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Blade Runner And The Human Identity

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Blade Runner and the Human Identity The goal of a movie is to make you think. Simple as that. No matter how trivial the topic, it should challenge some previous notion you’ve held. Even a movies like comedies should complete this goal. One genre of film that often challenges the viewer is science fiction. Considered to be the pinnacle of science fiction movies, Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” questions our definition of what is human. Based on Philip K. Dick’s book Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner’s portrayal of a dystopian future, with large class/wealth disparities and intelligent AI, certainly does its job of making you think. The replicants struggle to deal with their “humanity” and harsh treatment by humans. Though …show more content…

Replicants cause the same response as these other animals elicit in humans. Based on the life of the Replicants, highly intelligent AI will likely be feared by humans as they seemingly pose a threat to the human way of life. It may be hard for that notion to change, especially when some of the fear comes from innate biological functions. When it comes to the true, scientific meaning of the term human is in reference to a specific species, not a widely applied definition. Human is the common English term for the particular species Homo sapiens. A species is characterized as a group of similar, living organisms that are able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring. In the original Blade Runner, it is never explicitly mentioned but rather alluded to that replicants and humans can not produce children. It is virtually impossible to create AI that is capable of producing a viable offspring with humans as they are not biologically human. One could argue that if we are to genetically modify an embryo, it could be considered a type of AI. But in that case, it still isn’t quite artificial as part of the name AI suggests, as the genetically modified being’s basis is still rooted in human biology. Replicants is also a colloquial reference to the Nexus robots created by the Tyrell corporation; the Nexus robots could almost be

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