Thu Feb 28, 2002 2:12 pm by BRmovie
Well, here is my view:<BR><BR>Setting it in 2019 does tie in very well with much cyberpunk literature which for some time has looked at 2020 as a good date that is close enough to view the progression of the current world, yet far enough for some important social and technological changes to have become well established.<BR><BR>Off-World colonies will happen a mere few years after a star drive is discovered. This could happen next year or in a hundred years. All it takes is for the breakthrough discovery to be made so that FTL travel is possible and people will be queueing up to go Off-world. If the US space program had continued at the same pace through the last couple of decades, we would already have people living on Mars.<BR><BR>Spinners. Well, more than one flying car has been developed but currently is none too safe! But then, the big problem is not the car itself, but the air traffic control.<BR><BR>Blade Runner units will surely only be needed when there are reps to chase?<BR><BR>Some of Los Angeles already looks like that, although not as tall. The intro to the BR documentary flies over current L.A. and almost looks like it is from the film! Similar scenes can be seen in Tokyo and Hong Kong. I don't know if there will ever be buildings that size though. Particularly as L.A. will probably be ocean in 2019...<BR><BR>Smoking. Well, cannabis is now being made legal in the UK for medicinal use. Drug use, including alcohol and tobacco is still widely popular all over the world. Although smoking is currently taboo in public in L.A. there is plenty of marijuana being used up (although actually it is less harmful and causes less problems than either alcohol or tobacco and is currently illegal in the USA and consequently other places for purely political reasons ... but that is a rant for another time.) Basically, we cannot know what the prevailing attitude to drugs will be in 2019. Perhaps we really will have huge billboards of Asian ladies popping pills.<BR><BR>The VidPhon is already a reality, though still not widespread in most countries. The internet phone mimics it. I agree it will probably be common by 2019.<BR><BR>Robotic Toys have started to infiltrate our homes over the last couple of years. (I actually made a robot thingy that crawls around the floor, responds to light, etc.) So, I expect there will be significant advances in toys before 2019. However, robotics development has been full of many setbacks on most major projects, so development is actually a lot slower than anticipated. Creating anything vaguely intelligent is still a dream.<BR><BR>Replicants. Well, genetically enhanced humans is already technically a fact! And of course many have been working for years on transhuman research. This is one area I see a huge difference to BR. I still cannot see the creation of biological Replicants as happening, but I can see lots of technology (both bio and machine) applied to ourselves. I can certainly see electro-mechanical robots helping us out, but in most things, creating something that looks human is rather pointless.<BR><BR>Acid Rain - already exists in some places at times.<BR><BR>Trafficator - advances in traffic control are happening all the time. I expect in London, they will eventually have a citywide gridlock unless they do something radical.<BR><BR>V-K testing. I can't see that you need the test unless you have the Replicants.<BR><BR>Esper. Well, we have plenty of software to do exciting photo analysis, enhancement, extrapolation, etc. plus new surveillance technologies arriving all the time. However, as I have recently had cause to point out elsewhere, you can't see behind things in a photo unless the data was captured in the first place. So, we couldn't do the same as Deckard with our own snapshots, because there is no data in our pictures that can tell us what is behind something else. But of course photographic technology continues to move forwards and Leon's photos are obviously an advance on our own.<BR><BR>Advertising blimps with simple banners used to float over London. I don't know if they still do. So precedent is already there.<BR><BR>Window shade - "Dimmer". Well, if you have enough money, you can get something that is similar to that right now.<BR><BR>Zhora's hairdryer was sort of real. It was an actual hairdryer they stripped down and then pumped cold air through (although her hair was already dry when she stepped in...) So, I suppose there is no reason you couldn't have one now, although I suspect you'd end up with a Zhora hairstyle at the end.... (Assuming you have enough hair that is - which I certainly don't.)<BR><BR>Deckard's blaster. Well, Leon's gun was already a real gun. People do seem inclined to advance weapons technology to be more lethal, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone invented a blaster.<BR><BR>Fashion. Some very interesting designs in there. People will wear just about anything now, so I'm sure a lot of the stuff will be around.<BR><BR>Mobile phones were not seen in the movie, but there were not that many places where you would actually see them in public use. Deckard today might use a mobile, but then it would be feasible for him not to as well.<BR><BR>Internet. Few people saw then what we know today. I happened to be able to play around on the internet way back when the film came out, but it was nothing like now - no Web or that stuff, but on the other hand, people do get the impression there was nothing much before the Web was invented, but I can say that even in 1982, the internet was well developed for some and very usable, (and I was chatting on newsgroups way back then!) In the movie, the theory was that Deckard's Esper units would be connected to the police mainframe, so in concept perhaps a little like a WAN or maybe even an extranet?<BR><BR>PC - well, where would you see one? Deckard has his Esper, (no need for a mouse - its voice activated!). Tyrell is talking to a computer in his room, dealing stocks. Bryant is probably the kind of police captain that would avoid using a PC if possible. Where else?<BR><BR>TV technology. Yeah, they missed the widescreen change, but that is no biggy. And they could have had wallscreens. We only really see TVs in Deckard's apartment don't we? And they look pretty old, so maybe he has a habit of picking up old TVs. Why does he have them anyway? As for the computer monitors, they are also old and besides, do you have a widescreen monitor?<BR><BR>As for DVDs and CDs, that would only be valid comment if you saw someone handling video cassettes or vinyl records. We don't so there is no comment to make on that. Besides the fact that its probably all digital on their computers anyway.<BR><BR>As for the "Blade Runner jinx" that comments on companies mentioned in the film that went out of business, have you looked at any other films of the time? Companies go out of business all the time, even really big ones, (dare I say Enron?)<BR><BR>Languages. A fascinating subject worthy of its own thread. Comments made on the amalgamation of English/Spanish are of course relevant to the USA and particularly certain areas. However, English now dominates the world as the most widely spoken language, (even though for many, it is their second language). Spanish may gain local popularity, but it is unlikely to reach the same level as English. Of course, people will combine them as they combine so many other things with English all arouond the world. I agree that Hungarian is unlikely to figure highly in any large mishmash of language in the USA.<BR><BR>Finally, the computer screens do look simple in Blade Runner. This is just before a big surge in development of visual interfaces. However, many of us still have to face up to boring midrange or mainframe screens even now. Not everything works through PCs or with pretty colours and pictures.<BR><BR>Well, thats enough rambling from me. How about someone else's detailed view?<BR><BR><BR><BR>
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