In the article "Cyberpunk," Phillip Elmer-Dewitt explores the definition of the computerculture of the twenty-first century. Dewitt explains the various meanings of the term "cyberpunk" and all its associations, including the negative connection to hackers. He explores the code of ethics that cyberpunks have adopted, namely, that information should be free and accessible to all so that people can act on and steer their own reality. I feel the ethical code that characterizes cyberpunks should be thoroughly examined because it privileges autonomy. The self containing nature of the ethical code seems to be the biggest threat to those who are safely tucked inside the mainstream world. In this place, it is not surprising that something new and different like this code would reap a bad reputation.

The article offers familiar terms that any computer literate person will recognize, including the Internet, virtual reality, and cyberspace. The terms appeal to the mainstream. We don't have to be cyberpunks to know about these things, because we all use the net as students or as professionals. Yet, the parts of the article that are unfamiliar are the ones that are causing problems for cyberpunks.

Cyberpunks are said to be wild, aggressive, rave-going individuals with a penchant for science fiction. Many inhabitants of cyberspace are reluctant to be labeled with the name "cyberpunk" because of the harsh adjectives that accompany it. Some of the unfamiliar terms that Dewitt uses are Acid House, techno-erotic paganism, and interzone. These words give the essay a weird cultish flavor. "An ideology was established that included an infatuation with high-tech tools and disdain for conventional usage of them" (Elmer-Dewitt 59). Cyberpunks have also been referred to as hackers, futurists, fringe scientists, and science fiction geeks who meddle with computer systems in order to cause complications affecting the daily lives of innocent citizens.

I believe that cyberpunks are simply freethinkers who agree on the notion that the power of knowledge should be accessible through cyber connections to fix problems encountered in the world. One critic states, "'Cyberpunk' is no longer just science fiction, it is an emerging lifestyle, and way of thinking, a movement whose numbers are constantly growing" (65). This argument is similar to that of the beatniks of the seventies, who claimed to be free from the constraint of the mainstream world. Yet, just like the hippies, these free-thinking cyberpunks are suffering some repercussions.

I think it's really interesting that some people denigrate the syberpunk counterculture without realizing they are a part of it. The concept intrigues me because history is repeating itself. To me people will always blame the hippies for rock music and drugs, and those same people will blame cyberpunks for all hackers and electronic warfare. The cyberpunks of today have embraced a form of existence in which the mainstream is quite foreign, and for that reason alone they are ridiculed. I think that the code of autonomy should be applauded, because it is the first time in history that a self contained structure has successfully changed the lives of every human being on this planet.

Dewitt, Philip E. "Cyberpunk."  CyberReader.  2nd ed.  Ed. VIctor J. VItanza.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon,  1999.  351-356.

Haussman, Sook Elsie.  "Cyberpunks: Friend or Foe."  January 1997.   <http://www.gatech.edu>.

Rayl, A.J.S.  "Secrets of A Cubculture." Omni  November  (1992):  58-67.

Sterling, Bruse.  "Cyberpunk in the Nineties."   Writings About Cyberpunk.  November 1998.  <http://www.streettech.com>.