Blade Runner 2049 Paints a Bleak Future but an Optimistic View of AI

On Friday afternoon, the Bloomberg Technology team knocked off early to catch Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve’s mesmerizing vision of our technological future. Here’s a giant spoiler for our bosses: We expensed the tickets. I’ll try to steer clear of others.

The film, like its 1982 predecessor, is utterly desolate. This is a dystopia of bad weather, choking pollution that falls through the air like snow and climate change so bad that a massive wall lines the California shoreline, keeping out the Pacific Ocean and ruining prospects for a nice day at the beach. The Los Angeles of the future is jammed with crowds and holographic ads in some parts, and abandoned and devoid of life in others. Perhaps most dire, fashion hasn’t improved much since the 2019 setting of the original: People are still upturning their collars and wearing transparent plastic jackets.