Are We Living In a Blade Runner World? (bbc.com) 223
Now that we have arrived in Blade Runner's November 2019 "future," the BBC asks what the 37-year-old film got right. Slashdot reader dryriver shares the report: [B]eyond particular components, Blade Runner arguably gets something much more fundamental right, which is the world's socio-political outlook in 2019 -- and that isn't particularly welcome, according to Michi Trota, who is a media critic and the non-fiction editor of the science-fiction periodical, Uncanny Magazine. "It's disappointing, to say the least, that what Blade Runner "predicted" accurately is a dystopian landscape shaped by corporate influence and interests, mass industrialization's detrimental effect on the environment, the police state, and the whims of the rich and powerful resulting in chaos and violence, suffered by the socially marginalized."
[...] As for the devastating effects of pollution and climate change evident in Blade Runner, as well as its 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049, "the environmental collapse the film so vividly depicts is not too far off from where we are today," says science-fiction writer and software developer Matthew Kressel, pointing to the infamous 2013 picture of the Beijing smog that looks like a cut frame from the film. "And we're currently undergoing the greatest mass extinction since the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. In addition, the film's depiction of haves and have-nots, those who are able to live comfortable lives, while the rest live in squalor, is remarkably parallel to the immense disparity in wealth between the world's richest and poorest today. In that sense, the film is quite accurate." [...] And it can also provide a warning for us to mend our ways. Nobody, surely, would want to live in the November 2019 depicted by Blade Runner, would they? Don't be too sure, says Kressel.
"In a way, Blade Runner can be thought of as the ultimate cautionary tale," he says. "Has there ever been a vision so totally bleak, one that shows how environmental degradation, dehumanization and personal estrangement are so harmful to the future of the world? "And yet, if anything, Blade Runner just shows the failure of the premise that cautionary tales actually work. Instead, we have fetishized Blade Runner's dystopian vision. Look at most art depicting the future across literature, film, visual art, and in almost all of them you will find echoes of Blade Runner's bleak dystopia. "Blade Runner made dystopias 'cool,' and so here we are, careening toward environmental collapse one burned hectare of rainforest at a time. If anything, I think we should be looking at why we failed to heed its warning."
[...] As for the devastating effects of pollution and climate change evident in Blade Runner, as well as its 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049, "the environmental collapse the film so vividly depicts is not too far off from where we are today," says science-fiction writer and software developer Matthew Kressel, pointing to the infamous 2013 picture of the Beijing smog that looks like a cut frame from the film. "And we're currently undergoing the greatest mass extinction since the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. In addition, the film's depiction of haves and have-nots, those who are able to live comfortable lives, while the rest live in squalor, is remarkably parallel to the immense disparity in wealth between the world's richest and poorest today. In that sense, the film is quite accurate." [...] And it can also provide a warning for us to mend our ways. Nobody, surely, would want to live in the November 2019 depicted by Blade Runner, would they? Don't be too sure, says Kressel.
"In a way, Blade Runner can be thought of as the ultimate cautionary tale," he says. "Has there ever been a vision so totally bleak, one that shows how environmental degradation, dehumanization and personal estrangement are so harmful to the future of the world? "And yet, if anything, Blade Runner just shows the failure of the premise that cautionary tales actually work. Instead, we have fetishized Blade Runner's dystopian vision. Look at most art depicting the future across literature, film, visual art, and in almost all of them you will find echoes of Blade Runner's bleak dystopia. "Blade Runner made dystopias 'cool,' and so here we are, careening toward environmental collapse one burned hectare of rainforest at a time. If anything, I think we should be looking at why we failed to heed its warning."
Deckard was a replicant. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Deckard was a replicant. (Score:2)
The only significant takeaway is just how disappointing AI advancement has been.
No one who actually grasps analog abd digital logic expected anything different. Anyhow, replicants are merely GMO'd humans and have fuck-all to do with "AI."
if we were living in a " Blade Runner World," everyone capable would be off-planet and everyone left here would be gimpy losers... so basically, yeah.
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The only significant takeaway is just how disappointing AI advancement has been.
No one who actually grasps analog abd digital logic expected anything different. Anyhow, replicants are merely GMO'd humans and have fuck-all to do with "AI."
if we were living in a " Blade Runner World," everyone capable would be off-planet and everyone left here would be gimpy losers... so basically, yeah.
Enter CRISPR and other "bio- hacking."
Broken link (Score:5, Informative)
The link to the picture [businessinsider.com] is without the extra parentheses.
Editors: Please fix.
Re: Broken link (Score:3)
Holy Shit! I thought the first picture was the movie until I looked closer to the second image (and words).
Another day, another alarmist BeuHD post (Score:5, Insightful)
Smog and particulates have the OPPOSITE effect to CO2. A large dump of particulates from burning stuff can drop temperature by several degrees worldwide. https://www.fagain.co.uk/node/... [fagain.co.uk]
If you have not noticed, the Siberian fires this summer are already having an effect. Temperatures in Russia are already -20 lower than they should be at this time of the year this week - you can see yourself on Weather.com, grab the forecast for let's say Omsk.
So no, we are not having a Blade Runner World. If we actually have proper global warming it will be much worse - more like something in the Night Down's trilogy.
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Re:Another day, another alarmist BeuHD post (Score:5, Informative)
-20 lower ? So +20 higher ?
The normal temperature this week in South Siberia is above zero - it will be -20C. The normal temperature in what a Westerner thinks to be Siberia - Irkutsk is just below zero. It will be as low as -40C. The temperatures on the Eastern side European part of Russia are also looking like -10C lower than they should be.
It's expected. The fires belched as much particular matter as a large volcanic eruption (f.e. Krakatoa). I wrote this months ago and it looks like it is coming right on time - as predicted: https://www.fagain.co.uk/node/... [fagain.co.uk]
If I am right, we are looking towards a very cold winter. Winter is Coming.
Strawberries in November (Score:4, Informative)
The temperatures on the Eastern side European part of Russia are also looking like -10C lower than they should be. {...} If I am right, we are looking towards a very cold winter. Winter is Coming.
And just some few kilometers westward of Eastern Europe (Central-ish Europe: Switzerland - a.k.a. at the feet at the Alps), our balcony is still yielding strawberries.
In fscking *November*.
Hope Winter hurries up a tiny bit, because here it was still abnormally hot until quite recently, and it only started to look like *summer might consider finished* now.
At the fscking feet of the fscking Alps.
(I'm not disagreeing with you on the weather effect of volcanic (or here: wildfires) particulate matter in atmosphere. I'm just complaining that it's still abnormally hot here aound, and I dream that the effect won't be localized to only Siberia. You know, I like skiing...)
(And BTW: nice blog you have, read a couple of your articles a few weeks back).
OMG! Think of the strawberries (Score:2)
Those poor out of season berries, so sad.
Re: Strawberries in November (Score:2)
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I just checked Windows weather, its like 5c to 3c max all week, thats a fucking winter.
Even HK is 25c
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Yes, yes... sure. At the same time, here in Romania we had about 15 days of literally SUMMER. There were 24 degrees Celsuus a few days ago (Sunday), as I was making barbecue wearing a T-Shirt. In November! The night temperature never dropped below 10 degrees Celsius, that's 7 to 15 degrees more than it should have been. My fruit trees have started budding again, which is really weird.
Seasons seem to have shifted by a month or so, in October we had usual September temperatures and in November we had October
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Seasons seem to have shifted by a month or so, in October we had usual September temperatures and in November we had October temperatures.
Shifting seasons by a month? Damn, and here I thought our daylight savings time was extreme...
Re: Another day, another alarmist BeuHD post (Score:2)
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You are right, it is colder in Siberia.
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/tmp... [nasa.gov]
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You are right, it is colder in Siberia.
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/tmp... [nasa.gov]
That's September. Two months ago. Hold my beer and watch this week:
Example https://weather.com/en-GB/weat... [weather.com] - 24 with average November low according to Google -12
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the Siberian fires this summer are already having an effect.
If the fires are from the summer, why wouldn't we see an effect in September ?
October was also record breaking hot, by the way.
the article is stupid and disconnected from realit (Score:5, Insightful)
the whole thing is disconnected from reality.
I don't whoever wrote it quite understands just how extinct the animals are depicted in blade runner. in blade runner there's no bald eagles. at all. anywhere. or eagles of any kind. an actual owl would be more expensive than a fleet of cars. none of that actually is true in todays world. it's just sooo goddamn silly. not even bangkok is like the world of blade runner. you can have animals for literally free from shelters.
mega corporations on the other hand also have LESS power than they did in 1960s or 70s. which is a lot less than they had in 1770.
how about before writing such an article someone should just watch the original movie, or read the book whatever and then watch in what kind of environment the the book(or movie) was created in.
and maybe, just maybe, venture out into the real world every now and then if you're trying to be a frigging journalist. or open up the friggin nature channel or whatever at least.
Re:the article is stupid and disconnected from rea (Score:5, Informative)
mega corporations on the other hand also have LESS power than they did in 1960s or 70s. which is a lot less than they had in 1770.
Indeed. People lack a historical perspective. In the late 1700s, corporations raised armies, and waged war in their own name [wikipedia.org].
In 1911, Rockefeller's Standard Oil Corporation controlled many times the percent of GDP as any company today.
I don't think that's true (Score:2)
There was a brief period of time during the cold war when they were afraid of getting their factories seized and Unions had enough power to demand better wages. That ended in the 70s when Nixon opened China and it's been pretty much downhill since.
,br> But the elites learned one thing from the 1700s-1900s. And that's you can't foment a rebellion if you don't know who to
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Now, the corporations wage war in the state's name. You do know half of Uncle Sam's boys in 2019 are mercs right?... The state wages war in the corporation's name too, seeing as how (say) Exxon-Mobil benefits from our latest wars. The company formerly known as Standard Oil. I mean, I'm sure it's all a big coincidence. Quick, focus on the arms manufacturers!
Re:the article is stupid and disconnected from rea (Score:4, Informative)
"venture out into the real world..."
I spend a lot of time in nature: observing, photographing, hiking. I walk a minimum of 3-4 hours a week in nature, every week. Even more than that when I was a kid. I'm stuck in an uncomfortable living arrangement, and I try to leave the house as often as possible.
I still live in Texas on the same lake I grew up on. I used to see fireflies all the time as a kid - but I haven't seen one since the 90s. Very rarely do I see frogs, lizards, or bees. Pretty much all that's left in abundance (roaches, ants, mosquitos) are pests, which might give you the false impression that half of all insects haven't died off.
I'm only 1 observer, but there are plenty more, and they've kept way better records than me. In Brazil, Germany, the US - they all count the same thing: The insects are dying. Fast. The animal population as a whole hasn't been cut in half yet, but that is not far behind.
Philip K Dick ignored something in the story: There is no way for humanity to survive without a food chain below them to eat off of. That's the same thing you ignore.
I'm not sure where you've been venturing, but it ain't the real world. Sounds like alternative facts straight from DC, buddy.
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I remember driving on the interstate and having my windshield absolutely coated in insect goop after a few hours. Now when I drive in the summer I'd be lucky to get one. Anecdotal, sure, but I wonder if there is a way to use the "mosquito laser" and the IR LED bug tracking tech to instead characterize and log insects in an area, to get some real data.
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I still live in Texas on the same lake I grew up on. I used to see fireflies all the time as a kid - but I haven't seen one since the 90s. Very rarely do I see frogs, lizards, or bees. Pretty much all that's left in abundance (roaches, ants, mosquitos) are pests, which might give you the false impression that half of all insects haven't died off.
Meanwhile the number of frogs in my yard this summer season was the highest I've seen in 20 years, the fireflies were about usual, and the number of bees with their noses buried in my hibiscus blossoms has been double what it once was. The entire neighborhood was buried in ants, to the point a local exterminator started going door to door, drumming up business. The number of raccoons trying to get into my house has been triple what it usually is, and I've been seeing more possums than ever. Ten years ago
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Re:Another day, another alarmist BeuHD post (Score:5, Insightful)
People obviously do not pay enough attention to detail. The Blade Runner world showed earth as inhabited by the rejects left behind and those genetically good enough have already left. Many of the structures were empty of people and Androids were banned on earth but used on Human colonies around other stars. Those colonies not being dystopias, only a partially abandoned earth collapsing into disrepair, with a falling population as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com].
So in reality Blade Runner actually reflects a very advanced human society, you just do not see it on earth, it is just mentioned as being out in the colonies, only the failures left behind and some factories still producing goods to be exported to colonial worlds.
So yeah we are way off from a Blade Runner earth, missing the faster than gravity star ships and worlds colonised around other stars, something like a century away and of course building sufficient star ships to handle billions of people to create a partially abandoned and falling into disrepair Earth.
When liberal arts journalist comment on geek and nerd fan material they do a really bad job, they simply do not pay enough attention, to busily wrapped up into their own bubble world views.
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>"So no, we are not having a Blade Runner World. "
Shhhhhh- don't spoil the narrative.
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Temperatures in Russia are already -20 lower than they should be at this time of the year this week - you can see yourself on Weather.com, grab the forecast for let's say Omsk.
A warmer arctic leads to a weaker circumpolar current. A weaker circumpolar current results in it forming 'bends', like those in a river, which extend further south, meaning that cold arctic air reaches further south.
While you are right that particulates in the upper atmosphere reflect heat, thus reducing average global temperatures, there are alternative explanations for local variations that more closely match the facts.
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I went and looked at it on amazon. I was a bit surprised that the electronic copy was more than the physical copy, particularly because many, including myself, do not value electronic copies (or, should I say "licenses") as highly as physical books.
Don't they do that by blocking sunlight (Score:2)
I mean, sure, we could fix global warming with nuclear winter, but that's not exactly going to help now is it? Siberia isn't exactly known for being a lush, green paradise.
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warming is fine, but nothing grows at -2c and covered in ice or 0c mud.
All things naturally cool down, but it takes energy to heat things up.
Do the schools not teach history anymore? (Score:3)
This crap also makes me wonder, do the schools not teach history anymore because they're too busy with non-gendered polygamist appreciation week or what?
For anybody who didn't think the article is absolutely ridiculous, here are a few terms for you to Google:
Dutch East India Company
Standard Oil
Feudal system
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Yeeeeaaaah.. that's nice and all, I'm sure, but my asthma says "FUCK THAT SHIT!" to what you're saying, and I think everyone else with respiratory issues will have similar comments.
Media (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah it would be horrible to live in the kind of dystopia where you are forced to pay for a media company that lies to you on a daily basis to push the ruling classes' prefferred ideology on you, obfuscates political debates by heavily favouring one side in coverage, and selectively reports on news stories by playing fast and loose with things like facts and logic. What a nightmare that would be, eh, BBC?
Re:Media (Score:5, Funny)
A boring dystopia brought on... (Score:2, Interesting)
... by corporate greed and the stupidity, ignornace and technological illiteracy of the masses.
The last 20 years have been a real eye opener for many of us nerds at how dumb, subservient to power and cretinous the global public really is -- even among people who claim to be nerds/geeks, the mmo/f2p generation didn't seem to grasp they were being robbed and fell on their face before the CEO gods to get some of that WoW drug which were the battering ram in the war on software ownership on the PC.
We live in a
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"This is why GTA 5 and Red dead redemption 2 are chained to servers, and Take two is now deeping it with their own launcher. Whenever you see a login screen kids, you're seeing your rights you've given away."
THIS is the example you came up with??? Of all the things going on THIS is your example? Christ. Some people never grow up past 12.
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"This is why GTA 5 and Red dead redemption 2 are chained to servers, and Take two is now deeping it with their own launcher. Whenever you see a login screen kids, you're seeing your rights you've given away."
THIS is the example you came up with??? Of all the things going on THIS is your example? Christ. Some people never grow up past 12.
Yeah, I mean being paid in company cash that can only be spent on inflated priced items at company stores has nothing on renting, rather than owning games that most people will completely forget exist after the first couple months. No I don't condone rental of computer games, but it doesn't have a negative impact on a majority of players.
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You should write a book. Seriously, you've said a bunch of important stuff that normally comes across as conspiracy theory nonsense, but you've made it sound more credible than most writers manage to do. You'll need a good editor though.
As for the 'cretinous global public' you mentioned, you ought to include a couple of chapters on just how that cretinism has been created and fostered. A good start for the research on those chapters would be John Taylor Gatto's 'Underground History of American Education'.
Re: A boring dystopia brought on... (Score:2)
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No, this still sounds heavily influenced by the same exaggerated ego and paranoia that fuels the conspiracy theory peddlers, and it is ultimately pointless. There are plenty of high-visibility cretins, corporate and otherwise that are in our faces these days, but the majority of us quietly go on, treating each other decently. Most of us couldn't care less who is watching us or what advertising we are being shown, and are not being harmfully manipulated by any of it. The actual hurtful truth is that peopl
Re:A boring dystopia brought on... (Score:4, Interesting)
"it was selected for war, religious madness, delusion"
As your hateful post clearly demonstrates. Please leave us "slaves" to live in this terrible dystopia and go implement your anarchocommunist ideas to some other planet.
Nothing hateful about it, the truth hurts. You've basically ignored that you're basic human rights have been lobbied away for 200 years.
Your own culture has been stolen up inside mega corporations and is being actively destroyed and you celebrate that fact. I'd call that rightfully deluded.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re:A boring dystopia brought on... (Score:4, Insightful)
FYI, 200 years ago slavery was normal, women had no rights and only about 0.1% of all population on Earth had any influence about their's governements.
Before you starting blaming us for ignorance, get your facts straight.
What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What? (Score:5, Interesting)
Blade Runner got nothing right, at all. What did this person smoke?
You no longer own your PC, your phone, and software's key components are run remotely on a 2nd machine in some corporate office half a world away because the software has been split into two. The history of the last 20 years of the PC has been corporations pillaging the software commons as it were. PRe internet companies were forced to give you a complete local application, after the internet more and more code and functionality of games and other software is carved out, stolen and either sold back to you at inflated prices (microtransactions) or not given to you at all.
Ownership of games on the PC have largely been completley undermined, with level editors and modding massively pared back in the AAA and big budget spaces. You no longer get server exe's or file specs so you can open up the package files to mod textures and whatnot. It's a far cry from the 90's. Windows 10 now has drm and they are working on encrypted computing, aka you never see the raw values in memory unlike windows 32... and we got a fuck tonne of basically amounts to bombs and corporate malware inside of games and other software.
Mass surveillance on an unprecedented scale in all of human history, and corporations that can now write their own trade policies from the point of production, the ability to decide you have any right to access the products paid for now that they've tied them to servers in their offices/colocated farms.
To write software in a networked world is to write the laws that govern the machines without any public input. It's may be "DRM" or "software as service" boring, but that boring still mean's it is a dystopia. You've had your rights forcefully removed by embedding the will of big business inside the software that runs the machines of the planet. That's pretty dystopian.
Re: What? (Score:5, Insightful)
Itâ(TM)s not a dystopia if most people flourish with all that. Most people don't care and willingly choose those things you mentioned. You can always choose to run linux. You aren't forced to use the cloud. Plenty of non cloud software and hardware exists. You arent even forced to own a computer. I know there are some old people in developed countries who donâ(TM)t even have a smartphone or even a desktop computer. In fact hundreds millions of people worldwide live fine without owning a smartphone. As for mass surveillance thats total BS i know someone who had their car broken into and the police didnâ(TM)t even bother to investigate or pull camera footage. Hell forget that, I just remembered someone stole my property in an airport and the police straight up said itâ(TM)s too much of an inconvenience to look at camera footage and that it would take weeks â"if at all. Anyway, another thing is that the average person gets the weekend off, gets to travel the world, keep in touch with their relatives. Do some people have a difficult life? Yes. But not most people. World has been worse. People have been much worse off. Crime is lower than ever. Life expectancy globally is at or near record levels. We have less suffering as a percent of population than before. Not sure how its a dystopia.
Re: What? (Score:2)
It's not a dystopia if most people flourish with all that...
Open your eyes, jackass; society's hardly flourishing.
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Having the choice means it's not bad.
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And you are the one that knows what is good, right?
It does when the public is actively supporting corrupt leaders that leads to wars, crime and disaster. So yeah there is definitely a greater good here even if the public is too dumb to perceive it.
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Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
In that timeline, Germany and Japan won the war and divided North America between themselves. A big giveaway is that Cityspeak was mostly Japanese and German, with Spanish and other languages thrown in.
Also in that timeline, parts of the USA were nuked afterward to quell an uprising in the Rocky Mountain states.
That's dystopian.
Very Interesting (Score:2)
I did not know that. Thank you for sharing.
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Yes I do.
Yes I do.
No they are not.
You got three of three wrong in your first sentence. Why in hell should I pay attention to what you have to say?
Re: What? (Score:2)
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The two words, 'literally' and 'slave' do not mean what your fevered dreams tell you.
More fever.
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I'm less worried about corporations holding my "games" from me, and more worried from Government and corporations teaming up to take my rights. Right now, try to mention Eric Ciaramella in the mainstream media or most social media sites. Look how Government is pushing - hard - to remove our 2nd Amendment rights. They already killed States rights (10th Amendment) with the 17th Amendment. We see the Government (bureaucracy) eliminating the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendment for the President of the US! Video games are somewhere between "couldn't give a rat's ass" and "eh?" when it comes to Government and companies working together to steal our rights...
I used games as a good example of corporations having stolen software in general since the rise of the net, since games are basically one of the most abusively coded pieces of software on the planet - aka no ownership, can now be broken because half the game was never given to you even though you paid for it. Also the fact that in order to participate in the culture you must violate your right to privacy to use many of these "software as services". That's the political aspect you're missing, so it's not t
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Young people want to feel like they're living in the middle of some huge revolution, when there isn't one they invent it. It makes them feel good to pretend they are living in hard times for some reason.
You can make a vague argument about the direction we're heading being in someways slightly aligned with Blade Runner, but Blade Runner world was magnitude 8, we're magnitude 2. It's telling that this person probably wrote the article in a nice office, cafe, or apartment while peacefully sipping a latte, but
It's called Cyberpunk. (Score:4, Insightful)
And yes, Cyberpunk as a genre of literature and other storytelling media has always been about semi-dystopian dismemberment of man from nature and the transformation of the world and society where man has won total control over the world he lives in.
Most precisely Cyberpunk predicted the tilting of cultural boundaries from the vertical into the horizontal, mixing cultural groups together in a globalised world. This basically is happing already if it hasn't happened already.
So, yes, Cyberpunk stories like Bladerunner attempt to predict downsides of a modern society. Glad you noticed.
Corps have no power (Score:3, Insightful)
Putin, Pooh and Trump have shown the supremacy of state over corporations. Corps have influence but their control is tenuous.
Globalisation has failed on all fronts. The utopians thought it would bring capitalist peace and it didn't. The global elite thought it would allow them control and though it works somewhat for smaller first world countries it too has largely failed, in third world countries corruption and revolutions still trump "trade" agreements and the large countries still just unilaterally ignore them almost at will.
Re:Corps have no power (Score:5, Informative)
Putin, Pooh and Trump have shown the supremacy of state over corporations.
Yeah the corporations that have GDP greater than most nations are harmless and powerless. How does shit like this get upvoted?
https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]
Re: Corps have no power (Score:5, Insightful)
The wealthiest owner of the biggest Corp in Russia got fucked by a KGB agent who worked himself up the state chain of power. If you think say Jack Ma could push Pooh around you're dreaming and Trump ultimately does what Trump wants. That's true power.
As I said only the polite leaders of small first world countries let themselves be hemmed in by corps. Even in the third world the power of money is limited. As was said further above, corps used to have standing armies, that's what you really need to exercise power. It's very hard to just buy one when you need it.
Funny how what Trump wants (Score:2)
Putin did what he did during his chaotic rise to power. Once he had power he settled into a pleasant relationship with the powers that be.
Jack Ma gets a lot of press because of Alibaba, but he's "only" worth $38 billion. That's small potatoes in the billionaire's club
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Putin, Pooh and Trump have shown the supremacy of state over corporations.
Yeah the corporations that have GDP greater than most nations are harmless and powerless. How does shit like this get upvoted?
https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]
But his statement was limited to the US, China and Russia (assuming Pooh is a reference to Xi Jinping [wikipedia.org]). How many corporations are there with an income greater than the GDP of US, China and Russia? I suppose there is a chance there is some huge megacorp out there that has a per annum income greater than the GDP of Russia since Russia's economy is smaller than that of Italy but the US and China?
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IT's true, because one has guns, power and the ability to end the other one with a pen.
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Trump is the corporation. You elected a CEO who used his presidency to enrich himself and his corporate friends. Tax cuts, self-promotion.
China isn't communist, if you go there you will find it is extremely capitalist and materialistic. Much of its wealth is built off globalization.
Putin contracted out state level attacks on your elections to the Internet Research Agency. He commercialized what previously only the KGB would have been doing.
Re:Corps have no power (Score:4, Interesting)
Is that why his entire corporation (the Federal Government) is gunning to get rid of him? Rather than a corporation election, we elected someone who wanted to tear DOWN the "Government Corporation" and make it answer to the people again. Look at the media - you see it littered with quotes from people in the State Department about how the President is ruining THEIR foreign policy. HINT: the President sets the agenda and the policy, NOT the bureaucrats. It is HIS, not THEIRS.
The biggest "corporation" in the world is the US Federal Government. And unfortunately it also has the ability to lock you up for no reason, to arbitrarily take everything you own, and even reach out and kill you anywhere in the world, with pretty much no repercussions. It can demand that foreign Governments fire their own people within hours - and it happens. It can make justice whatever it wants. It's why nearly every Congressman enters being worth mid-6 figures, and leave service being worth mid-8 figures.
No, we didn't elect a CEO to use the Presidency to enrich himself, we elected a leader to tear down the size and scope of the Federal Government - and the pushback and attacks he's getting from that same Government show not only was it the right thing to do, but that he's succeeding.
PS: About the elections, don't forget your own nation's mucking around in our elections [businessinsider.com], and your own "royals" playing with underage children [independent.co.uk]. Stiff upper lip and all that, eh?
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Of course being POTUS will bring monetary rewards due to increasing the profile of the individual and increasing demand for things like speaking services. However, that's rather different to failing to properly divest yourself and then taking steps to enrich your family and friends, if not yourself directly.
Trump stood on a platform of draining the swap of corrupt politicians, so even if you think Clinton/Obama did exactly the same we are still going to hold him to a higher standard.
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That's not how fascism works (Score:3)
These aren't supermen. But they are members of the ruling class. And the ruling class take care of their own.
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Russia may still be controlled by government, I haven't paid enough attention to tell. But the government in the USA is wholly controlled by corporations. When they say jump, politicians say "off what bridge?"
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That not correct. We have a whole major political party who fights that.
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That not correct. We have a whole major political party who fights that.
If you look at where the campaign contributions come from, no we absolutely do not. We have only a small handful of politicians who fight that. I'll grant you they're all on the left, though, and most of them are democrats, while the remainder are independents.
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This would be the same government that is currently investigating the some of the richest companies in the world for their alleged illegal business practices?
When Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Google have to deal with the government investigating and threatening to break them up, then it's pretty damned obvious that no, the corporations do not "wholly control" the government.
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"Globalisation [sic] has failed on all fronts. "
That nonsense.
"The utopians thought it would bring capitalist peace and it didn't"
Well, it did. "No two countries with a McDonald have ever gone to war."
Don't confuses Globalization with capitalism. You don't need capitalism for globalization
"global elite thought it would allow them control and though it works somewhat for smaller first world countries it too has largely failed"
But it does and is.
" in third world countries "
All of which are doing better. I'm
No (Score:2)
No hovercars yet.
Not living in Blade Runner. (Score:5, Insightful)
We're not living in Blade Runner. Not yet. That comes next.
Right now it's a bizarre mix of Robocop and Idiocracy.
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We're not living in Blade Runner. Not yet. That comes next.
Right now it's a bizarre mix of Robocop and Idiocracy.
No, robotics has not advanced to Robocop levels yet, it's just Idiocracy.
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" it's just Idiocracy."
I wish, but it isn't. Idiocracy is better.
Racism? gone.
People getting out of prison? given test and put into the best job to help them and society.
And here is the best part: Dumb people acknowledge they are dumb instead of assuming the are smart and everything they think is correct.
I'd rather live in a world were dumb people know they were dumb and there work was to get smart people into important positions.
Oy (Score:5, Insightful)
What a bunch of disjointed carp.
pointing to the infamous 2013 picture of the Beijing smog that looks like a cut frame from the film
Ah, that explains why all the hipsters have been hating on China, instead of on Republicans ... oh, wait ...
In addition, the film's depiction of haves and have-nots, those who are able to live comfortable lives, while the rest live in squalor, is remarkably parallel to the immense disparity in wealth between the world's richest and poorest today.
As opposed to the past, when the world's poor lived in comfort and luxury ...
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To hipsters, not having the latest iPhone equates to squalor. The vast majority of Westerners have never even SEEN real poverty.
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"To hipsters, not having the latest iPhone equates to squalor"
False. But keep with our ad hom attack so you can feel like you matter. Truth is you got nothing, will always have nothing, and your value to the human race is nothing.
I think the thing that lines up about poverty (Score:2)
In the 50s, 60s and even 70s there was a belief that we'd end poverty in the near term. And the crazy thing is we're at the point were it's a logistical problem [youtube.com].
We have enough food, shelter and healthcare to take care of everybody and we're choosing not to. We're not even trying to solve the problem, and anyone who does is either ignored [duckduckgo.com] or attacked [duckduckgo.com]
What Blade Runner got right is that we'd all just quietly accept dystopia as it became
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"hipsters "
You don't have facts, so create a false narrative and an ad hom. Typical, let me guess, you're a Trumpanzee?
People have been hating on both, for different reasons.
The President enlist foreign aid to political gain, and break the emolument clause every fucking day. He is using his office for international crimes..
The GOP is backing him, and lying for him. It's kind of a big deal.
China is oppression, police state, forcible removing Oregon, and dictating America Culture and technology.
Also, a reall
A stupid answer to a silly question. (Score:4, Insightful)
The answers to those questions are the same as the answer to the one posed in the headline. No.
And what's this nonsense about a picture of Beijing looking like a frame from the film? Is China's pollution-ridden police-state supposed to represent the whole world now? Let's set aside for a moment the fact that they have nothing on the "pea soup fog" that London used to choke under, because the premise is just too absurd to bother throwing more truth at.
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Thanks for letting us know you can understand a point, no matter how laid out it is.
Entertainment (Score:2)
Well now! (Score:2)
Let's not forget Mike Judge's "Idiocracy"
BBC (Score:2)
This small pile of rubbish tells us a lot about the BBC and very little about the world around us or the world of Blade Runner
More like learning from history then a 'prediction (Score:2)
a dystopian landscape shaped by corporate influence and interests, mass industrialization's detrimental effect on the environment, the police state, and the whims of the rich and powerful resulting in chaos and violence, suffered by the socially marginalized.
SO they just looked at history of empires then? The same thing can be said of England during it's expansion.
Blade Runner made Dystopia's cool? (Score:2)
God doesn't exist (Score:2)
God is a myth, like Thor and Vishnu. But if it makes you feel better to indulge in superstition...have a nice day.
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" I prefer papers books over cinematographics films."
that fine, but they are different mediums, so the telling of the story is different. But you go on thinking your more important because you 'read' book instead of watch movies.
I would think someone who claime to like books would at least get the title of the book they are talking about correct.
And like Christ, the characters in the book are fictional.
Re: cyberpunk Future (Score:2)
...cyberpunk stories aren't meant to be inspiring, they're meant to be a warning.
Are you putting words in Gibson's and Stevenson's mouths or did either of them actually say that?
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"Yes there is." - Actual Scientists.
You're anti-science scum who is actively hurting society with you bullshit.
If it so bad, why don't you protest with self emulation? I'll get the marshmallows.