Matt Weingarten Philosophy May 23, 2011 Roy and Deckard both have mental lives because they

have a certain level of intelligence that necessitates them to be given moral rights and privileges of other conscious beings. Quantifying mental states inherently shows a distinction between the physical and mental, which proves that dualism is present to some extent in complex forms of life. In order to prove that something is a mental being there needs to be a certain quantification of what a mental being is (i.e. intelligence, processing), so in order for machines to be mental beings they need to live up to these quantifications. Roy lives up to these quantifications and surpasses them by showing moral values in addition to mental power. Mental states are very much defined by intelligence, which Lycan labels a kind of flexibility, a responsiveness to contingencies (Lycan 343). Further, he states that humans deal with the unforeseen. [Humans] take what comes and make the best of it, even though we may have had no idea what it would be (Lycan 343). Roy shows his capacity for flexibility and deal[ing] with the unforeseen through the way in which he handles the death of his companions. Instead of failing like a computer that has a glitch, he figures out an intelligent and intelligent plan to keep moving towards his goal of having a longer life. His goal is not the sort of goal that has some backup plan like an alternate route on a GPS system. Because his actions, and his motives are so complex, and the way which he deals with them is flexible, like humans, he shows that he has the kind of mental life that a normal human. However, it is also possible that these alternate ways of figuring something out is pre-programmed into the robot, which would negate the signs of consciousness in the robot. The Chinese Room experiment deals with understanding, which is key in

Matt Weingarten Philosophy May 23, 2011 determining whether the robots in Blade Runner are conscious. If, like in the Chinese Room experiment, the robots are just equipped with thousands of programs that explain how to respond to any problem, then the robots are not conscious. However there are flaws to this way of thinking, because it is impossible to know whether humans are thinking beings and not just equipped with thousands of books to tell them how to act. However, humans make the assumption that since all humans seem to be like each other then each human probably has consciousness. Because there is this assumption, it becomes necessary to give all humans a certain amount of moral respect (though many people in some way neglect to properly respect people). Roy shows that his mental processes are just as powerful as any humans in addition he seems to act like a human, therefore he deserves the same amount of moral respect as any other human. Roy further proves his consciousness with his actions to save Deckard, which display Deckards lack of mental and moral processing, which subsequently shows the uncertainty of consciousness. When it seems like Roy is going to let Deckard fall to his death, he saves Deckard. Roys respect for Deckards life further displays his humanness. Even though Deckard tries to kill him, Roy shows moral respect because he believes that he deserves the same amount of respect. Deckard, throughout the movie, does not give any respect towards those robots because that is what he is told to do. His orders are to kill the robots, and he does that with little question, much like an unthinking being. He is set to kill these robots and that is what he will do, at no point does he try to understand why these robots need to be killed, or even if they should be killed. Deckards actions are more inhuman than Roys even though Deckard is a human. He does not problem solve flexibly or understand what he is doing which is what intelligence entails. Deckards lack of

Matt Weingarten Philosophy May 23, 2011 operating like a thinking being at times demonstrates that humans are imperfect in their humanness which means that consciousness for beings like Roy is that more difficult to understand, thus that much more difficult to duplicate. Uncertainty about consciousness reflects back to the real world. In todays world, there are no robots like Roy; however, there is a similar problem with animals. To an outside observer of the world it would seem like animals do not have consciousness based on how people in todays world treat animals like cows in slaughterhouses and various other disrespectful things that happen to cows in this world. In some ways humans are justified for acting this way to animals: animals are less intelligent; they seem to be programmed to do the same thing every day and every year (i.e. migration patterns and hunting patterns); and if something goes awry in an animals daily habit (like a drought or famine), it is very unlikely that animals will be able to cope with these changes and will probably die. Even with these imperfections and lack of intelligence, many people believe that animals are self-aware and conscious to an extent. The question then becomes whether humans have the responsibility to treat animals with the moral respect that humans treat other humans. Assuming that animals do have consciousness (because it is impossible to know whether anyone has consciousness, since humans can only know themselves), more questions about how to define consciousness appear. Again, quantifying intelligence to determine consciousness seems to be uncertain. Since animals are less intelligent than humans, and sometimes act in unthinking ways, consciousness becomes that much more elusive to define. Further, defining consciousness becomes more complicated with animals like Coco. Coco is a primate who was taught sign language, and has advanced to the point

Matt Weingarten Philosophy May 23, 2011 of being able to hold conversations with other humans. The way Coco talks shows that Coco has self-awareness much like a human. Coco complicates the issue tenfold because Cocos self-awareness brings in the possibility of her being able to vote, and have the basic other rights of today (like have money). The reason for this is that the only difference between humans and Coco is the species and the method of communication. Humans relationship with animals displays the uncertainty, and subsequent lack of understanding consciousness. Uncertainty about consciousness shows and inherent differential between the physical world and mental world and because Roy shows thought processes like humans it is necessary assume that Roy has consciousness and therefore must be respected for it. Dualism exists because of the uncertainty around consciousness, which means that humans are able to perceive a difference between a thinking and intelligent being compared to a non-thinking one. For example, a plant would never be thought to be a thinking and intelligent being. However, plants do many actions in order to survive: like growing bigger if they need the sun, and making their own food. The reason that plants seem to lack a consciousness is because plants do not react when something touches it, and plants do not respond when someone talks to it. A plant can only do actions that it has been programmed to do in order to survive. There is no variability in its actions like humans or animals. Humans can perceive these differences between objects, and more importantly, perceive whether a being has self-awareness or not. Deckards experience of Roy shows that Roy has a self-awareness akin to humans, which therefore necessitates for him to be treated with the same respect morally that of any human. There is a distinct difference between Roy and a GPS system. A GPS system, like a

Matt Weingarten Philosophy May 23, 2011 plant, does not respond to normal human reactions. If you throw a GPS, it will not run away, even if wheels were installed. It does not have any processes beyond that which it has been programmed to do. Counter to this, is that a GPS does respond to certain actions, like having a button pushed, or going the wrong direction on a route. However, it is obvious that this is programmed and beyond doing actions that it is specifically programmed to handle, the GPS system cannot do anything else. Because Roy has the same level of consciousness as Deckard, he therefore deserves the same moral respect that Deckard receives because they are of the same kind in terms of consciousness and intelligence.