Ethos Pathos And Logos In The Blade Runner

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Blade Runner (1982) explores the dystopia where replicants of humans are manufactured to explore off world colonies. These replicants created are almost exactly like humans possessing the same physical appearance and intellect as any other human. Replicants like Rachael are implanted with memories taken from an actual biological mind and this results in her behaving almost exactly like a human despite these emotions and memories being man made. We then are left to wonder whether machines and computer programming can replace the human mind. Rachael is able to feel emotions and act upon them, but does this signify that she has a mind of her own? According to Searle, a machine must have a sense of understanding which in turn means they have intrinsic …show more content…

He argues that machines can simply match an input with an output, but this does not indicate that there is any understanding (4). This can be further explained as Searle illustrates the simulation of a person being given Chinese characters to view with no knowledge whatsoever of the language. The person is given another set of Chinese writing with instructions in English that help respond to the first batch of writing and for these responses to be returned. Although the responses written by the person are synonymous to what a native Chinese speaker would deem to be correct, this does not mean the person understands Chinese, but merely the instructions in English directed the person allows them to generate viable responses. Searle continues with stating that understanding requires intentionality and machines may have calculating capacities, but may not have their own intrinsic intention that reflect mental states (11). Given this information, it would be accurate to assume Searle would think Rachael does have a mind after finding out she is a replicant. Specifically after because this