Blade Runner analysis 2: Voight Kompff test

We are then introduced to two characters and we are not told ahead of time who is who or what they are doing but we are introduced to what they are using the Voight -kampff test this is the Blade Runners equivalent of the Turing test, a device used by Blade Runners to distinguish whether they are a replicant or not based on their responses to empathetic questions. In other words replicants are thought to not be able to put themselves into someone else’s perspective.

I had to go to wikipedia to get the new definition:

The Turing test, originally called the imitation game by Alan Turing in 1950, is a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Turing proposed that a human evaluator would judge natural language conversations between a human and a machine designed to generate human-like responses. The evaluator would be aware that one of the two partners in conversation was a machine, and all participants would be separated from one another. The conversation would be limited to a text-only channel, such as a computer keyboard and screen, so the result would not depend on the machine’s ability to render words as speech. If the evaluator could not reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine would be said to have passed the test. The test results would not depend on the machine’s ability to give correct answers to questions, only on how closely its answers resembled those a human would give.

The Design of the Voight-Kampff

From the Blade Runner press kit

“ A very advanced form of lie detector that measures contractions of the iris muscle and the presence of invisible airborne particles emitted from the body. The bellows were designed for the latter function and give the machine the menacing air of a sinister insect. The VK is used primarily by Blade Runners to determine if a suspect is truly human by measuring the degree of his empathic response through carefully worded questions and statements.”

The Voight- Kampff device’s bellows “breathe” in and process the odors of its subject. It’s interesting to note that the language used in the press kit is that it looks like an insect that can smell fear which is how the designer syd mead referred to it as. What’s interesting is when we look at it that way we can see a clear head design in the triangle creating a kind of Antenna head like a praying mantis. The accordion style bellows look almost like insect wings.

I came across this article comparing Alien’s design and the Voight Kampff that is worth looking at.

He begins to go through the test and at first we have no idea who either of these characters are or what they want with one another but we can notice somethings right away. For one Leon is treated guilty until proven innocent. It seems like replicants have made people suspicious of others, cautious of others just by their mere existence.

Leon is treated as a faceless citizen, a number he is marking off, and his attitude is immediately condescending and accusatory. The room itself is the epitome of the contrast of colors I mentioned previously. ITs completely illuminated in a blue haze, the room itself is a miniature version of the city’s atmosphere.

We find that the android gives himself away failing the test a moment later. But we could also say that the tester himself is also showing us this theme. When we are first introduced to Leon we have no idea whether he is a replicant or not, but we are given the impression that the process of finding out who is a replicant and who isn’t is a very mechanical corporate process.

It’s almost like a job interview for whether you are considered worthy of empathy from the human or are you just another piece of artificial life that can be used and discarded and requires no empathy whatsoever? And what is the difference? What is it that makes a human being a human being.

This we could say is the main theme behind Philip K Dicks work and the main idea behind Blade Runner: What makes a human being.

Originally published at https://wesleyedwardsart.substack.com on March 14, 2023.