Humans And Blade Runner: A Comparative Analysis

Draft Portfolio Piece 1: Connections

The integration of technology into our everyday lives is a growing trend which without limits, could become the downfall of human society. Within the investigation of the two texts: ‘Humans’ by Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley and finally, ‘Blade Runner’ by Ridley Scott, connections became clear as technological advances created an alternate society from today’s world. In Humans and Blade Runner, synthetic technology is able to mimic the thoughts and actions of humans, which connected these texts through the idea that technology has the capability to violently backlash on people. These connections throughout all four texts raised the overall question of how far should technology be permitted to go? As

In both texts, the violent backlash of synthetic technology was the result of the desire for freedom, and the lack of respect given to synthetics despite their superiority. Already in today’s society, we are beginning to see people’s jobs being overtaken by machinery, but in the future, these machines may not be the large scraps of metal we see today, but fully functional synthetics that look and behave just like us. In Humans, people are replaced by synthetics in many labour and communication jobs, while in Blade Runner, replicants take the place of advanced military personnel. This replacement of people with synths raises the philosophical question: without a job or productive activity, what real use do we serve in the universe? This is because without a daily routine or duty, we often find ourselves out of place and useless, as jobs give us a meaning and a purpose in society. With synthetic technology however, we slowly become displaced and irrelevant as we are overtaken. From a human’s point of view, synthetics are nothing more than machines and generated code, but for a conscious synthetic, synths are like any other member of society to a human being. This challenges our current society’s values on what is considered a human, and what rights a human should have. In a future of conscious synthetics, despite their biology, what makes them different to us if they look, feel and think the same way we do? - often at a higher level. This raises implications on whether they should be treated equally, or due to their biology, can they be considered inanimate objects that we can treat as we please? If synthetic technology becomes self aware, and has the ability to empathise and have complex morales of their own, they should have rights similar to humans. This is because they make the transition from the technology we know today, which