Welcome to Mona Lisa Overpod, the show that asks the question "What is cyberpunk?" On each episode, hosts Ka1iban and author Lyda Morehouse dive into the genre that helped define sci-fi fiction in '80s and they break down its themes which remain relevant to our lives in the 21st century. Pull on your mirrorshades, jack into the matrix, and start your run with us today!

Western literature and film don't possess a monopoly on cyberpunk fiction and, indeed, Japanese writers, filmmakers, and animators have been producing seminal cyberpunk works since the movement's beginning. Chief among them perhaps is Psycho-Pass: an anime series that depicts a future world that is part police-procedural and part Orwellian panoptic dystopia. The criminality of citizens is determined by their psycho-pass...and becoming too criminal, too insane, or too unhappy marks you for punishment or death via the state's licensed enforcers. a fiction that is chillingly real for many in our own society.

In this episode, we discuss the sharp criticism of policing that Psycho-Pass presents, the common nuances between Western and Japanese dystopias, the "on-paper" benefits of their world, state-sanctioned murder, the way the series reflects our real-life attitudes towards the mentally ill, how the system radicalizes criminals, and the way the media manipulates us to support the status quo. We also talk about otaku vs. anoraks, kawaii vs. kowaii, ending every case with a mop and bucket, mood ring guns, Orwell vs. Huxley, stop and vibecheck, supermurder, Ball strings, edging the apocalypse, George Orwell's Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and a weird Warhammer 40K tangent!

Gutenberg made us all cyborgs!

Pre-order the new edition of Lyda's book, Ressurection Code, available Oct. 3rd!
https://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/books-by-lyda-morehouse/resurrection-code/

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