Essay Writing Sample: Empathy and Humanity: Distinguishing Humans from Androids
Word Count: 1100
Both novels list the characteristics and ideas that differentiate a human being from a robot. The chores human beings can do can be done by using technologically advanced robots, too. However, empathy, the presence of emotions and social interaction are something that differentiates a human being from a robot. Both novels lay down the basic rules and experiments to prove what characteristics are necessary to prove human characteristics are present in a person. Otherwise, according to the novels, such people are robots.
Being a human means having the potential to communicate using your words, gestures or facial expressions. A human being has the ability to think and make decisions and is also conscious of the consequences of their decisions. Humans are capable of fitting in various personalities at different times. Humans have characteristics inherited from them through genes from their parents and grandparents. Humans need to interact with people and understand the emotions of others. They live in an economy and are classified on the basis of religion, race, caste, etc. Being a human means having goals, aims and wishes other than the need for food and shelter. Humans think about their future, want to achieve their goals and maintain interactions with other people around them.
According to Dick, being a human means having empathy and having a reproductive faculty which basically means having enough capability to care for others may, be a child or even an animal, sometimes until they get old enough to be left on their own fate. These are the characteristics on the basis of which Andys, the Android slaves, are differentiated from humans. Animals also have a need for food and shelter, emotions for their families, and sometimes the ability to think, so empathy is the quality that differentiates them from animals and makes them a superior species. They are supposed to take care of everything around them, which includes animals who need care and attention to live. So, empathy is what characterizes a human.
In the novel, we see that even selling an animal is thought of as immoral, and one who does not care about animals is considered to be nonhuman, and not taking care of animals is thought of as an immoral activity and is also considered a crime previously after the world war. (Dick 7) After the nuclear war, nuclear dust covered the planet, which caused the death of many animals, especially birds and forced the humans to leave this planet and move to some other planet because living here caused many mental and physical diseases which couldn't be treated and people were unable to live here. So, in those circumstances, the only thing a few people living on this planet wish for is empathy. (Dick 8, 10)
In order to check whether Racheal is a human or android, Rick makes an empathy test on her by asking various questions regarding the killing of animals to see how much empathy she holds for those creatures. She failed the test, and failing the empathy test makes Rick proclaim that she is an android, or an Andy for short, and not a genuine human being. This meant that empathy is the basic characteristic of being a human. (Dick 24)
An Andy having a pet is an unheard scenario that has never happened. Andy fails to keep the animals alive as they do not have enough empathy to offer and cannot take proper care of those animals except in a few cases. Resch had a squirrel as a pet, and he used to take proper care of it, but he was also worried about it. If he was an Andy, then his squirrel would not survive without the love and care that an Andy cannot give. These characteristics show that he was a genuine human being, and this was proved afterwards through a bone marrow test. (Dick 59) Not having an animal is a reason big enough to keep a person in depression. Buying a goat just worked as the best cure for Iran's depression, and that happiness made her spread empathy. Empathy is such a built-in tool in humans that they even get empathic towards Andys, who are no more than android slaves and can be termed robots. The empathy box tells a person that he is never alone and helps him achieve his tasks. (Dick 77,78)
Likewise, Isidore finds a spider, which astonishes him as spiders have become extinct. He runs to show it to Pris and her friends, but their behaviour is quite shocking for him, which causes him to be depressed. Pris and her friends cut off the spider's legs as they think that a spider can walk with less than eight legs as well, and he is gifted with some extra legs which can be cut off. This behaviour cannot be expected from genuine human beings, which makes Isidore realize that they are all Andy who have no empathy, and their behaviour with the spider is unbearable for Isidore. He got so depressed by the bloodshed of such an insect that he broke everything around his apartment and indulged in the guilt of showing that spider to them. Androids do such things, and Rick reaches the spot to kill them. (Dick 94)
According to Atwood, a human is the only one who is perfect and free from any error, physical or mental. Due to nuclear war, a large area was filled with nuclear dust, which continued to impact the lives of people in the U.S. As a result of this nuclear dust, many diseases arose; in which the most common were declining birth rates and a high rise in birth defects. Since that time, women and deformed babies were regarded as sub-humans and were not considered as humans. So, according to her view, being a human means being a man who is physically and mentally free of all sorts of defects, whether they are his fault or not.
Empathy means to have emotions for others. Empathy doesn't let one think about oneself or be selfish. It only rather enables man to understand others and share their sorrow. Andys, as discussed by Dick, is only an android slave, a sort of robot, which can act and work like humans, can perform all the activities as humans and even better than what a human could do, but what they lack is empathy. They are unable to understand what their feelings and emotions are. They have an extraordinary command of intelligence, but empathy is the thing found only in genuine humans and cannot be a part of robots' systems. Therefore, it would not be wrong to term empathy as an indicator of humanity.
Worked cited
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland & Stewart, 1985. Print.
Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep. 1968. Print.
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