Running With Robots

I never really liked Blade Runner, but I've been mulling it over and it's given me a newfound appreciation for it. At first I only found the movie pretty, but I think, now, I get the substance behind it.

The movie's is set in a bleak future: polluted, dingy, and overcrowded. Those who can afford it leave Earth for off-world colonies. There have been advances in technology, but it's only accessible to those who can afford it. Everyone else makes do, much like life now. Androids, known as replicants, do the work deemed unfit for humans. Replicants gone rogue were taken care of by blade runners, special forces dispatched to kill them.

When I watch this movie, I’m reminded how creation breeds responsibility. Like different technologies, we’re not necessarily responsible for what people do with them, but we’re responsible for what they do. For example, we are responsible for the pollution caused by cars but we’re not responsible for people crashing them. The replicants created by the Tyrell Corporation are the same. I think the most responsible thing he did was give his replicants a failsafe—their four year lifespan. Otherwise he just let them run amok and let other people take care of it. That said, I think the replicants are more than just a representation of technology in this rapidly evolving age of zeroes and ones.

I thought it was really important how retiring replicants was very violent. Retirement sounds so innocuous, like one is merely deprogramming a replicant by flipping an off switch. Instead, the way they shot it makes looks like you're murdering someone. I thought that was really smart. In the movie, humanity can be measured through emotional response. Replicants are said to have emotions, though underdeveloped ones—but the ones we see are so human. They want to extend their lifespan and live beyond the duties they were assigned upon creation. It's like looking into a mirror.

Cadiz, MTM.