Tyrell Corporations: “More Human than Human”
In The Blade Runner The Tyrell Corporation is at the forefront of multiple issues. Tyrell Corporations is a Los Angeles based conglomerate that focuses on the biotech sector of technology. They spend the majority of their time working on an enhanced form of humans named replicants. However, these werenât human and instead were androids designed to look indistinguishable from humans and from organic substances. The company’s slogan, âMore human than humanâ derived from this. The replicants looked human but were far more capable of things than regular humans. The only difference, in the companyâs eyes, was their lack of empathy and human emotions.
Nevertheless, as profit rose, so did ethical concerns. The company disregarded the safety of citizens and genetic enhancement and continued to create more advanced versions. Despite advancing their emotions and lifespans, as well as their slogan, the corporation did not regard these replicants anything close to humans. These replicants were regarded as obedient and subservient in order to complete both on and off land labor without any workplace ethical sanctions placed (as they were technically not human). This downregulation of slavery on enhanced âhumansâ is therefore a largely ethical concern, and one that the real world may be heading towards soon.
America, Corporations, and the Uncomfortable Quest for Dominance
The world seems to be trending towards the one in The Blade Runner and there are some similarities between Tyrell Corporationâs practices and the ones in American companies. The mistreatment of replicants mirrors amazon and its mistreatment of workers. Amazon has made the news constantly for ethical concerns and its growing monopoly over online shopping. Online, Google and OpenAI are companies that have embraced the use of AI with open arms, disregarding the environmental concerns that come with it. Their relentless need to grow and expand the sector of AI is pushing the creation of their own AI with âhuman-like capabilitiesâ
Tyrell Corporations focused heavily on biotech, and similar sentiments can be seen in companies today, who may also be based in America. In the 2000s began a sharp rise in genetic boxes like 23&Me which marketed itself as a hub to finding out all about your ancestry. However, concerns have been rising regarding where or not companies like these store your genes or get rid of them. There is an inherent lack of privacy when you ship off these boxes and what could happen after. Gene modification or editing could lead to exploitation of these results. When things like this become normalized, it opens the gates to further muddy the reality of what is bioethical and what is not.
Globally, there seems to be a selfish need to innovate no matter what suffers in the process, and, regarding the path it is taking, a world in which a company like Tyrell can thrive seems to be very likely
Published by