# 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:** 2
**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, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/21 "2016-01-08T19:07:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Uh, **Lobohan** , you know she’ll probably kill you, right? There are worse things than death by snu snu. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/22 "2016-01-08T19:17:10Z")
To this day, I am curious about who combat models like Roy were manufactured to fight. Were those c-beams fired by warring factions of colonists? Are there alien races that humanity wars against with replicant soldiers? Are the nations of Earth still at war with each other and using replicants? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/23 "2016-01-08T19:19:37Z")
NERD ALERT! _\_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/24 "2016-01-08T19:44:13Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What I want to know is – Where is my damned Flying Car? I don’t want a flying car. I want a **robot** car! A self-driving car! Type in an address on the dashboard, take out a book and enjoy the ride! How much did you have to drink? Who cares? The car don’t drink! ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/25 "2016-01-08T20:24:02Z")
Well I know what to watch tonight. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/26 "2016-01-08T20:25:53Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > It occurs to me that there is, in fact, a Nexus-6 Android (phone) available today. (Though I believe it’s been discontinued.) Yes. It’s been… retired. But [del]Tyrell[/del] Google did release an updated Nexus-6 product, the Nexus-6P. I’m sure it’ll be much more tractable and less likely to spontaneously homicide. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/27 "2016-01-08T20:28:04Z")
The four year limit was established due to how long it was taking for the replicants to start developing too many human feelings. If they were becoming a problem at 3.5 years then that would have been the limit, but it wasn’t. Note that replicants don’t know _how much_ time they have left. Leon specifically asks Dekker how much time he has left. OTOH, they are aware they have short lifespans. There also seems to be some variability to the 4 year rule in practice. Roy isn’t really all that close to his limit but is clearly having issues at the end. There is some ambiguity about Nexus models and lifespans. Since only the newer models have memory implants for mental stability, are those the only ones with lifespan limitations built in? ---
**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, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/28 "2016-01-08T20:43:13Z")
> [@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? > 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. I’d settle for a flying noodle shop. Or a new life in the off-world colonies. ---
**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, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/29 "2016-01-08T20:47:30Z")
Meh. Don’t believe the low-flying dirigible advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/30 "2016-01-08T21:35:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Two-Wheeled Lithium Firetrap**. Now the phrase is often overused, but _that_ sir, is a band name. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/31 "2016-01-08T22:23:53Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > 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. That’d be comparatively safe and easy. “Machine will overload like a fucking grenade in 800 cycle. Cycle count is X” - I’d still buy that provided the geegaw is useful enough and 800 cycles give it enough of a lifespan. “Warning : machine might become self-aware and wax poetic and/or murder people at any given time” is a dicier proposition. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/32 "2016-01-08T22:56:23Z")
What **are** these replicants, anyway? Are they machines, or genetically engineered life forms, or some combination of both? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/33 "2016-01-08T23:48:58Z")
In the book, they’re androids, and they’re called that: > **[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F)** > > Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (retrospectively titled Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, where Earth's life has been greatly damaged by a nuclear global war, leaving most animal species endangered or extinct. The main plot follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who has to "retire" (i.e. kill) six escap... This means that they’re robots built to look exactly like a human to anyone who doesn’t try to tear them apart. I don’t know of any definitive explanation why they weren’t just called androids in the movie. Perhaps it was because the robots in _Star Wars_ were called “droids” (although they aren’t androids), so the people who made _Blade Runner_ decided that the word “android” was taken and some other word had to be used for them. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/34 "2016-01-09T01:10:59Z")
How can it be Roy Batty’s incept date when ground hasn’t even broken on the Tyrell corp. headquarters? ---
**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 9, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/35 "2016-01-09T02:17:23Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What **are** these replicants, anyway? Are they machines, or genetically engineered life forms, or some combination of both? Uh… yes. And so lifelike you can’t figure out you’re looking at one unless you administer a Voight-Kampff test, and sometimes not even then. > [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > How can it be Roy Batty’s incept date when ground hasn’t even broken on the Tyrell corp. headquarters? How can you be sure? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/36 "2016-01-09T03:15:21Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > To this day, I am curious about who combat models like Roy were manufactured to fight. Were those c-beams fired by warring factions of colonists? Are there alien races that humanity wars against with replicant soldiers? Are the nations of Earth still at war with each other and using replicants? I always assumed it was some kind of rebellion, under paid and over indentured workers; I think I assumed miners, kind of like the Molly McGuires or the strikers in Harlan County. The replicants were high-tech Pinkertons, and Roy Batty knew it and hated himself and his makers for it. I think I was probably projecting a bit. ---
**Author:** ![arles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@arles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arles)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/37 "2016-01-09T03:50:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What I want to know is – Where is my damned Flying Car? You mean like the Drone Car that was shown this week at CES? [http://blog.caranddriver.com/stop-everything-the-single-passenger-car-sized-autonomous-drone-of-the-future-is-here/](http://blog.caranddriver.com/stop-everything-the-single-passenger-car-sized-autonomous-drone-of-the-future-is-here/) ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/38 "2016-01-09T05:19:07Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > How can it be Roy Batty’s incept date when ground hasn’t even broken on the Tyrell corp. headquarters? They make the money to build the Tryell ziggurat by selling nexus 6 replicants. This week the NFL owners are going to turn down the Chargers request to move to Carson with the Raiders. So the group trying to build the new stadium will have to turn to other projects and the Tryell buildings will be the new project. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/39 "2016-01-09T05:43:34Z")
And how long does it take to build a pair of 800 story buildings? ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507/40 "2016-01-09T14:02:08Z")
Poor Roy Batty Poor Roy Batty Icepted on 1/8 As a Tyrell replicant Off world on Tuesday Watched C-beams on Wednesday Want berserk on Thursday Killed Tyrell on Friday Died on a roof top And finally the rain stopped Then Decker got the girl see And that is the end Of poor Roy Batty [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-is-roy-battys-incept-date/742507.md?page=3)