Climate change? Income disparity? Flying cars? Humanoid robots?
When director Ridley Scottās sci-fi film Blade Runner hit theatres in 1982, it presented viewers with a futuristic society set in Los Angeles in 2019.
Loosely based on the 1968 novel āDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?ā by Philip K. Dick, the filmās imagined future depicts a dystopian city suffering from widespread poverty, overcrowding and perpetual rain. On the brighter side, the film also predicts technological advancements such as, flying cars or āSpinners,ā humanoid robots called replicants, and artificial intelligence demonstrated by the replicants.
As 2019 quickly approaches and the movieās sequel Blade Runner 2049 opens today, it may be worth posing the question: how close are we to living in Scottās vision of the future?
According to Richard Worzel, a self-described āfuturistā and member of the World Future Society, weāre well on our way.
āWeāve made progress on all of it, if progress is the right word,ā he told Ā鶹“«Ć½ Channel on Friday. āA lot of the things that were talked about in Blade Runner are actually happening.ā
Evidence of climate change is well documented, the income gap has widened as the movie predicted, and prototypes for flying cars are being developed, Worzel said. However, unlike the nimble āspinnersā in Blade Runner, the flying cars of real-life 2017 are expensive and āfundamentally an incompetent version of a car and a plane,ā he clarified.
Worzel also points to advances in robotics, particularly humanoid sex robots, as another example of real-life approximating the original film.
One particular point of interest for Worzel is the appearance of artificial intelligence in the first film and how thatās been popularized in reality. From Appleās Siri and Amazonās Alexa to robots such as āPepperā that can listen and respond, artificial intelligence is becoming more commonplace. Worzel believes that, eventually, artificial intelligence will be everywhere.
āItās not just going to be in robots,ā he predicted. āItās going to surround us in every possible way and thatās both creepy and reassuring.ā
The futurist said heās looking forward to seeing how the latest film Blade Runner 2049 portrays artificial intelligence because he believes there are both pros and cons to its development.
āYou begin to understand that, although the benefits can be valuable, not all of the things that happen because of technology are good,ā Worzer cautioned. āIn fact, I tell people thereās no such thing as a one-edged sword when it comes to technology. There are problems with all of it.ā
Weāre all just looking out for something real. in theaters today. Get tickets:
ā #BladeRunner 2049 (@bladerunner)
My replicants will never rebel. They will never run. They will simply obey.
ā #BladeRunner 2049 (@bladerunner)
