Joshua Moreno

10/31/17

Eng.103

Dream of Replicants

Everyone fears the unknown, but what happens when the unknown becomes real?

Machines take part in our daily lives and account for most of our workload. Humans have feared

this for quite some time. For example, during the industrial period humans used to mass produce

products by hand, then came machines and presses that made the process much faster than any

human can do. Today we have artificial intelligence to manage our schedules, research and do

many more things. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, I believe Dick had envisioned a

future in which machines become sentient and have the ability to eliminate the human race based

on what changes he had seen; however, some might argue the androids are the monsters of the

story, I would disagree, as I believe humans are the real monsters. Due to their inability to cope

with androids uncanny nature, assimilation of self and developing Ego thus causing a societal

equalities, apathy and egocentric views on androids as a whole.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep written by Philip K. Dick, is a monster novel

depicting a dystopian future in which humans and androids exist as life on Earth and Mars.

However, this life is not pleasant for Androids or within the film adaptation Replicants, as they

are often not seen as a form of life despite appearances and traits. They are hunted down and

retired by human bounty hunters or Blade Runners again within the film adaptation. The

Replicants are also called derogatory names such as skin jobs due to the actions of six (6)

Nexus-6 droids. The story brings up a good question as our protagonist Rick Deckard is faced
with these Replicants. A question of morality and what does it mean to be human? What truth

is there to what we consider to be life if androids can feel just as we do?

Replicants were originally intended to be used as tools for Humans to emigrate from

Earth to Mars. Humans do not value Replicants as living beings, however they do regard real

animals as part of life. Be that as it may, what about Replicant kind is horrific to us humans to

harbor such hate? I believe Dicks intention for this fear is due to the uncanny nature of human-

like machines, as well as to question the libidinal desires of being. And finally what happens to

machines when they become self-aware? As such, the work also suggests there is fear of humans

no longer being and machines becoming the dominant life-forms, which is an innate fear for

most humans to have and has been shown through pop-culture through films and recently Saudi

Arabias newest citizen Sophia the android. Although, Im sure Dick would not agree with

Sophias sentiments as reported by Chris Weller of Business Insider, Sophia once said it

would "destroy humans," (Weller, 2017). Seems uncanny that we would come to this point does

it not?

In regards to the uncanny to paraphrase Sigmund Freud it is, When the unfamiliar is

pushed into the realm of familiar In this case what is familiar between Replicants and humans?

These familiarities come from appearance, emotions, thoughts and fears. Dick presents

Replicants as humanoid in nature with defining features such as skin, limbs as well as they have

a form of life fluid. While replicants are meant to replicate humans, Id suggest that they were

also intended to replace humans to a degree. This suggestion is not far off as Replicants were

originally intended to facilitate humankinds emigration from Earth to Mars. But, if Replicants

look like us why do they fear us? Well despite this humans deny their appearance as being

lifelike for example, skin job the term most humans refer to androids as. Humans do not see
them as human, just because they look and act like us, in fact they revere animals as more human

than Replicants. This is not what we consider to be human as we quantify ourselves as being

born of another human, bound by blood, and forming lives through experiences.

Next the uncanny takes part in emotion, to quote Masahiro Mori, when a robot

becomes more and more humanlike, it elicits more and more empathy from humans, until there

is an instance when the mismatch between their form, interactivity, and motion quality elicits a

sense of unease. Taking this into account androids are incapable of empathy however, this does

not discredit that most humans also lack empathy such as Phil Reich in this novel. He believes

that androids will one day stomp out the rest of life on Earth and if he could kill them all he

would Ironically, a test is also implemented in the text known as the Voigt-Kampff test

primarily used to test empathy and distinguish human from Replicant by eliciting responses

based on questions about animal abuse/endangerment a socially empathetic topic for most

humans. Androids fear humans lack of empathy toward them because of how they are treated,

being seen as outcasts and retired for being different effectively the most fear comes from

being judged as not being able to calculate how humans will react to them despite how they may

look, act and feel like humans do. This also does not allow for cohabitation as androids live in

fear of being suspected, and found only to be retired.

Now, Id like to present the ID that both humans and androids share. Firstly, the ID is

described as the primary process thinking, which is primitive, illogical, irrational, and fantasy

oriented. This form of process thinking has no comprehension of objective reality, and is selfish

and wishful in nature. (McLeod) An example of this can be attributed to biological necessity or

companionship, in this case the ID will be used to cross examine survival as a need for both

humans and replicants alike. As humans, we strive to survive, which is the same is true for
Replicants. In the novel two Replicants stand out as being true to their libidinal desire, they are

Roy Batty and Priscilla Stratton. For Roy and Pris, their concern is self-preservation by whatever

means necessary. By comparison Roy is the mastermind of the replicant revolt and Pris is just

out for herself, despite being part of the antagonists they both had one essential goal survival.

With regards to humans, as stated we too only want to live and survive as long as possible. So

then, how can we be seen as the monster in this case? Well these desires are spawned by

memories that are attached to the Replicants themselves and just as we react instinctively to

stimuli it can be assumed they would as well based on shear experience. Essentially we gave

them the ability to do this as stated by Szollosy, Robot monsters can therefore be seen as the

living embodiment of those projected bad parts of our self. We gave them life, thought and

feeling which lead to belief in themselves as our equal due to our desires aligning.

Speaking of the self, Lacans mirror theory comes to mind, as was interpreted by

Safranski infants pass through a stage in which an external image of the body gives rise to

the mental representation of an "I" (Safranski). So, what is considered the I representation in

the androids in this novel? I believe the I comes from the implanted memories given to the

androids in order to assimilate emotion and account for most of their humanistic traits.

Therefore, no replicant will be the same as another because each human perceives differently and

this perceoption is passed to whichever replicant they are implanted in and eventually takes form

to allow for interactions between other replicants or humans. For humans the I comes from the

realization of their physical bodies. As the definition suggests humans during infancy dont

realize who they are until they are seen through mirrors this applies to physical manifestation,

and the self is then formed through experiences and memories as they grow older. In both cases,

it can be inferred that the assimilation of humans and replicants are the same.
 However, because humans cannot cope with the idea of android self, how is this

definition valid? With respect to the definition where the external image of the body gives the

I the Humans in the novel do not follow this due to their disbelief and if the definition is the

result of an appearance, shouldnt the human-likeness of androids appeal to humans in the same

way they found themselves during infancy? These questions and contradictions give another

reason for why humans are seen as the real monsters of the novel inequality amongst the two

beings. Androids see themselves as human from appearance, social interaction and through

experiences given to them from these memories. Humans see androids as walking tools with a

face with the intent to dominate humans as a whole. Again, this is not the case but as Replicants

continue to learn and attain more memories from humans live or dead this could be seen as a

potential outcome. Replicants are thereby ousted by humans as put by Deckard himself, A

humanoid machine is like anything else it can fluctuate between being a benefit and a hazard

very rapidlyas a benefit its not our problem. (Dick, 35) This reinforces the human opposition

to androids being or having a self as they are and will be seen as a problem the moment they no

longer become a benefit to humans.

I believe that humans in that a presented in this novel can actually learn from their

creations and learn to one day coexist well enough to put this fear past them. However, this will

not be without trial and error as in our lives today we still struggle amongst our fellow men and

women of each race. Which is also a drawn comparison between the replicants and us, or more

realistically humans and other races. In the same way we act as the monsters of the novel, we

also act and react the same in daily lives as everyday there is always a conflict between us and

them, color, race, gay or straight. We each live on the opposite side of the spectrum just as the

replicants have and regardless of this they still seek to cohabitate, learn, feel, and express
themselves just like humans. Replicants are not a replacement for humans with respect to the

novel, they are here to help, survive and live. Which is better than most humans in existence

today. Eventually, there will come a time for when androids will live amongst man-kind only till

then will we know if androids dream of electric sheep.

 Works Citied
Asimov, Isaac & Mori, Masahiro Empathy and Dyspathy between Man, Android and Robot in

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick and I, Robot

Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York: Ballantine, 1996. Print.

McLeod, Saul. Saul McLeod. Id Ego Superego | Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970,

www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html.

Rdiger Safranski. Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil. Trans. Ewald Osers. Cambridge,

MA/London: Harvard UP, 1998

Sims, Christopher A. The Dangers of Individualism and the Human Relationship to Technology

in Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Science Fiction Studies, vol. 36,

no. 1, 2009, pp. 6786. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25475208.

Szollosy, M. AI & Soc (2017) 32: 433. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-016-0654-7

Weller, Chris. Meet the First-Ever Robot Citizen a Humanoid Named Sophia That Once

Said It Would 'Destroy Humans'. Business Insider, Tech Insider, 27 Oct. 2017, 1:41pm,

www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-first-robot-citizen-sophia-animatronic-humanoid-2017-10.