The Posthuman

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The Posthuman
Today, society is controlled by several transforming technologies. Advancements such as
computer graphics, artificial intelligence, robotics, mechanical implants, virtual reality, and
biotechnology that were thought to be science fiction have now become a reality. The
advancements have blurred the distinction between a machine and a human. What is meant to
define humans make them look more of the machines. The nature of a human keeps changing as
the reality is blurred. With the emergence of Genetic Engineering, humans have assumed the role
of the creator.
Blade Runner is based on the book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K.
Dick is one of the movies that questions what it is like to be human. The film is based on the
future, and it is a depiction of what the earth will look like years to come. Technologies in the
movie leave the viewer wondering what it is like to be human. Humans and replicants in the
movie appear to be identified because the non-humans seem to have emotions while humans are
unemotional and cold. According to Hayles (4), replicants become just like humans and then
superior to them. The movie’s primary focus is to define what it means to be human.
The replicants are Post-humans. The machines made by Tyrell download human
consciousness into a computer to make them being beings that are different from humans in
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terms of reproduction and thinking. Just like Hayles suggests, the replicants can perform thinking
functions that were previously thought to be performed by humans only. The replicants replaced
humans in the colonies. They perform most of the activities that only human beings were thought
to perform.
The movie goes beyond humans by creating replicants that operate according to Tyrell set
standards. According to Hayles, humans want to be free from the will of others. They own
themselves. Contrary to this belief, the replicants have been designed by a human being to whom
they own their freedom. They are owned because they are made machines and not because
ownership is a natural condition (Hayles 3). According to Tyrell, commerce was their main aim,
and its motto was more human than human. They had to implant the replicants with memories to
be able to control them. The making of the replicants as human-produced machines and not
humans enables Tyrell and his team to legitimize their course without the question of morality
been raised by society.
A series of tests are designed to separate humans from the machines created by Tyrell
through provoking a psychological response, which is a clear indication of empathy. The tests
help Deckard decide whether to “retire” or kill the replicants. Here, the movie tackles a
significant ethical issue on who controls life and who is the creator. If subjects fail to portray
empathic feelings during the test, then they are deemed as replicants. In the movie,
posthumanism tries to undermine humanity. The transformation from humans to post-humans
can only be seen through a Voigt-Kampff test. The central embodiment of post-humans is
cyborgs. As Hayles points out: “Fourth, and most important, by these and other means, the post-
human view configures human being so that it can be seamlessly articulated with intelligent
machines. In the post-human, there are no essential differences or absolute demarcations between
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bodily existence and computer simulation, cybernetic mechanism and biological organism, robot
teleology, and individual goals” (3).
According to Hayles, post-humanism is the convergence of technology and biology to a
point where they are indistinguishable. For a very long time, humans could control and develop
technology, a factor that gives them superiority over other creatures. However, this sense of
uniqueness and superiority is being challenged by the same technologies created by humans. The
distinction between men and machines is becoming less clear (Byron, 45). For example, the
movie questions “our lack of humanity,” which is a characteristic exhibited by nonhumans.
According to Hayles, post-humans views consciousness as a seat of human identity. However,
this is not the case as the humans in the movie appear to be inhuman while the replicants have
empathy, and they care about the feelings of each other (Bruno 10). Deckard, who was a
replicant, was going through an emotional dilemma. He has many regrets when retiring the
machines, and he acknowledges that he does not like this work.
According to McNamara (432), the demonization of androids makes people shift their
attention from the real threat to democracy that comes as a result of the manufacture of robots
that threatens society. For example, Tyrell refuses to accept the fact that the replicants are
superior to human beings. He fears that the machines will outdo humans. When Deckard
discovers that a long-deceased female replicant had a child, he orders Deckard to retire it. He felt
that if the public learned the replicants could reproduce, many waves of panic would set in. Just
like Hayles suggest that intelligent machines will have the superior ability over humans, the boss
also fears that the replicants will outdo the humans. According to her, when humans enter into a
relationship with the machines, then they might be replaced (Hayles 15). Again, this leaves the
viewer wondering if clones reproduce. How could they probably reproduce other clones if not
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with the right programming? However, according to Hayles (10), the participation of replicants
adjusts the internal organization into a single role of a given replica who can reproduce, but when
in the group of non-humans it cannot. This means that it was possible for a clone to reproduce.
His boss Lt then commands k. Joshi to look for the child of the deceased Eve and retire it.
However, K feels that a baby born would be close to a human (Graham 22). For him, he had
never killed anything with a soul. However, with the programming, he had to kill the replicants
because they saw them as non-humans.
In conclusion, Blade Runner is a movie that provides a philosophical focus on what it is
like to be human. Today, society has been faced by the dilemma of defining what is human and
what is not. How to maintain humanness in a race of humans is a question confronting the
society in an era where technologies continue to dehumanize humans. In the movie, the
replicants appear to be more human than the real human being. They seem to be compassionate
compared to the humans who are cold and brutal. The definition of a human in modern society is
an issue based on the complex interactions of the people who theorize the norms and those who
enforce them.
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Works Cited
Bruno, Giuliana. “Ramble City: Postmodernism and ‘Blade Runner.’” October 41 (Summer,
1987): 61-74. JSTOR. Web. 22 May. 2019.
Byron, John. “Replicants R Us: The Crisis of Authenticity in Blade Runner.” Sydney Studies in
English 34 (2008): 41-62. Web. 22 May.2019.
Graham, Elaine L. Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular
Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002. Print.
Katherine, Hayles. How We Became Posthuman. University of Chicago Press, 2010. Internet
resource.
McNamara, Kevin R. “Blade Runner’s Post-Individual Worldspace.” Contemporary Literature
38.3 (Autumn, 1997): 422-446. JSTOR. Web. 22 May 2019.

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Surname 1

Today, society is controlled by several transforming technologies. Advancements such as

been raised by society.

posthumanism tries to undermine humanity. The transformation from humans to post-humans

teleology, and individual goals” (3).

According to Hayles, post-humanism is the convergence of technology and biology to a

movie questions “our lack of humanity,” which is a characteristic exhibited by nonhumans.

According to Hayles, post-humans views consciousness as a seat of human identity. However,

machines, and he acknowledges that he does not like this work.

because they saw them as non-humans.

In conclusion, Blade Runner is a movie that provides a philosophical focus on what it is

1987): 61-74. JSTOR. Web. 22 May. 2019.

English 34 (2008): 41-62. Web. 22 May.2019.

Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002. Print.

McNamara, Kevin R. “Blade Runner’s Post-Individual Worldspace.” Contemporary Literature

38.3 (Autumn, 1997): 422-446. JSTOR. Web. 22 May 2019.

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