Cyberpunk, the Postglobal and the Posthuman

Cyberpunk fiction has always imagined a world where corporations replace governments as the dominant power in society. In these stories, companies don’t just sell products, they control survival itself. Among all industries, pharmaceutical corporations stand out as the most unsettling example of this idea, because they operate at the intersection of profit, life, and bodily autonomy. When the thing keeping you alive is owned by someone trying to maximize profit, the line between science fiction and reality begins to blur. What once felt like an exaggerated warning now feels increasingly plausible. In fact, many of the core themes of cyberpunk are already visible in today’s pharmaceutical industry.

One of the clearest parallels is access as a weapon. In cyberpunk worlds, life-saving drugs and enhancements are reserved for those who can afford them. This is no longer purely fictional. In the United States and beyond, insulin prices have skyrocketed, cancer treatments can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and some essential medications are removed from the market simply because they are not profitable enough. Research on drug pricing and access shows how pharmaceutical systems can restrict availability of essential medicines and reinforce inequality. Survival, in these cases, becomes conditional, not on medical need, but on economic status.

Closely tied to this is the idea of the body as a commodity. Cyberpunk frequently explores the unsettling concept that people no longer fully own their own bodies. Instead, biology becomes something controlled through corporate systems: enhancements that require payment or treatments that can be withheld. In reality, this is reflected in pharmaceutical patents, genetic ownership, and the commercialization of biomedical innovation. Scholars examining biotechnology and ethics highlight how ownership of genetic material and treatments raises serious concerns about autonomy. These developments suggest that the cyberpunk idea of “renting your own body” may not be far-fetched.

Another disturbing connection is regulatory capture. In cyberpunk fiction, corporations effectively become the regulators, shaping the rules that are supposed to limit them. While we are not fully at that point, there are clear warning signs. Agencies like the FDA are often criticized for being influenced by the industries they regulate through lobbying and institutional ties. Research into pharmaceutical governance shows how these relationships can shape policy and regulatory decisions. These barriers make it difficult for smaller competitors to enter the market, reinforcing the dominance of large corporations.

Cyberpunk also frequently depicts experimentation on vulnerable populations, and this too has real-world parallels. History provides clear examples, such as the Tuskegee syphilis study, as well as ongoing concerns about clinical trials conducted in developing countries where regulations may be weaker. In these cases, the people who bear the greatest risks are often those with the least power, a pattern that mirrors the exploitative systems seen in cyberpunk narratives. Perhaps the most direct example of cyberpunk becoming reality is addiction as a business model. The opioid crisis, driven in large part by Purdue Pharma, demonstrates how a corporation can knowingly create dependency while continuing to profit. This scenario feels almost identical to a cyberpunk plot, where the line between healer and dealer disappears entirely. The company responsible for treating pain becomes the same entity that profits from prolonged suffering. All of these trends lead to the most unsettling parallel of all: pay-to-survive healthcare. In cyberpunk worlds, basic health is not a right—it is a service you must continuously pay for. Today, we see echoes of this in people rationing insulin, relying on crowdfunding for medical treatments, or being denied care by insurance systems. Survival is no longer guaranteed; it is negotiated. Because of these patterns, it is difficult to argue that cyberpunk is merely exaggeration. Instead, it functions as a warning, one that we are increasingly failing to heed. The pharmaceutical industry demonstrates how corporate power can extend into the most fundamental aspects of human life. When profit incentives are tied directly to survival, the risk of exploitation becomes unavoidable.

That said, we are not fully living in a cyberpunk dystopia—yet. Regulatory systems still exist, public awareness continues to grow, and global differences in healthcare models show that alternative approaches are possible. However, these safeguards are constantly under pressure, and their effectiveness depends on continued public scrutiny and political action. Ultimately, cyberpunk is not just predicting the future, it is reflecting patterns already present in our world. The question is no longer whether we are moving toward a cyberpunk reality, but how far we are willing to let that transformation go. If access to life itself continues to be shaped by corporate profit, then the dystopian worlds imagined in fiction may not be fiction for much longer.

Who Owns Our Food?

When we talk about corporate power, most people think about tech companies or social media, not agriculture. But one of the most important forms of control today is also food, through seeds. Some corporations have a big influence over what farmers can grow and how food is produced, mainly through patents on genetically modified seeds. This kind of control over the foundation of the food system can raise questions that feel very close to cyberpunk worlds, where corporations sell and plant products and also decide who gets to profit from it.

Real-World Example

Monsanto, which is currently owned by Bayer, is one of the most well-known examples of this. The company became controversial for developing genetically modified seeds that are patented, which means that farmers cannot legally save and reuse seeds from their own crops (Howard, 2009). Because of that, they often have to buy new seeds every season, which makes them less independent. This control over food production starts to feel similar to the corporations we see in cyberpunk worlds. Powerful companies sell products but above all also control entire systems. Looking at corporations in Blade Runner and Neuromancer, companies such as the Tyrell Corporation or Tessier-Ashpool also control and determine life, whether through artificial humans or genetic engineering. Patented seeds can be seen as a real-world version of this, since biological life is turned into something that can be owned and controlled. Just like replicants in Blade Runner, it makes me wonder to what extent we can morally accept these changes, because the issue is not only about humans, but also about something as essential as food.

Are we becoming cyberpunk?

However, I do not think we are fully living in a cyberpunk world yet, but we are definitely moving in that direction. According to Clapp (2014), large multinational corporations have a serious influence over markets, regulatory policies, and essential systems like food production. We cannot forget though, that governments and public criticism still provide some limits. These limits might not always be strong enough.

This issue is also not experienced the same way everywhere. In the United States, genetically modified crops and seed patents are more widely accepted and used. In contrast, countries in the European Union, for example, tend to have stricter rules on genetically modified organisms. It is often seen as more skeptical toward corporate control over food systems, which leads to stronger restrictions. This shows that the system can depend on political decisions, cultural attitudes, and regulation. At the same time, global companies like Bayer still operate widely, which makes it difficult for any single country to fully control their influence.

Conclusion

What makes this issue dangerous is how it becomes normal while we are not noticing it. The control over seeds does not look as dramatic as the worlds of cyberpunk, but it raises similar questions about power, ownership, and dependence. If food can become part of a system determined by profit and control, then the line between fiction and reality is not really as clear as it seems. So the main problem is how much control we are willing to accept before we start to notice it.

References

Clapp, J. (2021). The problem with growing concentration and power in the global food system. Nature Food, 2–2, 404–408. https://uwaterloo.ca/scholar/sites/ca.scholar/files/jclapp/files/corporate_power_in_the_food_system_for_archive.pdf

Howard, P. (2009). Visualizing Consolidation in the Global Seed Industry: 1996–2008. Sustainability, 1(4), 1266–1287. https://doi.org/10.3390/su1041266

AI was used at the beginning to help gather ideas of what examples to use.