The aesthetics of solarpunk, cyberpunk and steampunk are often juxtaposed, the first taking on organic motifs (from Art Nouveau to today’s environmental movement), the second saturated in a dystopian mix of ‘low life and high tech’.

When it comes to the look of the first of these, there is the question of whether solarpunk is more than just a yogurt commercial – as in the video Dear Alice, which is part of a series of animated commercials for the yoghurt brand Chobani:

Dear Alice visualizes core elements of sustainable cities and the solarpunk genre. We can see humans, technology, and nature more or less in harmony. There is not an exhaust pipe or smog cloud in sight and people have a much healthier relationship with the nature that surrounds them. All with the core ethos of ensuring future generations can enjoy everything just as you are, if not more.

This short video does indeed provide a handy short guide to SolarPunk – and, again, should it matter that “a beguiling short cartoon about a solar-punk eco-techno paradise” comes from a commercial yoghurt company?

For a depiction of the other aesthetic, we have something quite extraordinary, in the 1982 movie about the year 2019: that is, Blade Runner as cyberpunk, depicting “a near-future urban dystopia where science and technology have progressed to a dangerous level, alongside terrible environmental degradation and societal collapse”. 

But maybe the philosophical questions thrown up by Blade Runner provide for a more provocative springboard into how we see our near future. One question has to be whether we are living in a Blade Runner world:

As for the devastating effects of pollution and climate change evident in Blade Runner, as well as its 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049, “the environmental collapse the film so vividly depicts is not too far off from where we are today,” says science-fiction writer and software developer Matthew Kressel, pointing to the infamous 2013 picture of the Beijing smog that looks like a cut frame from the film.

As in Kressel’s comment, Beijing has been a frequent reference point when discussing Blade Runner’s metropolis – and that’s where award-winning science-fiction author Mary Robinette Kowal has just returned from. Is the question of whether Blade Runner in 1982 correctly predicted the world of 2019 even a valid one, though? Is it science fiction’s job to be predictive, or to just entertain? Or, perhaps, something more?

Kowal says she is less interested in the genre’s literally predictive qualities than in the opportunities it offers as “a playground for thought experiments. It allows us to tip our world to the side and look at the interconnected tissues and then draw logical chains of causality into the future. The best SF remains relevant, not because of the technology in it, but because of the questions it forces us to ask. Blade Runner, for instance, is asking about the morality of creating sentient life for the purpose of enslaving it.”

Trota agrees science fiction’s real potency lies in the wider philosophical issues it explores. “It can often be about the future, it can be ‘predictive’ but those predictions are also very much reflective of our grappling with present day issues, as well as our past. If there’s any ‘job’ that science fiction – and fantasy – has, to paraphrase authors Ijeoma Oluo and NK Jemisin, it’s to help us imagine entirely new ways of being, to move beyond reflexively recreating our past so we can envision other ways of living outside the systems, oppressions, and societal defaults we’ve internalised and normalised.”

The final question, then, has to be: Solarpunk or Cyberpunk: Which genre do you like more?:

Solarpunk and Cyberpunk are very different genres, with opposing visions of the future of technology. Solarpunk is an optimistic, idealistic vision of a mostly-bright future, while Cyberpunk is a much more cynical, borderline sinister vision of a dark path humanity could go down. I always think of Star Trek or Interstellar and Blade Runner when it comes to movies/shows that embody these genres, and Starfield and Cyberpunk 2077 when it comes to Solarpunk and Cyberpunk games.

To me, Cyberpunk is just more interesting to engage with, and poses more interesting questions about our own future. A world that has become diseased by technology, the enormous separation of the poor and rich, morally grey areas that allow for complex stories, and complicated characters that embody humanity in an oppressive future are all hallmarks of this genre. 

As much as I hope for a more Solarpunk reality, and always love an optimistic approach to sci-fi when it’s done right, the Cyberpunk genre offers more room for intrigue and nuance and commentary on the direction of our society. 

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