Memory Production: Findings and Policy Recommendations on Memory Commodities
Bryan Huang
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From: Office of National Task Force on Replicant Production (admin@ntforp.gov) Date: Thurs, Dec 31, 2037 at 10:08 AM Subject: Memory Production Policy Brief To: E Gaff (gaff@lapd.gov)
The attached policy brief on memory production is based on findings from a recent review of replicant production, as commissioned by the National Task Force on Replicant Production (NTFORP). The fabrication of Memory as Commodity (MAC) is currently underway at several major replicant production facilities across America. The policy brief contains recommendations for how the NTFORP should monitor and regulate MAC production. MAC is both extracted and constructed - extracted from personal human data and constructed as an imitation of human memory. As you know, the task force has oversight over all replicant production and requires municipal law enforcement to administer the directives per section 49 in the Tyrell-Nexus Directive.
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This work, the Memory Production Policy Brief, required an interweaving of creative writing with the crafting of information policy. Elements of a traditional policy brief served as the medium for this creation expression, and key dates and events from the Blade Runner narrative were woven into the diegetic of the work. The original Blade Runner film was released in 1982, adapted from the novel by Philip K Dick, titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. The second film, Blade Runner 2049, continues the narrative and was released in 2017. Together, the films provide a dystopic vision of the near and present future, where organic androids that are nearly indistinguishable from humans are manufactured for labour related purposes.
My hope is that audiences will find this work of information policy to be creative and unexpected, and at the same time compelling. As the work is read, audiences will unravel the bits and pieces of a dystopian vision hidden beneath the elements of a policy brief. This intersection of policy and fiction was strange to write, and I hope audiences gain the same explorative imagination as they process the work.
Some creative liberty was taken with the study and the canonical timeline of the Blade Runner universe. In the canon of the films, replicant technology was already available in 2019, and while the memory construction device was first seen in 2049, it likely existed prior. The policy brief was situated between these two films and imagines a timeline where replicant technology was still under development in 2037.
Policy Brief
This creative work is licensed under Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. Screencaps from Blade Runner 2049 (2017) contained within are claimed under fair dealing/academic use and may not be re-used under this license.
Bio
Bryan Huang graduated in 2022 with a degree in Media Studies and a minor in Environment and Society. Bryan is pursuing interests in theological studies and design.
Acknowledgements
Submission edited by Hui Wong.
Contributions to original manuscript by Cameron Redding.