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Comment by ruined | Hacker News Reader

many of you here in the comments misunderstand.

punk isn't nihilistic lamentation, it's nihilistic resistance. it's punk to fight. it's building anything from nothing, because there is nothing to lose. punk cultures appear within dystopia as an alternative, punk aesthetic is amateur and diy-accessible, and punk attitudes are critical and creative.

we have enough dystopic warnings. everyone knows where we're headed. alienation and addiction are here, at the beginning of the plot. now we have the conflict, the departure from weakness, and eventually a resolution. solarpunk aesthetically charts a clear course through the narrative arc, it is mid-plot resourceful strength and a possible budding victory beyond the climax of struggle.

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I agree. I also agree that the author, like many who try to define solarpunk by pulling utopic goals (ie startrek utopia, singapore vs HK) and fantasies, confuse the readers on what is punk and solarpunk.

Punk is not about where you are going, is not about what will become. Punk is about doing it regardless of that and what others expect you to. A solarpunk is certainly hopeful that actions will lead to a better reality, but they are more focused on action today than what will be of tomorrow.

A solarpunk is a punk because, unlike other more mainstream ecologist they don't need to convince others of their view to act. They just act.

Just some historical context for those saying solarpunk is too wholesome sounding to be ‘punk’. Check out Minor Threat and the straight edge movement. Seemingly not punk at all, but actually the MOST punk.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_Threat

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_edge

Is it just your interpretation of what “punk” in “cyberpunk” means? The author of the word seems to disagree with you: http://www.textfiles.com/russian/cyberlib.narod.ru/lib/criti....

>The kids who trashed my computer; their kids were going to be Holy Terrors, combining the ethical vacuity of teenagers with a technical fluency we adults could only guess at. Further, the parents and other adult authority figures of the early 21st Century were going to be terribly ill-equipped to deal with the first generation of teenagers who grew up truly "speaking computer."

>THEREFORE, if you thought that punks on motorcycles were a problem, just wait until you meet the -- the -- You know, there isn't a good word to describe them?

>So I set out to create and define that word.

I wrote a bit about Solarpunk a few months back in March [0].

It's interesting that you framed things through the concept of a narrative arc because that's exactly how I pictured it when I wrote my piece. I wonder if it's because as humans, both individually and within the context of society as a whole, it's important for us to have a sense of direction / purpose when carrying out action.

[0]: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/possibility-adversity-hope-fa...

> it's building anything from nothing sounds like DIY and Zen.

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