Culture
He's a man of caliber. Yes - a .32. -- Naked Lunch
Cybersphere is a culture of natural selection. Survival is the style of the day, and violence is in vogue. The tastes of the masses are fickle and change from moment to moment, as fads bloom and fade in a Darwinian attempt for attention. Mass media, simsense, the matrix, and Tri-V blend into a seamless and primordial soup of information where ideas collide and are absorbed by faceless audiences.
Contents
The Matrix
This networked hallucination is what the antique Internet has become-- its brain-direct imagery is fast, efficient, and disorienting to all but a few of the populace. The Matrix is an ivory tower of the elite, the refuge of the shapers and controllers of world information flow.
Complants
The Complant (COMmunications imPLANT) is small and universally available to citizens in major cities like New Carthage. It allows access to several BBS databases (Bulletin Board System) which provide text/voice message boards and discussion to the masses. It is the most common and easily usable means of mass communication.
Tri-V
Tri-V (Tri-Dimensional Television) has created dozens of new generations of couch potatos. Wildly successful programs like "Rex Dexter" and "Skin Connexion" bombard audiences with mind-numbing content, 3D advertising, and allegedly subliminal messages while Death Tri-V broadcasts gladiatorial fights to the death in front of a live studio audience.
Style
Clothing styles have merged with tactical urban camoflague and the latest in ballistic protection technologies. The most popular clothing lines incorporate specially treated armor inserts for protection against everything from switchblades to machinegun fire. The market is dominated by brand names like Ares, Santyuri, Siggerson, and WR-InK. Independent custom designers have enjoyed limited success in catering to the tastes of the fashion scene.
Religion
Cults and media-inspired churches have replaced the traditional religions of the previous century, excluding the holdouts of Mormonism in the Theocratic Utah, NeoCatholocism, and some variants of Islam. Digital cults like the Temple of Enki cater to the technological elite. At the other end of the spectrum, listless audiences hang on the prophecies of Reverend Jim and his brethren of Tri-V evangelists.
Music
Pre-war music has remained popular during humanity's reconstruction from the brink of extinction. Most modern music is eclipsed by the full-sensory experiences of simsense and stereo Tri-V, giving the subculture of bands and voice-only concerts a measure of retro-cool appeal.