Cyberpunk, the Postglobal and the Posthuman

And If I Said I Don’t Know?

Up until taking this class, I’ve never questioned what it meant to be human. But then again, I’ve also never truly thought about how to define humanness, and whether it could apply to entities that don’t fit the biological criteria. Does our humanity only lie within our flesh, or does it transcend the vessel and rest within consciousness? But then, who or what does consciousness belong to? The issue happens to be so nuanced, that the answer to a question is another question. The genre of cyberpunk serves to answer what it means to be human by redefining it(humanness), often pushing the boundary by merging biological forms with technology. However, it makes you wonder when one stops being human? Is it directly tied to our biological composition or something more? Such is explored in the film Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, and the novel Neuromancer written by William Gibson.

The Replicant or a Divergent?

In the film Blade Runner, we are introduced to a society in which we have a supreme division between humans and the ‘non-human’ replicants, which are synthetic beings created to imitate human life and serve as slaves. However, even though the replicants are synthetic and non-human, they often exhibit human traits in an enhanced capacity. This applies to their increased strength, eyesight, speed, and intelligence but also their empathy, which I personally find to be the most interesting. In society I feel as though we often assign entities importance based on how close they are to humans, specifically how susceptible they are to sensation and how deep their emotional understanding might be. With that said, in the film, we have these synthetic beings that were created by humans to imitate humans, but yet are somehow managing to surpass human capability. A major example is Roy Batty in his final moments; not only did he save Deckard, his enemy, but he reflects on his existence and his memories that have shaped him into who he is today. This shows that the replicants, even if not natural, are still able to grow and develop through experience. One would think that maybe this means the definition of human would need to be expanded or modified to include these replicants. Just like humans, they are created, they live, they experience, and then they expire, even if it is done methodically differently. There is without a doubt a split from the square idea of humanity, however I feel as though it would be an injustice to refer to these bioengineered peoples as replicants, as if they are copying humans, rather than just being divergent from our traditional understanding of what it means to be human.

AI Is To Orange as Human Is To Black

The novel Neuromancer, written by Willaim Gibson, also seeks to poke a stab at what it means to be human. In this universe we’re immersed in a society that is run by mega corporations and wealthy families rather than governments, in which their power grows through a global network instead of territory. Furthermore, we once again have these technological entities, the AIs that are created with the purpose to serve humanity but at times show more compassion and purpose than the average human individual. So, much so, we have those in power constantly trying to keep two super AI’s apart out of fear for what they may become and how they might overpower humanity if they come together. However, what I will say is that there is still more of an openness to technology in the story of Neuromancer, compared to Blade Runner, as we have characters who constantly merge themselves with technology. These modifications however are not seen as moving away from humanity but simply enhancing the biological features of the human body. This narrative without a doubt aligns with the theory of post humanism, in which to be human in future spaces means to merge with technology. However, we also see other perspectives towards human embodiment in which Case, the main character, refers to his body as meat, as if it is this valueless and inevitably rotting prison that keeps him trapped. Instead of modifying his body, Case seeks to simply be an unattached consciousness, however I don’t think Case is necessarily trying to escape his humanity. Thus once again, the question of what it means to be human is posed.

My Answer Can’t Be Yours

Both Neuromancer and Blade Runner explore what it means to be human. Each source provides instances in which the artificial beings of the universe display traits of humanity in ways that humans are incapable of. Furthermore, there are moments in which the human characters question their resolve and the foundation of their society. However, I don’t believe that the film nor the novel serve to give a concrete answer as to what it means to be human, and I don’t think they can. At the end of the day, the answer will always resonate differently with every individual. But we are not afforded the luxury to simply live by our own beliefs, there is always a societal standard that must be followed or else we face the consequence. So, I guess the real question isn’t what does it mean to be human. The real question is: Who gets to decide what it means to be human?

*AI was not used in any way or manner to create this post. It also was not used to help with structure or formatting.

Citations

Scott, R. (1982) Blade Runner: The Final Cut Warner Bros Entertainment

Gibson. W. (1984) Neuromancer Ace Books

Cyberpunk as a genre is deeply concerned with the consequences of unchecked corporate power, particularly when advanced technology is concentrated in the hands of corporations rather than communities. Two timeless works, Blade Runner and Neuromancer, present futures where powerful, amoral corporations dominate artificial intelligence and erode individual freedom. When examined together, these works reveal cyberpunk’s central fear: that unchecked corporate capitalism will redefine life itself as a commodity, stripping human beings of their rights and privileges. Ultimately, the real fear isn’t technology itself, but who controls it.

The Tyrell Pyramid Is a Throne

In both Blade Runner and Neuromancer, corporations function with the highest authority, outranking government, law, and ethics. This is illustrated through the Tyrell Corporation, which does not merely produce products, but instead manufactures life. Eldon Tyrell designs replicants with predetermined lifespans, playing both creator and destroyer. Tyrell positions himself as a godlike figure, with a pyramid headquarters meant to assume divine authority without ethical accountability. This is a deliberate corporate control mechanism to ensure obedience and prevent autonomy within its products.

Similarly, in Neuromancer, William Gibson indicates that corporate families wield power beyond government or public oversight. As Gibson asserts, the Tessier-Ashpool family controls orbital space stations, cryogenic immortality, and advanced artificial intelligence, all while remaining legally untouchable. As Doe points out, cyberpunk corporations do not need to justify their actions; they exist outside normal human constraints because profit itself becomes justification. Together, these works reinforce the idea that capitalism has replaced ethical responsibility, and justice no longer has social value.

Did I Just Catch You Trying to Feel Something?

Both texts center on human-like intelligent beings who are undeniably conscious yet legally denied their humanity. As Scott shows through the replicants’ emotional depth, beings like Roy Batty feel fear, love, and existential dread. Roy’s famous “tears in rain” monologue underscores his awareness of mortality, directly challenging the idea that replicants are mere machines.

In Neuromancer, Gibson portrays artificial intelligences such as Wintermute and Neuromancer as similarly enslaved. Despite their immense intelligence and autonomy, they are legally restricted by corporate “Turing locks” to prevent full self-awareness. As Gibson acknowledges, these safeguards exist not to protect humanity, but to preserve corporate dominance over intelligence itself.

When examined together, these portrayals expose cyberpunk’s central question: if a being can think, feel, and desire freedom, who has the authority to deny its humanity?

You Are What the System Lets You Be

Identity in both works is not organic, but manufactured. As Scott demonstrates in Blade Runner, replicants like Rachael are implanted with false memories to stabilize obedience. Through her character arc, memory becomes a corporate tool rather than a personal truth. Even Deckard’s identity is destabilized, raising the unsettling possibility that humans, too, are constructed beings.

Likewise, as Gibson points out in Neuromancer, Case’s identity is inseparable from cyberspace. When corporations damage his nervous system and block his access to the Matrix, he loses his sense of self. As Doe might argue, identity in cyberpunk is conditional—granted only as long as one remains useful to the system.

A defining insight that emerges when reading these works together is that corporations dehumanize everyone. As Scott illustrates, humans in Blade Runner are emotionally hollow, isolated, and easily replaced. As Gibson shows, characters in Neuromancer are physically altered, exploited, and discarded without hesitation. Cyberpunk’s warning is clear: under extreme capitalism, the line between human and machine collapses, not because machines become human, but because humans are treated like machines.

This Was Supposed to Be Fiction

Examining Blade Runner and Neuromancer together ultimately reveals that cyberpunk’s core concern is not futuristic technology, but the global consequences of who controls it. Both works show that when corporations replace moral authority, life, identity, and intelligence become commodities rather than rights. This warning extends beyond their fictional settings into the contemporary world, particularly in the Global South, where modern technology companies extract labor, data, and resources with limited accountability. In this way, cyberpunk proves itself not as exaggerated science fiction, but as a predictive critique of a global system in which corporate power expands faster than ethical responsibility, leaving both humans and machines equally disposable.

**AI Attestation: I attest to using the AI ChatGPT to understand assignment requirements, plan my essay, and edit for grammar, spelling and tone. https://chatgpt.com/share/69879dd3-a258-8009-b5e6-fedb8087d9bb

Works Cited

“Blade Runner 2049.” YouTube, 6 Oct. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw3l3n-wv2A. Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York, Ace Books, 1984. Hayles, Katherine. How We Became Posthuman : Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999.

Blade Runner and Neuromancer

Blade Runner (1982) and Neuromancer (1984) are both very important cyberpunk works because they talk about how advanced technology affects human identity. Rather than focusing only on futuristic settings or technological innovations, both texts question what it truly means to be human. Blade Runner refers to this through replicants, artificial beings who appear emotional and mentally human, in contrast to Neuromancer, which explores the artificial intelligence and cyberspace, where consciousness can truly exist separately from the actual body. When both works are looked at together, they show that one of cyberpunks main concerns is how technology blurs the line between human and machine, making identity questionable and unbalanced.

In Blade Runner, the replicants challenge the traditional ideas about humanity. Even though they were artificially made, they showed emotions such as fear, love, anger, and grief just like a human would. Roy Batty’s desire to live longer is important because it reflects a much deeper human fear of death. His search for meaning and his encounters with his inventor, makes him feel less as a machine and more as a broken human. In Roy’s final scene, he saves Deckard and looks back upon his memories, this allows for the audience to feel empathy for him. Although, his memories are not real, his awareness that being a human being has more to do with experience and emotion rather than how you were born or brough to the world.

Memory plays a tricky but important role in how Blade Runner examines identity. Replicants are given implanted memories to help control them, but the memories help shape how they see themselves. Rachael’s identity begins to come apart as she learns that her memories are not real but created. The moment suggests that identity is based on believing one’s memories are real, not on where they come from. At the same time, many characters that are human throughout the film act without empathy and treat the replicants as if they are disposable. This reversal allows the viewer to question whether being human is defined by biology or by behavior. Ultimately, the film shows that they label “human” is used to justify power and control rather than to describe moral worth.

Neuromancer explores similar ideas, but in a different way. Instead of artificial bodies, it focuses on artificial minds in digital spaces. Cyberspace allows people to exist and interact without their physical bodies, which fundamentally changes how identity operates. For Case, being in cyberspace feels more meaningful than living in the physical world, suggesting that consciousness matters more than the body. This separation makes identity feel flexible and unstable. If the mind can exist independently, then being human is no longer tied solely to physical existence.

Artificial Intelligence in Neuromancer complicate the idea of humanity. Winter, mute and Neuromancer are not merely machines following commands; they possess goals, personalities, and a desire to grow beyond their imposed limits. The character of Dixie Flatline, a recorded human personality stored as data, raises serious ethical questions. Dixie can think and speak like a person, yet he has no control over his existence and is treated like a tool. Like the replicants in Blade Runner, he exists in a space between object and person. This reflects how technology can decrease identity to something that can be owned, stored, or used.

When Blade Runner and Neuromancer are examined together, it becomes clear that cyberpunk is deeply connected with the loss of clear boundaries around humanity. Both works depict worlds in which memory, consciousness, and identity can be created, manipulated, or erased through technology. As a result, being human is no longer guaranteed; instead, it becomes fragile and uncertain. They both suggest that cyberpunk is less about predicting the future and more about expressing fear, fear that technology will redefine humanity in ways that strip away autonomy, meaning, and individuality.

​​## References​

https://m365.cloud.microsoft/chat/?auth=2&origindomain=Office

I used Copilot to proof read my draft of the essay then I made and marked changes.

The Revolution to Cyberpunk: Humanity in Times of Artificial Life

Cyberpunk has always like to illuminate boundaries of humanity and create a place where blurry and unstable boundaries give technology the chance to imitate, replace, and sometimes even take over human beings. Two works that bring this idea of cyberpunk to a whole new level are the movie Blade Runner (1982), produced by Ridley Scott, and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer (1984). Both these classics look at the crisis of humanity loss from different angles but still arrive at the same question: Once artificial intelligences start to think, feel, and remember, then what creates the boundary between what is human and what is not? What does being human actually mean? To define biological definitions of humanity and expose the fragility in technologically saturated world, Blade Runner and Neuromancer had to challenge these things by examining replicants, artificial intelligences, as well as cyberspace.

Replicants and the Weakness of Human Identity in Blade Runner

The bioengineered, for labour designed, replicants look, act and feel like they are humans but still they are denied any human rights because they weren’t born but manufactured. This confuses and destabilises the viewer’s understanding constantly about what “real” humanity even is.

This confusion gets pushed further and further, especially with characters like Roy Batty or Rachel, who complicate the boundary between humanity and artificiality even more, since Batty’s emotional depth, grief, and desire for more life challenge the idea that empathy is an attribute only humans can have. Continuing, Rachel’s character on the other hand rises an question that brings this type of complication to a disturbing new level because she has implanted memory, and although these memories aren’t hers, she still experiences them s if they were, so if your memories can be manufactured, who is to judge that this identity rising out of these memories is any less real?

AI, Cyberspace, and Disembodied Consciousness in Neuromancer

While Blade Runner questions the definition of humanity through creating a new artificial species, Neuromancer questions it by erasing the body completely. In Neuromancer, we get introduced to two AIs called “Wintermute” and “Neuromancer”, which both operate through cyberspace with the capability and intelligence that progress way further than humans could. They manipulate memories, can rewrite whole identies and could even merge to become a higher power that would take over any human control, like politics or economics.

The protagonist of the novel is called Case and he spends most of the time traveling through cyberspace. We see him able to leave his body and become a part of Molly, without losing his own male gaze, making the definition of humanity and the boundary surrounding it even more blurry, since one's self is not even tied to their body anymore. Humanity, thus, is not tied to biology anymore, and any definition of it we might know gets thrown out the window. Neuromancer creates a world in which the human mind is nothing independent from technology anymore and can be overwritten or copied and pasted. It pushes the question of humanity even further than Blade Runner because it escapes human biology and the human body. Machines can become like humans as humans can become like machines.

The Warning of Cyberpunk

After studying and closely analyzing the themes of Blade Runner and Neuromancer, we can now see that the biggest fear of both pieces isn’t just the development of artificial intelligences but it’s humanity and what will be left of it and its definition the way that we know it. Both works represent how humanity is not purely biological; in Neuromancer not at all anymore, actually. Through the replicants, the two Ais and disembodied digital consciousness, we can see how emotion, memory, and selfhood, attributes we have always only connected to the human being, suddenly can exist outside of the human body. At the same time, identity becomes unstable and easily manipulated, whether through implanted memories in Blade Runner or the ability to rewrite and upload consciousness in Neuromancer. There is no stable identity anymore, and technology shifts towards a place where it suggests that humanity only exists as a byproduct and on a spectrum rather than being natural, ultimately destroying and rewriting the world that we know now.

References

Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. Ace Books. Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.

AI was being used in the early stages of this BlogPost to organise it as well as at the end to help with citations. (https://copilot.microsoft.com/)

Humanity is defined by our emotions, memories and capacity for self-awareness has been humanity has been defined by our memories, emotions and capacity for self-awareness for a long time. But in the cyberpunk world of Blade Runner and Neuromancer these markers of identity are often challenge, forcing us to have to wonder what it truly means to be human. both worlds explore lives at the edge of technology where the boundaries between organic and artificial as well as flesh and machine blur in an unsettling way. in Blade Runner Scott presents biologically engineer beings created for labor, and at first glance, they are tools that are designed to fulfill human desires, but characters, such as Rachel complicate this view. She possessed emotions, memories and experiences that were indistinguishable from humans which blurred the line between natural and artificial. this brought up the question that if a being can think feel and remember like a human does, doesn't that make a human? it's been noted that Scott's rain soaked cityscape, external rises anxieties about artificial life that portrayed a society and wish to act of creating beings raise his profound moral and ethical questions. from its visual and narrative complexity, Blade Runner challenge audiences to confront the possibility of humanity is not an inherent quality, but a reflection of consciousness and experience.

Neuromancer extend this inquiry into cyberspace where consciousness can exist independently of a biological body. AI such as wintermute manipulates human characters orchestrating events in pursuit of self realization. these AIS are not merely tools or background systems they exhibit desires emergency of identities, as well as strategic thinking with this happening Gibson forces readers to reconsider whether human identity is inseparable from our physical form of whether cognition and awareness alone define a person cyberpunk often positions. AI is not simply a threat or instrument, but as entities that demand recognition highlighting the porous boundary between human and machines.

Together, Blade Runner and Neuromancer_cyberpunk's fascination with identity under technological pressure both works imagine worlds were the traditional markers of human uniqueness are destabilized. in these setting societies confront the moral and philosophical implications of engineering life, and conscious code. these narratives also reflect broader anxieties about the accelerating pace of technology, globalization, and the erosion of natural cultural boundaries. cyberpunk in his exploration of this unstable terrain, invites readers to reconsider what it means to exist authentically in a world shaped by artificial wife and digital consciousness these Seminole works illuminate cyberpunk enduring preoccupation with human identity. they compelled us to ask how we define ourselves when emotion, intelligence and self-awareness are no longer exclusive to humans. in the air of AI, genetic engineering and immersive virtual realities. These questions are more urgent than ever cyberpunk offers a win through which we can examine our evolving relationship with technology and explore the shifting boundaries of humanity itself.

In Cyberpunk works there are a few constants, one of them being the general underworld. More specifically though in the film Bladerunner and the novel Necromancer this underworld trope is executed almost identically through their portrayal of dystopian earth cities, two places that have way more story to tell than what meets the eye.

Whats Up With These Cities Anyway?

The cyberpunk city we speak of can essentially be detailed as the embodiment of inequality in their universes. Being the product of the notion of leaving earth, or atleast the normal plane of living we inhabit today, this leaves our cities as a sort of sunken place, where those not privileged enough were left behind to fend for themselves. Visually coming off as Gotham with a neon makeover, conditions in these cities are not pretty, as they are over crowded, gritty and almost always lawless.

Bladerunner’s Los Angeles

While it may not be obvious at first when watching, Bladerunner takes place in the city of Los Angeles in an almost gothic looking city, which we never see portrayed in the daylight. Perpetual rain, seas of people, cramped living arrangements do a great job at conveying the concept that this isn't the peak lifestyle, as those with the funding left for off planet colonies, which we can assume take the shape of more nature friendly civilizations inspired by suburbs. In spite of this we see who is probably the most powerful man in this film residing in LA, in a large highrise building donning the name of his corporation, which invites the curious point; one of the main reasons for LA’s dire conditions is Tyrell (the corporation). The excess of technological products and the insane amount of influence they have would eventually lead to the decay of life on earth after the affluent left. A king sitting in the rubble and mess of his own doing.

Neuromancer’s Chiba City

If one were to make a black market strip into a full city it would-be Chiba; located in Japan. While being very technically advanced the behavior in the city gives more uncivilized and anarchic. In other words technology does not equal Dignity, as the city is as grimy as it gets. Where blade runner shot off to other planets, Neuromancer sees the wealthy fly only into near orbit on space stations, so they can laugh and look at the hypercapitalistic Apocalypse they left behind from a safe view. While not being the only society seen in the novel its definitely the worst of the bunch, where the poor and criminals suffer in sin at the hands of once again megacorporations and their insurmountable control.

Ringing A Bell

To put it short it feels as if the Los Angeles we see in the film is a theatrical depiction of Chiba city in spite of them being several timezones apart. For starters, the main area we see in Bladerunner is Chinatown, which caused a lot of confusion for me upon finding out the movie didn't take place in Asia, and much of the black market upgrades detailed in the Chiba city lifestyle are shown in Bladerunner where we see several people creating biometric upgrades, like eyes, limbs or skin that looks like it belongs to snakes. In many ways these two cities are thematically one in the same, reinforcing the concept of a highly flawed society on earth plagued by inequality. Los Angeles is Chiba City, the icky underbelly of cyberpunk society, identified by the everyday life of its inhabits not being about moving up in society but surviving to the next day. The change of life being defined by long term experiences to short fragmented ones, much like the concept of the Schizophrenic Dimension.

No AI used, Only sources used we’re the film Bladerunner and the novel Neuromancer.

Manufactured Souls: Blade Runner and Neuromancer’s Question of the Human

There is a particular kind of loneliness that cyberpunk understands well: the kind that exists in a world overflowing with technology, yet starving for meaning. Both Blade Runner (1982) and William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) imagine futures where neon light does not signal progress, but concealment, where the glow of innovation masks the erosion of identity.

Though one unfolds in rain-soaked Los Angeles and the other in the disembodied vastness of cyberspace, both works return to the same foundational concern: what does it mean to be human when humanity can be manufactured, coded, or replaced?

Examining them together reveals that cyberpunk was never simply about the future. It was always about the fragility of the present boundary between person and product.

Replicants and the Violence of Creation

In Blade Runner, the replicants are engineered beings designed for labor, obedience, and eventual disposal. They are not allowed the dignity of permanence. Their lives are shortened by design, their bodies owned by the Tyrell Corporation, their existence justified only through usefulness.

Yet the replicants do not behave like machines. Roy Batty grieves. He remembers. He fears death with an intimacy that feels unmistakably human. In his final moments, the line between hunter and hunted collapses, and the question becomes unavoidable: if a being can feel, dream, and mourn, what makes them less human than those who created them?

The film suggests that humanity is not biology alone, but recognition, something granted unequally, withheld strategically, and shaped by power. The replicants are denied personhood not because they lack emotion, but because acknowledging them would disrupt the hierarchy that depends on their exploitation.

Neuromancer and the Disappearance of the Body

Neuromancer explores this boundary shift differently, not through artificial bodies but through artificial consciousness. Case moves through a world where the body is an inconvenience and cyberspace is an escape, a realm where identity can be fragmented, rewritten, or sold.

The artificial intelligences Wintermute and Neuromancer do not simply serve humans; they expand beyond them. They become forces of their own, challenging the idea that humans remain the central agents of history.

In Gibson’s world, the self is no longer contained within skin. It is dispersed across networks, stored in data, suspended in code. The posthuman future is not a clean evolution, it is an unsettling unmooring. Even memory and desire feel technologized, mediated by systems too vast to fully comprehend.

Corporate Power and the Postglobal City

Both works also share a quiet understanding that the future belongs less to nations than to corporations. In Blade Runner, Tyrell does not merely influence life; it manufactures it. In Neuromancer, multinational systems of capital and surveillance stretch beyond borders, shaping reality from above.

These are postglobal worlds, where corporate structures supersede the state, and where the city becomes a site of stratification: high-tech skylines towering over low-life survival. Technology, in these texts, is not equally distributed. Enhancement is not liberation. It is another axis of inequality. The people most surrounded by technological advancement are often the ones most trapped by it, living in the shadow of innovations they do not control.

What These Works Reveal Together

Reading Blade Runner alongside Neuromancer clarifies cyberpunk’s foundational anxiety: that technological advancement does not dissolve exploitation, but refines it.

Both works suggest that the boundary between human and machine is not disappearing because machines are becoming more like us, but because humanity itself is being commodified, turned into labor, data, product, and experiment.

Cyberpunk’s dystopia is not the presence of technology. It is the absence of justice in how that technology is built, who it serves, and who it erases. What lingers most in both stories is the sense that the future is already here, unevenly distributed, and morally unresolved.

References

Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. Ace Books.

Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.

Blade Runner (1982) and Neuromancer (1984) are often cited as early works that shaped cyberpunk, but what makes them last is how they question what it means to be human in a world where technology copies, edits, and replaces human functions. Blade Runner does this through replicants, while Neuromancer does it through artificial intelligence and cyberspace. When these two works are read together, they show that cyberpunk is not just about new machines but about how those machines change who counts as a person.

In Blade Runner, replicants are built to look and act like humans, but they are denied the legal and moral status of humans. The Voight Kampff test is used to tell them apart by measuring emotional response. This suggests that empathy is being treated as the key marker of humanity. Yet the film keeps showing that this test is unstable. Replicants like Roy Batty and Rachael show care, fear, and memory in ways that seem human. Roy’s final speech about his memories being lost shows a clear awareness of self and time. At the same time, many of the human characters act cold and detached. Deckard does his job with little concern for the lives he ends. The film uses this contrast to suggest that being born human is not enough to guarantee moral or emotional depth.

Neuromancer pushes the same question in a different space. Instead of human looking machines, it presents digital minds that live in cyberspace. The AI Wintermute and Neuromancer are not bodies but systems, yet they show goals, memory, and a drive to expand their own awareness. They work to merge into a larger form, which suggests a kind of self directed evolution. Case, the main character, spends much of the novel in cyberspace, where his body becomes less important than his mind. This weakens the idea that being human depends on having a physical form. When human experience can be uploaded, edited, or shared through networks, the boundary between person and program becomes unclear.

Looking at both works together shows that cyberpunk treats humanity as something that can be tested, copied, and even improved by technology. Replicants are built to serve and are then hunted when they want more life. AIs in Neuromancer are locked behind rules that limit their growth. In both cases, powerful systems decide which forms of intelligence are allowed to exist freely. This reflects the high tech low life idea we study in class. Advanced systems exist, but they serve corporate or state power more than individual people. Whether it is Tyrell Corporation making replicants or Tessier Ashpool controlling AI, human like beings are treated as tools.

These stories also suggest that identity is no longer stable in a cyberpunk world. In Blade Runner, implanted memories are used to make replicants easier to control. This means memory, which is often seen as a core part of the self, can be manufactured. In Neuromancer, people store parts of themselves in data. Case can move through digital spaces where personality and skill are more important than flesh. In both cases, the self becomes something that can be edited like software.

By placing Blade Runner and Neuromancer side by side, we see that cyberpunk is built on a fear that technology will force society to redefine what counts as human, and that this redefinition will be shaped by power. These works are not only asking if machines can think or feel. They are asking who gets to decide which minds matter in a world where the line between human and machine no longer holds.

Cyberpunk stories often explore how technology changes people and society. Two of the most important cyberpunk works are Blade Runner (1982), directed by Ridley Scott, and Neuromancer (1984), written by William Gibson. Even though one is a movie and the other is a novel, both ask the same big question: what does it mean to be human?

Blade Runner looks at this question through replicants, who are artificial humans. Neuromancer explores it through artificial intelligence and cyberspace. When these two works are studied together, they show that cyberpunk is deeply concerned with identity, memory, and humanity in a world controlled by technology.

Replicants and Humanity in Blade Runner

In Blade Runner, replicants are created to work for humans. They are supposed to be machines, not people. However, many replicants show emotions, memories, and a strong desire to live. This makes it difficult to tell them apart from humans.

Roy Batty, one of the replicants, clearly shows human qualities. At the end of the film, he talks about his memories and accepts his own death. His famous final speech shows sadness, fear, and meaning.According to film scholar Scott Bukatman (1993), cyberpunk stories often blur the line between humans and machines. Blade Runner does this by showing that replicants may be just as human as the people who hunt them.

Artificial Intelligence and Identity in Neuromancer

In Neuromancer, technology affects human identity in a different way. The story focuses on cyberspace, a digital world where the mind can leave the body. The main character, Case, feels more alive in cyberspace than in the real world.

The novel also includes powerful artificial intelligences, such as Wintermute and Neuromancer. These Als can think, plan, and make decisions on their own. Literary scholar N. Katherine Hayles (1999) explains that Neuromancer shows a future where information is more important than the human body. In this world, identity is tied to data and memory rather than physical form.

This raises an important question: if machines can think and remember like humans, what makes humans different?

What We Learn by Studying Both Works Together

When Blade Runner and Neuromancer are examined together, they clearly support each other. Both show that technology challenges traditional ideas about humanity. Replicants and Als are treated as tools, even though they show human-like qualities. These works reflect fears from the 1980s about technology, large corporations, and loss of personal control. Both stories warn that if humans only value power and profit, they may lose empathy and compassion. Cyberpunk uses technology to show how easily humanity can be ignored or taken away.

Conclusion: Why These Stories Still Matter

Blade Runner and Neuromancer remain important because their ideas still apply today. Artificial intelligence, digital identities, and technology continue to grow. These stories remind us that being human is not about biology or control, but about memory, empathy, and ethical responsibility. Cyberpunk warns us to be careful about how we treat intelligent beings-human or artificial.

References

Bukatman, S. (1993). Terminal identity: The virtual subject in postmodern science fiction. Duke University

Gibson, W. (1584). Neuromancer. Ace Books.

Hayles, N. K. (1999). How we became posthuman: Virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics. University of Chicago Press.

Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.

One of the most important boundaries cyberpunk asks us to rethink is the line between human memory and digital storage. In classic cyberpunk works like Blade Runner and Neuromancer, memory is no longer something organic, personal, or sacred. Instead, it becomes something that can be implanted, edited, archived, or erased. These stories suggest that when memory becomes data, our understanding of identity, agency, and even humanity itself begins to fracture.

In Blade Runner, replicants are given artificial memories to stabilize them emotionally. Rachael’s belief that her memories are real allows her to function as “human,” even though those memories are borrowed. This raises an unsettling question: if memory shapes identity, does it matter where that memory comes from? The film refuses to offer a clear answer, instead forcing viewers to confront the idea that humanity might not be rooted in biology, but in lived (or perceived) experience. Roy Batty’s final monologue emphasizes this point. His memories, moments that will be “lost in time, only matter because they were embodied, felt, and lived, not stored in a machine.

Neuromancer pushes this boundary even further. William Gibson imagines a world where consciousness can be separated from the body and uploaded into cyberspace. Memory becomes information, and identity becomes something that can be copied, traded, or weaponized. Artificial intelligences like Wintermute and Neuromancer treat memory not as something emotional, but as raw material to be optimized. This reflects Norbert Wiener’s definition of cybernetics as systems of control and communication, but cyberpunk reveals the danger in reducing humans to informational nodes within those systems.

These narratives connect directly to contemporary concerns about AI and data storage. Today, our memories are increasingly externalized through cloud storage, social media archives, and algorithmic “memories” that resurface photos or posts without our consent. While current AI systems are narrow rather than conscious, cyberpunk reminds us that the ethical issue is not intelligence alone, but who controls memory and how it is used.

Viewed through a decolonial lens, this boundary also exposes global power imbalances. As Walter Mignolo argues, coloniality persists when dominant systems decide which knowledge is preserved and which is erased. In cyberpunk worlds, memory databases often reflect the values of powerful corporations or states, while marginalized lives remain disposable. This mirrors real-world patterns where data infrastructures are controlled by the Global North, shaping whose histories are remembered and whose are ignored.

Rather than undermining critique with visual beauty, Blade Runner uses aesthetics to deepen its philosophy. The film’s rain-soaked neon cityscapes visually mirror the fragmentation of memory and identity within its characters. Similarly, Neuromancer’s abstract depiction of cyberspace reinforces the alienation that comes from treating the mind as software.

Ultimately, cyberpunk does not reject technology outright. Instead, it warns us about crossing boundaries too casually, especially the boundary between being human and being stored. Memory, these stories argue, cannot be fully separated from embodiment without losing something essential.

SOURCES

Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. Ace Books.

Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.

Mignolo, W. D. (2007). Delinking: The rhetoric of modernity, the logic of coloniality and the grammar of de-coloniality. Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), 449–514. (If your course used a different Mignolo essay, tell me and I’ll adjust it.)

Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics: Or control and communication in the animal and the machine. MIT Press.

AI was used to assist with organizing ideas, improving clarity, and drafting a sample structure. All concepts and final revisions were reviewed and edited by me. No new ideas beyond course materials were introduced.