If androids ever tire of counting electric sheep, they could always switch to the number of words spoken and written about the 1982 film Blade Runner. Ridley Scott's third film flopped on release, but it would continue to remain in the public consciousness, proving to have a cultural impact that far exceeded its short theatrical life. Adapted from a novel by Philip K. Dick, Blade Runner displays an all-too-possible future world in which the remnants of humanity on Earth regard their human-like creations as nothing more than things, and empathy has become as faded as an old photograph.
In this episode, we discuss the influence that Blade Runner has had on science fiction as an institution, the film and book's origins, the way in which our "futures" always have to catch up to the present, the questions the film asks that keeps viewers coming back, the threadbare humanity of the characters, the reality of making survival-based choices, and the mystery of who really created cyberpunk. We also talk about botnet crime, VK hearing tests, neon + umbrella = future, pyramids vs. ziggurats, being the guide or the guru, replicant RPG stats, smoky British commercials, performative empathy, the f*cker/father debate, "Bear or Replicant?", corporate gay, and the Double Dick Show!
J'accuse, Mechanismo!
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