Psychology and Blade Runner

Yesterday I finished the last assignment for a Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology at the University of Auckland, and when I receive the stiff piece of cardboard that will be degree number seven to adorn my wall. It was a 1-hour quiz, with 45 multiple choice questions - all of which doesn't sound too bad, but (as with other papers, to use the NZ parlance) they make it quite tough. I received a good mark and now the piece of assignment yet to be graded was an essay on relationship advice (ha, I have experience in that), empirical justifications for the advice, and comparisons with a traditional Rogerian approach. All in all, the degree has been a fairly good experience, albeit heavily orientated to social and developmental (rather than clinical or neurological) psychology. To celebrate Liana F., dropped around bearing an appropriately-named bottle of Accademia Prosecco, which generated an interesting investigation into the etymology of the word (Greek, Ἀκαδημία, "a grove of trees and gymnasium outside of Athens where Plato taught; from the name of the supposed former owner of that estate" also "the name is also said to mean "silent district;" see ἀκή (akḗ, “silence”) + δῆμος (dêmos, “district”)")

Psychology has an interesting tie to my favourite film, "Blade Runner". Of course, the entire film itself is a bit of science-fiction neo-noir psychological drama, with chiaroscuro cinematography, and with excellent narrative and thematic depth. One famous device in the device is the Voight-Kampff machine and test, used to determine whether a person is truly a human or a replicant based on their empathic reactions: "Is this to be an empathy test? Capillary dilation of the so-called blush response? Fluctuation of the pupil? Involuntary dilation of the iris?". Taking on aspects of the old adage of "windows to the soul" and Sartre's concept of "The Look", it was interesting to discover that eye-tracking data (gaze direction, shape and position of pupil and iris, light reflection patterns) is effective at revealing biometric identity, "mental activities, personality traits, ethnic background, skills and abilities, age and gender, personal preferences, emotional state, degree of sleepiness and intoxication, and physical and mental health condition". Somehow, because the universe does this to me, the transition from being a psychology student to a climate science student has come with another Blade Runner transition - due to the extreme forest fires in Québec, the sky of New York city is now looking like something from "Blade Runner 2049 - and whilst social media is having a field day with this it is a dire warning of what is to come. Once again, "Blade Runner" is proving to be unfortunately prescient.