Blade Runner
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The film Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, explores the way technology redefines what it means to be human. The film, among other subjects, is about the struggle between humans and replicants, or machines which resemble humans so closely that humans cannot tell if they are human or machine. At a deeper level, the film examines what it means to be human, and, especially, what it means to be human in a world which advanced technology controls so much of human life. The argument here will be that, as pictured in the replicant/human puzzle in Blade Runner, technology can definitely affect the way human beings see themselves and one another. After all, if one cannot tell if another human being is really human or a chine, or cannot tell if he himself is really human or a machine, then technology has indeed completely redefined what it means to be human. At the same time, it is simply unlikely that technology will ever be able to create imitation humans so realistic-appearing they fool real humans, or that a robot will ever be constructed in such a way that it believes it is human. The greater danger in modern society has more to do with the freedom human beings give up willingly, not only to machines but to ideas, material desires, leaders, etc. The essence of the message about the worth or meaning of the human beings in the film is found in the ability to empathize, to be able to sense or feel what another human being is feeling, especially in terms of suffering. There ar
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ssue is addressed immediately in the movie's first scene, in which a replicant is being tested to see if he is human or machine. Of course, there are other easier and quicker tests which could have been administered to the replicant, but they would not have been as effective dramatically as the first scene is.
In that scene, Holden is the human being who is testing the replicant Leon, although Holden is not aware until the end of the scene that Leon is indeed a replicant. The test covers two areas
--empathy for a turtle turned on its back, and an emotional association with the word "mother." At first, and as far as he is able to do so, Leon pretends to have the emotional responses a human being would have in such a situation: "I kinda get nervous when I take tests.... I already had I.Q. test this year... but I don't think I never had a..." The human tester interrupts and gives Leon a hypothetical to consider. Leon is told that he is walking in the desert and turns a turtle on its back. The tester goes on: "The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over. But it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping." The tester asks Leon why he's not helping the turtle:
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1664
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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