Dear Elon Musk, Let’s Clear Up A Few Things About ‘Blade Runner’ And The Cybertruck

Bladerunner Top
ADVERTISEMENT

On a recent episode of the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, Tesla founder Elon Musk induced the podcast’s host to fire a compound bow at the CyberTruck, a new Tesla model that the company insists will be delivered to customers who pre-ordered it on November 30. The arrow bounces off the side of the truck, leaving only a small dent. “That’s impressive,” Rogan says. “Yeah,” Musk agrees.

“You built it like this just for fun?” Rogan asks. “Trucks are supposed to be tough,” Musk responds. “Is your truck bulletproof?”

[Ed note: The internet has enjoyed the tweet from Elon Musk about blade-running and our old pal Max Read, of the excellent Substack READ MAX *you should subscribe to* sent out an email this morning breaking down what, exactly, Musk seems to have missed about the film. Max writes a lot about the future, film, technology, and science fiction. We thought the email was on point and we’re sharing it here with Max’s permission. – MH]

When the clip was posted to the social-media website X.com, which is also owned by Musk, by an account called “Tesla Owners Silicon Valley,” Musk responded: “It’s an armored personnel carrier from the future – what Bladerunner would have driven.”
Screen shot of Elon Musk tweet
screenshot: X.com

This is not the first time that Musk has suggested that the CyberTruck would be favored by a person or thing called “Bladerunner”–in March he said the vehicle was “Designed for Bladerunner.”

I am worried that Elon Musk is operating under several misunderstandings regarding the movie Blade Runner, beginning with the relationship between the movie’s title and the name of its main character. I would therefore like to use my platform to clarify some important points.

1. The Guy’s Name Is Not “Bladerunner”

The name of the main character in Blade Runner¹ is Rick Deckard, not “Bladerunner.” Deckard is a former “blade runner”–two words. In the world of the movie, a “blade runner” is a kind of police officer whose job is to hunt down and kill escaped “replicants,” bioengineered humanoids created for use as off-Earth workers and soldiers by the Tyrell corporation.

2. He Already Has A Car

"Deckard's Sedan," Blade Runner

We don’t actually have to speculate on “what Bladerunner [sic] would have driven” because the movie shows us: We see Deckard behind the wheel of a “spinner,” or flying car.²

Blade Runner Spinner / Warner Bros.

3. Even If He Needed A New Car, A Cybertruck Would Be A Poor Fit For His Specific Uses

Rick Deckard is not a general contractor. He does not own a boat he needs to tow; he doesn’t tailgate Chargers games, or whatever. He kills replicants! He doesn’t need cargo space or towing capabilities. Nor, for that matter, does he need an “armored personnel carrier”–he’s a cop, not a soldier! Replicants are not trying to kill Deckard except in self-defense; even then, they don’t have “tommy guns” or compound bows or any of the things that Musk is testing against the cybertruck’s body.

Plus, from what we can see, no one besides rich people and cops really drives at all, so he probably wouldn’t drive any cars except the spinner issued to him by the LAPD.

4. “Blade runners” Are Not Really Admirable Figures

Rick Deckard is not a cool guy to emulate; he’s a self-deluded contract killer, a slave catcher looked on with contempt by the people he works for and despised and feared by the people he hunts. The movie is about Deckard himself coming to realize this, among other things.

5. The future depicted in Blade Runner sucks

You don’t need the truck that “Bladerunner [sic] would have driven” because you don’t live in the world of Blade Runner, which is self-evidently not an aspirational future. Nor, for that matter, do you need an “armored personnel vehicle” of the kind Musk claims the cybertruck is. (Which, again, is not something that Rick Deckard would have driven.) Who cares if your truck is bulletproof!! No one is shooting tommy guns at your weird truck?? Get a life.
Footnotes:
  1. Famously, the phrase “Blade Runner” isn’t located anywhere in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the Philip K. Dick novel on which the movie is based. It comes instead from a script treatment (written by William S. Burroughs!) for a movie based on a novel called The Bladerunner (one word) about a medical-equipment smuggler. Blade Runner director Ridley Scott liked the title and convinced producer Michael Deeley to buy the rights to it. I suppose it is possible, though in my opinion unlikely, that Musk is referring not to the incredibly famous cyberpunk movie Blade Runner but to the obscure 1970s novel The Bladerunner, though even in the case the titular “bladerunner” is actually named Billy Gimp, not “bladerunner.”
  2. Notably, we never see Deckard drive and we certainly never see him fly. Gaff, played by James Edward Olmos, chauffeurs Deckard through the sky, and according to the Petersen Automotive Museum, Deckard’s spinner is decommissioned, which means it can’t fly.

 

[Ed note: Again, this is from READ MAX *which you should subscribe to* and we’re sharing it here with Max’s permission. – MH]

About the Author

View All My Posts

181 thoughts on “Dear Elon Musk, Let’s Clear Up A Few Things About ‘Blade Runner’ And The Cybertruck”

  1. Holy shit, I’m genuinely a little disturbed now. Does Elon really think Harrison Ford in that movie played a character called ‘Bladerunner’? Has he never actually watched the entire movie from start to finish, and if he has, was he actually paying attention?

    I can’t articulate why this bothers me so much. ‘What Bladerunner would have driven’. Why does he care so much about the Blade Runner aesthetic when he’s clearly never watched the movie?

    1. The movie genre is called Cyberpunk, and just few years ago (3 maybe) very popular role playing game was released called Cyberpunk 2077 which was based on table top game called Cyberpunk. In it your character is a mercenery, cops work for corporations, you shoot cops that get in your way, and corporations actually wage real wars with each other.
      I guess then Elon’s musk learned that Blade Runner was a cyberpunk movie, and called that contraption Cybertruck to get on the band wagon.
      In both, in the game and in the movie, main characters are not good people. They just do their jobs to survive. I bet he cheers for Homelander in The Boys also.
      It is like cheering for the Emperor in Gladiator, Jesse/Teacher in Breaking Bad, Hannibal in SIlance of the Lambs, Henry in Goodfellas.

      He is just jumping on bandwagons without any clue. Like Conan going to Mexico to get donations for the wall.

    2. Elon doesn’t actually watch movies even tho one might be showing on a nearby screen.

      He doesn’t pay attention to them because he’s too busy Twitterbating.

          1. I will assume. I will assume that if you wonder “What’s your beef with Rogan?” then either you don’t know how many people think he is a MAGA ish d-bag (like all of them) guy who makes a lot of $ due to that. I will assume if you don’t know or acknowledge that then you won’t like why Joe is a D-bag. But maybe you are a troll, I hadn’t thought of that at first. Calm down, oh my, I am all a titter. I feel my ASSumption was wrong, you do know who he is and you are a troll. And I will perform my amazing assumption once again! …
            getstoneyII is a D-bag!
            Bye bye! Have the last word, and enjoy your victory.

            3. Come on man. Don’t do this crap here. Dude asked a simple question, I personally don’t follow Rogan at all and have no idea what anyone thinks of him because he’s not someone anyone I know talks about. The best thing about the autopian is the lack of hostility along the members, don’t drag this place down with personal attacks

              1. I don’t “follow” Joe, but I don’t think that was a “question”, I think it was an affirmation of, oh, Joe’s ok, how in the universe could anyone not love my favorite guy who speaks the truth? But maybe it was genuine. So, FYI Joe is a well known source/spreader/benefiter of dissension/misinformation/fake news.

                1. Honestly mate I really don’t care, I still very much do not ever want to see this site become a place where personal attacks and insults are the norm.

    3. They are D bags. The whole “we are so tough and manly with our tough and manly truck” is so bizarre and transparent. First of all, who cares if you’re tough or “manly”? Second of all, the more effort you spend trying to convince everyone of how tough and manly you are, the LESS tough and manly you very obviously are.
      But what do I know? I’m just a woman.

    1. Welcome to Chicago and no cash bail, where cops cry in the McDonalds drivethru on video for social media, union encourages cops to not answer any calls, take days off, leave early, and cops cry about getting 0.5L water bottle thrown at them while they are in full riot gear, actuall bullet proof vests on, with taser, Mr 9mm, bean bag shotgun, and tell business owners to close early to avoid damage and looting because they will not help them

        1. 0 because I am boycotting it since they sold parking meters for a billion in summer and went broke in December (out of budget to salt streets)
          I can do everything someplace else

      2. When seconds count, the police are always minutes away. I’m not a fan of them myself. That being said, an armed society tends to be a polite society, and if restrictions on firearms were lifted to put the law-abiding on equal footing with the criminals, with anyone and everyone able to open or conceal carry whatever they wanted, some issues would be alleviated to an extent. Regardless, the criminally-minded are going to do what they do, and no law will stop them. Doing something to address rampant poverty, address difficulty of disadvantaged demographics accessing good-paying employment(or really making sure an honest days work actually pays well to begin with for everyone), ending the drug war/fully legalizing all drugs, and correcting a massively unequal society would do more to alleviate the crime epidemic than anything else, but that’s not a quick fix with any single silver-bullet solution, and will take generations to yield results.

        1. The Heinlein quote is as follows below. The point was not a advocacy for carrying weapons, rather that in such a society fear would be pervasive. But, enjoy your John Wayne fantasy.
          “Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”

          1. Fear already is pervasive, even in locations which have banned the possession of personal firearms or carrying them in public without going through a litany of invasive bureaucratic red tape and/or permits. Chicago is a notable example. The criminals there just don’t care what the law says. By definition, they are not restrained by law. And oft times, neither do the police care, nor are they restrained by the same law, which has culminated in repeated examples of civil unrest in cities nationwide as a consequence. The current trendline is leading to societal collapse no matter how many laws and restrictions one wants to throw at a problem to “stop” it, when that problem isn’t exactly solvable. It only ends up further restricting the choices of the law abiding, or alternatively, creating more criminals.

            We’d be better off with straight-up anarchy, in the longer term.

            I live in the hood in a city that is commonly quoted as a murder capital of the USA. You should hear what it sounds like on New Years Eve down here. There are very few restrictions on firearms, at least, which is IMO a good thing. I’m not completely left defenseless against someone who wants to use violence on me, and I don’t need any kind of permit to keep such a weapon on my person. In cities that have restricted firearms to such a degree as Chicago has, I would be completely defenseless, while the criminals would still carry their guns, which would only further serve to motivate me to carry one out of self preservation instinct, making me a criminal for no good reason.

            If my city banned the public carrying of firearms, the crime would not disappear. There’s lots of lead in the drinking water, crappy public schools that don’t teach anything of importance or relating to the real world, families that are barely scraping by in spite of the breadwinners working multiple jobs, overworked tax donkeys are so stressed out that they take SSRIs to cope(and who sometimes go on mass shooting sprees when they stop taking their brain-altering meds), and gangs of feral youth roaming about where the parents are absent altogether. It’s very much a systemic AND cultural problem. Blaming the guns for the epidemic of violence is kind of like blaming the fentanyl for the epidemic of junkies. The causes run deeper than that.

            We could go to the other extreme, like Britain, and ban people from buying butter knives without a litany of paperwork, but that too would not solve anything. The criminals still carry guns there… and have alternative means to wreak havoc on the population. Using vehicles is a surprisingly common tactic for causing mass death and injury. Maybe we should more heavily restrict or even ban those as well? But at least in Britain, the police are restricted from having guns, which IMO is a good thing, as the latter has greatly cut down on needless deaths imposed by the state.

            Perhaps if there are to be restrictions on firearms, lets start with two groups: the military, and the police. BEFORE restricting anyone else.

              1. I’ve done nothing to harm anyone or anything. I just don’t want “solutions” that involve men with guns forcing me or anyone else to adhere to rules we had no part in creating, rules which aren’t in our interest and further the interests of an already entrenched power elite, and rules that are enforced at our own expense.

                Every single complex civilization in history has collapsed. I don’t think the current one will be any exception. The logical thing to do in order to achieve some sense of stability is to decrease complexity, not add to it. Otherwise, the collapse that is experienced will be harder, more brutal, and far-reaching than otherwise.

            2. My personal opinion is that anyone who thinks firearms are required for a polite orderly society just needs to travel more. There are many, many, many, very nice polite and advanced countries/societies elsewhere in the world, most of which have serious restrictions on firearms; and which also deal with elements of poverty, etc., usually through actually having social support. I think you refer to,and understand the social support element.
              There is this recurrent unfounded fantasy, not saying you, but many, that “US is the best in ALL things!!! ‘Merica!” And that we should just double down on policies that aren’t working, and which have been proven to not work.
              A little perspective would go a long way.
              IMHO

              1. Policies that aren’t working in the U.S. typically involve more taxpayer expense and more government control. The U.S. is not Europe, and at this point, I’d hesitate to even call large sections of the U.S. 1st world.

                At the root of the problem is that the U.S. is an empire in decline. It has squandered its collective wealth and assets built up during the 20th century on further enriching the already rich and cultivating an unsustainable military-industrial-financial complex that has its tentacles spread all over the Earth. It has outsourced most of its industrial base in the interest of increasing the bargaining power of capital at the expense of labor. It has ruined most of its farmland with repeated monocultures depleting the soil of nutrients, and widespread application of poisons which have decimated plant and animal life and which have poisoned the human population, while having drained ancient aquifers of water reserves and/or polluted them in effort to extract the last remnants of fossil fuels, aquifers which will take tens of thousands of years to replenish. It is a nation that is still reliant upon non-renewable resources that are being rapidly depleted in effort to keep people spending as much money as possible, wasting as much resources as possible, and acquiring as much debt as possible in effort to bolster the GDP and continue facilitating an upward transfer of wealth to the expense of the environment and the people who have to live in it. When that game of musical chairs ends, so too does the current economic “normalcy” we have seen since the end of World War 2. This has been coupled with a government monetary policy of fiscal recklessness that is endlessly increasing the debt burden, which keeps delaying the inevitable day of reckoning and will assure that such a day will be even more harsh than necessary and probably impossible to recover from on the scale of a human lifetime when it comes. In order to maintain the dominance of the petrodollar and delay such a day of reckoning, this government is now even flirting with the prospect of World War 3.

                Given the current trendlines, I’d MUCH rather be able to protect myself from any ensuing chaos by whatever means I choose, than to have a government deciding for me what I am and am not allowed to do, with the threat of imprisonment looming for non-compliance with their mostly arbitrary rules written by special interests/corporations that I had no part in even making and which are generally imposed without any real debate. Those who wish to cause people harm are not going to care what the laws say, and will take what they want anyway; it’s already like that in inner-city neighborhoods across the U.S. I know because I live in one. This is also the case among the ruling class which takes anything and everything it wants from anyone it wants, generally without consequence. The police won’t lift a finger to help you if you’re a target in either case…

                The potential for things to get extremely chaotic and dangerous for everyone has only increased, and will continue to do so, regardless of which figurehead or political party has dominance. Perhaps that is a necessary thing at this point, so that comfortable people can stop pretending all is well.

                  1. I apologize if anything I have said has come off as “angry” as that was not at all the intent or message, and I have every intent of being cordial and non-hostile. I’m just calling things as I see them. I don’t exactly fit in with the 4chan crowd, even if there may be some overlap in views. No hard feelings.

        2. I’m sure they are really polite when they rob 5+ stores, loot Macy’s once a week, carjack someone 5 times a day, or shoot 9 year old at grandparents birthday party.
          These are not victims but winners to meet such polite and masked armed society

      3. Because a lot of Americans have the fantasy that in an anarchy, or dystopian future, etc., that they would be successful. Like society will fall, and somehow they will be Immortan Joe (lead bad-guy in Mad Max), instead of the truth, that they’d still just be another expendable War Boy.

        Toecutter, this wasn’t intended to single you out. I used the analogy before I found the providence of your name. Incidentally, for those that don’t know, Toecutter is the name of a motorcycle gang leader in Mad Max.

        1. We already do live in a dystopia, although it is far from anarchy(most people don’t even know what anarchy actually means). Everything we do is spied upon by government, natural resources are rapidly being depleted, warfare overseas is a constant fact of life, the inner cities that were once crown jewels of this civilization are rapidly decaying, and the basic necessities of functioning in this so-called civilization are becoming increasingly out of reach to most working people(so much so that a lifetime of crippling debt is now “normal”). A lot of people, perhaps even a majority, think they are successful, but in reality, everything they think they own is owned by creditors, and they’re one or two missed paychecks away from losing everything they spent their life working toward and ending up on the street with the fentanyl addicts and the “mentally ill” who just couldn’t handle the burden of pretending that this is any kind of life and gave up.

          And this is the dystopia we have while times are relatively “good”. Just wait for the uninterrupted post-WWII world-wide U.S. petrodollar dominance to finally crash and burn. The BRICS are waiting for their turn, but will there be anything left?

        2. I don’t take offense to anything anyone says on the internet at this point. There are far more pressing things to worry about. I’m glad you got the reference though. 🙂

          The closest thing to anarchy that ever existed in the U.S. was among the various Native-American tribal societies that used to exist, which were systematically eliminated.

          For anyone unfamiliar with what anarchy actually means, start reading some Lysander Spooner as a good introduction, or if you want something more modern and “out there”, Ted Kaczynski. Anarchism actually has a wide variety of viewpoints and “flavors” within, and fierce debate among its proponents regarding the differences therein. You’ll find a community of modern anarchists in Slab City, California. I’d love to visit sometime.

          The dystopia we are living in today resides much more closely to the totalitarianism end of the spectrum, and is becoming increasingly moreso. The closer we get to collapse, the worse it will get. I think in the long term, both Karl Marx AND Ayn Rand will be proven correct about many things, in spite of their ideals being entirely counter to one another.

  5. I mean the Spinner in the original and the ground runners n the 2049 version had wheels and could technically drive on the ground if need be. the big glass and flat angles kind of evoke a blade runner feel, but that does not make them cool as Mr Musk seems to think.

    1. That’s Trevor Bladerunner. You’re thinking of the book “Blade Runners” which the movie, Blade Runner, about Mr. Bladerunner is based. His name is Simon in the book. They changed that when they wrote the script for the film as it wasn’t Bladerunnery enough.

  9. Oh man, I want the same truck Bladerunner drives! I also like playing the Metroid character in Metroid, and the Zelda elf guy with the bow in Legend of Zelda too. Later I might watch that Akira movie where the lead character, Akira, has a cool red motorcycle.

    1. I love watching Ghost in the Shell for halloween and I love the twin from Twin Peaks but Mr Fallout was my favorite character in Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4. He had cool Falloutbuy device on hand to use, and drank Fallout-Cola

  10. The thing is this doesn’t even look right for that film’s aesthetic, which is junkier, messier, and more cobbled together.

    Sometimes you wonder if someone has seen a movie when they talk about, this makes me wonder if he’s seen a screenshot.

  11. Did not expect to be reminded of high school today, but bizarrely enough my school actually had a copy of the “The Bladerunner”, by Alan E. Nourse. Not a bad bit of dystopian fiction; I actually liked it better than “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep” at the time. Probably would make a good film, but I can’t imagine that Burroughs did it any favors.

    1. I remember reading The Bladerunner when I was in middle school, and then being so confused by the title of the film Blade Runner when it came out. This was all before the Internets, so I had to wait several years before I could find out the story about Ridley Scott buying the book rights so he could use the name.

  12. Cybertruck: Not very sporting to fire on an unarmed opponent. I thought you were supposed to be good. Aren’t you the “good” man? C’mon, Rogan. Show me what you’re made of.

    Not particularly related, but the Vangelis soundtrack is a masterpiece.

  13. This is good trivia – also, another fun fact I recently found out, the spaceship used in the original Star Trek was not, in fact, called USS Star Trek, mind blown

    1. And Big Bang Theory covered it nicely too.

      Sheldon: “Guess what my costume is!”
      Penny: “I dunno…are you Star Wars?”
      <Sheldon goes on incensed, manical rant>

  14. Please tell me “Tesla Owners Silicon Valley” is a parody account? If not then, yeah, that is pretty much the exact group I would expect to be drooling over the Cybertruck and calling it “the most bad ass truck ever made”. In reality it has the same amount of utility as a golf cart and just barely qualifies as a truck. No one that needs to do the things a truck is generally ideal for will ever buy one of these. It will be a mall crawler at best.

    1. I’ve run across them a few times. They do not seem to be parody, at least intentionally. If they are, they are running a long con to convince Musk they’re legit, then drag him. Which, admittedly, would be kind of funny.

    2. I completely believe they’re real. The incidence of un-self-aware rich Tesla/Apple/Peloton/Juicero toxic Rogan-worshipping dweebs in the Bay Area is very high. Musk is a god to a lot of real and wannabe tech entrepreneurs around here. It’s gross.

  16. It’s really strange that nerds seem to be drawn to Musk as they are, considering that nearly everything that Musk says lives somewhere between somewhat, and entirely wrong. A group commonly known for being almost miserably pedantic kneeling down to someone who never gets these sort of details right is weird. Maybe that’s why we refer to them as weird nerds. Musk is a sales person, and real nerds HATE salespeople.

    I too am confused as to why Musk and his legion are somehow drawn to dystopian design like this. Why would I want to drive something inspired by freaking Blade Runner anyway? Granted, when I look outside at the parking lot loaded with angry cyborg-looking cars, maybe I’m the only one who doesn’t.

    1. Tesla weird nerds are more console gamers than sci-fi con-goers. Like a similar subset of console gamers, they are a subset of Tesla owners who feel the need to defend their purchase. If you imagine it being gamers bickering over XBox vs Playstation, it makes more sense.

      As to the love of dystopian design, it’s pure power fantasy. They see themselves as surviving or even thriving in a future no one else wants. See also: preppers.

    2. > A group commonly known for being almost miserably pedantic kneeling down to someone who never gets these sort of details right is weird.

      That’s a pretty astute observation.

  17. I watched the whole 2+ hour podcast last night during the World Series. It was pretty interesting actually, and for those in this community (you know who you are) who would rather cut off a slice of genital than listen to any of his ideas, I’d recommend giving it a listen. Of course, while there are gonna be some of his answers that are gonna make you go “huh?”, there are a lot of interesting responses as well.

    If I recall right, the first 40 minutes is about the CT and manufacturing challenges, the next big chunk is about Twitter, and then it gets kinda scattered covering topics like solar and space and naturally his feud with Zuck about the “fight.” If you have the time, it’s worth the time to listen as I think there are nuggets to take away for any of us in the community here.

    1. My favourite is when he talks about the San Francisco “mind virus” that has been beamed to Earth. And that’s the reason he bought Twitter. Admittedly that’s the only part I’ve seen, which is why it is my favourite. I assume they smoked a massive spliff just before that.

      1. I caught that sentence as well (one of the “huh?” moments for sure), but the context of it was about how Twitter and all the other media that was unlawfully influenced by the Feds have had negative impacts on certain segments of society like drug use and crime, etc., and why he moved a chunk of business to Austin.

          1. I was eating dinner when they were talking about that, so I missed a part. I do know that Rogan stated in the past that he wanted to open a Comedy Club and that the scene in Cali was pretty dismal even before the lockdowns and that his kids liked Austin anyway. Either way you look at it, moving to Texas vs. paying the outrageous taxes in Cali is a smart move for anyone to do if their job is transient in nature.

            1. Either way you look at it, moving to Texas vs. paying the outrageous taxes in Cali is a smart move for anyone to do if their job is transient in nature.

              eh this highly dependent on your income, whether or not you have children, the value of your property and local tax rates, not to mention insurance and utility rates. texas has high tax rates outside of income tax and the overall tax burden can be equal or higher than california.

              https://finance.yahoo.com/news/think-texas-cheaper-tax-burden-161359267.html

              1. The tax man always gets his cut, it’s just a matter of how it’s presented

                The houses might be cheap, but the property tax rate in the Austin/ Travis County area is double that of California’s

                    2. My bad, ha.
                      No idea about Elon’s living situation other than He did say on the podcast yesterday that he wanted to be near the Space X offices in Texas which he claims other than Cape Canaveral is the only land left in the U.S. large enough for suitable rocket launches.

                  2. You may want to check with a tax professor. Making a smart fiscal decision is not cheating on your taxes. And moving your business to be able to stay open and pay your employees what they deserve isn’t a tax crime.

                    1. And moving your business to be able to stay open and pay your employees what they deserve isn’t a tax crime.

                      lmao elon musk can pay all of his employees for thousands of years and not even notice it in his bank account. he’s worth 100s of billions of dollars. joe rogan is worth north of a $100 million, enough for generations of his family. people with this much money moving over a few percent tax rate are cheapskate sociopaths and/or just spewing bullshit that their fan base will eat up.

                    2. So he has money from other companies and he should happily lose money on a different idea paying millions while losing money? A few percent on Elon is billions. So pay people more than they are worth or spend it on a profitable business and pay more people? I bet if you ever have money you won’t waste it on losing ideas.

                    3. Or it could be as simple as a quality of life issue for his (Rogan) family and better for business. Rogan has said many times that he likes Austin because it’s centrally located to get guests, the comedy scene is booming there, his kids love living on a lake, and he can go bow hunting and other outdoor stuff etc.

                      Not every rich person is Dr. Evil.

                    4. sure but this was a conversation about you saying that it would be smart for someone to move to texas based on taxes

                    5. You were right. I did a deeper dive on property taxes in Travis County v. Laguna Beach and for sure the the taxes are higher in Austin by a large margin regardless of school district and homestead exemptions and the like. On a macro level, I still think it’d be hard to say which place is “cheaper” overall to live due to all the variables involved, but either way, it’s not really all that important. I learned something new about property taxes in Austin last night so thanks for that! lol. Have a nice day.

                    6. I’m not trying to beat a dead horse here as this thread is basically done with, but I just was reading something unrelated that shook loose a reason that we hadn’t talked about.. Capital Gains taxes.

                      Cali has them. Texas has none. That’s a huge differentiator for a high net-worth individual.

                      Anyway, have a good day

                    7. Tesla’s Berlin factory is 44 minutes away from Berlin. It is also 47 minutes away from close Polish city.
                      So Elon’s musk gets to say he has factory in Berlin while it is being staffed by Poles making Germany’s minimum wage

                    8. So Germans bitch it is minimum wage and Poles eagerly do the job because good money for them. So Germans deserve the jobs and more money than the Polish? You are one racist sob.

                    9. No, Tesla Gigafactory Berlin factory is pretend just like Full Self Driving or Autopilot.
                      That plant 40km away from Berlin will have you start on Monday if you fill up job application on Thursday
                      Tesla even pays Poles extra (flat amount) for longer commute to attract more of them
                      I mean Tesla Gigafactory Berlin is not in Berlin and Germans do not work in it

                      And I can do that because I’m Polish, and/or we won the war.

                3. I doubt it’s double that of Beverly Hills or San Diego. The Inland Empire I could see that being true, but anywhere near the Pacific? Laguna Beach ain’t cheap, my friend.

              2. “Can” is the operative word. I’m kinda of armchair accounting quarterbacking here, but one would think that with the amount of money that Rogan makes and the ability to have massive write-offs from his club in Austin, he’s ok with paying higher sales tax and utilities vs. state income tax, lol.

              1. I dunno about that being a negative. I took a vacation to Austin and had a blast. Also, I have a family member who moved his family there a few years ago for work and they absolutely love it. Austin is its own thing, separate from the rest of the state vibe-wise.

          2. Sorry it is not tax dodging to relocate for real economic advantages. Any business in CA is going to shrivel up and die if they pass the reparations laws. According to the latest news every qualified black person will get about a tenth of San Francisco’s yearly budget. And Frisco is already in fiscal heck.

        2. I agree that social media can be a scourge. There’s a reason I don’t use Facebook for much more than buying cars and posting pictures of cars.

          But…LOL if Musk thinks he’s fixing it. I mean, he says he’s a free speech absolutist, but says certain words could not be said on Twitter. I’m not sure he knows what a “free speech absolutist” is.

          1. I’m sure he knows the definition of it, but implementing it would create utter chaos and would implode the whole shebang and he knows that as well. I do give him credit for the removal of blatantly open Federal oversight/censorship of anything that ran contrary to the “official” narrative. That has been a nice thing to have happened this past year at Twitter. Even though, of course, there are plenty of non-profits and private entities that pay political “influencers” to amplify their messages anyway in lieu of official mandates on fancy letterhead. Not much can be done about that. At least it’s not as blatant and illegal, however immoral it may be either way.

            As far as fixing social media, pretty much everyone here knows that it’s impossible to fix something when almost all the parts available are defective. In the case of social media, the users are the “parts”. Even here at The Autopian, we sometimes see the trouble in the comments where some users are saying rude or insulting or intentionally obtuse things on purpose (see above, lol) just because they learned that they can. I guess it somehow feels good to be naughty or some shit like that?

            It’s unfortunate as this site tries very hard to limit it, but the interactive internet “common courtesy and respect values” bylaws started disintegrating as soon as the option to be a dick to strangers was deemed viable. This goes back to the pre-AOL and Prodigy days when Usenet boards were king. Not much really can be done about this to correct already learned and ingrained defective behavior either, which is depressing. I guess sometimes you get a king-sized Starburst and other times you get an apple and a toothbrush. Such is life.

            I could write more, but that’s enough about that. As an aside, Mercedes, you might appreciate that the Florida International Air Show is this weekend. When I got out of the shower today I thought that America was under attack, but it was just the Thunderbirds and a MIG-17F practicing directly overhead, lol. It was neat to watch! (after my pulse slowed down and I put back my emergency “get the hell outta dodge” bag) Have a nice night 🙂

    2. I am calling this the day the Autopian commentariat jumped the shark: when Roganbros, conspiracy theorists, and Musk loudmouths invaded.

      Welp, the articles are still great. Too bad about the comments, they used to be interesting.

    3. I love that even baseball fans admit how painfully boring baseball is. I will listen to a podcast while at work or while driving, but not while enjoying a game of whichever sport I am following.

        1. Also true of the 2CV my wife had as her daily driver when she was in college. A hunting arrow would probably go all the way through both doors and keep going.

    3. Per Mythbusters depends on the arrow and force. Using an arrow to pull off a door Ala Batman. I believe you needed more than human strength to penetraight the door of an old 70s car. So no the CT offers no more protection.

  20. Hot Take (maybe?): “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” is a great book but Blade Runner sucks. Harrison Ford’s acting in Blade Runner sucks (he constantly looks confused and on the verge of tears). Even the overwrought Director’s Cut of the movie (and I’ve watched all the versions) still sucks. The fact that the title has absolutely nothing to do with the book or movie makes it suck even harder. I fully expect that Musk will retcon a version of the movie into which he inserts a CyberTruck (which is a stupid name), and that version will suck the worst of them all.

    (FWIW I love Science Fiction and Phillip K. Dick is one of my favorite authors. I also like Harrison Ford as an actor in nearly everything else he’s ever done, even the last two gawdawful Indiana Jones movies. Ford also seems like a genuinely decent human being.)

      2. Rutger Hauer was one of the all-time greats, IMO. Not only could he play a robo in Blade Runner, and not only could he play a hobo in Hobo With a Shotgun, but in Omega Doom, he was both at the same time!

    2. I’m the opposite – I love Ford’s portrayal as very fitting with the film noir influence that Ridley Scott sought. Noir heroes are often anything but heroic, doing their best after being forced into bad situations outside of their control.

      They’re usually the complete opposite of scifi heroes, which is one of the things that makes the story so compelling – a hard-bitten detective from the 1940s operating in the future (of 2019, but you know). Asimov mined the same thing in the Caves of Steel, and it’s so intriguing a juxtaposition.

      1. We can agree to disagree about BR, but I agree that the noir/future combination is awesome. That’s why Harry Harrison’s “Stainless Steel Rat” and “Deathworld” books are some of my favorites, as well as Asimov’s ‘Lijah Bailey/Daneel Olivaw series.

      2. So may I present Michael York in Logans Run as Noir hero. Thinks he is a hero and only when he learns he is not becomes one.
        Although they never did explain why they killed runners. They usually died either way and since population control was the answer why not let them die in the desert? Although the movie was worth watching for Farrah in the silk outfits.

        1. One of my favorites. I always assumed retiring the runners was about social control, to provide visible encouragement to the rest to participate in carousel when their time came. Also, nobody was supposed to know that there was even anything beyond the city.

          And like Blade Runner/Do Androids Dream, the Logan’s Run movie/book are totally different, but each cool in their own ways.

          1. I didn’t really think about it until the subject came up here. But it is like many future dystopia movies using up are assets population explosion kill off what you can’t support. I believe it was a outside was death because nuclear war. But as long as you stop people returning it is okay. Most of the helicopter population would die in a day anyhow because they lived in a society with nothing but enjoy yourself, certainly no GenXers. And since they never showed what the Council enjoyed over regular citizens it was more protective IMHO and lack of radioactive was not noticed. But even Cheronbyle looks nice who knows what mutants could occur? Maybe a good sequel? (Just thought of that)

            1. Ever see the later tv show? It had lower production quality and an adventure of the week format, but its own charm. It did introduce the idea that there are actually old people secretly running the city (not just a computer like in the movie) who feared people getting out and seeing that there were still pockets of civilization out there.

              1. I may have seen it and mixed it up with the original. I thought the robot was a offshoot programmed to process protein not the control. Hey its been awhile and much sci-fi and mystery and cop stuff has been inserted mixed with age and alcohol but who can separate it back out?

        2. Michael York has one of the most amazing mellifluous voices I’ve ever heard. I’d listen to him, Malcolm McDowell, and David Warner reading the tax code for hours.

      3. in cyberpunk settings cops work for corporations, and they are not the good guys. They are literally mercenaries with a badge but they got an order instead of contract. They are forced into bad situations (and can’t be good cops, there is no time with corpo orders so there is no satisfaction either) but there is no “big job” payout for them, their bosses got it.

    3. “Lost to time, like tears in the rain” is one of the perfect lines in film, however. Also what is said in my house whenever something minor is missing like a TV remote.

  21. Is it any surprise that Musk would see Blade Runner as an ideal future? As a rich person, he figures he’s one of the people using replicants and blade runners, so he would see it as aspirational.

    Of course, I’m sure he’s mostly just vaguely aware of the aesthetic. And it is likely not the only movie he has the entirely wrong idea about. He strikes me as someone who does talk about Fight Club, but does not see the intended message.

        2. I think that captures it – Blade Runner’s vehicle aesthetic is largely 1980s taken into the future by grafting things on, not redesigning them. And right now, ’80s design is having a nostalgia-fueled moment and that’s what he likely knows best.

    3. Cmon replicates are not people, they are robots used to perform duties where people can’t. The hunting and killing is more of a argument on illegal labor and lazy citizens.

      2. In Blade Runner’s cyberpunk setting cops work for corporations. Rick is supposed to find and clean up replicants that corporation lost.
        What does it even mean replicants are on Earth “illegally”? What crime is that? They only hurt another cop when they were threatened by them to get away.
        Even boss of corporation wants to meet in person Deckard for cops to do more work for corpo

          1. But here is no USA in Blade Runner, just city-states such as Los Angeles

            Replicants came back to LA to meet their maker, the Tyrell corporation, not to take their jobs

    1. One of my favorite underappreciated PDKs. If anything, my biggest complaint about it is that the big reveal seems almost too underplayed. I guess it’s just our jaded modern sensibilities perhaps.

    2. Opposite is a 1950 maybe later. A religious group has resulted in males being infertile but women still fertile. They trap a fertile surface non believer. Tie him.down marry him to one woman and insert semun in her then another woman and so on and so forth to save their society. Kind of the opposite like a union take what you want/need any way you can because your needs are not only more important but the only things to be considered

  24. In fairness to him, in true noir fashion, Deckard immediately acknowledges what he is.

    “They don’t advertise for killers in the newspaper…”

    But no mention of Deckard’s personal car, which looked like a futuristic Toyota Tercel wagon? So he needs at least a little space maybe.

    1. True, but that’s in the theatrical release voice over that has been jettisoned from all future releases. I personally like the voice overs, but I’ve only watched the Final Cut when doing a re-watch. I think my 4K disc only had the Final Cut, though my BD and DVD sets have 5 different cuts of the film.

      1. I have the DVD set too, but haven’t actually watched all – I like the theatrical version (which I first saw on VHS a few years after the release!) and the final cut.

        I like the voiceovers for cementing the noir connection, and Ford’s disgruntled, sullen reading of them is actually perfect for Deckard’s mindset.

          1. Right?! If you want a real film noir hero/antihero, you’ve gotta look to Humphrey Bogart in Dark Passage, Maltese Falcon, etc. Or John Payne in Kansas City Confidential or The Crooked Way. Mickey Rooney even managed to pull it off in Quicksand. Those guys knew how to balance insecurity and fear with determination and grit. Ford is a good actor, so maybe it was just the direction he received: “Act like you’re about to shit your pants and you’re not exactly sure what your next line is. Also that you’re pissed that you have to be here. Yeah, that’s perfect.”

            1. Everything I have ever read about the voice over was that Ridley Scott didn’t want it and Harrison Ford didn’t want it, but the studio did and Ridley didn’t have the juice at the time to get his cut.

              I’ve also read Ford intentionally did a bad job on the voice over hoping it would convince the studio to not use them.

              1. Also, that ending on the original cut was forced in by the executives… They thought the movie would be too depressing without it, but that was sort of the point…

                The genius of Blade Runner 2049 was that it was made to be consistent with all cuts of the film.

Leave a Reply