Table of Contents
Introduction
Blade Runner, the iconic adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Ridley Scott, introduced an entire generation to a new style of science fiction. Instead of the Hollywood blockbuster style of Star Wars or the socialist Utopian dream of Star Trek, the movie and book touch on deep questions surrounding religion and what it means to be human. The device behind the second question is called the Voight-Kampff test. The test measures involuntary and voluntary responses to a line of provocative questions to determine if the subject is human.
In the book, Wade Watts finds the machine and realizes that it holds the next gate. He uses the key to open the gate. Instead of the questions, he gets put into a 3-D version of the arcade game Black Tiger. I decided that, as part of my journey alongside Wade, it might be fun to consider some of the questions from the Voight-Kampff test and see what my responses say about me.
Voight-Kampff Prompts and Responses
I selected a few prompts from the ones that I found while searching. Ones that will hopefully both identify me as human and elicit interesting responses.
- You’re in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, it’s crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can’t, not without your help. But you’re not helping. Why is that? I assume this is a trick question. Most humans will wonder why they can’t help the tortoise. This seems like such a simple problem to solve. You simply flip the turtle over and hopefully that gets him or her back on their way. I know there’s the old adage of not getting out of your car to help a turtle across the road. However, I think that’s more about making sure that you pull off to the side of the road or look both ways so you don’t cause an accident.
- You’ve got a little boy. He shows you his butterfly collection plus the killing jar. and It’s your birthday. Someone gives you a calfskin wallet.These questions are more interesting to me. As a human, you might understand that a killing jar is a jar with some chemical that allows for “humane killing” of the insect in order to study it. That won’t make you any more comfortable with the idea, though, especially with butterflies. When I first read the question, I knew nothing about the killing jars and just thought it was a psychopathic kid killing butterflies. Perhaps that’s the point. Without the context, it is. The calfskin wallet might seem more obvious. However, consider that some people who think the calfskin wallet is
an abomination might eat veal. What’s the difference there? That one is designed to really make you think. Personally, I don’t enjoy veal, so the conflict comes from why I’m fine eating a burger but not the veal piccata. - You’re watching television. Suddenly you realize there’s a wasp crawling on your arm. Without the physical context or sensation, I don’t see how this one registers at all. Most people, when they feel something on their arm, they will look to see what’s there. If they see a wasp, they are going to react by swatting at it or panicking. Otherwise, when I read this, I thought, oh that’s an interesting question.
- You’re watching a stage play – a banquet is in progress. The guests are enjoying an appetizer of raw oysters. The entree consists of boiled dog. Similar to the calfskin wallet, this one asks, “What lives are worth saving and what lives are either not or too delicious to save?” As the story unfolds, nothing seems amiss until you get to the dog. Then, depending on your culture, that becomes a horror show instead of a delightful night out with friends or family. What makes the dog less worthy of life? Just because it’s cute and wags its tail when it meets you? Perhaps.
Voight-Kampff “Gimmes”
Describe in single words, only the good things that come into your mind about your mother. You’re reading a magazine. You come across a full-page nude photo of a girl. You show it to your husband. He likes it so much, he hangs it on your bedroom wall. You become pregnant by a man who runs off with your best friend, and you decide to get an abortion.
For someone like me who loved his mother and stayed in touch all the way up to her death, this one fits with the other two that seem like “gimmes”. I mean, your husband is an insensitive prick for putting the picture on the wall, especially if it makes you uncomfortable. And a man who gets you pregnant and runs off with your best friend? I’m ending that pregnancy before they make it to state lines. Then again, I don’t view abortion as a test of morality. I only see it as a medical procedure that, if it gets that far, is between the woman and her doctor and whoever else she consults in the decision.
The Online Versions
It took me some time to figure out how to frame this article. Part of that was searching online to find quizzes that asked the questions and gave you a response of whether you are human or replicant. I got human when I finished this Buzzfeed quiz. This one told me I was an empathetic human. I like to think of myself as someone who thinks about others and considers their thoughts and feelings when making decisions. Some people tell me I’m too nice and I’ve never understood that other than in the context that people don’t respect me. However, too often, I think that people confuse fear and respect in our society.
Conclusion
Like most tests in life, there are no “correct” answers to the Voight-Kampff. You should answer them truthfully and let the chips fall where they may. One of the enduring messages of the book and film are that things aren’t always as they seem. While the tests purports to measure human empathy, some replicants show a better understanding of the emotion while humans can be unceasingly cruel. So, perhaps, that puts another spin on my results as human. I like the other test that told me I was an empathetic human. Given the alternative, I’d rather be kind.
