Cyberpunk manifesto part 3

The System. Centuries-old, existing on principles that hang no more today. A System that has not changed much since the day of its birth. The System is designed to make it easy to accept what it tells you, and to make it hard to filter the Truth from the lies. The System is fascist, the System is deceptive, and the System is bureaucracy. The System is essentially the rule of the institution over the individual.

To persist, the System requires control, and in democratic societies it maintains this control by filtering people's view of reality through corporate-owned mass media and television. In essence, the System requires a form of thought control, but not in the science fiction sense. Instead, it achieves an effective enough manner of thought control by manufacturing consent. The large majority of the public has to "buy in". They have to believe that the news media give them an accurate picture of the world. And by and large, they do believe this. Everything the general public knows about the world, they know through the System.

Note that while some media outlets do actively promote a political agenda of domination and control, on the whole it is not through some grand conspiracy that this process (or any process of the System) functions. It is simply the way mass media is organized. Mass media is a machine that exists as a profit maximizing entity, and the most profitable news (and the cheapest news to produce) is recycled soundbytes and pre-packaged press releases from corporations and government.

Furthermore, people must be insulated from the creative process. They have to forget that they are able to produce craft as individuals independent of large institutions, and they must feel entirely dependent upon the system to provide them with what they need. It is mostly through the violation of this principle that many who work with computers come to free themselves, or at least come to see the System for what it is.

Despite being products of the System (for the most part), computers and the Internet enable humans to create individual works on a global scale: independent media, self-publishing, Free Open Source Software, computer music, computer art and graphics, and so on. Computers also enable independent people to communicate and build human-serving social structures outside of the System.

We fight for freedom of information. We fight for freedom of speech and press. For the freedom to express our thoughts freely, without being persecuted by the system.

Cyberpunk manifesto part 2

Society

 

The Society which surrounds us is clogged with concervacy pulling everything and everybody to itself, while it sinks slowly in the quicksands of time. However doggedly some refuse to believe it, it is obvious that we live in a sick society. The so called reforms which our governments so adeptly use to boast, are nothing else but a little step forward, when a whole jump can be done.

People fear the new and unknown. They prefer the old, the known and checked truths. They are afraid of what the new can bring to them. They are afraid that they can lose what they have. Their fear is so strong that it has proclaimed the revolutional a foe and  the free idea - its weapon.

People must leave this fear behind and go ahead. What's the sense to stick to the little you have now when you can have more tomorrow. Everything they must do is stretch their hands and feel for the new; give freedom to thoughts, ideas, to words.

For centuries each generation has been brought up in a same pattern. Ideals is what everybody follows. Individuality is forgotten. People think in a same way, following the cliche drilled in them in childhood, the cliche-education for all children: And, when someone dares defy authority, he is punished and given as a bad example. "Here is what happens to you when you express your own opinion and deny your teacher's one". Our society is sick and need to be healed. The cure is a change in the system.

Alex Foster chapter 6

I was sitting in the bed when Alex came inside. “What you are doing here?”, I asked. “I came to save you, but I`m not sure how to get you out. I really don`t want to shoot everybody.”,Alex said. “Do you have RFID tag like me?” I remembered that Alex`s colleague had put something in my neck and said they would always know where I am. “Yeah, in my neck. How you will get it out?”

Alex grinned: “I wont, but I can nuke it with microvawes. I`m sorry, this will hurt a lot, but It`s not dangerous.” and took plastic gun from his bag. He shooted my neck and I almost yelled from pain. It felt like my neck was on fire, but three seconds later it was over, and I didn`t have any burn or wound on my neck. “What the hell that was?!”, I hissed.

“I`m sorry, this is not meant to use on humans. This is advanced version from putting your schoolbooks in microvawe oven so you can ditch from school and go play ARG`s in streets, like we did in high school.” Alex said looking embrassed.

I sighed. “Okay, I forgive you, but lets get out of here. Don`say we have to run from here.”

“No we don`t, I have swoop board that Alex built, it`s twice as fast as regular swoop boards. Let`s just hope they don`t shoot the fuel tank or we will be in big trouble, or  should I say, in big explosion.”

Alex Foster chapter 5

Janus had given me the address of Morpheus, who was the admin of Hidden Wiki and also sold illegal weapons and fake ID`s. I didn`t really like him, I mean, I was thankful of his site, and what he wrote about the System was awesome, but I knew he sold guns to assassins who worked for politicians and many corporate owners used his laundry services.

Once I got microwave/laser gun from Morpheus, I started to pack for a getaway. I stuffed my self-built laptop, radiophone, voice changer and money in my backpack when someone knocked the door. “Hi, can me and my brother come with you guys? I really have to get Nika safe from our parents.”, Janus said from the door. Behind him stood skinny 11-year-old boy with light, slightly curly hair, hiding behind his back. In his eyes I saw sadness and pain, but also courage and warmness.

That didn`t suprise me, considering everything he has gone through, but what did was the patience and understanding I saw. That wasn`t too common even in adults, yet alone in a boy his age. Then I understood, he was Angel.

After the “Rebel of Angels” in 2030, Angels had got their civil rigts and no one was kept as slave anymore. Today it was almost impossible to tell who was Angel except from their personality, because of medicine that prevented their wings from growing.

“Of course you can, see you tomorrow here, okay?”

The next day at work I was really nervous. I was sure that my colleagues knew what I was going to do, and that any moment guards would come and arrest me. When it finally was 2pm, I was relieved and left my workplace. I walked down the underground corridors to the locked room where A`rya was kept. Getting into the room was easy, but how I would get her out?

Forgotten children 19. chapter

Me and Alex had joined the demonstration immediately after we heard the shouts and drumming to our room. It was chaotic, people squeezes against us, polices were fighting against each other, and from time to time I heard howl of pain when someone had gotten shock from stun gun. There wasn`t any real guns because no one wanted to kill anyone, but electric shock to arm or leg, not to mention blinding tear gas, prevented all action just as effectively.

At first I wasn`t sure if we were winning or not, but after three hours, when more and more people had joined us and polices changed side, after they had noticed any reinforcements weren`t coming, it was clear we would win. Finally, when it was almost ten and started getting dark, we got the last polices handcuffed. When people noticed that battle was over and we had won, they started to shout, laugh and hug each other, the tension of past hours was dissolved in joy.

When people had calmed down, one man, probably group`s leader, climbed on top of car and began to speak to megaphone: "Thank you to all who took part in this demonstration. We won today, but the fight is not over yet. The wounded will be taken to Angel City and the rest of us will join with protesters from other cities. When the promised fighters will join us, together we have over 300 000 protesters, nothing can stop us. Then we will march to Los Angeles!"