aliceinHerLand

Empathy, being Alive and Real Sheep

“To some extent, empathy not only distinguishes androids from humans, it also differentiates the non-living from the living. It is a fact that humans react to non-living things differently to living ones. The death of a living goat that Rick saw only twice upset him, while an electric sheep would never. Rick wanted a real ostrich which costs ‘thirty thousand dollars’ while refusing the electric option costing ‘less than eight hundred dollars’. Having no empathy, the androids were considered not alive.”

“The balance of justice seems to bias humans. To broaden the problem, it may be asked: ‘If not having sympathy makes androids become androids, then does losing it also make humans become androids?’ At first, the answer to this question is quite simple. If people do not call an unable to swim turtle a tortoise, they do not call a careless person a robot. Though humans sometimes do not accept an android-like individual in their community. Death row prisoners are good examples. Those prisoners are thought to not have such precious empathy. Most humans do not feel the sense of guilt or pity when they die, and does that make them ‘not alive’ like non-living androids? 

If there is an exception for such humans who do not have sympathy, there may also be an exception for such androids that are known to be kind and to care for other androids.”