Philip K. Dick is author of the science fiction novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? written in 1968 that became widely known to the general public through the adaptation of the movie Blade Runner by Ridley Scott.

As the story unfolds in a dystrophic and dark vision of the future, this cult movie presents a harsh reality where human beings are condemned to struggle to survive in a hostile environment.

The plot

After a global war that has rendered Earth’s atmosphere highly radioactive, most animal species are endangered or extinct. In this environment where the cycle of life has lost its vitality, people are encouraged to move to off-world colonies with the incentive of free androids that are similar in appearance to humans. 

In this dark world, everyone leaves their televisions on constantly, watching variety shows to avoid being bored and feeling alone. Human beings are seeking connection, but seem unable to connect with each other. 

The androids

The replicas (androids) are engineered humans designed to do difficult and hazardous work. They are stronger, faster, and smarter than human beings. They feel no pain or remorse. They are incapable of feeling empathy. 

The Blade Runner are tracking engineered humans androids who rebel and want to break free from their conditions. The main character Rick Deckard, a Blade Runner, is working with policemen to unmask these androids. But soon Deckard learns that the latest models of replica, the Nexus 6, are different and experience emotions and empathy towards others such as main antagonist characters Roy Batty.

Batty with other replicas came from Mars on Earth to find their creators and obtain an extension of their existence, which has a finite lifespan. Deckard finds most of the fugitives but is overwhelmed by his encounter with Rachel, a new Nexus 6 model. He lets her live and falls in love with her. 

Coexisting with androids and AI

This science fiction movie explores philosophical and social questions about the coexistence of human beings and androids generated by AI. But I believe the most interesting feature is probably at the end of the movie when the main characters Deckard and the android Batty are struggling against each other for their own self-preservation in the scene tears in rain 

The famous scene tears in rain

After this relentless struggle, Batty’s decided to save Deckard. This scene is a powerful act of empathy and humanity. It’s as if Batty had an epiphany at the end of its existence. It’s as if the android which is passing across the border between life and death is learning at that moment the power of a good action. An action that can liberate oneself from the fear of dying. Batty saving action is done without self-preservation interest, it’s simply an act of human solidarity. 

Tears in rain reveals Batty’s deep attachment to life.  It’s one of the most iconic scenes in science fiction cinema. I tried to count the number of short videos that depict the scene, but without success, as there are hundreds and hundreds of copies on the web in various language. 

The original version of Tears in rain of the storyline allows us to grasp the scope of Batty’s experience with human emotions but he’s not a human being. In this scene we see how both characters are guided by the activity of self-preservation instinct and the fear of death. 

Warning: The images in this scene are violent, but they effectively summarize the theme of the struggle for survival. between the human beings and the replicas – the android.

Above all, this movie challenges us with a fundamental question: What is human? What is human in us? What is human in me ? What is human in others ?  Could it be possible that an android, created by human beings, has this strong connection with the activity of the self-preservention instinct and feel fear ? By saving the consciousness of a human being could an android transcend his own fear of death ? By transcending the fear of death will human beings allowed an evolutionary step for the human species ? 

Today, these questions are even more relevant with the advances and development of powerful AI models and the introduction of robots into several economic sectors.

Philip K. Dick (1) the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? that served as the basis narrative for Blade Runner, explained in an interview in the ’60 that the decision to write this novel came after he met his wife, Nancy. Before this encounter, Dick view of humanity was aligned with his own experience and the dehumanization system; namely, the human beings are selfish, wicked, and primarily driven by their own instinct for self-preservation. Then, meeting his wife revealed to him this another tendency in humankind. A tendency towards well-being, caring, love, community, solidarity and the protection of  life. 

As the big private corporations around the world are rapidly implementing powerfull AI and android in human organizations and productions. What behavioral trends will be encoded into the underlying architecture of this new technological system? Will it be towards maintaining the instinct for preservation of the decadent, violent and dehumanizing institutions, that have successively ruined civilizations, peoples and the aspirations of millions of human beings ? Or will it be towards nurturing life by caring and supporting the evolution of the human beings ?

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Note (1): Dick’s work addressed questions of theology, metaphysics, and the nature of reality. Many science fiction movies are adapted from his work. Several of his works focus on the authoritarian system and the alienation of human beings by techological system. He was influenced by: Flaubert, Alfred E. Van Vogt, James Joyce, Balzac, Kant, Marcel Proust, Carl Jung, Samuel Beckett, Dostoevsky, John Sladek, Nathanael West, Jorge Luis Borges, Jack Spicer, H.G. Wells, and above all by Nancy his wife.

Images: Silo The Sage of the Andes, documentary Directed by Daniel Zuckerbrot, 2008.