From an interview with Bruce Sterling in 1998: Cyberpunk writer helps define the future of cyberspace:

Q: Do you think you have a bleak vision of the future?

A: The future is a form of history that hasn’t happened yet. It’s as if you’d asked if I have a “bleak vision” of the 19th century. Well, yes and no. If you were a Victorian railroad engineer in the 19th century, the world was yours, you were having a fantastic, progressive, marvelous time. But if you were a 19th-century American Plains Indian, you were basically enduring a catastrophic, murderous dystopia. You have to comprehend both these experiences and their direct relationship to one another. Then you can achieve a historical understanding. Is it bleak? Yes, no, it doesn’t matter. It’s what happened.