Shards, in particular, are a good source of information that can expand the lore of the Cyberpunk universe. These readable items can contain archived messages, articles, images, maps, schematics, audio, videos, and Braindances. Due to how many shards there are scattered across the map, it's easy for players to either come across the same ones multiple times or miss some entirely.
Players May Never Come Across One Character
Dr. Paradox Has An Interesting Insight Into Events
Other times, characters are revealed through random events, but some of these can be completely missed. One such event is when Dr. Paradox, the Writer, Editor, and Publisher of the long-running screamsheet, "Dr. Paradox's Mysteries," hijacks the TV broadcast for Night City's WNS news to spread his message, with YouTuber Kazuliski capturing each of these moments above. Depending on how much time players spend near a television, or whether they actively watch it, these broadcasts can be missed by some players, as noted on a post by Redditor BatEducational7969, who asked the r/cyberpunkgame Subreddit who the mysterious figure hijacking the broadcast was.
In the
Cyberpunk
universe, the term "Screamsheets" is street slang for traditional newspapers.
Some comments under BatEducational7969's post note that they either don't watch enough TV to have seen these broadcasts, or that it doesn't seem to appear as often in the Corpo life path compared to that of a Street Kid, which would make sense as Dr. Paradox wouldn't feel the need to spread his anti-Corpo message to those working for them, but would target the rest of the city's population. Fortunately, a shard can be found next to the cache on Drake Ave, Little China, during the Reported Crime: Paranoia job that transcribes one of Dr. Paradox's broadcasts for those who didn't catch it on TV and want to read his message about how the Corpos could turn people into something that resembles the human battery farms in The Matrix to further exploit the masses.
The "Doctor Paradox Broadcast Excerpt" shard reads:
"Here we are – constructing artificial cities in orbit, downloading our minds into integrated circuits, coding all-powerful AIs – and we can't make one damn flu vaccine?! You wanna know why? Corps WANT to destroy nature, 'cause it doesn't give them IPs or copyright ownership! So we eat testtube chicken, plants that grow in labs – hell, even photosynthesis has been trademarked! Enough is enough. It's time we say STOP, before the sixth extinction wipes us ALL out! You think they'll stop at food? What about our bodies? There's no chunk of 'em that can't be cut, improved and modified so that every breath we take, every heartbeat generates profit. And what about your children? From the corp's perspective, it's untapped potential, a goddamn wasted commodity! Soon our techno-fascist overlords will convince you that having children isn't your natural right but a privilege you pay for out of your pocket! The water you're drinking, the food you're eating – they're putting in chemicals that will reduce your fertility so that soon they'll be incubating babies in water tanks, with serial numbers on their foreheads, hooked up to cables instead of umbilical cords! Open your eyes! Snap out of it! Before it's too late!"
Other comments noted that Dr. Paradox can appear in Cyberpunk 2077's loading screens right after the Transmission gig too, which sees V dealing with the Voodoo Boys. His message here is appropriate considering the recent events in the game at that point, as he warns his listeners not to connect to the Net, with him starting to talk about some information about Alt Cunningham and the Soulkiller that V and Johnny know to be true before being abruptly cut off, with Johnny believing NetWatch got to him. This has been captured by YouTuber ViejoPlays and can be seen below:
Who Is Dr. Paradox?
The Hacker's Identity Is A Mystery, But There's Some Speculation In The Game
As is clear from his broadcast, Dr. Paradox is an anti-Corpo conspiracy theorist with an intent of shaking up the masses through his messages, even though, with the exception of his mention of Alt Cunningham - which could be the result of him being hacked - many of his claims seem to be purely speculative and come across as rants. The character originated in the TTRPG, which provides far more information about him. His screamsheet has been running since before the 4th Corporate War, making it one of the longest in Night City, and since 2020, he has accused President Elizabeth Kress of being a brainwashed actor puppeted by an Artificial Intelligence, and has stated that the government plans to use further AI to turn the general population into zombies.
Dr. Paradox's identity is still shrouded in mystery, even after all of the years he's been active. However, another, more common shard speculates that he's actually a Corpo puppet and is used as a way for the establishment to channel the anger and frustration of the masses in a safe and controlled manner, noting that he has never gone as far as to take action and issue a call to arms, despite his constant fearmongering.
The "Who Is Dr. Paradox?" shard reads:
"Who is Doc Paradox? Who's hiding behind the distorted mask?
Unsurprisingly, Doc Paradox won't say. After all, he's breaking the law - he has to protect his identity. If he revealed even the tiniest sliver about himself, NetWatch agents would be at his door in less than a minute.
But think about it. THINK. What kind of person could successfully hide from the world's most powerful corporations for years? Who could hack into encrypted T.V. channels? Who would disclose highly classified corporate secrets?
The answer's obvious. Doc Paradox is one of them. He's a puppet controlled by the establishment. To what end? Maybe this is how corporations funnel our anger and frustration in a safe and controlled manner, through a rebel who will never go so far as to issue a call to arms. Maybe he's being used to reveal "facts" that hurt the competition. Or maybe he's just a branding opportunity? In a month or two, Avante could put out a new, "Doc Paradox" line for us to wear our disapproval?
Only time will tell. But for christ's sake, don't listen to a word out of this phoney's mouth."
This shard can be found during the Agent Saboteur gig, Catch a Tyger's Toe, when uploading malware to the H11 Megabuilding's servers in the Watson district, and during the Gimme Danger mission when exploring the Redwood Market in Japantown, Westbrook. It can also be found in more locations in Japantown when exploring the open-world, being located just outside Finn Gerstatt's ripperdoc clinic in Japantown, and on Jig-Jig Street near Wakako Okada's office.
Dr. Paradox doesn't play directly into Cyberpunk 2077's main story, but is another fun example of providing more background lore to Night City and its constant push and pull with the corporations that essentially rule the world. With the implication that NetWatch got to Dr. Paradox before he could spread some information based in fact, it's unlikely that he'll appear in the upcoming sequel Project Orion, but if CD Projekt Red did want to pick up this thread again, it would be interesting to get a glimpse at who the person behind the Dr. Paradox persona is and potentially interact with them in a future quest. After all, with InkDagger reporting that a character model for him exists in Cyberpunk 2077's files, Dr. Paraox might be out in the world somewhere.
Sources: Kazuliski/YouTube, BatEducational7969/Reddit, ViejoPlays/YouTube, InkDagger/Reddit
Custom Image by Katarina Cimbaljevic
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