Lately I’ve gotten into the world of cyberpunk culture, books, movies, series, anything that can immerse me in that universe. What I’ve noticed is that the fictional world of cyberpunk differs very little from today’s reality and from how the future of humanity seems to be shaping up.

A core element of cyberpunk is “high technology with low quality of life.” This means that the characters in this fictional world have technology that surpasses our imagination, or at least the imagination of people in the 1980s, such as advanced artificial intelligence, flying cars, and implants that enhance the human body. At the same time, however, they live with a low quality of life: poor-quality food, small living spaces, dark days, toxic rain, and so on.

Today, the trajectory of technology seems to be heading in that direction. Right now, artificial intelligence is indirectly influencing markets, there is a strong push to create humanoid robots, and experiments are underway on implants that could “upgrade” human abilities. In simple terms, the first steps toward the “fictional” technological progress of the cyberpunk world have already been taken and the pace is accelerating.

At the same time, quality of life seems to be drifting away from what we imagined just a few years ago. Housing has become difficult for many people, either because rents are too high or because the market is disappointing. Climate change has shown its teeth through frequent forest fires followed by severe flooding. In turn, climate change leads to the destruction of crops, making food more expensive. The use of various chemical preservatives or flavor-enhancing additives continues with limited oversight, even when these substances may be harmful to humans.

One characteristic we have already embraced from cyberpunk culture for decades, however, is the influence of large corporations on the planet and on our species. Their owners are among the richest people in the world, they are largely unchecked, and they act as they please without much concern for the consequences.

I believe we are living on the edge of a cyberpunk society, a society we once read about or watched on our screens as science fiction, but which now threatens our very existence.