Blade Runner and the Problem of Other Minds

The problem of other minds has haunted philosophers for centuries and Blade Runner elucidates the plague of this problem that is, how we can prove or disprove whether a person other than ourselves is a thinking thing, namely a human, or a machine, i.e. a Replicant. A machine is introduced as being capable of measuring responses to questions in such a way that points out a Replicant. The ambiguity of the line between human and machine raises the issue of what exactly makes us human. Such examples of humanity might be self-awareness, rationality, emotional habits, and consciousness. In the movie, however, the Replicants seem to display all of these examples; they are aware of themselves and of their expiration and thus search for someone to reprogram their lifespan. What is more human than recognition of the inevitability of death and fear of mortality? Leon also shows emotional responses to the other Replicants from his generation that have been retired. It could be said that this film accepts that Replicants are thinking things under the requirements of the Turing Test, which states that if a computer can mimic a human such that a ‘judge’ cannot tell the difference between a human and a computer than the computer can be considered as thinking. It would seem that the Replicants in the movie might possibly pass this test.