Blade Runner
Blade Runner
This film pulls no punches in asking the most troubling questions about artificial intelligence and cloning. What is a human? If it looks just like one, but we made it, can we kill it? This is Deckers job, a “Blade Runner” played by Harrison Ford. When Replicants, the pseudo clone slaves of human society, run amok (or in this case, return to earth, which they are banned from) it’s the job of a Blade Runner to find and “retire” them. They are spoken about in a very particular language, so as to reinforce the nonhuman status they retain. Decker has already found himself morally opposed to killing replicants at the onset of the film, or if he’s not morally opposed, he’s at least very tired of it.
When it’s made clear to him the dire consequences of his refusal, he takes up the hunt again. He begins by visiting Tyrell Corp., the company that designs and produces replicants. There he is introduced to Rachel, a female replicant who’s been implanted with memories so as to make her more stable. From personal experience I might add that, if stability was the goal, they might have rethought making her female. Anyway, Decker falls in love with Rachel, and this further complicates things, because he’s supposed to kill her too. This raises questions about love in general. If he can fall in love with her, is she human? Or is he just kind of pervy? Would engaging her in a relationship be the equivalent of bestiality? -- Reviewer from Hell
“Blade Runner” is a very good movie and raises many interesting questions concerning human questions of personhood. The movie follows the rough police officer Deckard, who is a blade runner, his main mission is to hunt down and eliminate the replicates who had hijacked an earth-bound ship. The movie raises five particular philosophical questions. First it asks us “What does it mean to be human?” Does this mean we have actual flesh and blood or is it more to do with our awareness of our environments? This question leads
This film pulls no punches in asking the most troubling questions about artificial intelligence and cloning. What is a human? If it looks just like one, but we made it, can we kill it? This is Deckers job, a “Blade Runner” played by Harrison Ford. When Replicants, the pseudo clone slaves of human society, run amok (or in this case, return to earth, which they are banned from) it’s the job of a Blade Runner to find and “retire” them. They are spoken about in a very particular language, so as to reinforce the nonhuman status they retain. Decker has already found himself morally opposed to killing replicants at the onset of the film, or if he’s not morally opposed, he’s at least very tired of it.
When it’s made clear to him the dire consequences of his refusal, he takes up the hunt again. He begins by visiting Tyrell Corp., the company that designs and produces replicants. There he is introduced to Rachel, a female replicant who’s been implanted with memories so as to make her more stable. From personal experience I might add that, if stability was the goal, they might have rethought making her female. Anyway, Decker falls in love with Rachel, and this further complicates things, because he’s supposed to kill her too. This raises questions about love in general. If he can fall in love with her, is she human? Or is he just kind of pervy? Would engaging her in a relationship be the equivalent of bestiality? -- Reviewer from Hell
“Blade Runner” is a very good movie and raises many interesting questions concerning human questions of personhood. The movie follows the rough police officer Deckard, who is a blade runner, his main mission is to hunt down and eliminate the replicates who had hijacked an earth-bound ship. The movie raises five particular philosophical questions. First it asks us “What does it mean to be human?” Does this mean we have actual flesh and blood or is it more to do with our awareness of our environments? This question leads