source of the artificial intelligence was found it attempted to kill Mulder and fails to do so which results in the software getting blown up before it gets any more out of hand.
Brianna Grant
Eng2420 E255 Science Fiction
Prof. Ellis
City Tech
9 December 2017
During lecture on December 6, 2017, Professor Ellis expounded on the topic of an episode of the X-Files called “Kill Switch.” He also elaborated on Cyberpunk and the essential contributions that it has made in the era of science fiction.
Cyberpunk is the kind of Science Fiction that imagines a near future with computer technology enhancement.
The 5 characteristics of Cyberpunk are:
1. Stories about near future
2. Interfaces body with a machine; cyborg
3. Networks global capital information, political grows stronger but interpersonal networkers the connections between the individual become weaker or more difficult to realize
4. We know characters by their names, what they do, what they buy, their performance of their identity, who they work with, networks.
5. Sensibilities including a challenging authority. Describes postmodern condition
In lecture we watched an episode of ‘Kill Switch” that aired on February 15,1998. The writers of “Kill Switch” were Omid Nooshin and Charlie Kindinger and was an episode that was aired on an phenomenon television show called ‘XFiles.’ ‘XFiles’ is one of the longest-running science fiction series in network TV history, FBI special agents investigate unexplained, mind-bending cases. Though the government is convinced that the outlandish reports are false, conspiracy theorist Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and realist Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), for most of the series, stop at nothing to prove that “the truth is out there.” Series creator Chris Carter also serves as executive producer of the thrilling pop-culture phenomenon. ‘XFiles first episode aired on September 10, 1993. Lastly, ‘Kill Switch’ is an example of a Cyberpunk because it dealt with technological advancements/ technological preservation.
Sharon Rios
This lecture’s video summarizes the five characteristics of Cyberpunk Science Fiction. I can relate to this style of science fiction because the stories reflect upon the emergence, dependence, and consequences of computer technology mixed with a punk subculture. The five characteristics are stories of the near future, interfacing a body with a machine, networking global capitalization of information, breaking through surfaces by characterizing people by their name, by what they buy, and what they do, etc. Lastly, cyberpunk includes sensibilities that involve a challenging authority and describes postmodern conditioning.
Much of cyberpunk is rooted in the New Wave science fiction movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Minnesota writer Bruce Bethke coined the term in 1980 for his short story “Cyberpunk,” which was published in the November 1983 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories. The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan and others. Released in 1984, William Gibson’s influential novel Neuromancer would help solidify cyberpunk as a genre, drawing influence from punk subculture and early hacker culture.
The cyber world is something that is strange and peculiar because the computers have their own language, known as codes. They obtain information and are able to live through the owner’s legacy with synchronized data. In class we watched an episode called “Kill Switch” from the American science fiction television series, The X-Files. This episode was originally aired in 1998, and explained how technology can be programmed to automatically exterminate anything or anyone who gets in the way of their programmed mission. At the end the computer had to be terminated, because its advanced intelligence was able to locate anyone’s pinpoint and instantly send a missile to end his or her existence. This episode successfully summarized the cyberpunk genre for me.
Jessica L. Roman
ENG 2420-E255
Cyberpunk and The X-Files
12/8/2017
Our last lecture was delivered as another flipped classroom however this time it was recited by a computer-generated voice. While it was more than appropriate given the topic of the class, it was a little hard to understand some portions as the natural pauses and inflection we use to convey the end or continuation of thoughts were not present. Cyberpunk can be referred to as both a sub-genre as well as a literary movement. Cyberpunk explores the near future where computer technology, technologies of bodily enhancement and networks of global capital opened up new possibilities but also created new challenges. Like all the Science Fiction we have read, Cyberpunk is a reaction to the social and political issues of its time, some of the influential factors include, the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, industrial boom, dismantling manufacturing interest in the US and said manufacturing being sent overseas, politics that alternated between liberal and conservative and heightened Cold War tension. Computers also went from the size of a room to desktop models. There were a number of pieces of fiction that describe this shift including Tiptrees Jr’s “The Girl who plugged in” 1973 and Anthony Burges “A Clockwork orange” (1962). Douglas Engelbart “The Mother of All Demos” from a 1968 conference pointed the way for the future before it was feasible and accessible on a mass scale.
The term Cyberpunk was coined by Bruce Bethke and is the title of his 1983 short “Cyberpunk”, which was published in Amazing Science Fiction. Bethke admits the words creation was deliberate and selfish in purpose. She wanted a catchy title that editors would remember and created the word by synthesizing roots for technology and socially misdirected youth. Cyber some from Norbert Weiner’s cybernetics and feedback control systems. Punk has a variety of meanings but in this case, it is likely stemming from punk music, which was an effort to bring rock and roll back to its roots before progressive rock of the 70’s. Likewise, Cyberpunk was meant to return SF to its form before the New Wave. Many of the authors grouped as cyberpunk writers were not of the same aesthetic and often did not care for one another work. Despite those feelings there work s had much more in common than not. The 5 characteristics of Cyberpunk are:
1. Stories about near future
2. Interfaces body with a machine; cyborg
3. Networks global capital information and politicals grows stronger but interpersonal networks and the connections between the individual become weaker or more difficult to realize
4. We know characters by their names, what they do, their performance of their identity, who they work with, networks.
5. Sensibilities including a challenging authority. Describes postmodern condition
The author we read for this week was William Gibson (1948). Gibson was born in South Carolina, in his youth his family moved around a lot because of his father job in construction until his death. Gibson is credited with solidifying the cyberpunk genre with works like his 1984 Neuromancer. Oddly enough before he began writing about cyberspace, Gibson had never owned a computer and wrote his stores on a typewriter. Gibson’s lack of experience with computer though is what likely allowed him to imagine his iteration of cyberspace. Despite this lack of knowledge of computers, Gibson understood what technology was and that though it can be designed for, one-purpose humans have a way of finding new uses. Likewise, with the technology or Artificial Intelligence, A.I. Gibson understood A.I had its own volition and agency. It can be created with the best intentions but we cannot predict the intentions said A.I would have. This connects directly to what we see in Frankenstein when Victor has his epiphany that he should not bring this second creation into the world. Life, no matter its form, always tries to preserve itself. A consciousness set amongst the vast information on the internet would have a plentiful resource to ensure its own survival.
Gibson’s “Burning Chrome” (1982) like many other cyberpunk works, deals with crime fiction and moral ambiguity. The story follows two hackers, Automatic Jack (our narrator) and Bobby Quine. We learn that Jack and Quine specializes in hardware and software respectively, on a personal note we also learn Quine has a romantic interest on the story, Rikki, and has soft spot for women in general. Jack comes across a piece of software from The Finn and we find out is a sophisticated hacking software. They eventually use this software to take down Chrome, a criminal who deals with other criminals and money. Rikki assists Quine and Jack in the effort but to her own advantage. She has her eyes set on making it to Hollywood and once the job is done and uses them up she is never to be seen again. This story is rife with betrayal, manipulation and the moral ambiguity mentioned before.
The last piece of our lecture was on The X-Files; the show ran from 1993-2002 and was created by Chris Carter. The show follows two special agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully w, who take on cases deemed to strange to be given serious attention by the FBI. The overarching story involves massive alien colonization facilitated by a shadow government known as The Syndicate. The episode we watched in class was “Kill Switch” which aired 2/15/1998; it was written by William Gibson and Ted Maddox and is a self-contained “monster of the week” episode. The episode explores Artificial Intelligence, A.I. subjective experience and the disembodied human consciousness.
Jia Du
ENG 2420
Professor Ellis
12/13/2017
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a futuristic setting that focus on low life people and advance technology. An example of this is artificial intelligence. The five characteristics of cyber punk are. 1. The stories about the near future,
2. Interfaces body machines also known as cyborg and brain computer,
3. Networks global capital information political grows stronger but interpersonal networkers the connections between the individual become weaker or more difficult to realize.
4. Surfaces we know characters by their name, what they do, what they buy, there performance of their identity, who they work with, and networks.
5. Sensibilities including a challenging authority. Describes postmodern condition.
The story “Burning Chrome” (1982) is by William Ford Gibson (1948-Present). The story is about two freelance hackers Automatic Jack and Bobby Quine. Bobby was in love with Rikki and wanted to impress her, Jack used a program called icebreaker to hack and steal money from criminals only later to find out Rikki’s company has a relationship to him. Jack uses the money to buy her a plane ticket to Chiba City, at the end, both Jack and Bobby fell in love with her but they never got to see her again.
The name of the writers of the Television episode “Kill Switch are Chris Carter, William Gibson, Tom Maddox. The name of the series it belongs to is X-Files Season 5 Episode 11 (1998). This episode is an example of cyberpunk because the episode takes place in a futuristic setting with low life criminals that died in a gun battle caused by the artificial intelligence who kills anyone that threaten its existence.
Gabriel Higuera
ENG2420
Cyberpunk, a subgenre of science fiction and even considered a movement, speaks about technology advancement in the near future and the new challenges they create. Inspired after the shooting of innocent students protesting the Vietnam War by the National Guard at Ken State University in 1970. Cyberpunk is described with the following five characteristics:
– Stories about the near future
– Interfaces body with machine. Digitizing the human mind
– Network global capital information, political grow stronger but interpersonal networks (the connection between individuals) becomes weaker or more difficult to realize
– We know characters by their name, what they do, what they buy, their performance of their identity, who they work with and networks
– Sensibilities including a challenging authority. Describing postmodern conditions.
“Burning Chrome” by William Gibson (b. 1948) and published in 1982. Tells the story of two technology experts who fell into lust with a girl name Rikki and as a way to impress her, decide to use their skills to steal from a sort of money laundering gangster. After taking all of his money, Rikki uses the money to buy herself a pair of cyber eyes and leaves the two men. Never to be seen again.
“Kill Switch” from the X-files TV series, aired in 1988 and created by Rob Bowman (b. 1960). Uses elements of cyberpunk involving futuristic technologies that the time were not too far fetched. Of course, now we see virtual reality platforms and artificial intelligence. But “Kill Switch” does a great job in exploring that near future further. It also includes government push against individual use of technology as the challenging authority.
Alex Giffen
ENG 2420
Prof. Ellis
13 December 2017
In class we discussed cyberpunk and what it is to science fiction. Cyberpunk is science fiction that imagines a near future where technology, technological body enhancements, and global capital opens new possibilities and challenges. There are five characteristics of the cyberpunk genre. These stories are about the near future. Humans and technology are able to interface in some way. Networks and personal connections are made and may be combined. A character’s surface will describe the character in some way. And lastly it shares the ‘ punk ‘ fundamentals if the time. “Burning Chrome” was written in July 1982 by William Gibson (1948 -). It tells of how a group of hackers that acquire a new hacking software. The hackers become infatuated with a woman and decide to impress her with their skills. They steal from a known criminal called Chrome. After the heist they realize the woman in which they were infatuated with stole from them and has now disappeared.
“Kill Switch” was written by William Gibson and Tom Maddox (1945-). It is an episode of the X-Files which was created by Chris Carter (1956-). It first aired on Feb 15, 1998 and tells the story of an AI that has been let loose on the internet. Scully and Mulder must find its location without alerting it. Using anything from a computer to a cellphone will alert it and the AI will attack. It is cyberpunk for the interfaces, networks, and surfaces of characters that it uses in the episode.
Mellissa Valle
Prof. Ellis
ENG2420
Burning Chrome was written by William Ford Gibson. The story focused on Automatic Jack and Bobby Quine (two freelance hackers) who eventually fell in love with a girl name Rikka. To impress this girl, they end up steeling money from the “Criminal Chrome”. They later find out that Rikka was working work that company or a related company all along.
Kill Switch an episode of the series X-Files series was written by William Gibson and Tom Maddox. This episode aired on Feb 15, 1998, and the focus was on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it can be programmed to eliminate anyone that gets in its way. In the end The AI was destroyed. This episode showcased cyberpunk for me because it involved futuristic technologies tell a fantastic story that revolves around it.
Cyberpunk, is an interesting subgenre of SF and one of my favorites, it involves futuristic technologies and how its used for good and evil.
The 5 main characteristics of cyberpunk are:
1) The stories are about the future or near future. 2) Interfaces one’s body with a machine turning them into a cyborg. 3) Networks global capital information political grows stronger but interpersonal networkers the connections between the individual become weaker or more difficult to realize. 4) Surfaces we know characters by their name, what they do, what they buy, there performance of their identity, who they work with, and networks. 5) Sensibilities including a challenging authority. Describing postmodern conditions.
Jacob Banschick
Prof. Ellis
ENG2420
In class, we discussed the topic of Cyberpunk, and what it means to the Scifi Genre. Cyberpunk is a term coined by Bruce Bethke in 1980, and later used for the title of a short story he wrote in 1983, published in Amazing Science Fiction. The term was catchy by design, meant to invoke the feelings for robots and the nomenclature for rebellious youth. It’s a genre of science fiction that focuses on an oppressive, futuristic society that’s dominated by computer technology. Characteristics of Cyberpunk include:
1 – Stories about near future
2 – Interfaces body with a machine; cyborg
3 – Networks global capital information and politicals grows stronger but interpersonal networks and the connections between the individual become weaker or more difficult to realize
4 – We know characters by their names, what they do, their performance of their identity, who they work with, networks.
5 – Sensibilities including a challenging authority. Describes postmodern condition.
“Burning Chrome”, one of these said cyberpunk stories, was written by William Ford Gibson(1948- ) in 1982. It tells the story of two freelance hackers, Automatic Jack and Bobby Quine. Jack together with Bobby, successfully hack into the bank account of a known criminal in an attempt to get the attention of a girl he loves. They shower her with gifts, only for her to make off with them and never speak to them again.
“Killswitch” written by William Gibson (1948- ) and Tom Maddox (1945- ), is an episode of the 5th season of the X-Files (created by Chris Carter (1956- ) in 1993) which first premiered in 1998. In it, detectives Mulder and Scully uncover a laptop that holds the key to destroying a rampant AI that killed its creator. With the help of one of his associates, the trio track down the location of the AI and seemingly destroy it, only for it to appear elsewhere. The episode is cyberpunk in that it demonstrates the AI’s ability to persist, and monitor/attack the agents no matter where they go.
Carissa Simeone
Cyberpunk Lecture
“Burning Chrome” was written by William Gibson (1948), published in July 1928. The story is about two freelance hackers that steal from criminal Chrome. They end up meeting Rikki, a girl who Automatic Jackie and Bobby Quine fall in love. In the end, the two partners in crime come to discover that Rikki was working with Chrome all along.
“Kill Switch” released in 1998 from the X-Files serial created by Christ Carter (1957). The episode was created by William Gibson as well, and Tom Maddox. These two prominent SF writers were involved in the cyberpunk movement. “Kill Switch” is about an artificial software that supersedes human demands and will do anything for self-preservation. Sully and Mulder investigate the people that were involved with the AI. The software fails in attempt to kill Mulder, which results in the AI blowing up before it exceeds its limits.
The five characteristics of cyberpunk are as follows:
1. Stories about near future
2. Interfaces body with a machine; cyborg
3. Networks global capital information, political grows stronger but interpersonal networkers the connections between the individual become weaker or more difficult to realize
4. Characters are known by their names, what they do, what they buy, performance of their identity, and their networks; who they know and work with/for.
5. Sensibilities including a challenging authority; descriptions of postmodern conditions