The Reality of Blade Runners, Steeplechasers, Golfers
Over the weekend I watched Blade Runner for the first time. Throughout the film Harrison Ford constantly battles with what is human and what is machine. Is the machine more human that the actual human? What is more real, man-made reality or natural reality?
The question of "what is reality?" is a running theme not just in the story but also in the setting. The city of Los Angeles in 2019 looks like a modern-day New York with all of the large skyscrapers, neon signs, and advertisements. However, there are some differences such as the constant rain, pollution caused darkness, and advertisements located hundreds of feet in the air, to reach the people riding in the flying cars.
This man-made reality that the characters experience is their normal. They have robotic animals because real animals are too hard to come by. They resort to settling on an imitation of reality instead actual reality. This reminded me of the Steeplechase attraction at Coney Island from our reading of "Delirious New York". Originally people went outside New York to ride actual horses, but as the population grew people had to settle for an imitation of horseback riding. It then became their reality instead of the actual act of riding a real horse.
The same can be said about the Downtown Athletic Club. This building housed an indoor golf course. Young gentlemen would go play golf inside of a skyscraper instead of going out to the country to play on a real golf course. This was their reality. We continue to do the same today with indoor driving ranges. We have developed the technology to make it so that we can substitute man-made reality for actual reality.
35 years ago Blade Runner predicted what would happen if we let our technological desires grow too large and even though we don't have flying cars or perfected humanoid robots, we do live in a world that has cities that are a bit too close to the LA of 2019. Have we let our man-made devices dictate our reality?
The question of "what is reality?" is a running theme not just in the story but also in the setting. The city of Los Angeles in 2019 looks like a modern-day New York with all of the large skyscrapers, neon signs, and advertisements. However, there are some differences such as the constant rain, pollution caused darkness, and advertisements located hundreds of feet in the air, to reach the people riding in the flying cars.
This man-made reality that the characters experience is their normal. They have robotic animals because real animals are too hard to come by. They resort to settling on an imitation of reality instead actual reality. This reminded me of the Steeplechase attraction at Coney Island from our reading of "Delirious New York". Originally people went outside New York to ride actual horses, but as the population grew people had to settle for an imitation of horseback riding. It then became their reality instead of the actual act of riding a real horse.
The same can be said about the Downtown Athletic Club. This building housed an indoor golf course. Young gentlemen would go play golf inside of a skyscraper instead of going out to the country to play on a real golf course. This was their reality. We continue to do the same today with indoor driving ranges. We have developed the technology to make it so that we can substitute man-made reality for actual reality.
35 years ago Blade Runner predicted what would happen if we let our technological desires grow too large and even though we don't have flying cars or perfected humanoid robots, we do live in a world that has cities that are a bit too close to the LA of 2019. Have we let our man-made devices dictate our reality?
Maybe in this internet age, we have shifted from creating augmented physical realities for the masses to using our man-man devices to create our own personal, virtual realities to share with the world. Today, a visitor to Coney Island would not simply ride the Steeple Chase and enjoy the artificial experience. He would video himself on the ride to post on his snap story and then take a photo with his "horse" and overlay the perfect photo filter for his Instagram. Thus, creating an altered reality of the artificial reality to share with the world.
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