Bladerunner

In the lecture we watched Balderunner. Its based on the 1968 novel, 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' by Phillip K Dick.

Common themes in Dick's work include artificial intelligence, cities out of control and post-industrial dystopia dissected with a film noir sensibility.

Other of Dick's novels include Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said.

Movies made from Dick's stories include: Total Recall, Minority Report, Next and Paycheck.

The required reading this week was T.J. LeGrice, An exploration of what it is to be human, 2000.

His description of Blade runner.

human (a) 1/ of or relating to people or humankind
2/ having the nature, qualities or characteristics of people or humankind
3/ of or relating to humankind as distinct from God or gods, animals or machines.

In a cyberpunk vision of the future, man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specialises in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when six replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth. Written by Graeme Roy {gsr@cbmamiga.demon.co.uk}

Bladerunner relates to topics we have covered in the past such as cyberpunk, new communication and video games.