What does it mean to be human, the classic philosoher's ponderment. Is it the intelligence, the self-awareness, the morality or the compassion, or despite being endowed with all the above, the irrationality of going against all of those? So is it the adherence to the agreed upon standards or the unpredictability while sticking to them, that is distinctly human? In the current age of advancing artificial intelligence, where machines could be taught with the do's and the dont's while accomplishing a particular task (much like how the humans are conditioned from childhood to behave a certain way in the society), the question about the true nature of the human being gains even more relevance, and the answer veers more into the territory of chaos, volatility and unpredictability (which, ironically, also add up to ingenuity). The evolutionary tracking of the progress of the man from a homosapien starts off from being a pure surivalistic being, where he would stop at nothing at self-preservation, to becoming a more social animal, where compromise becomes the order of the day living among his own kind, and when he has it all, reverting his days of being a cave-dweller, in spirit, to exert his roots as a primal being. As it is this last stage of flashing back to the primordial state that truly sets him apart from the precise and exacting world of artificial intelligence. Ironies galore here, machines trying to become more human by taking the path of reason and logic and humans asserting their identity by ignoring precisely those same faculties. A world fraught with conflicts, contradictions, paradoxes and inequities might be too overwhelming for a machine to fish out some orderliness out of it all, and when pushed too far, it falls back upon its exit strategy of resetting or rebooting it all to start everything afresh. The recent doomsdays prophecies, by noted scientists and engineers in the field of artificial intelligence, that handing over the keys to the machines might not be an ideal scenario, however much the comfort and the convenience, considering their inability to understand chaos (or the failure of the humans to program chaos into them) to treat survival (self, and of their masters) , even if goes against all rules, reasons and logic, as a paramount. And it is this, the will of survival against all odds, that defines the true nature of the human being.

The original 'Blade Runner' was a philosophical study of the nature of man, albeit dressed up as a dazzling sci-fi feature. Even the term 'science fiction' is a bit misleading in its nomenclature. Even when set in the universes of the distant pasts/futures, the realm of science-fiction is truly rooted in the reality of the present day, trying to look inward from outside. The worlds of Star Wars', Star Treks, Battlestar: Gallacticas, the '2001's were always about place of man (humanity) in the present day society and not about the Federations or the voyages in times unknown. And so goes with the dank and dark world of 'Blade Runner', where machines are taught to replicate human behavior sometimes blurring the lines between the two entities (which becomes the running question in the movie, who is what), where they act more human than humans themselves (bringing to fore the question, what IS human) and where machines struggle with serious questions concerning their identities. Obviously, the machines are merely stand-ins for human beings, and all the questions, doubts and contradictions that the machines supposedly undergo are all in fact every bit human quandries. That's when the genre is deemed elevating when all the metaphors, symbolisms, substitutions and allusions ultimately train their guns on the current condition and every thing that happens in the world of make-believe find relevance and reflections in the real world. 'Blade Runner' is no mere sci-fi feature, it is one of the more poignant instrospections ever attempted in the genre that questions the nature of the man at a level that is more psychological than phisiological.

'Blade Runner 2049' retains the spirit of the original, as a contemplative piece, and yet stands on its own as an investigative drama, making it a companion feature to something like 'Minority Report' (or 'Chinatown' for that matter) than being a true extension of its predecessor (truth be told, all that could be said about the machines vis-a-vis the humans and humanity had already been laid out in the first one and continuing in the same vein would have been belaboring the obvious). The sequel has familiar beats - machines hunting down long expired machines, an evil corporation with a sinister plan, a never quitting femme fetale, and above all, the somber world of post apocalyptic LA that is devoid of all color - and yet instead of regurgitating the same, '2049' takes a different direction deepening the identity crisis further by playing up the conceit of memory and what it means to be building a life over something that in itself is a shaky concept to begin with. Events happen, the neural network inside effects the brain tissue to record the event and store it allowing it to become a memory. The ruse of the memory has long been a sci-fi staple and whether it could be a trustworthy companion in the journey of life forms the second side of the identity question. The technical aspects bolster the movie up with stunning photography (by, who else but, Roger Deakins), stellar productions design and puslating score, expanding on the top-notch standards set by the original. Despite the great advances made in the CGI over the last three decades since the 'Blade Runner' was released, the director's conscious choice of retaining the original atmosphere (which creatively too makes sense, since the current events unfold about three decades since the original's) goes on to show how influential Riddley Scott's vision of a gentrified postmodern society was, in the way how customized life became for the rich, and how wretched it was for the have-nots. With a slew of 'Rise of ______ (apes, machines, terminators, artiticial intelligence)' themed movies hitting the screens of late, all exhorting the humanity to grow a bit more heart, with all the modern scientists and philosophers alarmed at the humanity's eagerness to cede the control to the machines, in exchange for comfort and convenience, the genre of science fiction is turning into a clarion call of impending doom, if life is indeed going to be controlled and governed by cold and inscrutable logic.

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