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The End of Genetic Privacy in the Blade Runner Canon

Authors: Kendra H. Oliver, Stephanie Higgs, Jay Clayton Journal: Journal of literature and science

Introduction

For nearly 40 years, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) has been a touchstone for commentators on the social implications of science and technology, particularly in the fields of robotics, cloning, and genetic engineering (19)). As Scott’s film attracted attention from critics and social commentators, it also prompted renewed interest in its source, Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). In 2017, Blade Runner inspired a sequel, Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049. All three of these narratives draw on cultural references and scientific knowledge specific to their time, allowing us to explore each work’s depiction of changing cultural norms concerning science. As one of the more recent entries into the “blade runner canon,” ¹ Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 reflects some of our present-day fears and anxieties back at us in terrifying relief. In response to the concurrent rise of biotechnology and authoritarianism, the film depicts a world in which protections of genetic privacy have collapsed in the face of a two-directional assault from powerful biotech corporations and an oppressive state. We will show how Blade Runner 2049’s narrative and mise-en-scène alert us to concerns about genetic privacy latent in both earlier works. Taken together, these three blade runner narratives suggest that, as the loss of genetic privacy becomes accepted and normalized, it opens the door to other privacy rights infringements, warning us of the danger of forfeiting individual autonomy to government and corporate entities. The three blade runner narratives test privacy limits in painfully intrusive ways. One primary example is the use of the Voight-Kampff empathy test, an invasive procedure that measures physiological reactions to a series of emotionally provocative questions in order to distinguish androids (called Replicants in the films) from humans (29); [37]). Androids/Replicants, designed without the ability to feel emotion, typically betray themselves after only 10 to 20 questions. However, when androids/Replicants develop a sense of personal identity and operate outside of their standard protocol the Voight-Kampff test is no longer a reliable barometer of the distinction between them and humans. Human apathy also troubles this line, blurring the distinction even further. In the latest film, Blade Runner 2049, the Voight-Kampff test is still in use, but it has morphed from an occasional intrusion inflicted on Replicants suspected of rebellious tendencies to a routine procedure administered on a daily basis. More extreme still, in the futuristic world of Villeneuve’s film, creating genetic profiles has become standard practice. These profiles are registered at birth (or inception, in the case of Replicants), barcoded, and exhaustively linked to one’s health data, personal activities, consumer behavior, and even memories. These data collection procedures are the common practice of both government entities, such as the LAPD, and private companies, such as the Wallace Corporation; this shared practice eventually sets up a showdown between government and corporate interests as both vie for control over the bodies and minds of the populace. Blade Runner 2049 thus differs from its predecessors by depicting a society in which systematized databases of genetic information have become normalized, dramatizing the fears of some in the bioethics community, who have predicted that surrendering genetic privacy will also result in the loss of individual autonomy (18); [20]; [35]). The issue of genetic privacy has not previously been explored in criticism of any of the blade runner narratives. The current investigation offers a perspective on the evolution of the ways in which privacy and identity are violated in the blade runner cannon. The progression of the canon mirrors real-world genetic and technological developments, potentially indicating a willingness today to sacrifice privacy, including genetic privacy, for social and emotional fulfillment. Our argument is particularly relevant to the interconnectivity of an individual’s genetic data via direct-to-consumer genetic testing services, consumer behavior, and health records, dramatizing real-world developments that reflect the growing risks of encroachment on individual privacy rights so eerily dramatized in Blade Runner 2049.

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