Outsmarting the Replicants

            One of the aspects that makes the 1982 film, Blade Runner, so strange is the fact that the A.I. replicants are basically indistinguishable from humans. They look the same, talk the same, and act the same. In Brian Christian’s book, The Most Human Human, Christian explains that a key aspect of the Turning Test, which helps determine whether a computer can truly “think” like a human, is speaking and the phrasing of words. Christian cites Roger Levy who says, “I think that in my experience with statistical models of language, it’s the unboundedness of human language that’s really distinctive.” Humans can make up words, use secret codes, type abbreviations in text messages, use nicknames, and use so many more secret tricks when communicating. Computers are programed with the dictionary. They cannot understand secret languages and codes that humans can and this aspect confuses them.

            In Blade Runner, the “Voigt-Kampff” test awfully confuses the replicants for two reasons. The first is the fact that the test is meant to measure how the test subjects emotionally handle the questions. Since the replicants are robots and do not actually have emotions, this obviously does not work very well, as seen when Holden tests Leon. Leon cannot compute or show the emotion Holden wants to see. Leon eventually reacts by shooting Holden. However, like Brian Christian writes in his book, the language of the questions also confuses the replicants. For example, Holden asks Leon a hypothetical question about why he does not help a tortoise flipped on his back in a dessert. Leon, the replicant, at first questions what a tortoise is. He does not recognize the word, just as many of the robots involved in the Turning Test would not. He also cannot answer the question for the simple fact that it is “hypothetical.” There are no facts involved, and the situation is not actually a real situation. Again, just like the Turning Test, the robot cannot understand.

            I think both Blade Runner and The Most Human Human remind us of the fact that, while computers and A.I. technology contain countless amounts of knowledge that at times exceed that of the human race, they are still, simply, just programs. They are not humans, and they lack some human abilities, such as language barriers, emotions, and hypothetical situations. As to whether this will always be the case, I cannot say. However, at least at this moment in time, computers are only as smart as what they are programmed to do. They take code words and hidden phrases literally, which is something humans have the ability to easily look past. While computers may be equal to the knowledge level of humans, these small key differences still place humans way ahead of technology, as these small differences can easily allow humans to outsmart technology.