John Brunner's 1975 novel, “The
Shockwave Runner,” may be the first of the “cyberpunk”
settings, though William Gibson's “Neuromancer” (1984) is more
recognized for popularizing the genre. The cyberpunk sci-fi genre
involves hackers that have rebelled against giant corporations that
control, among other things, the information of the internet.
Recently, it has become known that Google plans to rank websites
based on factual content (and we're leaving it to them to determine
truth?) Though this might seem like a convenience—it is already
difficult to find exactly what you're looking for without sifting
through unrelated websites—what standards will be used for
determining truth? Will this affect searches regarding religion? What
about political discussion, can the sorting of “truth” be done
without any bias? This is a very slippery slope, and the freedom of
information we have on the internet is in serious jeopardy. Already,
certain governments in the world have strict control over what their
citizens are allowed to access on the internet—are we to follow the
same path? A responsibility here, a personal judgment there, our
freedoms are being eroded away slowly by technology and those behind
its implementation.
As seven alien races struggle to co-exist in an uneasy alliance, the Inter-Stellar Union sends Union Guard agents on missions to preserve the crucial balance. These specialized operatives must do what regional security cannot, dealing with smugglers, pirates, terrorists, and even greater challenges in order to bring stability to a universe that needs it desperately. Without the Union Guard, the races will not be prepared to face a looming alien threat they can only hope to defeat together.
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