Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Essay ExampleWhat it is to be human is a repeat dilemma that the characters in Do Androids Dream? try to make sense of and through their actions and the plot itself, the motive and readers withal navigate this problem. Reaction to the world around them, specifically the display of empathy, is seemingly the most authorised marker of the humanness of human beings. However, one finds that by the end of Do Androids Dream?, this assumption has been turn around on its head and back again many times over. Rather than provide an sonant template of humanity for us to accept, Dick uses this novel to instead ask the right questions. The most axiomatic and repeated assumption is that empathy is what differentiates humans from andies i.e. androids or humanoid robots that have been created in the post-apocalyptic setting of the novel to garter in the process of emigration of humans to Mars. This is reflected in the popular religion Mercerism, the foun dation of which lies on an empathetic worldview and the acceptance of collective experience. Even humans who are relegated to the fringes of society because of their low IQ chickenheads or antheads also accept this view of the world. ... Isidores need for companionship runs so deep that even though he recognizes that the renegade andies are exploiting him when they take cover in his apartment he lets them stay and even tries to cling to them from the bounty-hunter. The androids themselves recognize this quality as that elusive human quality that they cannot achieve. Roy Baty, the leader of the rebel androids, despite his scornful demeanor reveals his longing to experience this at several times, exulting ultimately when Mercerism is declared a dishonest belief system. Empathy-testing is also the most practical way of detecting androids and retiring or killing them out front they can pose any harm to the humans remaining on Earth. As later revealed by Deckards rival bounty-hunte r Philip Resche, tests other than the Voigt-Kampff Empathy Test, are not nearly as successful in identifying androids. This hence is the dominant narrative Humans empathize, androids do not. However, this statement is not as uncomplicated as it may seem. Firstly, there is the question of being able to duplicate this kind of empathy. As the testing of Rachael Rosen in the world-class instance proves, even Deckard, for a while, is unable to recognize Rachael as an android when he is fed the floor about her having been raised on another planet and therefore being not too champ at empathizing with other humans. Deliberate manipulation of the empathy test can also be done by prevaricating, like in Luba Lufts case. Luft, who is an android, deliberately refuses to answer questions directly to prevent the test from giving blameless results. Secondly, there is also the question of inherent anomalies in this testing system. As Deckards boss, Bryant, warns him at the amaze of his quest for the six