Blade Runner 2049 and the Soul

I recently re-watched Blade Runner 2049.  It is one of my favorite SF movies, and the visuals are without-a-doubt amazing.  After this class, the themes of 2049 are even more apparent to me.  In the above scene, Replicant Blade Runner K (later takes the name Joe) finds weird evidence that will send him on a detective case to find and destroy the first ever born Replicant, which we learn later is the child of Deckard and Rachel (two Replicants) from the original movie.

The chief of the police force wants the child hunted down and destroyed, because this revelation could drastically change the societal structure.  As K says in the her office, “To be born is to have a soul.”  The only issue is that he has memories that make him believe he is the born Replicant.  But all memories are implants in Replicants, so K goes on a long journey.  Eventually he finds out that he was a Replicant used to help cover up the real born Replicant, named Ana.  His memories are really hers, implanted into him because Ana was kept in isolation but worked as a memory creator.  She sent out a real memory (illegal) because she so desperately wanted to share herself to the world.

On the flip side, blind god-like creator of the Replicants wants Ana in order to dissect her, and he wants to find out how to breed Repicants.  He envisions that this will not lead to their revolution, but to further expansion of slave labor.  The story is full of great philosophical moments, many of which are covered in this great video.  I would be plagiarizing if I used them as my own.

Also, I cannot help but see Dune (currently reading) reflected in this gorgeous shot of the movie.

There is also some great moments with virtual reality, as K owns a virtual girl that is a market favorite.  She is what he programs her to be, it also seems like she guesses and predicts what is best for him and his desires, which reminds me of several of the short stories we have read earlier in the year.

In this relationship, it shows K seeks to be interlinked.  In fact, “interlinked” is a key word that the police use when testing K, seeing if he has any growing sense of humanity.  This desire of belonging is seemingly not natural to Replicants, but once they are they are deemed to be more dangerous, dangerous of becoming human so are killed.

There are so many great points, and many of them are covered in the above video.  I would recommend this movie to anyone in our class (there are some gruesome parts, a little nudity, so be warned).

K eventually decides to find and save Deckard, even after his revelation that he is not the born child.  For to save someone else, to sacrifice oneself, is the most human thing they could do.   K does not need to be the savior of his people or the miracle.  He learns from Deckard the value of sacrifice, selflessness, and choice.  He uses it to reunite father and daughter, and he covers up Deckards ID, reporting him dead.

K did not need to be born to be human.  He chose to be.

William T. Riker, Plural. (“Think Like a Dinosaur” Thoughts)

James Patrick Kelly’s “Think Like a Dinosaur” drew a connection for me to, yet again, Star Trek (shocker).  Star Trek’s teleporters work very similar to the reptilian design in the short story: both destroy the old body while simultaneously recreating it in a different location.  It is more like translation than teleportation; no real atoms are moved.  Except in Star Trek’s case, the body must be destroyed first, thus people can be lost in the process.  During class I had little to add to the overall discussion aside from similarities in teleportation technology, but afterwards I remembered an episode of season six of Star Trek the Next Generation.

In the episode Second Chances, the Starship Enterprise returns to Nervala IV to recover crucial data information lost eight years ago when the planet’s orbit got too close to the sun, forcing the planetary crew to evacuate.  This orbit also causes a distortion field that screws with the teleporters.  Last to evacuate was then Lieutenant William Riker, but the distortion field made the teleport chief attempt it twice.  One translation made it back to the starship, while the second bounced off the distortion field and translated another Riker on the planet’s surface.  The crew leave, believing to have Riker, and leave another Riker behind.

So when Commander Riker beams down, he confronts himself.  But they are drastically different people.  Commander Riker was promoted quickly, and he has served the prestigious position of First Officer on the Enterprise.  Meanwhile the other Riker has merely tried to survive.  Lieutenant Riker also chooses to go by Thomas by the end of the episode, so from now on he shall be referred to as such.

They have other differences too, Tom is more rash than Will.  Tom is also still deeply in love with Troi, whom Will has decided not to pursue romantically despite his feelings for the sake of his career.  Tom also seems to forget the chain of command when being commanded by seemingly himself, and is quick to point out the only true difference between them is circumstance.  But by now they have drifted into very different people.

But there is a moment when Will warns Troi to be careful when falling in love with Tom, because Will doesn’t want himself(?) to hurt her again.  He brings up the fact that if Tom had made it up instead of him, he would have chosen the same choice to drift away from her.

This begs the question: could Tom have made a different choice?  The general implication feels like a resounding no, that the same person experiencing the same events would make the same decision.  Not that they wouldn’t still have the free choice, but that the exact same individual, with no hindsight, would make the same decision if faced with the same circumstances.  The only reason Tom feels different is because he had eight lonely years to attach himself to Troi, eight years of obsession Will never faced.

From here on Tom and Will are essentially different people, but it still poses religious concerns such as do each have a soul?  Can the essence of a person actually be duplicated in this manner?  One could argue the second one materializes on the ground and the other in the starship they have different experiences and are so different people, but it still feels murky.

Regardless, they become drastically different people.  They have separate personalities Will continues to become a highly regarded admiral, and Tom becomes some sort of terrorist in an episode of Deep Space Nine to boost ratings.