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Joined: 6/20/2011
Posts: 5
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SciFi (well, great scifi, not necessarily commercially successful) has always been a couple of jumps ahead of Science. So, I ask myself, where the hell is nanopunk?
I mean take a look at where governments globally are pumping millions of research money into - yep, you've guessed it, Nanotechnology. So while most of the internet money is being pumped into porn and lubricants, the smart money is going into nanotechnology. Why? Well because that is where the next bog profits, really big profits are going to come from. And this is because nanotechnology, working as it does on such a smnall scale,means that, as a science, it can, and already is converging with and pushing forwards developments in other sciences such as neuroscience and neuromedicine, bioengineering, genetic engineering and gene sciences, food industry, clothing manufacturing. Basically think of any science or area of technology and I guarantee you will find nanotech swarming around in there and taking to the next level.
THAT is why I ask myself, where is the nanotech scifi in the damned bookshelves?
We are the people who should be seeing the signs and scribing away to mess with all the possible futures that could arise from these convergencies in a political and environmentally unstable world with a damn dodgy future.
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Joined: 8/13/2011
Posts: 272
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So I assume you haven't read Blood Music by Greg Bear The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, Decipher by Stel Pavlou, Prey by Michael Crichton or any Star Trek novel featuring the the Borg?
Those are all books that feature Nanotechnology predominantly, rather than just having it on the edge of the story.
As to why you don't see more, the answer's twofold: Nanotechnology is a narrative win function and there is no defined 'Nanopunk'.
Firstly, narratively, nanotechnology tends to present itself as a win condition. If you can freely reassemble any material into any other, the number of problems you face quickly tends to zero. Grey goo problems are often used in nanotech fiction and there's only so many ways to fix the problem. In short, nanotech's not very popular as a fictional device as there's not a huge amount that can be done with it. Cybertech, bioscience, metapsychology etc offer an often far wider area of writing options. Nanotechnology often functions best as a tool of the cast, rather than a central part of the plot.
Secondly, 'Nanopunk' isn't a genre because it really hasn't been defined properly yet. Cyberpunk, Steampunk, Dieselpunk and Biopunk are, to a point, defined in and of themselves as a specific genre. Cyberpunk, for example, is almost as defined by its oppressive corporate power and grimy world view as it is by the importance of computing to it. Steampunk is as much about Victoriana as it is about impossible steam machines and airships. What's Nanopunk's theme? It's got to be more than just the science.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 412
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I would think nanopunk would be about the ways that the environment and body is changed and controlled by nanotechnology. The first ghost in the shell was closer to nanopunk than cyber, in that regard. A story about nanotechnology becoming literally part of everyone, and the company that controls keeping the nanites going, small rebels that have to hack them and keep them charged and going without the company, or things starting to get gritty and break down. I could see that.
Actually, I have a zombie story that could be considered nanopunk, the basic device is nanotech machines that are partly bacterial, created to recycle and sort landfills en masse, going a bit out of control.
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