I think in one of the short films, Neander Wallace says his new "angels" will obey no matter what and he seems to demonstrate that. But the replicants prior to that: was it believed that they would be obedient due to some built-in rules and the ones that escape to Earth are malfunctioning or was there some incentive for replicants to obey, perhaps fear of being punished/executed? It sure seems making them stronger than humans almost guarantees they would rebel in the latter case; in the former case, at least in the replicants we meet, they do not seem remotely obedient or even deferential.
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
If we take the source novel as our guide, the Andys (AKA Replicants) are genetically loyal.
The TV set shouted, “—duplicates the halcyon days of the pre-Civil War Southern states! Either as body servants or tireless field hands, the custom-tailored humanoid robot—designed specifically for YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS, FOR YOU AND YOU ALONE—given to you on your arrival absolutely free, equipped fully, as specified by you before your departure from Earth; this loyal, trouble-free companion in the greatest, boldest adventure contrived by man in modern history will provide—” It continued on and on.
And yes, the ones that we meet (Pris, etc) are wildly defective, largely as a result of some sort of combined drug-experimentation and philosophical-brainwashing conducted by Roy Baty.
Roy Baty (the poop sheet informed him) has an aggressive, assertive air of ersatz authority. Given to mystical preoccupations, this android proposed the group escape attempt, underwriting it ideologically with a pretentious fiction as to the sacredness of so-called android “life.” In addition, this android stole, and experimented with, various mind-fusing drugs, claiming when caught that it hoped to promote in androids a group experience similar to that of Mercerism, which it pointed out remains unavailable to androids.
Noting that Baty seems to have gone rogue all on his own, it seems that the odd Replicant just starts to decide that it's people and escapes.
Additionally, we learn from Blade Runner 2049 and Blade Runner: Black Lotus that the Replicants have been conditioned for loyalty from birth, by implanting them with memories that are supposed to prevent them from committing certain actions (in K's case, from going into the ocean and in Elle's case, from attacking Wallace). Note that in neither instance are they wholly effective, leaving the door open for his 'angels' to rebel.
-
1the movie shd have (and maybe it did) explain how such an incredibly dangerous thing happened. that is the key idea: despite believing we made obedient slaves, our need to have independent, intelligent thinking servants led to the problem. sort of/exactly like our current real concerns about electronic AI. I'd rather have a horde of zombies after me than a handful of intelligent killing machines. I would; I always say that to people at work. Commented Oct 2, 2021 at 7:43
-
i just replied to an old question about identifying replicants. Paint them blue, whatever, easy. Put an explosive charge in their chests that can be detonated by a key word AND if another key word is not spoken daily the same charge goes off. Tell me how Roy Baty manages to circumvent that. Tyrell with a little preparation could have dropped Roy from across the room and then called janitorial. I actually just thought of this but why would this not work in real life? Robots both dependent upon humans and at their mercy. Maybe then they might commit suicide frequently in protest? Commented Oct 2, 2021 at 7:57
-
2
Because they don't know any other way
Since replicants have such short life span, they rarely have a chance to start realising that they could somehow improve their position.
It is quite similar to the real-life history: in countries that had slavery (in one way or another), the slaves were rarely rebelling against their masters, even while they were both numerical and possibly physically superior. Plantations in Southern USA had by average 50 slaves, in ancient Rome slaves were up to 40% of the total population - yet the rebellions were rare.
If a slave or replicant is from his youth being told that he supposed to be subservient or they will be severely punished, they will be subservient and loyal, even if the punishment never occurs. It is like in the famous (but apparently not exactly true) experiment about 5 monkeys and banana on a ladder
-
1I think among enslaved people there were a variety of reasons rebellions were rare. firstly, there were slaves who were more privileged who might want to keep that position. secondly they were very carefully kept unarmed -- even in the civil war when slaves were considered to be recruited to join the rebel army, they were not to be armed but rather free up soldiers to fight by doing manual labor -- seems like replicants were armed. Commented Oct 4, 2021 at 2:38
-
1Also bear in mind that the punishment for revolt is likely a strong factor in discouraging further such actions. In the third servile war (Rome) the slaves who were captured alive after the army crushed the revolt were all crucified along the main road in to Rome. How many would want to rebel after that. Commented Oct 4, 2021 at 8:48
-
1@releseabe armed soldiers have a strong sense of belonging - to their comrades, to the unit and to the country. If you are rebelling/deserting you are betraying people that would die for you, which is a reason why desertions are relatively rare in a well-disciplined army.– YasskierCommented Oct 6, 2021 at 4:57
-
@EricNolan how about "You will disobey me and you will go to Hell"? Peasants in medieval Europe never (?) seen someone dragged from the biblical Hell, yet the fear of such punishment was strong enough to make them think twice before they would disobey. 5 monkeys and banana (on a ladder) again.– YasskierCommented Oct 6, 2021 at 4:59
-
The matter was discussed in H Beam Piper's story"A Slave Is A Slave" when he points out that in a slave society "Everyone has it just that much better than the person below him, and less pressure than the one above him, that he is encouraged to stay where he is. We have something like that, too, in our military hierarchy." Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 3:41