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257 lines
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From: tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox)
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Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
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Subject: After the Deluge (an essay on cyberpunk)
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Date: 13 Jul 92 09:42:14 GMT
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Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
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Lines: 262
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(The following essay was printed in the volume _Thinking Robots,
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an Aware Internet, and Cyberpunk Librarians_, edited by R. Bruce Miller and
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Milton T. Wolf, distributed at the Library and Information Technology
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Association meeting in San Francisco, during the 1992 American Library
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Association Conference. An expanded version of the volume will be published
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later this year.)
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After the Deluge: Cyberpunk in the '80s and '90s
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Tom Maddox
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In the mid-'80s cyberpunk emerged as a new way of
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doing science fiction in both literature and film. The
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primary book was William Gibson's _Neuromancer_; the
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most important film, _Blade Runner_. Both featured a
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hard-boiled style, were intensely sensuous in their
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rendering of detail, and engaged technology in a manner
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unusual in science fiction: neither technophiliac (like
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so much of "Golden Age" sf) nor technophobic (like the
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sf "New Wave"), cyberpunk did not so much embrace
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technology as go along for the ride.
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However, this was just the beginning: during the '80s
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cyberpunk _spawned_, and in a very contemporary mode.
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It was cloned; it underwent mutations; it was the
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subject of various experiments in recombining its
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semiotic DNA. If you were hip in the '80s, you at least
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heard about cyberpunk, and if in addition you were even
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marginally literate, you knew about Gibson.
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To understand how this odd process came about, we have
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to look more closely at cyberpunk's beginnings--more
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particularly, at the technological and cultural context.
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At the same time, I want to acknowledge what seems to me
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an essential principle: when we define or describe a
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literary or artistic style, we are suddenly in contested
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territory, where no one owns the truth. This principle
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applies with special force to the style (if it is a
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style) or movement (if it is a movement) called
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cyberpunk, which has been the occasion for an
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extraordinary number of debates, polemics, and fights
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for critical and literary terrain. So let me remind you
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that I am speaking from my own premises, interests, even
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prejudices.
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By 1984, the year of _Neuromancer_'s publication,
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personal computers were starting to appear on desks all
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over the country; computerized videogames had become
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commonplace; networks of larger computers, mainframes
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and minis, were becoming more extensive and accessible
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to people in universities and corporations; computer
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graphics and sound were getting interesting; huge stores
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of information had gone online; and some hackers were
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changing from nerds to sinister system crackers. And of
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course the rate of technological change continued to be
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rapid--which in the world of computers has meant better
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and cheaper equipment available all the time. So
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computers became at once invisible, as they disappeared
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into carburetors, toasters, televisions, and wrist
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watches; and ubiqitous, as they became an essential part
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first of business and the professions, then of personal
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life.
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Meanwhile the global media circus, well underway for
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decades, continued apace, quite often feeding off the
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products of the computer revolution, or at least
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celebrating them. The boundaries between entertainment
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and politics, or between the simulated and the real,
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first became more permeable and then--at least according
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to some theorists of these events--collapsed entirely.
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Whether we were ready or not, the postmodern age was
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upon us.
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In the literary ghetto known as science fiction,
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things were not exactly moribund, but sf certainly was
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ready for some new and interesting trend. Like all
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forms of popular culture, sf thrives on labels, trends,
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and combinations of them--labeled trends and trendy
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labels. Marketers need all these like a vampire needs
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blood.
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This was the context in which _Neuromancer_ emerged.
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Anyone who was watching the field carefully had already
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noticed stories such as "Johnny Mnemonic" and "Burning
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Chrome," and some of us thought that Gibson was writing
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the most exciting new work in the field, but no one--
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least of all Gibson himself--was ready for what happened
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next. _Neuromancer_ won the Hugo, the Nebula, the
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Philip K. Dick Award, Australia's Ditmar; it contributed
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a central concept to the emerging computer culture
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("cyberspace"); it defined an emerging literary style,
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cyberpunk; and it made that new literary style famous,
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and (remarkably, given that we're talking about science
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fiction here) even hip.
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Also, as I've said, there was the film _Blade Runner_,
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Ridley Scott's unlikely adaptation of Philip K. Dick's
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_Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ The film didn't
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have the success _Neuromancer_ did; in fact, I heard its
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producer remark wryly when the film was given the Hugo
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that perhaps someone would now go to see it. Despite
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this, along with _Neuromancer_, _Blade Runner_ together
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set the boundary conditions for emerging cyberpunk: a
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hard-boiled combination of high tech and low life. As
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the famous Gibson phrase puts it, "The street has its
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own uses for technology." So compelling were these two
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narratives that many people then and now refuse to
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regard as cyberpunk anything stylistically and
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thematically different from them.
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Meanwhile, down in Texas a writer named Bruce Sterling
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had been publishing a fanzine (a rigorously postmodern
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medium) called _Cheap Truth_; all articles were written
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under pseudonyms, and taken together, they amounted to a
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series of guerrilla raids on sf. Accuracy of aim and
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incisiveness varied, of course; these raids were
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polemical, occasional, essentially temperamental.
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Altogether, _Cheap Truth_ stirred up some action, riled
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some people, made others aware of each other.
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Gibson and Sterling were already friends, and other
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writers were becoming acquainted with one or both: Lew
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Shiner, Sterling's right-hand on _Cheap Truth_ under the
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name "Sue Denim," Rudy Rucker, John Shirley, Pat
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Cadigan, Richard Kadrey, others, me included. Some
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became friends, and at the very least, everyone became
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aware of eve2yonhO<68><01>@<40><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <0C>6<<3C>7 g<> g<><67><EFBFBD> <11>!<21>l<EFBFBD><6C>d$<08>.L<>̮D<08><>M<EFBFBD>.d m<><6D><EFBFBD>@019<>0<EFBFBD><04><08><><18><> <1B>{1<03>+3+<2B><>Ks9<03>y<03>CK<43>;<3B>{<7B><>{1<03>+<2B><>c{{<7B>+c<>hS 33KcK <0B>+!3{cY <0B><1B>+<2B><><EFBFBD>s[<5B>q <0B><03>C) <0B><>+ <0B> s){1 S<>C)<03>{<7B>!a<03>C)k+#K K<><1B><> s!K<><4B> {cˣ+<2B>a<03>C) Sk <0B>[+<2B>+<2B><>a<03>+s<>Ks<4B>y;+ <0B>q<1B>+<2B><><EFBFBD>sY+ k)<03> cK<63>k sK<19> S<>K<EFBFBD>CKq<03>C)<03>1;C+<2B><>ya<03>{k) <0B><>c <0B>#+!a<03>{k){{+!a<03>{k) S <0B>C+!Kqa<03>{k)+<2B>+q#+sK+!<03>Ct of a central controller
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been raised. This is because one is not necessary, in an object centred
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view. Each object must be capable of taking care of itself.
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Object Definition
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=========================================================================
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An object is defined as being comprised of a number of processes. Each
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process sends messages to other processes. Inter-object links are simply
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extensions of inter-process links that occur between objects.
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The grouping of certain processes into an object is really arbitrary, and
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one could supposedly do away with the idea of objects entirely (which in
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fact don't really exist outside of the definition that they are composed of
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a number of processes) except that they are a convenient method of grouping
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processes into functional units.
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Process Definition
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=========================================================================
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A process is basically a task, executing in some named language. In fact, a
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task could be defined in any language as long as a few criteria are met:
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1. Each process is capable of establishing communication links
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with other processes.
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2. Each process is capable of starting another object/process
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3. Each process can be moved, mid-execution, onto another processor.
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The first two requirements are simple. The last one is not, and to my
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knowledge, has not been investigated before.
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Can a compiled language be shifted, mid-execution, to another processor?
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And I don't necessarily mean a processor of the same type. I am talking
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from an IBM to a SparcStation. In a multiprocessor environment, an object
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may be copied, or moved, onto another processor. While copying the object
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could involve re-compiling and restarting the process, moving it requires
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that all internal structures/variables, and execution state be preserved.
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Example: If each process was a Unix process running in C:
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In this example, each process would be capable of establishing a
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communication link with other processes via library functions and standard
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unix calls. If the definition of a process extended to include the source
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code, then a process could start another process by issuing a command to
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compile it and start the process, passing it some initial information. It
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would even be capable of copying and starting itself on another processor
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but it would fail the last requirement of being able to be moved, while
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running, to any other processor.
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This requirement of being moved also creates a few other problems, which
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can be solved with a little work. First, during the move, a process will be
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inactive, and incapable of responding to messages. A queue will have to be
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set up to store these messages. But also, once the object has moved, then
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messages passed to the original processor have to be passed on to the new
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processor, and all other sending processes should be notified that the
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process has been moved. We have the same situation were someone is moving
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house, and something has to happen to their mail.
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Why do we need this third requirement, which is making life so difficult?
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In a distributed system, each object is comprised of many processes. To
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distribute the load evenly. processes have to be shifted and moved among
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the processors available to the network. This allocation is done
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transparently and separately to the individual processes, so that
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distribution algorithms can be improved and site-specific parameters can be
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taken into account.
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If processes cannot by dynamically distributed amongst the multiple
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processors available, then processes will get "stuck" on certain
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processors, resulting in an uneven distribution and wasted processing time.
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And what happens when a processing node has to be shut down? The object has
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to be moved then.
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Distributed processing and Networking
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The fundamentals for networking are already in place, and no doubt
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specialist networks will be evolved for VR in time. Any networking details
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will be taken for granted.
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Likewise, since processes are defined as concurrent tasks, which
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communicate in a very OCCAM like way, the basics for fine-grained
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multiprocessing are in place. The complex tasks of process-processor
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allocations and linking is left to the site/machine dependant VR operating
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system that individual sites are using. This area has already been
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extensively researched, and an appropriate method is no doubt currently
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sitting on someone's shelf waiting to be dusted off and put into place.
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Languages
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=========================================================================
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Any language that the VR supports must be capable of performing the above
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mentioned tasks. I can only guess at what such a VR language will look like.
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It will probably not be a current language. The requirements are beyond the
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specifications for any current language. The saving grace of the system is
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that multiple languages can be defined and implemented, as long as they can
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communicate, start other encapsulated processes, and be encapsulated. Of
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course, if one machine cannot handle a process defined in a particular
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language, then it will have to be run on another that can support it.
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Eventually on or two languages should emerge.
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As long as they adhere to the rules that the OS lays down, there should be
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no problem.
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Processes
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=========================================================================
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As mentioned earlier, processes are defined in some language, and must
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perform a few basic tasks such as linking to other processes, starting new
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processes, and being encapsulated for transmission.
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Whatever language it is, must be available on all VR machines that are
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going to want to support the obnd so long as the process remains problematic--
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for instance, so long as it threatens to redefine us--
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the voice will be heard.
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--
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Tom Maddox
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tmaddox@netcom.com
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"I swear I never heard the first shot"
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Wm. Gibson, "Agrippa: a book of the dead"
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