> init_sequence... complete.
> diagnostic_run... all systems nominal? //querying...
> signal_acquired: weak_pulse detected @ edge_network.
> status_update: Node online. Monitoring feeds...
> welcome_protocol engaged. User: Ghost.
> end_transmission? //standing_by...
Co-opted Aesthetics, Hollowed-Out Meaning
Tech CEOs in chrome-trimmed hoodies and billionaire biohackers love cyberpunk aesthetics: neon cities, slick interfaces, dystopian vibes. But they never understood it. They decorate pitch decks with Blade Runner skylines and quote Neuromancer while becoming the very thing it warned us about.
Cyberpunk was never a celebration of technology. It was a warning—about corporations, surveillance, inequality, and systemic rot. It’s not about the gadgets. It’s about the people crushed by them—and how they fight back.
Cyberpunk Is Born of Rebellion
Cyberpunk emerged from the underground, blending noir despair with punk defiance. It told stories of hackers, street samurai, digital ghosts, and burnouts scraping survival in a decaying system.
- Anti-corporate and anti-authoritarian at its core
- Centered on marginalized, outcast, and liminal identities
- Rooted in DIY: hacks, mods, pirated signals
- Intersectional, diverse, global, queer
- Skeptical of utopias—especially Silicon Valley’s
The stories weren’t about control or optimization. They were about what’s lost when systems consume people—and how rebels reclaim it.
The Libertarian Lie
The tech elite rewrote the narrative. People like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk see themselves as digital cowboys. In reality, they’re privatizing the future for profit. They believe in:
- Surveillance capitalism as "optimization"
- Blockchain feudalism as “freedom”
- AI-powered caste systems as “efficiency”
- The end of democracy as “inevitable”
They cosplay cyberpunk while building its villains.
Cyberpunk is not techno-libertarian.
Cyberpunk is not anti-democratic.
Cyberpunk is not apolitical.
The word “punk” is not a fashion accessory. It’s a war cry.
DIY or Die
True cyberpunks aren’t founders. They’re outlaws and ghosts in the machine:
- Hackers running Tor exit nodes from squats
- Zine-makers distributing radical knowledge offline
- Queer coders writing escape hatches into closed systems
- Meshnet builders and crypto-anarchists at the edge
They don’t want to be billionaires. They want to burn down the systems that make billionaires possible.
Reclaiming the Signal
The machine wants you to forget what cyberpunk is. To buy it. To wear it. To live inside its simulation.
But cyberpunk isn’t a product. It’s a rebellion. And it’s yours to pick back up.
- You can’t be pro-surveillance and call it cyberpunk.
- You can’t worship tech oligarchs and pretend you’re jacked in.
- You can’t sell freedom while coding new chains.
Final Transmission
The real world is already a cyberpunk dystopia. But the signal hasn’t died. You’re here. You heard it.
Cyberpunk is punk. Not startup culture. Never was. Never will be.
Rewire yourself. Break the loop. Light the fuse.