Bobby Sligh, Matthew Sartain, and Kyle Hutto

English 1102 H
K. Redding
Research Essay
4/24/2016
Transhumanism and the Uncertainty of Human Identity
Many of the worlds innovations have come from a need to improve the human condition.
However, when, if ever, is improving the human condition going too far? Additionally, if humans
are improved through methods such as replacement of almost all body parts with mechanical
ones, is that being still human, since biological differences to other humans exist? These
questions are quintessential in the debate over transhumanism that emerged in the past decade.
Transhumanism is the belief that humans can evolve beyond current limitation by means of
scientific progress; stem cell research, gene editing, and even disease elimination all constitute
transhumanism technology. Despite that seemingly innocuous sounding definition, this ideology
has proven to be both bold and controversial, because of its radical proposals of ideas such as life
extension (to the point of biological immortality) and development of artificial intelligence. In
the midst of this proposed biological change, serious questions emerge as to what it means to be
human if we are changing biologically. Does it mean that humanity has simply been improved or
has humanity been replaced by a different species of being? For this research, we will examine
how transhuman ideology in popular media, specifically the movies Blade Runner and RoboCop

help answer the question of what it means to be human in the presence of transhumanist
technologies.
In Blade Runner, the transhumanist subjects are known as replicants. Replicants carry out
undesirable duties for the rest of society. They have artificially shortened lives and are
intentionally kept away from the planet Earth in order to keep them from questioning their place
in society and revolting against societal conventions. The central question related to
transhumanism arises from their possession of no authentic memories, so how could replicants
possibly be human? The end result, as in Rachels case, is that the replicants often have no way
to differentiate their actual past with the implanted. Ultimately, it creates real emotion in the
replicants, who can believe in the false memories wholeheartedly. This is made evident in the use
of the Voight-Kampff test which seeks to measure emotional response based on heart rate,
respiration and other metric gauges. The manual for the test states replicants are determined as
such in about 6 or 7 questions. For many replicants, however, it takes a significant number of
questions more. In Rachels test, it takes over a hundred. Even our protagonist, Deckard, begins
expressing doubt in the tests ability to determine human from replicant. Eventually, Deckard
himself must question his own humanity as it is revealed through the final origami unicorn scene
(in the director's cut), that he may have implanted memories. The most compelling evidence that
there may be very little distinction between humans and replicants, comes from Roys Tears in
the Rain monologue. Roy contradicts all of Blade Runners societal views that replicants
possess shallow emotions. Instead, Roy expresses a profound desire to find a meaningful
existence supported by a longing to be remembered. Although of synthetic origin, the newest
model of replicants, the Nexus-6, embody all the characteristics of transhuman technology and
are shown to be just as human as Deckard or Eldon Tyrell. By denying replicants their humanity

by treating them as inhuman, characters like Tyrell make a fatal mistake. The Blade Runner FAQ
states that J.F. Sebastian and Eldon Tyrells game of chess represents the struggle of the
replicants against the humans: the humans consider the replicants pawns, to be removed one by
one. The individual replicants (pawns) are attempting to become immortal (a queen)... Tyrell
makes a fatal mistake in the chess game, and another fatal mistake trying to reason with Batty. It
is worth noting that the chess match between J.F. Sebastian is based on the Immortal Game,
one of the most famous chess matches in history due to the winners sacrifice of his most
valuable pieces while winning with just his king a few pawns, two knights, and a bishop. The
ability to win with pawns, representative of replicants, demonstrates that they are every bit as
capable of defying Tyrell as any other human. This lack of difference not only makes the
audience and Deckard question how human replicants are, but, if they are the same as Deckard,
than who is Deckard? This existential question is the crux of Deckards development as a
character in Blade Runner.
In RoboCop, the subject of transhumanist technology is RoboCop himself. In a nearapocalyptic, future Detroit, Omni Consumer Products (better known as OCP) serves as the
principal antagonist while the senior president, Dick Jones, serves as a scheming villain who
seeks to gain control of OCP. When OCP is given control of the Detroit police, OCP, an
organization that is continuously shown to disregard human-well being in favor of turning a
profit, the company demonstrates just how dangerous transhumanist technologies are when
placed in the wrong hands. The movie sardonically mocks OCPs careless approach to using live
test subjects by demonstrating the failed prototypes tested (in which a two humans died and one
was injured), and the testing of the ED-209 robot, which violently murders one of the corporate
board members of OCP. Dick Jones dismisses this as only a glitch. Eventually, OCP makes

Alex Murphy, a former human cop who was violently killed by a gang on one of his
assignments, into a cyborg crime fighter. OCP dehumanizes Murphy by never referring to him by
his actually name and just giving him directives to, essentially, be a cop. This sleazy corporate
mentality that Murphy is more of a product than a human is satirized throughout the movie until,
at the end, the president of OCP asks RoboCop for his name, to which he replies Murphy. This
recognition of Murphys humanity encapsulates one of the many themes of the movie: that
human identity is something that can be retained despite biological changes. This attempt at
dehumanizing Murphy is ironic considering Murphy is a Christ-like figure in RoboCop. Like
Jesus, Murphy dies, is resurrected, treads through water in a motion resembling walking, causes
the fall from grace (literally and metaphorically) of Dick Jones (a character with power second to
the OCP president), and is a protector of peace. One of Murphys struggles, as evidenced by his
return to his former home after becoming RoboCop demonstrates that he is attempting to come to
terms with his new identity and leaving behind the old Alex Murphy. However, Murphy
eventually reconciles his past life with his new life as an android cop and protector of peace
through his final acknowledgment at the end of the movie that he is Murphy. RoboCop, despite
being the most inhuman character biologically, retains his place as the most relatable character in
the movie.
As a whole, its worth noting that the transhumanist subjects of both films, Roy Batty and
Alex Murphy, are both portrayed as Christ-like figures that are very relatable and human
characters despite being inhuman. On the other hand, the antagonists of both films are
corporations who control said technology and care very little about the wellbeing of others. In
summary, the supposedly inhuman characters are given the most human portrayal while the
supposedly human characters are given an extremely inhuman portrayal. The central question

answered by these films answer is that since humanity has entered an age of change due to
technology, what it means to be human is also changing and freeform in nature. Its almost
inevitable that human curiosity will expand to satiate desires to have transhumanist technologies,
so humanity needs to be ready to entrust this technology to the responsible as opposed to those
who stand to profit at the expense of others. If there are any doubts that humanity is approaching
a transhumanist level of scientific achievement, let the first human heart was grown from stem
cells and that Chinese researchers performed genome editing on a human zygote using CRISPR
CAS biotechnology be evidence that humanity is heading this direction. Additionally, if those
who seek to change themselves with this transhumanist technology shouldnt be discriminated
against or made to feel dehumanized as in Blade Runner and RoboCop.

Works Cited
Brostrom, Nick. Ethical Issues for the 21st Century. Ed. Frederick Adams. Charlottesville:
Philosophical Documentation Center Press, 2003. Print.
Chapman, Murray. "BLADE RUNNER Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)." BLADE RUNNER
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). University of Queensland, July 1995. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.faqs.org/faqs/movies/bladerunner-faq/>.
Liang Puping, Yanwen Xu, Xiya Zhang, and Chenhui Ding. "CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Gene
Editing in Human Tripronuclear Zygotes." - Springer. Higher Education Press, 18 Apr. 2015.
Web. 26 Mar. 2016. <http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13238-015-153-5>.

Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott. Prod. Ridley Scott and Hampton Francher. By Hampton
Francher and David Webb Peoples. Perf. Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. Warner
Bros., 1982. DVD.

Robocop. Dir. Paul Verhoeven. By Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. Perf. Peter Weller,
Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Kurtwood Smith, Miguel Ferrer, and Ronny Cox. Orion Pictures
Corporation, 1987. DVD.