We're all, essentially, replicants...

I have heard so much about Blade Runner in my life that I ended up putting it on a pedestal in my mind. A few years ago there was this rumor that it was oging to be put back on the big screen. I decided then that I would wait until that moment to finally see the film. When Alex said that he'd be showing it in 142, I figured that that was good enough. After 20 years of waiting, I finally got to see the legendary Blade Runner.

Honestly? I was extremely underwhelmed. I just didn't like it. Perhaps it was the hype I had created... but I don't think so. Conceptually, there is a lot going on and can certainly provide hours of conversation, discussion, and debate... but the film as a piece of entertainment did not work at all. My biggest problem was that there was so little character development. I never once actually found myself caring for Deckard. His plight did not seem interesting or captivating. On top of this, the pacing was so random that before I had enough time to understand one scenario, we were on to another. By the time we find Deckard hanging perilously from atop a high building, I really couldn't have cared less if he had fallen to his death.

I like to discuss the idea of a self-aware android, but I really feel like a broken record at this point. What more can I say on the topic? I think I have made it rather clear that I find absolutely no moral dilemma when it comes to artificial intelligence. What is it to me if we create a separate sentient entity?

However, the idea of creating memories is new to the class and highly interesting. These characters have vivid memories that give them purpose and definition. When it turns out that these are really just scripts put into their minds rather than actual recorded events that played out in their life, it makes you really wonder what the point of memories really is in our daily lives. Without memories, we really cannot know who we are because we do not know where we have been and what we have done. But then, when I really think about it, it occurs to me that it is only the memories that define us, not the actual events. If you remember something one way, that is what guides you, even if that isn't "really" how it happened. So for these androids, they feel a certain way based on the stories they believe to be their own. To me, then, it doesn't really matter at all if they are accurate. If you remember something, then it is real to you. Sure, she never LEARNED to play piano, but she remembers learning and still CAN play, so how is that any less real?

It reminds me of a strange paradox that has occurred so very many times in my short life. I like to embellish the details a little... even when I am just retelling the story in my head. The result of this is that, occasionally, I recreate history. I even remember that I made up details, but I forget which ones and the truth is lost. It bothered me at first, then I realized that however I remember it IS how it happened. The past, after all, doesn't exist. It may have at one time, but here and now is all there really is. And now, however the past is remembered is how it happened. Once something is gone, it can never be found. This angers some people, but I take solace in knowing that the universe has its truth and we, as decaying masses of flesh, have ours.