Cyberpunk vs Steampunk

Everywhere I turn lately, I feel like I'm encountering steampunk books. With the rise in steampunk popularity with their gears and their clocks and their steam, I've decided to write a little post about the major differences between cyberpunk and steampunk.

My upcoming novel Vices is very cyberpunk, complete with the neon, laser machetes and nano-bots that can destroy your brain from the inside out. In the meantime, I'm hoping to shed a little light on the lesser-known genre that I love so much.


You have have heard these two terms thrown around and thought that they're pretty similar in style, both being punk and all, when in fact they're too very different ideas or concepts of futuristic society.

Cyberpunk is the concept of a society revolving heavily around technology. It's not just in the everyday household items, it's even in the people. Known for its abundance of technology and cybernetics, you could say that it gets its name from the idea of total and complete technological control.
I know what you're thinking-- The Matrix, right? Well, that's actually spot on. For another, likely better visual, relate to Blade Runner, which is a perfect visual representation of cyberpunk.
Cyberpunk often uses the popular man vs. society theme in many books, movies, role-playing, etc., and since the world in which cyberpunk thrives always has evil mega-corporations, there are plenty of opportunities for our gritty heroes and heroines to fight the system. This genre is heavily based on government corruption, usually because of the technological advances that the society before it have made.
In cyberpunk, we rely heavily on cybernetics, artificial intelligence, cyborgs, prosthetics, extreme body-modification, heavy artillery, and neon everything.
Yes, never forget, every day is like an evening in downtown Tokyo with neon signs shining, talking billboards, and more advertising than you ever thought possible.

Steampunk is an entirely difference concept of futuristic society. Based heavily on 19th century British Victorian dress and style, but also mixed with automation. People can often be seen in Victorian-style dresses, bodices, goggles, suits, vests, and of course, the trademark steampunk pocket watch. People use gears and clocks as part of their dress.
Steam power has become mainstream again and plays a giant role in day-to-day life.
To shamelessly quote wiki: Steampunk perhaps most recognisably features anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, and is likewise rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. 
If you play videogames, Bioshock Infinite is a perfect visual representation of steampunk.
Steampunk atmospheres heavily rely on the relationship between form and function, which basically means that something has to look as equally beautiful as it is effective. A wrench is not simply just a wrench, it must also be a work of art.


 So, ladies and gentlemen, pick your poison.