- Books et al. Neurobiology
Replicant's end. Publicity still from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982).
CREDIT: LADD COMPANY/WARNER BROS./THE KOBAL COLLECTION
Science-fiction novels and films have long popularized the notion that
machines will, sooner or later, match and ultimately
exceed human-level intelligence. On the way they
will acquire feelings and consciousness. In the most famous such movie, Blade Runner, a replicant exclaims in the face of its imminent demise,
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on
fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams
glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be
lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."
—revealing in its eloquence and poignancy its (simulated) humanity.
Science
15 February 2013:
Vol. 339
no. 6121
pp.
759-76
