# Today is Roy Batty's incept date **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507 "2016-01-08T16:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/1 "2016-01-08T16:28:10Z")
> **[Film](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/)** > > Find all the latest film news, with features, interviews and more. Happy birthday, Roy! Sorry you have such a crappy life ahead of you. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/2 "2016-01-08T16:33:40Z")
Oh wow. Hadn’t seen that. Thanks! What a fun thing to connect the dots on. Such a brilliant movie. Has cast a huge shadow. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/3 "2016-01-08T16:41:34Z")
I knew that this was coming up, but I somehow had the idea it wasn’t until next week. Sorry, Roy. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/4 "2016-01-08T16:41:46Z")
One thing I don’t understand is that since it’s expected the Nexus-6 could become dangerously unstable after four years, they built in a four-year lifespan. Why not play it safer and have a 3.5-year lifespan? It’s clear that a replicant in the last weeks of passionate life can do quite a lot of damage. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/5 "2016-01-08T16:52:29Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Happy birthday, Roy! Sorry you have such a crappy life ahead of you. Crappy life?? Come on, he’ll get to see things you people wouldn’t believe. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/6 "2016-01-08T16:55:02Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > One thing I don’t understand is that since it’s expected the Nexus-6 could become dangerously unstable after four years, they built in a four-year lifespan. Why not play it safer and have a 3.5-year lifespan? It’s clear that a replicant in the last weeks of passionate life can do quite a lot of damage. Come to think of it, who in the right mind would consider a limited lifespan to be a viable safety mechanism? Can you imagine Apple saying “The new iPhone can overheat and explode after 800 charge cycles, so we’ve designed in a safety mechanism: it shuts down permanently after 2 years.” It’s still a brilliant movie though. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/7 "2016-01-08T17:02:51Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Come to think of it, who in the right mind would consider a limited lifespan to be a viable safety mechanism? I simply took it as an illustration of how the Replicants were viewed as Tools, not Beings. It could’ve been that they have to do a mind-wipe and reset to avoid chaotic behavior over time, but the end date fed the drama better in this case. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/8 "2016-01-08T17:03:01Z")
It occurs to me that there is, in fact, a Nexus-6 Android (phone) available today. (Though I believe it’s been discontinued.) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/9 "2016-01-08T17:19:26Z")
I guess this means Roy never got to meet Marty McFly. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/10 "2016-01-08T17:43:58Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Crappy life?? Come on, he’ll get to see things you people wouldn’t believe. Really? Like what? ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/11 "2016-01-08T18:06:56Z")
That means we only have four years until the flying cars and bored Harrison Ford narration. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/12 "2016-01-08T18:17:00Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Really? Like what? He’ll know adventures, see places you people will never see, He’ll be Offworld and back…frontiers! He’ll stand on the back deck of a blinker bound for the Plutition Camps with sweat in his eyes watching the stars fight on the shoulder of Orion. He’ll feel wind in his hair, riding test boats off the black galaxies and see an attack fleet burn like a match and disappear. He’ll see it… and feel it! ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/13 "2016-01-08T18:17:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Really? Like what? Well, attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, for a start. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/14 "2016-01-08T18:38:25Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > One thing I don’t understand is that since it’s expected the Nexus-6 could become dangerously unstable after four years, they built in a four-year lifespan. Why not play it safer and have a 3.5-year lifespan? It’s clear that a replicant in the last weeks of passionate life can do quite a lot of damage. I suspect that 4 years isn’t a point where it’s guaranteed to happen. Rather, it’s a bell curve and 4 years is the trade off between cost and risk of insanity. Maybe only 1% of them go insane before 4 years. By 5 years, it’s 20% by 6 years it’s 50% and so on. So their real thought process is exactly the one you’re following: “If 50% of them go insane at 6 years, we’ll play it safe and set their lifespan to 4.” If the insanity calculation is a true bell curve, then there’s some non-zero chance that one will go insane at only 1 year, so there would be no limitation of life span that gives you perfect safety. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/15 "2016-01-08T18:38:54Z")
first _Back to the Future_ catches up with us, and now _Bladerunner_. What I want to know is – Where is my damned Flying Car? they were in both movies. I don’t need replicants, or self-fitting clothes, or Jaws 19. But I want my goddamned Flying Car. I’d settle for a Hoverboard. A REAL Hoverboard, not a Two-Wheeled Lithium Firetrap. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/16 "2016-01-08T18:50:18Z")
Uh, I’ll take a Pris replicant if we’re placing orders. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/17 "2016-01-08T18:57:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > first _Back to the Future_ catches up with us, and now _Bladerunner_. > > What I want to know is – Where is my damned Flying Car? Exactly! It’s not like Blade Runner was any kind of utopian vision, but I wanna know why all our technical advances have gone to coming up with new ways of consuming LOL cats and none towards flying cars and murderous replicants. Or talking blimps. That was pretty cool too. When I first saw this movie, 2016 seemed unimaginably distant and cool. Little did I know it would be all conference calls and spreadsheets and RFPs. I guess you can get the [umbrellas](http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/d163/) though, so not all’s lost. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/18 "2016-01-08T19:00:42Z")
Uh, **Lobohan** , you know she’ll probably kill you, right? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/19 "2016-01-08T19:01:35Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Well, attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, for a start. And C-beams! Don’t forget the C-beams! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/20 "2016-01-08T19:05:06Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And C-beams! Don’t forget the C-beams! You know, I did forget. I guess my memories have all became lost, in time. Like tears. In the rain. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507.md?page=2)