Tue Aug 30, 2005 5:58 pm by Kaneda
I actually talked about this on another forum. It definitely is something that causes debate. But I've concluded that they are robots with skin and organs. My reasons:
The book's interpretation of the androids is like the conclusion I've made.
The opening mentions that the "Tyrell Corporation advanced robot evolution into the NEXUS phase." Now I don't know about you, but a clone seems VERY different from a robot.
Another example is when the ad blimp mentions them being "humanoid replicants". A clone is essentially a twin, which is human. Humanoid implies that its something that resembles human anatomy.
Red eyes: It seems rather weird that they would use red eyes as a cinematic device to reveal clones. Red eyes typically mean one of two things in film; either the character is evil or the character is something like an alien or machine.
Eye works: The eye-making area shows Hannibal Chew doing genetic design on eyes. Clones are not stitched together like Frankenstein's monster. This would make sense if applied to a robot/android/etc.
Deckard at one point mentions that "replicants are like any other machine."
There's a lot of material that suggests that they have artificial brains. The book, not to mention movie shows that they are given memory implants and programmed with a specific function.
Dictionary definition calls them a humanoid automaton. Most people associate the term automaton with robot, so it seems natural that they would use it in that context.
J.F. says that he is a genetic designer, yet he doesn't know much about biomechanics. The term biomechanics refers to the functions of a living thing, however in SF (like the Jeter sequels) it generally means part-living part-machine (the alien xenomorph, for example, is often called a biomechanical life-form) If biomechanics is used in its factual context, then J.F.'s statement makes no sense. A genetic designer would have to understand the biological functions of an organism in order to effectively produce a healthy replicant.
Durability: Replicant's flesh is exposed to extreme hot and cold, but there is no sign of blistering or anything serious. They can take several bullet wounds, a punch and pipe to the face, and plow their head through a wall and not even flinch. The only time they ever seem to experience pain is when the outer skin is penetrated. I feel this is a weaker argument as the genetic designers could have merely chemically altered the skin or create the replicants without outer pain receptors.
I'm sure there's some other stuff I can dig up, but I'll do it later.
"Just when my coil's reaching the green line..."
-Shotaro Kaneda
"Implants! Those aren't your mammories. They're somebody else's. They're Tyrell's niece's."