The difference between steampunk and cyberpunk:
The biggest concept is the difference in time and space. Steampunk describes the history, while cyberpunk describes the future. We can think that in the time and space that we have experienced in the past, whether it is the magic age or the electrical age, as long as there is technology, we can call this worldview to steampunk. Simply put, the worldview of steampunk is backward and advanced coexistence, magic and science coexist, the spiritual pursuit of utopia. Most of the stories of steampunk works are in Britain in the Victorian era. This is a powerful empire known as the “The Sun Never Set.”
The panoramic view of the world’s fair in the Victorian
The modern metropolis of the steampunk world has emerged, Typical of London, there are wooden steeple-house and the road paved with small stones; imaginative means of transportation, including airplanes, airships, cars, trains, ships, submarines, which are represented by airships; Multiple energy sources common existence, including coal, oil, and wind, electricity has become another new energy source, But there is also fanciful energy; Propellers, gears, pistons, and bearings have begun to be used in a large number of machines, the trend is becoming bigger and bigger; Large robots that can be ridden appear. Just like an airplane used in a fighter plane, the robot has been applied to the military. All mechanical devices are driven purely by steam, and some things that cannot be explained or that cannot be achieved will be replaced by magic. And the mechanical design style is biased towards gorgeous and complicated.
In “The Golden Compass”, the worldview is science and magic are coexist
In the “Howl’s Moving Castle”, the exterior of the palace is in classicism Baroque style. The interior is styled with gorgeous Rococo and Baroque mixes.
The charm of steampunk is the yearning for Utopia. Human beings have just had the power to approach God and step out the first step in unlocking the mysteries of nature. The power of this technology has enabled people to be freed from heavy physical labor and poor material constraints for thousands of years, freeing people from feudal imprisonment that binds ideas. The backward forces and the human defects since the birth of human beings exist at the same time. Advanced and backward coexist, advanced and backward contend, people are driving huge and clumsy machines flying on the road of civilization development, ruthlessly crushing old things, Constantly exploring, constantly innovating, and using its own wisdom to write a glorious chapter of industrial civilization. Before the real technological crisis (Cyberpunk theme) did not come, humans were wasting the numerous benefits created during the first industrial revolution, and people were immersed in exploring the romantic thoughts of the new world.
In some ways, Cyberpunk can be regarded as the opposite of Steampunk. Its background is usually set in a dystopian world not far from the future, artificial intelligence and human body technology are so developed that artificial intelligence tries or has already controlled humans, and humans begin to fall.
The brain-connected chip in “Ghost in the Shell”
The characteristics of dystopia began to appear in society: Highly centralized or completely anarchic, material civilization is rampant, but society is decaying or monopolized by wealthy companies, the gap between rich and poor is serious, the human order is collapsing or near collapse.