Cyberpunks want to prevent some of the dystopian visions of Gibson from coming true. .
The new information technologies (and also the coming advances in biotechnology, pharmeceuticals, transportation, and electronics - robotics, AI expert systems etc.) are only instruments, neither intrinsically good nor bad.
They can disempower and numb the mind, as TV has done so tragically in our society, or they can enhance our lives in myriad ways, as VR (virtual reality) is already doing. (Even as staunch a conservative as John McLaughlin says they represent a new "Gutenberg" revolution - they will change society in ways greater than even the printing press.) They can be used for a new generation of military applications (robotic warfare is under serious consideration by the Pentagon) or to revolutionize health, education, and politics (true participatory democracy.)
They can increase the interactions between people and access to information, or they can be used to depersonalize communication and to disinform by digitally modifying pictures and video so that, now more than ever, they will lie (or promote government 'truths'.)
The key is: who will control these technologies? Gibson's increasingly inhuman, AI-run multinational corporations? Or you and I? If we cyberpunks have our way, it will be the latter.

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