Thanks for the mention, Philip. To be honest it was as much/more a question to myself, based on my recent experience of starting what one might call a scifi novel, which in truth is more about the nature of human identity, memory, sense of self, amnesia and dementia. But as it uses a scifi/technological hook, it worries me that some of those ideas might already have been done to death in a genre I haven't really read since my William Gibson/Neal Stephenson days a good couple of decades ago.

I was reminded of this by what I read just recently about Gibson's classic cyberpunk work Neuromancer.

Blade Runner came out when he was half way through writing it, and he was apparently aghast, convinced that everyone would think he had copied the whole aesthetic and imaginary setting from Scott's movie.