Select a theme and complete some basic research on it (ideally finding a short fiction online video that deals with the topic Fusion of man and machine:
In addition to cyborgs, sentient programs and robots, cyberpunk often blurs of what it means to be human. Traits we take for granted as representing humanity disappear via introspective looks brought on by the fusion of man and machine. This fusion also affects the control of perception - numerous storylines explore with influences to perception, usually involving some method of virtual reality environment to either mask or take the place of the “real world.”
The first thing that came to my mind when I thought about this specific cyberpunk topic was the recent release in 2009 of Terminator Salvation which deals largely with the fusion of man and machine. One of the main characters is played by Australian actor Sam Worthington who plays a person brought back from the dead by being turned into a human machine. I found a trailer on you-tube for this movie: Find this video at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p6GHSWDScM
Try and identify a current news story that reflects the chosen topic:
I found a News Story on the CNN international website
'2020 exciting advances in bio-interfacing will make it possible for a wider range of diseases to be treated electronically'.
Here is the link: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/05/12/visionary.warwick/
Attempt to re-write the news story as a persuasive piece about how their piece of cyberpunk fiction has forecast the particular story/event & how it will inevitably lead to the world becoming a post-industrial dystopia (like every cyberpunk story does/is):
NOTE: Italics are my own re-write of the story.
Initially Parkinson's disease and epilepsy will be successfully dealt with. But the effects of multiple sclerosis, paralysis and motor neurone disease will also be much reduced as the individual is enabled to control their environment and even drive their car, by their thoughts alone, using implanted technology.
Initially Parkinson's disease and epilepsy will be successfully dealt with but the individual may loose control over their environment as their brain is over-ridden by computer hackers controlling the implanted computer chips in their brain.
Other problem areas such as senile dementia and schizophrenia could perhaps be tackled in a similar fashion.The whole area, termed E-Medicine, will spawn a plethora of new companies.
The spawning of these new companies will create a new niche in the market for computer hackers to infiltrate not only our private information but our minds as well.
As well as being used for therapy, the use of implant technology for enhancement will also become more acceptable.Initially there will be a backlash among those who consider the prospect of being able to "upgrade themselves" ethically inappropriate.
This backlash will soon become an uproar as dozens of terrified citizens realize that their bodies and minds are no longer safe from computer hackers.
But once the technology has been proven and is commercially available at relatively low cost, it is expected that the range of people making use of it will increase dramatically.
But once the technology has been proven to be a massive failure it will already be too late as thousands of people loose control of their minds as hackers start to take over the world.
Memory enhancement, an increased range of senses, dieting control and thought communication will all be on the market, while technology to allow for multi-dimensional thought will be at the planning stage.
Memory enhancement, an increased range of senses, dieting control and thought communications will all be controlled by computer hackers hell-bent on destroying the world.
All of these upgrades will be based on a direct link between a human and a machine brain.
In this way the ever increasing power of machine intelligence can be used to provide an improvement in human capabilities, rather than allowing intelligent machines to make important decisions.
In this way the ever increasing power of machine intelligence can be used against us to dominate us in a way never thought possible ten years ago.
Nevertheless the use of networked intelligent computers to control all the financial markets will present a worrying trend -- it will no longer be clear who exactly is making the key decisions; a machine based on human criteria, or a machine based on purely machine criteria been learnt through market experience.The military sector will witness some of the most dramatic changes. Fighter planes will be completely computer controlled, without any human intervention. Clearly it will be computers that think and learn fastest that will win the day.
These computers will become so intelligent they will overcome the human race, the hacker will become the hacked, as machines gain control over humans as the world slowly implodes.
The big question, though, is whether there will still be room for human soldiers at the front line. By extending their senses through networked implants military personnel could be kept safely out of harm's way while being virtually connected to the battlefront via a brain-network connection.
Human soldiers will become obsolete with robot soldiers taking over. The few remaining human soldiers will be no match for the artificial intelligence of the robot soldiers and will consequently be wiped out of existence. The last remaining hope for mankind being distinguished.
Finally, it will be interesting to witness the phasing out of the old style printed passport. Once everyone is fitted with a Radio Frequency ID implant containing individual data it will be difficult to imagine how we managed without them.
It's incredible to think it was only as long ago as 1998 that the first human tested out such an implant. Since then progress has indeed been swift.
Its incredible to think that in only a short period of time us human have managed to destroy ourselves.
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