Theres something I dont understand.

In the scene where deckard and bryant are sitting looking at dossiers on the monitor, bryant says "i want you to go put the machine on it." then deckard says "and if the machine doesnt work?" Then theres a awkward pause. What does this mean?
[addsig]

I take it to mean that if the machine doesn't work, Deckard may end up like Holden. i.e hospitalized, or even killed. Hence Bryants awkward look.
[addsig]

In order for Deckard to retire four replicants he has to correctly identify them with 100% accuracy - he can't afford make any mistakes 'cos if killed a human, that would be murder.<BR><BR>So, if the machine doesn't work, then Deckard cannot even begin to hunt for the replicants...and if Blade Runners can't detect Replicants then they themselves become obsolete...<BR><BR>I'm currently re-reading DADOES (for the third time) - in the book, Eldon Tyrell (Rosen) tries to invalidate the first VK test by insisting that Rachael is a human when Deckard has already identified her as replicant - I don't think it is clearly explained why he (Tyrell/Rosen) would try to do that - as far as I can tell, it is mutually beneficial to both Tyrell (Rosen) and the LAPD (SFPD) that the VK test works. As I understand it, Tyrell (Rosen) would not be allowed to produce a replicant if it could not identified as such...<BR><BR><BR>_________________<BR><!-- BBCode Start --><IMG SRC="http://www.deckard.worldonline.co.uk/filez/BR26354.gif" BORDER="0"><!-- BBCode End --><BR><BR>Richard Gunn<BR>News and Content Manager for Bladezone<BR><!-- BBCode Start --><A HREF="mailto:richardg@bladezone.com">richardg@bladezone.com</A><!-- BBCode End --><BR><BR><font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Deckard BR26354 on 2002-02-25 11:22 ]</font>

My take on it is the whole thing is about how close to humans the replicants are getting.<BR><BR>The V-K machine measures a difference in sub-concious body reaction response times to questions evoking emotional responses and thus checks a difference in empathic response between humans and replicants. Humans react automatically. Replicants have programmed responses. To ensure no errors, the BR has to be absolutely sure that the response falls below an accepted human response.<BR><BR>So, the closer the replicant's programmed response gets to the human response, the more difficult it becomes to make that determination. It seem evident (IMO) that the V-K machine is not new and has in fact been around some time, while replicant development continues.<BR><BR>They don't seem to have used it on Nexus 6 replicants before Leon, and the N-6 at Tyrell's is obviously the very latest model with the latest "software".<BR><BR>Holden wasn't getting anything definite although he may have started getting some odd readings (although Leon was messing him about anyway). So, before Deckard even goes over to Tyrell's, it seems they have a very real doubt about whether the V-K machine will be good enough to make a conclusive call on whther or not the test subject is human or replicant.<BR><BR>This is the only test they appear to have - if it is no longer effective, they have big problems, (not to mention the consequences that leads to!)<BR>
[addsig]

I think Deckard has the demise of Holden on his mind when he asked that.<BR><BR>Also Deckard didn't give the impression of being a very good "machine guy". Holden seemed to be the V-K specialist. Plus Bryant's line about "airing" them (the replicants) out, gives the notion that Deckard is at his best when shown what the replicants look like (which just happened at police hq).

Yes, this is better described in DADOES. Bryant has strong doubts about the efectiveness of VK when it comes to testing such an advanced rep type like N6, so he wanted Deckard to try it on an example (Rachael from Rosen's Corp.) before hunting those escaped, in order to be sure whether it can detect N6. <BR><BR><BR>_________________<BR>Medieval Thievery? Futuristic Shocking? Cyberpunkish Espionage? <BR><!-- BBCode u2 Start --><A HREF="http://www.ttlg.com" TARGET="_blank">Through the Looking Glass Forums!</A><!-- BBCode u2 End --><!-- BBCode Start --><IMG SRC="http://www.ttlg.com/forums/images/smilies/thumb.gif" BORDER="0"><!-- BBCode End --><BR><BR><font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: BR796164 on 2002-04-02 23:49 ]</font>

The way i read the book i saw Rosen trying to more or less "validate" the quality of his product.
[addsig]

In short, I took it as a "in that case, we're screwed" look.