New Media: Re-Re-Creating the 21st Century Cyberpunk
The tradition of the Individual who Thinks for Him/Herself' extends to the beginnings of recorded human history. Indeed the very label of our species, homo sapiens, defines us as animals who think. If our genetic function is computare (to think), then it follows that the ages and stages of human history, so far, have been larval or preparatory. Now, at the beginnings of the information age, are we ready to assume our genetic function? After the larval phases of submission to gene pools, the mature stage of the human life-cycle is the individual who thinks for him/herself. -Timothy Leary
 History has told us that institutions are always greater than the individual. Humans have always looked at governments to protect them, and religions to save them. The emergence of new media technologies, such as film, television, computers and the internet are changing the way the individual relates with society. New media innovations has given us the tools, the know-how, the power to become self-reliant, cyberpunks. If individualism and self-reliance is the message of the cyberpunk than computers and the internet are his/her medium. Any idea can be published on the internet by whoever has the know-how and motivation to do so.  Every year that technology increases, the tools and language of the internet become more manageable and accessible. Computer technology invites cyberpunk innovation and self-reliance. The internet is the environment where anyone seeking individuality can express it to a global audience, at the touch of a key and click of a mouse. The nature of the internet is  self-thought, because you can no longer rely on someone else to learn for or lead you. You must acquire the know-how yourself to stay up-to-date with the latest innovations in technology. New media also give us a useful means of exploring our environment. The internet is host to a giant tank of information that is at the disposal of any cyberpunk who is willing and able to access it. Not only is the internet a valuable tool for expression but also a potent instrument of social change. The internet creates useful tools for the cyberpunk, and the very nature and essence of the internet creates an environment that fosters the development and creation of cyberpunks. We are no longer slaves to authority or limited to our position is society, the internet gives us the ability to transcend those boundaries and enter a realm of total self-reliance, of total self-actualization. The internet is creating a world of cyberpunks.
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