| Year
| What happened
|
| 1928 |
Early use of the term "punk" to signify a criminal |
| 1948 |
"Cybernetics" coined by Norbert Wiener |
| 1955 |
The Naked Lunch published |
| 1968 |
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep published |
| 1971 |
A Clockwork Orange released |
| 1972 |
From the Rise of Dr. Adder to the Fall of Johnny Mnemonic |
| K.W. Jeter completes Dr. Adder (Spring) |
|
| 1973 |
| "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" published in New Dimensions 3 |
| Gravity's Rainbow published |
|
| 1975 |
| Shockwave Rider published (John Brunner) |
| Microsoft founded |
|
| 1976 |
| The Ramones release first album; punk begins |
|
| 1977 |
| Apple Computers founded (April) |
| Never Mind the Bullocks - Here's the Sex Pistols released; punk gets notorious |
| The Clash release first album; punk gets serious |
| Gibson publishes his first short story, "Fragments of a Hologram Rose" |
| Sterling publishes his first novel Involution Ocean |
|
| 1978 |
| Generation X, with Billy Idol on lead vocals, releases first album |
|
| 1979 |
| The Clash release London Calling |
|
| 1980 |
| City Come A-Walkin' published |
| The Artificial Kid published |
|
| 1981 |
| Spacetime Donuts published |
| "The Gernsback Continuum" published in Universe 11 |
| True Names published |
|
| 1982 |
| Software published (Jan.) |
| Blade Runner released |
| Tron released |
| Joan Vinge writes Psion |
|
| 1983 |
| Gibson, Sterling and Shiner visit Rudy Rucker in Lynchburg after Balticon; Virginia hasn't been this hip since Thomas Jefferson was alive |
| War Games released |
| The short story "Cyberpunk" by Bruce Bethke published in Amazing Science Fiction Stories; this is, allegedly, the first use of the term anywhere (Nov.) |
|
| 1984 |
| Neuromancer published; "cyberspace" coined |
| Dr. Adder published |
| Frontera published ( Lewis Shiner's first novel) |
| Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution published |
| In Japan, robots kill four humans in seperate incidents |
| Terminator released |
| 2600 begins publication |
| VPL Research Inc. founded by Jason Lanier |
| Gardner Dozois, reviewing "hot new writers" for The Washington Post, refers to a group called "cyberpunks". The name sticks (Dec. 30) |
|
| 1985 |
| Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix published |
| 20 Minutes into the Future (aka Max Headroom) released |
| John Shirley's Eclipse |
| Donna Haraway's "A Cyborg Manifesto" published in Socialist Review (Apr.) |
| Japanese translation of Neuromancer published (July) |
| "Cyberpunks" panel convenes at the National SF Convention in Austin. Panelists are Rudy Rucker, John Shirley, Bruce Sterling, Lou Shiner, Pat Cadigan and Greg Bear (Aug. 31) |
| Blood Music , by Greg Bear. |
| Brazil released |
|
| 1986 |
| Burning Chrome published |
| Hardwired published |
| "Pakistani Brain" virus infects IBM computers world-wide (Jan.) |
| Rudy Rucker's "What is Cyberpunk?" appears in REM #3 (Feb) |
| William Gibson's Count Zero (Mar) |
| Norman Spinrad's "The Neuromantics" published in IASF (May) |
| John Shirley confounds the elders at the Science Fiction Research Association panel "Cyberpunk or Cyberjunk" (June 28) |
| Cheap Truth ceases publication (Aug) |
| Michael Swanwick's "A User's Guide to the Post Moderns" published in IASF (Nov) |
| Mirrorshades published (Dec) |
| Interzone reprints "the New Science Fiction" by Vincent Omniaveritas (Winter) |
|
| 1987 |
| Science Fiction Eye premiers with all cyberpunk issue |
| Robocop released |
| Akira released |
| Pat Cadigan's Mindplayers published |
| Effinger releases When Gravity Fails |
|
| 1988 |
| In England, Max Dowhham's "Cyberpunk: the Final Solution" published in Vague |
| Bruce Sterling's Islands in the Net published |
| Mississippi Review entire issue published devoted to cyberpunk; academic colonization of the Movement begins in earnest |
| Metrophage published |
| Shatter graphic novel published |
| Going GaGa begins publication |
| bOING bOING begins publication |
| Wetware published (Apr) |
| The Internet worm strikes (Nov) |
| William Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive published (Nov) |
|
| 1989 |
| Mondo 2000 begins publication |
| Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel published |
| he Cuckoo's Egg published |
| Semiotext(e):SF published |
| Cherry comix special cyberpunk issue published |
| Crystal Express published |
| Tetsuo:The Iron Man released |
| Timothy Leary interviews William Gibson |
| Phrack #24 distributed containing the E911 document hacked from BellSouth (Feb. 24) |
|
| 1990 |
| The Difference Engine published |
| Hardware released |
| EFF founded |
| Secret Service raids Steven Jackson Games in Austin (Mar. 1) |
| Harper's Magazine publishes "Is Computer Hacking a Crime?", a transcript of a WELL conference during which Phiber Optik hacks the TRW database and distributes John Barlow's credit history (Mar.) |
| Operation Sun Devil (May 7-9) |
| Paul Di Filippo's "Ribofunk" published in bOING bOING #2 (Winter) |
| In England, The Hardcore special "Cyberpunk is Dead" issue published (Winter) |
| Shirley finishes the Eclipse trilogy (with Eclipse Corona ) |
| Total Recall released |
| Synners , by Cadigan |
|
| 1991 |
| Storming the Reality Studio published |
| Synners published |
| Terminator 2 released |
| The Silicon Man published |
| Transreal! published |
| Effinger finishes his cyberpunk trilogy with The Exile Kiss |
| U.S. intelligence agents reportedly cripple Iraqi air defense computers with a virus during the Gulf War (Jan) |
| Lewis Shiner announces in the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times that he has resigned from cyberpunk (Jan.7) |
| Steven Jackson Games sues the Secret Service (May 1) |
| "Michelangelo" virus media panic begins (Dec.) |
|
| 1992 |
| EFF moves to Washington D.C. and is immediately compromised |
| The Hacker Crackdown published |
| Snow Crash published |
| Mondo 2000: A User's Guide to the New Edge published |
| Lawnmower Man released |
| "Michelangelo" doomsday; nothing happens (Mar. 6) |
| Jaron Lanier loses his patents to his creditors (Nov) |
| Future Sex begins publication (Nov) |
|
| 1993 |
| Wired begins publication |
| Virtual Light published |
| Fringe Ware Review begins publication |
| Time Magazine "Cyberpunk" cover story; real cyberpunks outraged (Feb. 8) |
| Court rules in favor of Steven Jackson Games, Secret Service ordered to pay damages (Feb.) |
| Wild Palms premiers (May 16) |
| Billy Idol's new album Cyberpunk released; real cyberpunks outraged (July) |
| Flame Wars; The Discourse of Cyberculture published |
| Baird starts the Crashcourse trilogy |
|
| 1994 |
| The Hacker and the Ants published |
| Data Trash published |
| Cyberia published |
| "VNS Manifesto" published in Unnatural: Techno-theory for a Contaminated Culture |
| Phiber Optic begins serving a 13 month sentence for computer intrusion and conspiracy (Jan.) |
| In Paris, "Cyber SM" gives first public demonstration of virtual sexuality, S&M style (Jan.) |
| Line Noiz e-zine distributes results of its opinion poll "Does Cyberpunk Still Exist?"; no conclusions, as usual (Aug. 12) |
| Western news media reports two thirds of Russian computer users have encountered viruses, 85% of those viruses were Russian made (Nov.) |
|
1995
|
| Diamond Age published |
| EFF retreats to San Francisco |
| The Cyberpunk Handbook published; cynical opportunism reaches new low |
| Wired UK edition begins (March) |
| Synthetic Pleasures released |
| The Net released |
| Hackers released |
| From Australia, geekgirl debuts on the Net (Jan.) |
| Kevin Metnick arrested by the FBI for numerous computer crimes (Feb. 15) |
| Italian police raid BITS Against the Empire BBS accusing the computer group of subversion (Feb. 28) |
| The Steampunk Trilogy published (Apr.) |
| VR 5 premiers (May 24) |
| Virtual Futures conference meets at Warwick University (May 26-28) |
| Baird finishes her first trilogy with Psykosis |
| Strange Days released |
| Ghost in the Shell released |
| Johnny Mnemonic released (May 26) |
|
Post-Johnny Mnemonic |
| Arthur & Marilouse Kroker publish "Johnny Mnemonic: The Day Cyberpunk Died" in Ctheory (Jun.) |
| K.W. Jeter's Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human published-- to the consternation of all (Oct.) |
| Western news sources identify Bulgaria as the leading exporter of computer viruses |
|
| 1996 |
| Escape Velocity; Cyberculture at the End of the Century published |
| FutureSex goes online |
| Ramones break up |
| Ribofunk! collection published (Mar.) |
| Datableed - the second Virtual Futures conference meets (May) |
| Sex Pistols reunion tour begins at Hollola, Finland (June 21) |
| Holy Fire Published (July) |
| Idoru published (Sept.) |
| Kyoko Date, the virtual girl, activated |
| Hacking the Future by Arthur & Marilouise Kroker published |
| Clinton signs Communications Decency Act into US law (Feb. 8) |
| Wired magazine, as a preliminary action to a planned IPO, files a prospectus with the SEC valuing itself at $447 million -- 17 times greater than its actual revenues. Much derision follows in the financial press (May 30) |
| Wired magazine's IPO tanks (Oct. 24) |
| Blade Runner 3: Replicants Night by K.W. Jeter published -- for no good reason (Nov) |
| Vinge ends up with a trilogy -- Dreamfall is published |
|
| 1997 |
| A Cyberpunk Manifesto published by Christian As. Kirtchev (Feb 14 1997) |
| Freeware published (April) Rudy Rucker finishes his trilogy with Freeware. |
| Wired UK edition folds (Feb) |
| US Supreme Court rules Communications Decency Act unconstitutional (Jun 26) |
| Blade Runner computer game released by Westwood (Nov) |
| First authorized Russian translation of Neuromancer [ Neiromant ] published by Terra Fantastica |
| Armitage III: Poly Matrix [Film/Anime] released |
| Gattaca released |
|
| 1998 |
| William Gibson's and Tom Maddox's episode, "Kill Switch" premiers on The X-Files (Feb 15) |
| Burning Chrome stage adaptation opens in Chicago (Feb 6) |
|
| 1999 |
| The Matrix released |
| Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties released |
|
| 2000 |
| William Gibson's and Tom Maddox's second episode "First Person Shooter" on The X-Files |
|
| 2001 |
| Metropolis [Film/Anime] released |
|
| 2002 |
| Minority Report released |
| Armitage III: Dual Matrix [Film/Anime] released |
|
| 2003 |
| William Gibson's Pattern Recognition published |
| Neal Stephenson's Quick Silver published |
| The Matrix Relaoded released |
| The Matrix Revolutions released |
|
| 2004 |
| MyDoom virus spread on Internet |
|
