Cyberpunk and Steampunk

    In Philip Dick's story "Blade Runner." his setting is in LA in 2019. This is funny because it was written in 1982 and this was a strange idea of what the future might be like. The reality he created for this story is called a dystopian world. That means it is opposite of utopia. Utopia is a perfect world but dystopia is an imperfect world. For example, his version of LA in 2019 is dark and rainy with an unhealthy environment and people living with replicants or androids.

    The effect this dystopian reality has on the story is that it makes the protagonist, blade runner, question his humanity. He wondered if retiring or killing the replicants was right. The humans created the replicants for their service but it does not seem to be right to treat them like slaves and control their lives. This reality seems to be sad and dark so I'm glad that 2019 is not going to look the way it does in the novel. I wonder why writers who create a reality set in the future always make it so dark.