At a slight distance from the Neon, and the vibrant glowing palette of dystopia that I saw in my playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 I was thinking of what are the core themes of Cyberpunk. The neon is beautiful, the city is by all accounts lively, the society a dystopia. Technology is flashy, and as the character creation screen reminded me, in Night City looks are everything. But a bigger question is, what lies under these looks.
Ultimately I feel Cyberpunk is a dystopia borne out of the idea of what happens when technology outgrows society's collective wisdom. For most of human history societies have remained very fluid and have adapted to technology faster and for better purposes. Cyberpunk society however is broken precisely because it never morally adapted to technology. Sure the tech in Cyberpunk is very impressive but the society surrounding it is broken beyond repair.
Residents of Night City have access to modify their body beyond their wildest dreams, yet body modification has become another area of obscene opulence. Deadly accidents no longer need to be deadly to the people of Night City, yet people will routinely be left to die if their insurance does not cover it. It is an age of amoral but perfectly legal excesses. Society haas put the worth of paper deeds and words above that of people and the consequences are unashamedly out in the open.
I don't think this is a new problem however, the forces of corporate have always existed so to speak.