Cyberpunk, the Postglobal and the Posthuman

One of the main characteristics of societies in cyberpunk stories is that corporations are more powerful than the government. They control the world and the people based on their most important goal: profit. In these stories, money matters more than human lives, which is something to be scared of. The worst thing about that is to notice the similarities with real life. Nowadays, big technology companies have great power over individuals. Because they have access to massive amounts of data - such as what people browse, their location, what they buy - they can influence people’s decisions without them even noticing. This is clearly a form of control, and it brings us close to those societies we are so scared about – at least I am - from Cyberpunk stories.

What is really happening?

To make this clear, let’s bring some theory to the discussion. Shoshana Zuboff – American author and professor at Harvard Business School – created the term Surveillance Capitalism to explain how the control by big companies is established. It describes how companies collect people’s data and use it to: 1. Predict what they will do and 2. Influence their decisions. Zuboff explains that companies like Google and Facebook make money by collecting and using personal data (Zuboff, 2019), which means that instead of selling products, companies sell information about people.

The Cambridge Analytica Scandal

In the 2010s, Facebook was involved in the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, where millions of users had their personal data collected without their consent to create highly targeted political messages for campaigns during the 2016 election (Kozlowska, 2018). This episode exemplifies how corporations sell and use people’s data to influence their decisions and thoughts. It shows how powerful corporations have become in our society and how they can influence democratic processes, such as the elections. Additionally, the fact that a company can affect political outcomes like that challenges the government authority.

Are we heading toward Cyberpunk Societies?

Another perspective we can discuss about this situation is how most people are not aware about how much influence corporations have in our society. The truth is, many users put their personal information on websites, without even understanding the effect this can have. People make themselves vulnerable to manipulation simply by completing a survey or a questionnaire. Honestly, it’s like these big corporations see people as sources of data that can be used for profit or strategic purposes. And isn’t this the key idea in cyberpunk stories? Where people are treated less like individuals with their own identities and lives, but more like participants of a greater system of power and control moved by profit. I hate to admit it, but these societies are not fully fictional anymore.

The Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner

The movie Blade Runner illustrates this situation really well. The Tyrell Corporation creates replicants and uses them to obtain profit, without even considering their humanity or rights. Similarly, Facebook uses people’s data as a resource, which suggests a priority of interests related to profit, rather than people’s rights of privacy, autonomy, and even society’s democracy. Thus, in both situations – fictional and real-life – individuals are treated as tools within a larger system controlled by a powerful corporation, indicating that our society is heading toward cyberpunk’s corporate dominance.

A Globalized Issue

The growth of corporate dominance is not just a problem in the United States. It is true that American companies tend to have more freedom and can operate within less strict rules, but other countries have been dealing with this situation as well. Countries in Europe, for example, have really strict laws about privacy to try to limit how corporations use personal data. Meanwhile, in China, corporate control is tied to the government, which means companies don’t have that much freedom to act. Therefore, even though corporate control and power is dealt differently across countries, it is noticeable that it’s a global issue enabled by technology and globalization. Because of that, it is extremely important to discuss about this in news, media, and in classes, so people are not oblivious to how their personal information is being used and how vulnerable their privacy is in a world moved, and perhaps controlled, by technology and profit.

Sources

Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. PublicAffairs.

Kozlowska, I. (2018). Facebook and data privacy in the age of Cambridge Analytica. University of Washington. https://jsis.washington.edu/news/facebook-data-privacy-age-cambridge-analytica/

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

Cyberpunk has always asked a disturbing question: what happens when corporations become so powerful that they begin functioning like governments, but without the accountability of governments? In fiction, corporations like Tyrell in Blade Runner and Tessier-Ashpool SA in Neuromancer control technology, labor, and even human life. Similarly, in S. B. Divya’s Machinehood, corporations profit from systems that push workers to their physical and mental limits while treating them as expendable. While these worlds may seem exaggerated, real-world corporations especially Amazon, show that these concerns are not purely fictional.

Amazon’s scale alone reflects a level of influence that resembles cyberpunk megacorporations. According to its 2024 annual report, Amazon generated $638 billion in net sales, with Amazon Web Services (AWS) contributing over $107 billion, positioning the company not just as a retailer but as a major piece of global digital infrastructure (Amazon, 2025). This matters because AWS supports governments, businesses, and online systems worldwide. When a corporation controls both commerce and infrastructure, its power begins to extend beyond traditional business influence into something more systemic. Similar to the corporations in cyberpunk that shape everyday life itself.

However, the strongest cyberpunk parallel lies in labor practices. A 2024 investigation by the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee found that Amazon warehouse workers experienced injury rates over 30% higher than the industry average, largely due to intense productivity quotas and algorithmic management systems (U.S. Senate HELP Committee, 2024). These findings suggest that workers are often treated as units of efficiency rather than individuals with physical limits. This mirrors Machinehood, where corporations design systems that extract maximum output from workers regardless of long-term consequences. While Amazon does not literally require performance-enhancing drugs, the pressure to maintain productivity at all costs reflects a similar mindset: the body becomes secondary to output.

Environmental practices also reinforce the cyberpunk comparison. Amazon’s 2024 Sustainability Report states that while the company reduced its carbon intensity by 4%, its total carbon emissions still increased by 6% due to continued growth (Amazon, 2024). This contradiction highlights a common corporate pattern, as efficiency improves expanding environmental impact is paired with it. Cyberpunk fiction frequently portrays corporations presenting themselves as innovative and forward-thinking while contributing to environmental degradation in the background. Amazon’s own data reflects this tension between sustainability messaging and the realities of scale.

So, are we actually heading toward cyberpunk-style corporate dominance? In some ways, yes but not entirely. Cyberpunk should be understood less as a literal prediction and more as an exaggerated critique that helps us recognize real-world trends. Governments still regulate corporations, and democratic systems still exist. However, corporations like Amazon have gained enough influence to shape labor conditions, technological infrastructure, and environmental outcomes in ways that feel comparable to the early stages of cyberpunk worlds.

This issue is not entirely global in the same way. The United States tends to allow larger concentrations of corporate power compared to other regions. For example, the European Union has taken a more aggressive regulatory approach by labeling companies like Amazon as “gatekeepers” under the Digital Markets Act, recognizing their control over digital markets (European Commission, 2023). This suggests that corporate dominance is not inevitable but is influenced by political and cultural choices about regulation.

There are also real-world checks on corporate power. California’s warehouse quota law (AB 701) limits the use of productivity quotas that interfere with worker safety and basic rights, and in 2024, regulators fined Amazon nearly $6 million under this law (California Department of Industrial Relations, 2024). These actions show that intervention is possible. However, they also highlight an important point: regulation often comes after harm has already occurred, rather than preventing it from happening in the first place.

This is where cyberpunk plays an important role. It is not just entertainment, it is a warning. Cyberpunk encourages us to question systems that prioritize efficiency over humanity, growth over sustainability, and profit over well-being. It pushes us to recognize when corporations begin to act less like businesses and more like governing forces in society.

Amazon is not a cyberpunk megacorporation in the literal sense. But it reflects many of the same patterns: massive influence, reliance on human labor as a resource, and the ability to shape everyday life on a global scale. Cyberpunk remains relevant because it reveals what can happen when these patterns go unchecked. Whether that future becomes reality depends not just on corporations, but on how society chooses to respond.

AI Statement

I used AI as a support tool to help organize my ideas, refine the structure of my blog post, and ensure clarity in my writing.

References

Amazon. (2024). Amazon Sustainability Report 2024. https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/2024-report

Amazon. (2025). Amazon 2024 Annual Report. https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/2025/ar/Amazon-2024-Annual-Report.pdf

California Department of Industrial Relations. (2024). Warehouse quotas (AB 701). https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_warehousequotas.htm

European Commission. (2023). Digital Markets Act: Gatekeepers. https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/gatekeepers-portal_en

U.S. Senate HELP Committee. (2024). The Amazon investigation report. https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/amazon_investigation.pdf

image: A representation of corporate power and data surveillance!

Cyberpunk vs Reality

Cyberpunk literature has long imagined a future where corporations dominate, often surpassing governments and viewing human lives as disposable. These fictional organizations, like Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner and Tessier-Ashpool SA in Neuromancer, control technology, prioritize profit, and shirk responsibility. Although these stories may seem exaggerated, many modern companies behave in ways that closely resemble these dystopian visions, especially in areas such as gig economy labor practices, pharmaceutical pricing, and surveillance capitalism.

Hacking the Mind, Not the Body: Surveillance Capitalism

The way internet corporations gather and utilize personal data is one such example. These days, businesses collect a lot of personal data and use it to target advertisements and forecast behavior. This concept relates to the topic of "hacking the body vs. hacking the mind" that we covered in class. Hacking in cyberpunk is about manipulating people, not just systems. In the real world, businesses don't hack our bodies, but they do have an impact on our beliefs, purchases, and ways of thinking. This system, which turns human behavior into a resource for businesses, is frequently referred to as surveillance capitalism (Axios, 2019). That makes me think of cyberpunk settings where individuals are continuously seen and impacted.

Identity and Privacy Loss in the Digital Age

Additionally, there is concrete proof of the effectiveness of this data collection. According to a Federal Trade Commission investigation, big social media corporations gathered a lot of user data and shared it with outside parties, often without the consumers' knowledge (The Guardian, 2024). This relates to the loss of identity and privacy, another cyberpunk concept we discussed. People lose control over their own knowledge in such scenarios, and a less severe version of that is happening now.

Government Power vs. Corporate Power

The notion of businesses taking the place of established power institutions is another link to our class. In cyberpunk, businesses dominate most of the choices, and governments are powerless. Companies still have a lot of power, even though it isn't entirely true nowadays. They can influence laws and policies through economic power and lobbying. This gives the impression that the distinction between corporate and governmental authority is becoming increasingly hazy.

The Value of Human Labor and the Gig Economy

The gig economy is related to the previous class information on the worth of people in cyberpunk settings. People are viewed as disposable and only useful for what they can provide in many stories. These days, gig workers for businesses like DoorDash and Uber frequently lack benefits and job stability, which makes them feel the same way. Employees are crucial, but they can be readily replaced. The concept of humans being reduced to their utility is reflected in cyberpunk.

Cyberpunk as a Caution, not a Prediction

I don't believe that our culture is entirely cyberpunk. This relates to another topic covered in class: cyberpunk is frequently a critique rather than a forecast. These tales exaggerate real problems. Governments still have authority and can control businesses in the real world. For instance, various nations have different laws governing corporate control and data protection, demonstrating that businesses do not have total authority.

Views from Around the World on Corporate Power

This is not only an American problem; it is a global one as well. While governments are more stringent in certain nations, companies have greater flexibility in others. This demonstrates how the system determines how companies and power interact, a topic we have also discussed in class while comparing various civilizations.

Conclusion: What should we do next?

In my view, cyberpunk serves as a warning about what may happen if corporate power is abused. Although we are not quite there yet, there are early indications, particularly in the areas of corporate influence, labor practices, and data gathering. The way people react is what counts. We can keep things from being as bad as cyberpunk fiction if we remain conscious and keep challenging these structures.

Sources

Axios. (2019). The new data capitalism. https://www.axios.com/2019/06/25/personal-data-big-tech-companies-privacy-capitalism The Guardian. (2024). Social media firms engaged in vast surveillance, FTC finds. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/19/social-media-companies-surveillance-ftc

OpenAI. (2026). Digital eye with data overlay representing surveillance and personal data tracking [AI-generated image]. ChatGPT.

AI Attestation: I improved the organization of my work and create title image with the use of AI. Based on what I learnt in the course, the thoughts and connections to the course material are my own.