"What is cyberpunk? There are a lot of definitions, but the core one is a narrative focused on high technology and low life. What does that mean? The tech is bleeding-edge, often post-humanist in its incorporation with humanity. This means cybernetic enhancements, nanotechnology, and cyberspace as an actual place. Low life? That's the criminal underbelly. Often in the best cyberpunk novels, the world is ruled by massive corporations, leaving the regular people to fight over the scraps.
While cyberpunk spun out of the drug culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, it gained traction and meaning in the 1980s. William Gibson's Neuromancer (more on that later) really brought the rebellious, punk aspect to cyberpunk. Ever since then, cyberpunk has come and gone in waves, and the release of the video game Cyberpunk 2077 has put the genre back in the public conversation."
