This one was posted to alt.cyberpunk by nine in October, 1998:

Can love exist in Cyberpunk functionally? I've read a bit, and it never seems that love in the classic sense really works out in the cyberpunk world. Molly and Case parted ways, Hiro's relationship was just weird, YT slept with Raven (which I'm not sure strikes what point), Neumonic got nailed by the Yakuza and Molly ran off, it just looks like love is a sort of weakness in the cyberpunk life. I know that I have very nearly been asked blatantly to leave my cyberpunk behind before for a woman, and it strikes me that cyberpunk and love just don't seem to see eye to eye. Either it can't exist right, or, one of the two has to be left behind for the other to function correctly. What strikes me is that love, of all things, should be the thing to exist in the cyberpunk realm. I mean, amidst the darkness nights and the rain and the wiring and the implants and the information and the weapons and the blood and the violence and the technology, wouldn't love be the thing to keep you going. That sense of warmth that would get you through a world of pain and work, love. Then why is it that love is either not mentioned or simply doesn't seems to achieve much in the world of cyberpunk? Perhaps I'm blind, and maybe someone will point that out, but I'm looking, as always, for some else's opinion.

-- L O D Nine B R

Links

net.love

Internet as a matchmaker: How people meet? How do the relationships develop? Do they work?
An article by Sara M. Carlstead.

From Keyboards To Human Contact

Love Relationships Through Computer-Mediated Communications. An article by Sara Pitman.