According to Donna Haraway’s essay titled “A Cyborg Manifest,” the concept of Cyborg is a rejection of rigid boundaries, notably those separating humans from animals and machines. Cyborgs are perceived as the next generation of people. They are organisms that contain both organic (“natural”) and cybernetic (“machine”) parts (Haraway 150). In the movie Blade Runner, the director seeks to highlight how machines have taken over human duties, which they accomplish efficiently and in a short time. Blade Runner is built on an unanswerable conundrum raising different questions wondering at what stage Robots become humans as they evolve and at what stage humans become machines as our lives become more and more computerized.
From the movie, Tyrell Corporation builds replicants that are like humans, but they are to be used as slaves outside the earth. As Haraway elaborates, technology is essential to our daily lives as it streamlines, simplifies work, and businesses by coordinating activities (Haraway 150). The film Blade Runner uses this concept to build replicants that can execute a job faster and more accurately in various industries (Scott). Additionally, the robots are constructed in such a way that they exhibit emotions and care for each other. From the movie, the replicants appear to show concern for one another, and they are contrasted against human characters who lack empathy. The film goes as far as snagging the audience to the point of making them doubt whether Deckard is human (Scott). Tyrell Corporation has specialized in building this technology by improving from their previous creation. As the film shows, the replicants in question were named Nexus-6s because it is believed that they are advanced enough to extents that they may have developed emotions, which might make it harder to detect them via Voight-Kampff test (Scott). For instance, Deckard fell in love with one of the replicants to the extent of making out an indication that the replicants are highly emotional.
Moreover, the movie goes ahead to elaborate that the replicants have a four-year lifespan, which can be compared to the life of humans (Scott). Even though human life does not have a definite lifespan, it compares to that of the robots because of people’s mortal nature. In the pursuit for the replicants, the main character must ensure that he meets the genetic designer for the Tyrell Corporation so that he could understand the genes. The technology used to build replicants is so advanced that it makes their intelligence so high (Scott). The aptitude levels of these machines are exhibited in the film when one of the replicants saved the life of Deckard while he was being attacked by one of the other rogue replicants.
As a result, this brings about the debate on at what stage humans become machines as our lives become more and more computerized. From the explanation in the movie, it is evident that people are creating technology, which they will later use to execute jobs. For instance, Tyrell Corporation in the film created the replicants so that they could be utilized as slaves outside the earth (Scott). Thus, this raises the question whether humans will become lazy by using the excuse that they have the required technology to help sort out or solve issues. Computers are slowly replacing our memory, thinking, computation, and even calculations. This adds to the question whether technologies such as computers achieve the complexity comparable to one of the human beings, thereby assisting people to do all sorts of things. For instance, we depend on computers and the Internet to do our research and computations such that we feel that we cannot function normally without them. As such, this has changed our mode of operation at schools, homes, and even at workplaces.
In line with this, the advent of social media has significantly contributed to us acting like robots. Social media has made us more confined to ourselves, and this can be explained through the less physical interaction we do with friends and family. Social media has made us so committed on the online sphere to the extent that we do not value meeting face-to-face. Moreover, it has led to humans losing empathy. Constant streaming of violent scenes on video games, TV, movies, and YouTube may cause people to become insensitive to destruction. The normalizing of bad things happening and the culture of narcissism imposed by social media creates a society of individuals who lack sympathy.
Technology has allowed scientists to develop genes and hormones that are controlled or programmed to give the best and maximum output. Scientists are manipulating these hormones by combining them to be more productive and intelligent. This raises the question whether all humans will have the same features in the next years to come. Technology has also made it possible for people to be supported by machines in case of treatments or accidents. This is a proof that human organs can be replaced by genetically modified ones, thus suggesting that people are becoming robots as our lives become more and more computerized.
Besides, Microchips in humans have also sparked debate on the privacy of individuals. Those in support state that this is a way of restricting access to sensitive data. However, it shows the extent of development of technology, even to the levels of humans being micro chipped. The microchips in humans can be used to access places, unlock or even authorize activities resulting in the breach of privacy and confidentiality.
From the discussed points above, it is evident that robots become humans when we create them and try to make them more powerful than people themselves. This is achieved through incorporating human-like features, such as empathy and thought process, into the robots. However, this might become risky if scientists build high technology robots. On the other hand, overdependence on technology has made individuals lazy and less thoughtful; thus, humans are becoming like machines as lives get more and more computerized. Competition amongst humans has also made people seek for technological options for them to increase their intelligence. Just like competition, security of sensitive data has also made people to install gadgets into their bodies. Nowadays, there is a closer merger of biological and digital intelligence.
Overall, the advent of brain-machine interfaces will force humans to redefine where humanity lies. This technology is anticipated to blur the boundary between humans and machines. As we become increasingly dependent on technology, it is easy, and it can become tranquil to think of the body as a kind of machine with parts that need replacements. As much as technology is making work easier and cheaper for us, it is also important that we keep in mind that there is need to have free thinking human beings.
Works Cited
Haraway, Donna. "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century," in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York; Routledge, 1991.
Scott, Ridley, Director. Blade Runner. IMDb. Warner Bros, 1982.
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