Business and Such

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Having read several cyberpunk narratives this semester, I was intrigued by how that genre’s depiction of corporate power parallels our modern reality. The Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner-with its monopoly on artificial life and “more human than human” motto-feels particularly resonant with today’s tech giants racing to develop artificial intelligence.
Look at how decisions in large technology firms, like OpenAI, are made by an assemblage of executives with limited public oversight or accountability for the development of global AI. Certainly, it resembles how the Tyrell Corporation could function almost autonomously, considering the strong ramifications of their replicant technology. Of course, we are not yet in the process of creating humanlike androids, but making advanced AI systems by firms like OpenAI, Google, and Meta raises similar ethical considerations: control, consciousness, and corporate responsibility.
The pharmaceutical industry is another out-and-out parallel. Without going to the radical extent of “pill funders” in Machinehood, recent real-life examples show disturbing similarities. The insulin pricing crisis, where corporations kept this lifesaving medicine at artificially high prices, shows how human needs are sacrificed at the altar of corporate profits. The opioid crisis, where pharmaceutical companies knowingly pushed addictive medications for profit, illustrates further this disturbing dynamic.
I do not believe that cyberpunk’s corporate dystopias are inevitable. Contrary to the uncontested corporate powers of those narratives, corporations today see growing resistance in the form of antitrust investigations, restrictive privacy laws like GDPR, and growing public distrust. What has set us apart is democratic institutions that still stand and public activism in dampening corporate power.
Some trends raise red flags: a never-before-seen concentration of wealth in technology companies, never-before-seen collections of personal data, and heavy corporate influence on government policy suggest we’re trending toward cyberpunk’s warnings. While these narratives often seem hyperbolic, they are important cautionary tales regarding where unchecked corporate power might lead.
What do you think? Is a cyberpunk, corporate-dominated future in our future, or are these tales of a truly hyperbolized criticism of capitalism? I am most interested in hearing others’ thoughts on what might make today’s tech and pharmaceutical giants different from those in fiction.