June 25th, the anniversary of Blade Runner, a movie to remember
I recently booked marked an article by Sadaf Ashan, that reminded
me of a favorite movie of my husband, Clay. It has flying cars. Girls with
snakes. Robots that are as real as humans. And a music score that should have
won those glorious awards. This delicious film is called Blade Runner. Directed
by Ridley Scott. And starring, among others, Harrison Ford.
The movie was released on June 25, 1982 but was set
thirty-seven years in the future in Los Angeles in November of 2019. For science fiction buffs, you probably know
that it is based on American writer Philip K. Dick’s novel published in 1968
called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? You may also be familiar
with his work produced by Amazon called The Man in the High Castle.
This science fiction film tells the story of a band of
advanced replicants who escape back to Earth to meet their creator before their
robotic life forms expire.
According to Ashan, “That date (November 20th)
has sent Twitter ablaze for weeks leading up to Wednesday, with most social
media users commiserating over the fact that we haven’t become quite as
technologically advanced as the film promised.”
I am sorry to say, as of this date, I was not able to find a
free version to watch on the streaming services but it’s $3.99 to watch with
Amazon Prime.
Another film In the Dirk mode is the 2002 movie, Minority
Report, staring Tom Cruise. Set in 2054 in Washington, DC, we watch the
police use psychic technology to arrest murderers before they actually commit
their crime. Based on the turmoil we are currently experiencing, this may not be
your cup of tea.
Cell phone’s GPS is science fiction becoming reality
I mention the Minority Report because it features technology
that may seem close to becoming a reality.
Think about contact tracing. We have used contract tracing
for tracking one-to-one contacts when tracking the spread of measles. People,
who have the disease are contacted and asked who they have had contact with. But
with the newest in technology, states are turning to the GPS location
technology we use with our cell phones.
According to the May 12,2020 article from Rollcall.com, governors
and mayors who are trying to reopen their economies after nearly eight weeks of
lockdown see “contact tracing” done with new technologies as a key to
containing the spread of COVID-19.
China and South Korea already have deployed GPS location
technology to assist in such tracking. Europe and United Kingdom are developing
contact tracing apps.
In April Harvard School of Public Health published an
article on studies that are being done using our cell phone data to predict COVID-19 outcomes.
One May 13, 2020 Human Rights Watch published an article
that says they are particularly concerned about proposals for the use of mobile
location data in the COVID-19 response because the data usually contains
sensitive and revealing insights about people’s identity, location, behavior,
associations, and activities.
Science Fiction…we should read those books and watch those
films. Many times, their predictions are spot on.