Blade Runner, Ridley Scott's vision of the future turns 30 this year. This vision of the future was released on June 25th 1982 and continues to live on, I believe, as the closest portrayal of our world's future. There are so many fascinating conclusions that this film makes: technological, political, physical, psychological. And the predictions in the film are even more bang on -- it's as if Scott had a crystal ball to look into the future and filmed us an infomercial of a potential world, warning us to "Be careful of what you want. You may just get it."
Enjoy this short "documentary" on Scott's vision filmed in 1982. This adds yet another layer to a must-see film. See Blade Runner every year as we approach 2019, to remind you that the decisions we make every day lead to our eventuality.
And this never before published letter from Philip K. Dick, the author of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", the short story on which Blade Runner is based:
And for some Google/Nexus humour:
DECKARD: What’s this?
BRYANT: Nexus 6. Runs Ice Cream Sandwich. Incept date 2012. Flagship model. Optimum self-sufficiency. Probably the leader.
[new phone appears rotating on screen]
BRYANT: Galaxy S. Talk about ‘Beauty and the Beast’ — she’s both.
[new phone appears rotating on screen]
BRYANT: LG Genesis. Your basic pleasure model. They were designed to copy the iPhone in every way except for their applications. The designers reckoned that, after a few years, they might develop their own smartphone ecosystem. You know, cases, boom boxes, charging docks… so they built in a failsafe device.
DECKARD: Which is what?
BRYANT: Four hour talk time.