"In cyberpunk, the idea that there are sacred limits to human action is simply a delusion. There are no sacred boundaries to protect us from ourselves."Considered to be "one of the best thinkers in science fiction today" and the co-founder(along with William Gibson) of the "cyberpunk" movement in science fiction which integrates the realm of high tech and the modern pop underground. He is also the editor of "Mirrorshades: A cyberpunk anthology", viewed as the quintessential collection of cyperpunk works by the mirrorshades group of science-fiction authors. Some of his other works include "Islands in the Net", "Schismatrix", "Involution Ocean", "The Artificial Kid", "The Difference Engine" which he co-authored with [Gibson] and "The Hacker Crackdown" a non-fiction account of the computer underground.
Sterling hypothesizes that the "visionary intensity" that distinguishes cyperpunk writing is understandable given that cyperpunk authors are the first science fiction generation to grow up not only within the literary tradition of science fiction but in a truly "science-fictional" world. That is, the traditional conventions of science-fiction -- "extrapolation, technological literacy -- are not just tools but an aid to daily life" that is becoming increasingly invaded by intimate interaction with technology. It is said that science fiction is not really about the future but a commentary on the authors wishful or fearful view of the present. Sterling and his other cyperpunk contemporaries provide dramatic insights into the potential impact of future culture by the exploding convergence of man and machine -- a science fiction technique also employed by HG Wells to "expand the present".
Sterling's imaginings are extremely relevant as the country stands poised on a national adventure that has greater technological and cultural implications than the telegraph, railroads, or telephone. He and other cyperbunk novelists want to break the spell being cast by the vision of the perfect "virtual" utopia that powerful technology like the Internet seems to offer. He cautions the naive against seeing the Internet as a "pure, clean electroworld where nobody can mug you..". Sterling points out that his fictional portrayal of cyperspace has as much dread as it does ecstasy.
