-punk worlds (Part 2)
By Cayla Catz
-punk worlds (Part 2) In -punk worlds (Part 1) , I explored the -punk worlds from Sandalpunk (Iron Age/Bronze Age) though to Steampunk and on to Atomicpunk (1945-1969). Using a single word, you can prompt the AI to provide clothes, decor and cityscapes to fit your world. For Part 2, I'd like to continue with the future starting with the one that started everything: Cyberpunk. As I wrote previously in 1980, Bruce Bethke titled a short story "Cyberpunk", published in Amazing stories in 1983. Thus a new word was born. Cyberpunk gave birth to Steampunk and a lot of other -punk words. And the cool thing is that most of the time many AI models understand those -punk worlds. So now we will explore the futuristic -punk worlds. There is no timeline here as they all occur sometime in the future. Table of Contents: (all images shown only in Grok unless otherwise noted here) cyberpunk cyber noir, tech noir, future noir biopunk (Grok, Nano Banana, SeeDream 4.0, GPT 1.5 Low) nanopunk solarpunk lunarpunk (Grok, SeeDream 4.0) raypunk (Grok, SeeDream 4.0) Madeup -punk words just for fun marspunk (Grok, NanoBanana) moonpunk (Grok, NanoBanana) venuspunk (Grok, NanoBanana) jupiterpunk (Grok, NanoBanana) saturnpunk (Grok, NanoBanana) I'll use a simple prompt and swap out the -punk words to show how the AI fills in the world. We'll use Grok for our model at first. Simple Prompt (fill in the blank with the -punk) -- - - woman looking out the window into a ---- world Notice that I did not describe what the woman is wearing, her hairstyle, her room or the world outside the window. All of that will be conveyed with the one -punk word. Unlike the previous blog on retro-futuristic -punk worlds, I am also using the same -punk word as an adjective for the woman. Mainly because worlds, there are physical changes to the people sometimes and I'd like to show that cyberpunk cyberpunk woman looking out the window into a cyberpunk world cyber noir Cyber noir is a subset of cyberpunk. In literature or film, it is a noir story set in a cyberpunk world. I am testing it to see if how the AI recognizes it and implements it in an image. cyber noir woman looking out the window into a cyber noir world I don't see much difference between cyber noir and cyberpunk. I ran it 3x. Mostly what I see is a difference in the noir lighting: long shadows to make things look more mysterious and cinematic. Interestingly enough, she is not femme fatale but more like the noir detective in all three shots with the leather trenchcoat. Tech noir and future noir are other words that indicate this mix of the film noir look with futuristic settings. No matter which phrase is used, the world is dystopian, technology is a conflicted focus as it's viewed as a destructive force for people's humanity even as people use it. In terms of prompting, I tried both but didn't see much of a difference from cyber noir. I also tried neo-noir as it's sometimes mentioned in this regard. The AI image came back noir but set in the 1970s to now, not the future. biopunk Grok: biopunk woman looking out the window into a biopunk world Grok: biopunk woman looking out the window into a biopunk world Biopunk comes back significantly different. Synthetic biology and biotechnology underscores this -punk world. Genetic manipulation is used in a dystopian world by governments and corporations for profit and/or to control people. How that futuristic biotechnology may look can vary significantly. Nature exists but nature has been subverted. NanoBanana : biopunk woman looking out the window into a biopunk world I decided to show grok for this survey of different futuristic -punk worlds because I found grok doesn't tend to push a it's own art style as much. But the different -punk worlds can be depicted very differently depending on the model you choose. In many ways, the cyberpunk look has been well-defined by films, graphic novels and sci-fi art. However some -punk worlds are not similarly well-defined so it give sthe AI more latitude. SeeDream 4.0 : biopunk woman looking out the window into a biopunk world Above the first two Grok images showed a wide difference in biopunk imagery. I think Biopunk might be a good one to show you how different the models might show a -punk futuristic world. Plus I'm curious so we are taking a visual tour. So I did Biopunk in Nano Banana, SeeDream 4.0 and GPT 1.5 Low. My prompt is simple with no art style so you can also see the art style the AI decided to do. GPT 1.5 Low : biopunk woman looking out the window into a biopunk world nanopunk nanopunk woman looking out the window into a nanopunk world This is a world where nanites and bio-nanotechnologies are the technologies driving the world. Nanites are small so it's difficult to illustrate them. In this case, it's shown by the lines of light and the mechanical arms. Unlike the early mentioned -punk futuristic worlds, anopunk worlds doesn't have to be dystopian as it depends on how the technology is deployed. solarpunk solarpunk woman looking out the window into a solarpunk world Solarpunk is an optimistic view of the future instead of dystopian. The environmental problems we face now has been addressed in the future. This future often looks green with nature abounding and renewable energy sources. lunarpunk grok: lunarpunk woman looking out the window into a lunarpunk world Wikipedia defines lunarpunk as "a subgenre of solarpunk with a darker aesthetic. It leans toward fantasy and its themes include night settings – often featuring bioluminescence and purple colors, spirituality or the occult, green cities, sustainable technologies, and a more introspective side of solarpunk utopias." That's exactly what we see here. Seedream4.0: lunarpunk woman looking out the window into a lunarpunk world However, I have had it happen that when I used lunarpunk in a longer prompt, AI gave me cyberpunk on the moon just as it did here when I ran it through SeeDream 4.0. Raypunk grok: raypunk woman looking out the window into a raypunk world Raypunk's definition is so general, it'll be hard to get a specific picture. This is Wikipedia's definition "Raypunk ... deals with scenarios, technologies, beings or environments, very different from everything that is known or what is possible here on Earth or by science. It covers space surrealism, parallel worlds, alien art, technological psychedelia, non-standard 'science', alternative or distorted/twisted reality, and so on." Because raypunk is so widely defined and seems to be about all kinds of science-fiction, your results are likely to be random sci-fi results nano banana: raypunk woman looking out the window into a raypunk world Madeup -punk words As far as I know, these next few I am making up on the fly just to see what the AI will do. I am curious because some lunarpunk images are on the moon so I want to see if that will happen with other planets. Because there are no definitions for them, I will just show a couple images to go with each. One Grok and one a different model. marspunk grok: marspunk woman looking out the window into a marspunk world nano banana: marspunk woman looking out the window into a marspunk world moonpunk grok: moonpunk woman looking out the window into a moonpunk world nanobanana: moonpunk woman looking out the window into a moonpunk world note: looks like she's living on Saturn's moon, not Earth's venuspunk grok: venuspunk woman looking out the window into a venuspunk world Note: I don't know where she is but it looks like a space age steampunk world nano banana: venuspunk woman looking out the window into a venuspunk world Note: I don't know where she isbut I'm not sure it's Venus jupiterpunk grok: jupiterpunk woman looking out the window into a jupiterpunk world note: looks like she's living on Jupiter's moon as she has a world-class view of Jupiter nano banana: jupiterpunk woman looking out the window into a jupiterpunk world saturnpunk grok: saturnpunk woman looking out the window into a saturnpunk world note: looks like she's living on Saturn's moon but it looks like it's a steampunk civilization nano banana: saturnpunk woman looking out the window into a saturnpunk world note: looks like she's living on Saturn's moon Conclusion Cyberpunk is pretty well defined film and other media and has a look that the AI can emulate. It can give your character and city a look that when others see it they will think cyberpunk. Biopunk, Nanopunk, Solarpunk and Lunarpunk are not as well defined so they may vary some but they are centered around themes that the AI tries to incorporate whether it's bioengineered people, nanite technology or green technologies. You will have to define these -punk worlds more if you have a look in mind. grok: siriuspunk woman looking out the window into a siriuspunk world You can create your own -punk futuristic world like I did with Marspunk Moonpunk and Jupiterpunk. It looks like when you do that the AI will try to make a scientific look that makes sense with that planet you used as a prefix. Try it! You might like it. I hope you enjoyed this tour of futuristic -punk worlds. Let me know if this inspires you to try one out or make your own. As for me? I'm off to explore some new -punk worlds! Grok: CaptainNemopunk woman looking out the window into a CaptainNemopunk world