The paragraph that explains the
Voigt-Kampf test and also explains the “lack of empathy” between the androids
is one that I feel could be corrected.
The Voigt-Kampf test was based solely on the amount of emotion sensed. "You're sitting watching TV and suddenly
you discover a wasp crawling on your wrist." He checked with his watch,
counting the seconds. And checked, too, with the twin dials. "What's a
wasp?" Luba Luft asked,” (Dick, Chapter 9) It was
proved by Phil, the police officer, that not all humans show empathy. Phil did not hesitate to kill the android
despite its beautiful singing voice.
This is significant because it shows that empathy may not be the main
factor determining whether a thing is human or not. An android could portray human
characteristics of empathy if it were programmed to do so or even if it were to
emulate what they saw a fellow human do.
This also goes to prove the test is not accurate and further complicates
what a human is exactly. It brings
awareness to the point that something can be human but not have human
characteristics.
The second scene in the novel that proves this paragraph is
not correct is the fact that androids did actually have feelings or could
feel. I think that the androids have feelings. There was proof in this when Racheal killed
Deckard’s goat because she was upset with him.
Also Deckard felt he had similarities with him and Roy. This is significant because he saw
characteristics in him that he saw in the android. This would make it more complicated to
understand the distinction between the two.
The main issue in the book was the question between who was actually
human or if everyone is just an android. It was hard to tell the distinction
because they all shared similar characteristics. An interesting question that came up in class
was about who determines what a human is.
I think this book brings awareness to other areas of life today because
it allows the audience to see there is a type of subjectiveness to life. Each area of life determines their own
definition of what is meant to have life.
There was also evidence that society is determined by what one tells
someone. “The salesman, undaunted,
continued, ‘A goat is loyal. And it has a free, natural soul which no cage can
chain up,’” (Dick, Chapter 15). This demonstrates
how the minds of the people can be influenced by what someone tells them.
Works Cited
Dick, Philip K. Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York: Ballantine, 1996. Print.
Heilemann, Michael.
“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner”. 2001. Web. 13
Mar 2014.
Michael D. Miller
ReplyDeleteAndroid Blog Response
16 March 2014
Richard: Androids
I believe to some extent that you are correct in your statement that emotions do not necessarily make the human. You used the example of Phil Resch when he murdered Luba Luft in cold-blood and absent of emotion. One can only speculate that after working in a field such as Android Bounty Hunter that the hunter must at some point turn off his emotions and look at the android as a toaster oven, in order to do his job effectively. By doing so doesn’t make him any less human, it just makes him better at his job because he is able to distance himself emotionally from the perceived human quality the android possess and use to their advantage to manipulate humans.
The second point you made was that androids had feelings. I completely disagree with this point. I don’t believe that Rachaell killed Deckard’s goat because she was upset with him. She killed his goat because she knew that it would upset him. She was acting out of purpose in order to cause strife between Deckard and his wife Iran. Rachaell acted out of purpose each and every time she interacted with Deckard. She slept with Deckard in order to persuade him from killing the remaining Androids.
I think that at some point all of the androids are interconnected in some fashion. Meaning, that they reflect their individual outer qualities to the world, but inside they are somehow connected through a collective mind. This might explain how the androids know which androids is still alive and which are not. This might also explain why Buster Friendly can be on air twenty-three hours a day and never repeat himself. This might also explain how the androids stay connected, by watching Buster Friendly. There might be some encoded message in his speech that alerts and informs the androids on day-to-day operations.