Thread by @RTalsorianGames

We noticed a recent post suggesting a list of topics missing from the Cyberpunk 2020/RED/2077 universe that should be included for a more modern take on the genre. And we thought it might be fun to address them point by point. So, warning, this'll be a thread. 1/

Also, we fully acknowledge there's a lot of different ways to approach the cyberpunk genre. No two stories, from Akira to Neuromancer to Deadpan Alley to VA11-HALL-A, will approach the genre in the same way. 2/

We also fully acknowledge our cyberpunk story has over 30 real world years of history to contend with. That gives us a great deal to draw on but does, absolutely, mean we can't just toss in-world history aside for convenience. 3/

Topics to cover:
Social Media, Info Tech Companies, Korean Companies, the Chinese Government, the Supply Chain, Unfettered American Capitalists, PMCs, Weaponized Information, Machine Learning, the Russian State, Flat Screen Displays, and non-humanlike AIs. 4/

One more note as we go. We'll mostly be talking about the Cyberpunk 2020/Cyberpunk RED period as that is our specific domain. We'll try to not when we're talking about 2020 and when we're talking about RED. 2077 is CDPR's territory to talk about in depth. 5/

Social Media: Not as much a thing in 2020, true. It does exist in Cyberpunk RED on the Data Pools. We touched on the Garden in Cyberpunk RED and will deal with it more in future books. 6/

Info Tech Companies and Weaponized Info: In 2020 there's a megacorp called InfoComp that specializes in finding out everyone's secrets and selling them. In RED, Ziggurat makes most of their money by collecting data via their apps on the Data Pool. 7/

And, of course, in both cases, the information is weaponized to blackmail, to spy on, and to control. To prod people into deciding what to buy, what to wear, what to eat, what to watch, what to believe, and who to trust. 8/

Korean Companies: The Pacific Rim supplement detailed the Korea of 2020, including corps. We haven't touched on them in RED because of the state of the world. Korean companies are mostly focusing on the South Asia region. 9/

The Chinese Government: Like Korea, the Pacific Rim supplement detailed China. In RED, China combines State-Controlled Communism with limited Capitalism much like today. And like today, it is building itself as a major regional power. 10/

By 2077, China has emerged as a world player, as evidenced by Kang Tao, a Chinese megacorp, being one of the biggest employers in Night City. And yes, we're aware Kang Tao was a Tawaineese company in 2020. There's lore reasons why it isn't in 2077 and they aren't pretty. 11/

The Supply Chain: Oh, boy, is this in there. RED revolves heavily around the fragility of our current global supply chain. We recommend reading 99% of Everything by Rose George for a bigger idea of it. 12/

Going on with that, a lot of the events leading up to 2020 deal American imperialism designed specifically to secure resources and bypass supply chains. For example, one of the major reasons why the US invaded Central/South America in universe was to secure a lithium supply. 13/

Unfettered American Capitalists: This is a major reason the Cyberpunk world is so freaking cyberpunk. Nomads exist because the rich got richer while the poor so poor they had no choice but to move to a nomadic lifestyle to survive. 14/

The 1st Corporate War was a result of two rival companies wanting to buy a third company. So did the 4th, for that matter. The Europeans dropped a rock on Colorado Springs because they caught the US Government manipulating the stock markets illegally. 15/

Most people in the Cyberpunk world eat kibble, which is basically dog food for humans, because climate change has wiped out most of the farm land and Corps find it more profitable to use much of what's left to grow fuel wheat than to grow food. 16/

So, yep. Unfettered capitalism exists. It sucks. And it is EVERYWHERE. 17/

Private Military Corps: Arasaka. Militech. Lazarus. They've always been there. They hold tremendous power. In many cases they've replaced the police. But it goes deeper than that. 18/

During the Centrral/SoutrhAm wars, the US used contracted military forces. A lot of them. Sent those poor souls down there to fight and die in a foreign land. And since the US was in the middle of an economic collapse, it was some of the only work people could get. 19/

When the US pulled out of the region? They decided IT WAS TOO EXPENSIVE to bring those contractors home. So, not only were PMCs preying on the desperation of people hungry for work, but they and the government then ABANDONED them. 20/

Many of those people abandoned in the region ended up literally marching back to the United States in what became known as the Long Walk. Media coverage of the Long Walk eventually led to the US begrudgingly extending SOME veteran's rights to those contracts. 21/

So, to sum up. The US contracted PMCs to fight a war. The companies behind the PMCs preyed on desperation to get bodies into the field and then augmented them without consent using cybernetics and combat drugs. And then ABANDONED THEM there. 22/

And then, of course, we've got a 4th Corporate War which led to what is essentially a several decades long Dark Ages in the Time of the Red. Started by and fought by PMCs. One of which, at the end, basically became the military of the United States. 23/

Machine Learning: In RED, you carry around an Agent. Imagine if your smartphone could learn your patterns, anticipate your purchases and order ahead of time, mimic your vocal patterns and personality well enough to hold a conversation with someone you don't want to talk to. 24/

Looks like we've reached the limit of the thread. We'll put more in the replies.

The list goes on. Agents represent both an amazingly adaptive tool to help a person navigate their daily life and an incredibly intrusive tool that can be abused by the megacorps. 25/

The Russians: It is absolutely true, there is still a USSR in Cyberpunk RED. It is not the USSR of old. The old USSR fell apart and a new one, nominally a collection of NeoSoviet states allied together, rose. 26/

Initial reforms were swept away as former KGB agents and corporate oligarchs took the reigns creating an oppressive state that came down hard on any nationalists movements in an effort to control the area and the world's oil supplies. Sound familiar? 27/

Flat Screen Displays: Yep. By RED most of the displays are flat screen. By 2077 you've got flexible, paper thin screens that are so cheap you can make "print" magazines out of them. 28/

Non-humanlike AIs: Real world AI theory and experimentation suggest AIs will develop in ways that do not, in any way, the human psyche. Witness an experiment, not too long ago, in which one AI was instructed to build another AI. It did. 29/

The two AIs then proceeded to develop methods of communication so alien the humans monitoring the experiment couldn't understand what was being communicated. It was shut down. 30/

Similar AIs were first noted in the Cyberpunk universe in Rache Bartmoss' Guide to the NET. Known as Transcendental Sentience AIs, these AIs are so alien that, not only can we not understand them, they don't seem capable of understanding us. 31/

As a result, the most common AIs you see in Cyberpunk are either Soulkilled Psuedo Intellects (SPIs) who are copies of human engrams (and they become less and less human-like over time) and Critical Pathway Plateau AIs which are each incredibly unique. No two are alike. 32/

One might enjoy being a news broadcaster and lobby for equal rights and pay. One might wear a human face in an effort to lure in prey so it can properly kill them in their digital domain. 33/

One might be locked into an original purpose and continue to operate doggedly at one task. And others might evolve ways of behavior so foreign they're incomprehensible not only to humans but to their fellow AIs. 34/

So, here's the point of this whole thread. There's a lot of "cyberpunk is steeped in the 80s" and that's true on one level. On the other hand, if you look around? The late 2010s have shaped up to be quite a lot like the 80s. 35/

The themes we explored in Cyberpunk 2020 haven't gone away. They aren't some quaint hindsight memory. They're still here, just with a new coat of paint. One of the advantages of putting out a new edition, Cyberpunk RED, is we got to apply some of that new paint. 36/

The genre of cyberpunk, to paraphrase Mr. Gibson, is not a story about the future. It is a story about the present pretending to be a story about the future. That hasn't changed. Our understanding of technology has changed and Cyberpunk has evolved with that understanding. 37/

Which is why we aren't flying through the NET like Tron anymore. And why people have Agents. And why we call them Chyron displays instead of Times Square Marquees now. But the themes haven't changed. The problems haven't changed. 38/

Same dance. Hell. Mostly the same partners. Just different clothes. Thanks for reading. 39/39