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Cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling poses at his home March 13, 1998, in Austin, Texas. Sterling, 43, is considered by many to be a guru of cyberpunk, the science fiction literary genre popularized in the 1980s by fellow writer William Gibson. While it was Gibson who coined the term "cyberspace" in his novel "Neuromancer," it was Sterling who picked up the torch when the movement became popular. He is also a contributor to the monthly magazine Wired. Associated Press

Cyberpunk writer helps define the future of cyberspace

Web posted April 25, 1998

By Chris Allbritton
Associated Press

Funny, he doesn't look like a cyberpunk.

But Bruce Sterling, with his side-parted hair and moon-pie face, is considered by many to be a guru of cyberpunk, the science fiction literary genre popularized in the 1980s by fellow writer William Gibson. While it was Mr. Gibson who coined the term ``cyberspace'' in his Hugo-winning novel, Neuromancer, it was Mr. Sterling who picked up the torch when the movement became popular.

Mr. Sterling, 43, wrote his first sci-fi novel, Involution Ocean, in 1977. His latest, Holy Fire (Bantam Spectra Books), tells the story of a 94-year-old woman who leaves the safe world of the ``gerontocrats,'' a caste of ancient humans who can afford life-extending technologies that promise near immortality.

He is also a contributor to the ultrahip Wired magazine, where he has reported on the future of war; the information revolution in Prague, Czech Republic; and the cyberdelic scene at the Burning Man festival in Nevada.

In an e-mail interview, Mr. Sterling, who lives in Austin, Texas, explained some of his views on science fiction and the future.

Q: What's the difference between a cyberpunk and a visionary?

A: Well, genuine visionaries tend to trip over their own feet while totally entranced by awesome cosmic vistas. So they end up blitzed out in the gutter, whereas cyberpunks are middle-aged pop-literateurs with strong survival instincts.

Q: Which are you?

A: Real futurists have children. I have two. True visionaries can't help but believe that the insides of their own heads are more important and interesting than the whole rest of the world. I've really tried hard as an artist and journalist to work my way around that problem.

Q: How will the digitalization and networking of information affect us and change people's lives?

A: You'd do better seeking out the very few aspects of people's lives that will remain unchanged by this.

Q: What should we watch out for in an information-rich, techno-Utopia?

A: Surveillance, spies, Mafias, stock market and currency bubbles; stalking, scandalmongering and pervasive transnational economic corruption.

Q: Do you think you have a bleak vision of the future?

A: The future is a form of history that hasn't happened yet. It's as if you'd asked if I have a `bleak vision' of the 19th century. Well, yes and no. If you were a Victorian railroad engineer in the 19th century, the world was yours, you were having a fantastic, progressive, marvelous time. But if you were a 19th-century American Plains Indian, you were basically enduring a catastrophic, murderous dystopia. You have to comprehend both these experiences and their direct relationship to one another. Then you can achieve a historical understanding. Is it bleak? Yes, no, it doesn't matter. It's what happened.