Identity Caused By Phillip K Dicks: Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

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Sheila Pour Gholam Hosein Dr. Christopher Keep English 1028G: The Storyteller’s Art II: The Rise of the Machines T.A: Alexander Morgan 9 February 2024. The Epistemic Crisis of Human Identity Caused by Androids Humanity's chase for perfection is so close to reach that technology is able to create the perfect imitation, blurring the line between the real and the fake human. In Phillip K Dicks, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? characters continuously question the real, creating a crisis in knowledge, where individuals are no longer able to determine the real from the fake. When such challenges arise, many start questioning the true essence of human identity and what the solid criteria is to distinguish the human from the artificial human, also known as the android. In the novel, new generations of androids become more difficult to distinguish, due to their impressive human features like their physical appearances, personalities, and behaviors. However, the realization that these individuals are not human, drives complicated and unsettling emotions in the human characters, as humans can form emotional bonds with the …show more content…

Humans are continuously searching for technologies that can be used to classify a human apart from an android. The Voight-Kampff Test being one of those technologies seems to be a temporary bandage that is placed on top of the bigger identity crisis. When the perfect android enters society, which is able to retain empathy, once again there is a search for another form of distinguishing technology. These technologies are made to retain human superiority and nature, there is always going to be a search for a foundation that creates the distinctive line between the android and the human. Without that technological foundation, true human identity cannot be known, and that sense of unknowingness creates a great