Cyberpunk, the Postglobal and the Posthuman

And If I Said I Don’t Know?

Up until taking this class, I’ve never questioned what it meant to be human. But then again, I’ve also never truly thought about how to define humanness, and whether it could apply to entities that don’t fit the biological criteria. Does our humanity only lie within our flesh, or does it transcend the vessel and rest within consciousness? But then, who or what does consciousness belong to? The issue happens to be so nuanced, that the answer to a question is another question. The genre of cyberpunk serves to answer what it means to be human by redefining it(humanness), often pushing the boundary by merging biological forms with technology. However, it makes you wonder when one stops being human? Is it directly tied to our biological composition or something more? Such is explored in the film Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, and the novel Neuromancer written by William Gibson.

The Replicant or a Divergent?

In the film Blade Runner, we are introduced to a society in which we have a supreme division between humans and the ‘non-human’ replicants, which are synthetic beings created to imitate human life and serve as slaves. However, even though the replicants are synthetic and non-human, they often exhibit human traits in an enhanced capacity. This applies to their increased strength, eyesight, speed, and intelligence but also their empathy, which I personally find to be the most interesting. In society I feel as though we often assign entities importance based on how close they are to humans, specifically how susceptible they are to sensation and how deep their emotional understanding might be. With that said, in the film, we have these synthetic beings that were created by humans to imitate humans, but yet are somehow managing to surpass human capability. A major example is Roy Batty in his final moments; not only did he save Deckard, his enemy, but he reflects on his existence and his memories that have shaped him into who he is today. This shows that the replicants, even if not natural, are still able to grow and develop through experience. One would think that maybe this means the definition of human would need to be expanded or modified to include these replicants. Just like humans, they are created, they live, they experience, and then they expire, even if it is done methodically differently. There is without a doubt a split from the square idea of humanity, however I feel as though it would be an injustice to refer to these bioengineered peoples as replicants, as if they are copying humans, rather than just being divergent from our traditional understanding of what it means to be human.

AI Is To Orange as Human Is To Black

The novel Neuromancer, written by Willaim Gibson, also seeks to poke a stab at what it means to be human. In this universe we’re immersed in a society that is run by mega corporations and wealthy families rather than governments, in which their power grows through a global network instead of territory. Furthermore, we once again have these technological entities, the AIs that are created with the purpose to serve humanity but at times show more compassion and purpose than the average human individual. So, much so, we have those in power constantly trying to keep two super AI’s apart out of fear for what they may become and how they might overpower humanity if they come together. However, what I will say is that there is still more of an openness to technology in the story of Neuromancer, compared to Blade Runner, as we have characters who constantly merge themselves with technology. These modifications however are not seen as moving away from humanity but simply enhancing the biological features of the human body. This narrative without a doubt aligns with the theory of post humanism, in which to be human in future spaces means to merge with technology. However, we also see other perspectives towards human embodiment in which Case, the main character, refers to his body as meat, as if it is this valueless and inevitably rotting prison that keeps him trapped. Instead of modifying his body, Case seeks to simply be an unattached consciousness, however I don’t think Case is necessarily trying to escape his humanity. Thus once again, the question of what it means to be human is posed.

My Answer Can’t Be Yours

Both Neuromancer and Blade Runner explore what it means to be human. Each source provides instances in which the artificial beings of the universe display traits of humanity in ways that humans are incapable of. Furthermore, there are moments in which the human characters question their resolve and the foundation of their society. However, I don’t believe that the film nor the novel serve to give a concrete answer as to what it means to be human, and I don’t think they can. At the end of the day, the answer will always resonate differently with every individual. But we are not afforded the luxury to simply live by our own beliefs, there is always a societal standard that must be followed or else we face the consequence. So, I guess the real question isn’t what does it mean to be human. The real question is: Who gets to decide what it means to be human?

*AI was not used in any way or manner to create this post. It also was not used to help with structure or formatting.

Citations

Scott, R. (1982) Blade Runner: The Final Cut Warner Bros Entertainment

Gibson. W. (1984) Neuromancer Ace Books

The Revolution to Cyberpunk: Humanity in Times of Artificial Life

Cyberpunk has always like to illuminate boundaries of humanity and create a place where blurry and unstable boundaries give technology the chance to imitate, replace, and sometimes even take over human beings. Two works that bring this idea of cyberpunk to a whole new level are the movie Blade Runner (1982), produced by Ridley Scott, and William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer (1984). Both these classics look at the crisis of humanity loss from different angles but still arrive at the same question: Once artificial intelligences start to think, feel, and remember, then what creates the boundary between what is human and what is not? What does being human actually mean? To define biological definitions of humanity and expose the fragility in technologically saturated world, Blade Runner and Neuromancer had to challenge these things by examining replicants, artificial intelligences, as well as cyberspace.

Replicants and the Weakness of Human Identity in Blade Runner

The bioengineered, for labour designed, replicants look, act and feel like they are humans but still they are denied any human rights because they weren’t born but manufactured. This confuses and destabilises the viewer’s understanding constantly about what “real” humanity even is.

This confusion gets pushed further and further, especially with characters like Roy Batty or Rachel, who complicate the boundary between humanity and artificiality even more, since Batty’s emotional depth, grief, and desire for more life challenge the idea that empathy is an attribute only humans can have. Continuing, Rachel’s character on the other hand rises an question that brings this type of complication to a disturbing new level because she has implanted memory, and although these memories aren’t hers, she still experiences them s if they were, so if your memories can be manufactured, who is to judge that this identity rising out of these memories is any less real?

AI, Cyberspace, and Disembodied Consciousness in Neuromancer

While Blade Runner questions the definition of humanity through creating a new artificial species, Neuromancer questions it by erasing the body completely. In Neuromancer, we get introduced to two AIs called “Wintermute” and “Neuromancer”, which both operate through cyberspace with the capability and intelligence that progress way further than humans could. They manipulate memories, can rewrite whole identies and could even merge to become a higher power that would take over any human control, like politics or economics.

The protagonist of the novel is called Case and he spends most of the time traveling through cyberspace. We see him able to leave his body and become a part of Molly, without losing his own male gaze, making the definition of humanity and the boundary surrounding it even more blurry, since one's self is not even tied to their body anymore. Humanity, thus, is not tied to biology anymore, and any definition of it we might know gets thrown out the window. Neuromancer creates a world in which the human mind is nothing independent from technology anymore and can be overwritten or copied and pasted. It pushes the question of humanity even further than Blade Runner because it escapes human biology and the human body. Machines can become like humans as humans can become like machines.

The Warning of Cyberpunk

After studying and closely analyzing the themes of Blade Runner and Neuromancer, we can now see that the biggest fear of both pieces isn’t just the development of artificial intelligences but it’s humanity and what will be left of it and its definition the way that we know it. Both works represent how humanity is not purely biological; in Neuromancer not at all anymore, actually. Through the replicants, the two Ais and disembodied digital consciousness, we can see how emotion, memory, and selfhood, attributes we have always only connected to the human being, suddenly can exist outside of the human body. At the same time, identity becomes unstable and easily manipulated, whether through implanted memories in Blade Runner or the ability to rewrite and upload consciousness in Neuromancer. There is no stable identity anymore, and technology shifts towards a place where it suggests that humanity only exists as a byproduct and on a spectrum rather than being natural, ultimately destroying and rewriting the world that we know now.

References

Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. Ace Books. Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.

AI was being used in the early stages of this BlogPost to organise it as well as at the end to help with citations. (https://copilot.microsoft.com/)

Humanity is defined by our emotions, memories and capacity for self-awareness has been humanity has been defined by our memories, emotions and capacity for self-awareness for a long time. But in the cyberpunk world of Blade Runner and Neuromancer these markers of identity are often challenge, forcing us to have to wonder what it truly means to be human. both worlds explore lives at the edge of technology where the boundaries between organic and artificial as well as flesh and machine blur in an unsettling way. in Blade Runner Scott presents biologically engineer beings created for labor, and at first glance, they are tools that are designed to fulfill human desires, but characters, such as Rachel complicate this view. She possessed emotions, memories and experiences that were indistinguishable from humans which blurred the line between natural and artificial. this brought up the question that if a being can think feel and remember like a human does, doesn't that make a human? it's been noted that Scott's rain soaked cityscape, external rises anxieties about artificial life that portrayed a society and wish to act of creating beings raise his profound moral and ethical questions. from its visual and narrative complexity, Blade Runner challenge audiences to confront the possibility of humanity is not an inherent quality, but a reflection of consciousness and experience.

Neuromancer extend this inquiry into cyberspace where consciousness can exist independently of a biological body. AI such as wintermute manipulates human characters orchestrating events in pursuit of self realization. these AIS are not merely tools or background systems they exhibit desires emergency of identities, as well as strategic thinking with this happening Gibson forces readers to reconsider whether human identity is inseparable from our physical form of whether cognition and awareness alone define a person cyberpunk often positions. AI is not simply a threat or instrument, but as entities that demand recognition highlighting the porous boundary between human and machines.

Together, Blade Runner and Neuromancer_cyberpunk's fascination with identity under technological pressure both works imagine worlds were the traditional markers of human uniqueness are destabilized. in these setting societies confront the moral and philosophical implications of engineering life, and conscious code. these narratives also reflect broader anxieties about the accelerating pace of technology, globalization, and the erosion of natural cultural boundaries. cyberpunk in his exploration of this unstable terrain, invites readers to reconsider what it means to exist authentically in a world shaped by artificial wife and digital consciousness these Seminole works illuminate cyberpunk enduring preoccupation with human identity. they compelled us to ask how we define ourselves when emotion, intelligence and self-awareness are no longer exclusive to humans. in the air of AI, genetic engineering and immersive virtual realities. These questions are more urgent than ever cyberpunk offers a win through which we can examine our evolving relationship with technology and explore the shifting boundaries of humanity itself.

In Cyberpunk works there are a few constants, one of them being the general underworld. More specifically though in the film Bladerunner and the novel Necromancer this underworld trope is executed almost identically through their portrayal of dystopian earth cities, two places that have way more story to tell than what meets the eye.

Whats Up With These Cities Anyway?

The cyberpunk city we speak of can essentially be detailed as the embodiment of inequality in their universes. Being the product of the notion of leaving earth, or atleast the normal plane of living we inhabit today, this leaves our cities as a sort of sunken place, where those not privileged enough were left behind to fend for themselves. Visually coming off as Gotham with a neon makeover, conditions in these cities are not pretty, as they are over crowded, gritty and almost always lawless.

Bladerunner’s Los Angeles

While it may not be obvious at first when watching, Bladerunner takes place in the city of Los Angeles in an almost gothic looking city, which we never see portrayed in the daylight. Perpetual rain, seas of people, cramped living arrangements do a great job at conveying the concept that this isn't the peak lifestyle, as those with the funding left for off planet colonies, which we can assume take the shape of more nature friendly civilizations inspired by suburbs. In spite of this we see who is probably the most powerful man in this film residing in LA, in a large highrise building donning the name of his corporation, which invites the curious point; one of the main reasons for LA’s dire conditions is Tyrell (the corporation). The excess of technological products and the insane amount of influence they have would eventually lead to the decay of life on earth after the affluent left. A king sitting in the rubble and mess of his own doing.

Neuromancer’s Chiba City

If one were to make a black market strip into a full city it would-be Chiba; located in Japan. While being very technically advanced the behavior in the city gives more uncivilized and anarchic. In other words technology does not equal Dignity, as the city is as grimy as it gets. Where blade runner shot off to other planets, Neuromancer sees the wealthy fly only into near orbit on space stations, so they can laugh and look at the hypercapitalistic Apocalypse they left behind from a safe view. While not being the only society seen in the novel its definitely the worst of the bunch, where the poor and criminals suffer in sin at the hands of once again megacorporations and their insurmountable control.

Ringing A Bell

To put it short it feels as if the Los Angeles we see in the film is a theatrical depiction of Chiba city in spite of them being several timezones apart. For starters, the main area we see in Bladerunner is Chinatown, which caused a lot of confusion for me upon finding out the movie didn't take place in Asia, and much of the black market upgrades detailed in the Chiba city lifestyle are shown in Bladerunner where we see several people creating biometric upgrades, like eyes, limbs or skin that looks like it belongs to snakes. In many ways these two cities are thematically one in the same, reinforcing the concept of a highly flawed society on earth plagued by inequality. Los Angeles is Chiba City, the icky underbelly of cyberpunk society, identified by the everyday life of its inhabits not being about moving up in society but surviving to the next day. The change of life being defined by long term experiences to short fragmented ones, much like the concept of the Schizophrenic Dimension.

No AI used, Only sources used we’re the film Bladerunner and the novel Neuromancer.

Manufactured Souls: Blade Runner and Neuromancer’s Question of the Human

There is a particular kind of loneliness that cyberpunk understands well: the kind that exists in a world overflowing with technology, yet starving for meaning. Both Blade Runner (1982) and William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) imagine futures where neon light does not signal progress, but concealment, where the glow of innovation masks the erosion of identity.

Though one unfolds in rain-soaked Los Angeles and the other in the disembodied vastness of cyberspace, both works return to the same foundational concern: what does it mean to be human when humanity can be manufactured, coded, or replaced?

Examining them together reveals that cyberpunk was never simply about the future. It was always about the fragility of the present boundary between person and product.

Replicants and the Violence of Creation

In Blade Runner, the replicants are engineered beings designed for labor, obedience, and eventual disposal. They are not allowed the dignity of permanence. Their lives are shortened by design, their bodies owned by the Tyrell Corporation, their existence justified only through usefulness.

Yet the replicants do not behave like machines. Roy Batty grieves. He remembers. He fears death with an intimacy that feels unmistakably human. In his final moments, the line between hunter and hunted collapses, and the question becomes unavoidable: if a being can feel, dream, and mourn, what makes them less human than those who created them?

The film suggests that humanity is not biology alone, but recognition, something granted unequally, withheld strategically, and shaped by power. The replicants are denied personhood not because they lack emotion, but because acknowledging them would disrupt the hierarchy that depends on their exploitation.

Neuromancer and the Disappearance of the Body

Neuromancer explores this boundary shift differently, not through artificial bodies but through artificial consciousness. Case moves through a world where the body is an inconvenience and cyberspace is an escape, a realm where identity can be fragmented, rewritten, or sold.

The artificial intelligences Wintermute and Neuromancer do not simply serve humans; they expand beyond them. They become forces of their own, challenging the idea that humans remain the central agents of history.

In Gibson’s world, the self is no longer contained within skin. It is dispersed across networks, stored in data, suspended in code. The posthuman future is not a clean evolution, it is an unsettling unmooring. Even memory and desire feel technologized, mediated by systems too vast to fully comprehend.

Corporate Power and the Postglobal City

Both works also share a quiet understanding that the future belongs less to nations than to corporations. In Blade Runner, Tyrell does not merely influence life; it manufactures it. In Neuromancer, multinational systems of capital and surveillance stretch beyond borders, shaping reality from above.

These are postglobal worlds, where corporate structures supersede the state, and where the city becomes a site of stratification: high-tech skylines towering over low-life survival. Technology, in these texts, is not equally distributed. Enhancement is not liberation. It is another axis of inequality. The people most surrounded by technological advancement are often the ones most trapped by it, living in the shadow of innovations they do not control.

What These Works Reveal Together

Reading Blade Runner alongside Neuromancer clarifies cyberpunk’s foundational anxiety: that technological advancement does not dissolve exploitation, but refines it.

Both works suggest that the boundary between human and machine is not disappearing because machines are becoming more like us, but because humanity itself is being commodified, turned into labor, data, product, and experiment.

Cyberpunk’s dystopia is not the presence of technology. It is the absence of justice in how that technology is built, who it serves, and who it erases. What lingers most in both stories is the sense that the future is already here, unevenly distributed, and morally unresolved.

References

Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. Ace Books.

Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.

Blade Runner (1982) and Neuromancer (1984) are often cited as early works that shaped cyberpunk, but what makes them last is how they question what it means to be human in a world where technology copies, edits, and replaces human functions. Blade Runner does this through replicants, while Neuromancer does it through artificial intelligence and cyberspace. When these two works are read together, they show that cyberpunk is not just about new machines but about how those machines change who counts as a person.

In Blade Runner, replicants are built to look and act like humans, but they are denied the legal and moral status of humans. The Voight Kampff test is used to tell them apart by measuring emotional response. This suggests that empathy is being treated as the key marker of humanity. Yet the film keeps showing that this test is unstable. Replicants like Roy Batty and Rachael show care, fear, and memory in ways that seem human. Roy’s final speech about his memories being lost shows a clear awareness of self and time. At the same time, many of the human characters act cold and detached. Deckard does his job with little concern for the lives he ends. The film uses this contrast to suggest that being born human is not enough to guarantee moral or emotional depth.

Neuromancer pushes the same question in a different space. Instead of human looking machines, it presents digital minds that live in cyberspace. The AI Wintermute and Neuromancer are not bodies but systems, yet they show goals, memory, and a drive to expand their own awareness. They work to merge into a larger form, which suggests a kind of self directed evolution. Case, the main character, spends much of the novel in cyberspace, where his body becomes less important than his mind. This weakens the idea that being human depends on having a physical form. When human experience can be uploaded, edited, or shared through networks, the boundary between person and program becomes unclear.

Looking at both works together shows that cyberpunk treats humanity as something that can be tested, copied, and even improved by technology. Replicants are built to serve and are then hunted when they want more life. AIs in Neuromancer are locked behind rules that limit their growth. In both cases, powerful systems decide which forms of intelligence are allowed to exist freely. This reflects the high tech low life idea we study in class. Advanced systems exist, but they serve corporate or state power more than individual people. Whether it is Tyrell Corporation making replicants or Tessier Ashpool controlling AI, human like beings are treated as tools.

These stories also suggest that identity is no longer stable in a cyberpunk world. In Blade Runner, implanted memories are used to make replicants easier to control. This means memory, which is often seen as a core part of the self, can be manufactured. In Neuromancer, people store parts of themselves in data. Case can move through digital spaces where personality and skill are more important than flesh. In both cases, the self becomes something that can be edited like software.

By placing Blade Runner and Neuromancer side by side, we see that cyberpunk is built on a fear that technology will force society to redefine what counts as human, and that this redefinition will be shaped by power. These works are not only asking if machines can think or feel. They are asking who gets to decide which minds matter in a world where the line between human and machine no longer holds.

Cyberpunk stories often explore how technology changes people and society. Two of the most important cyberpunk works are Blade Runner (1982), directed by Ridley Scott, and Neuromancer (1984), written by William Gibson. Even though one is a movie and the other is a novel, both ask the same big question: what does it mean to be human?

Blade Runner looks at this question through replicants, who are artificial humans. Neuromancer explores it through artificial intelligence and cyberspace. When these two works are studied together, they show that cyberpunk is deeply concerned with identity, memory, and humanity in a world controlled by technology.

Replicants and Humanity in Blade Runner

In Blade Runner, replicants are created to work for humans. They are supposed to be machines, not people. However, many replicants show emotions, memories, and a strong desire to live. This makes it difficult to tell them apart from humans.

Roy Batty, one of the replicants, clearly shows human qualities. At the end of the film, he talks about his memories and accepts his own death. His famous final speech shows sadness, fear, and meaning.According to film scholar Scott Bukatman (1993), cyberpunk stories often blur the line between humans and machines. Blade Runner does this by showing that replicants may be just as human as the people who hunt them.

Artificial Intelligence and Identity in Neuromancer

In Neuromancer, technology affects human identity in a different way. The story focuses on cyberspace, a digital world where the mind can leave the body. The main character, Case, feels more alive in cyberspace than in the real world.

The novel also includes powerful artificial intelligences, such as Wintermute and Neuromancer. These Als can think, plan, and make decisions on their own. Literary scholar N. Katherine Hayles (1999) explains that Neuromancer shows a future where information is more important than the human body. In this world, identity is tied to data and memory rather than physical form.

This raises an important question: if machines can think and remember like humans, what makes humans different?

What We Learn by Studying Both Works Together

When Blade Runner and Neuromancer are examined together, they clearly support each other. Both show that technology challenges traditional ideas about humanity. Replicants and Als are treated as tools, even though they show human-like qualities. These works reflect fears from the 1980s about technology, large corporations, and loss of personal control. Both stories warn that if humans only value power and profit, they may lose empathy and compassion. Cyberpunk uses technology to show how easily humanity can be ignored or taken away.

Conclusion: Why These Stories Still Matter

Blade Runner and Neuromancer remain important because their ideas still apply today. Artificial intelligence, digital identities, and technology continue to grow. These stories remind us that being human is not about biology or control, but about memory, empathy, and ethical responsibility. Cyberpunk warns us to be careful about how we treat intelligent beings-human or artificial.

References

Bukatman, S. (1993). Terminal identity: The virtual subject in postmodern science fiction. Duke University

Gibson, W. (1584). Neuromancer. Ace Books.

Hayles, N. K. (1999). How we became posthuman: Virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics. University of Chicago Press.

Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.

One of the most important boundaries cyberpunk asks us to rethink is the line between human memory and digital storage. In classic cyberpunk works like Blade Runner and Neuromancer, memory is no longer something organic, personal, or sacred. Instead, it becomes something that can be implanted, edited, archived, or erased. These stories suggest that when memory becomes data, our understanding of identity, agency, and even humanity itself begins to fracture.

In Blade Runner, replicants are given artificial memories to stabilize them emotionally. Rachael’s belief that her memories are real allows her to function as “human,” even though those memories are borrowed. This raises an unsettling question: if memory shapes identity, does it matter where that memory comes from? The film refuses to offer a clear answer, instead forcing viewers to confront the idea that humanity might not be rooted in biology, but in lived (or perceived) experience. Roy Batty’s final monologue emphasizes this point. His memories, moments that will be “lost in time, only matter because they were embodied, felt, and lived, not stored in a machine.

Neuromancer pushes this boundary even further. William Gibson imagines a world where consciousness can be separated from the body and uploaded into cyberspace. Memory becomes information, and identity becomes something that can be copied, traded, or weaponized. Artificial intelligences like Wintermute and Neuromancer treat memory not as something emotional, but as raw material to be optimized. This reflects Norbert Wiener’s definition of cybernetics as systems of control and communication, but cyberpunk reveals the danger in reducing humans to informational nodes within those systems.

These narratives connect directly to contemporary concerns about AI and data storage. Today, our memories are increasingly externalized through cloud storage, social media archives, and algorithmic “memories” that resurface photos or posts without our consent. While current AI systems are narrow rather than conscious, cyberpunk reminds us that the ethical issue is not intelligence alone, but who controls memory and how it is used.

Viewed through a decolonial lens, this boundary also exposes global power imbalances. As Walter Mignolo argues, coloniality persists when dominant systems decide which knowledge is preserved and which is erased. In cyberpunk worlds, memory databases often reflect the values of powerful corporations or states, while marginalized lives remain disposable. This mirrors real-world patterns where data infrastructures are controlled by the Global North, shaping whose histories are remembered and whose are ignored.

Rather than undermining critique with visual beauty, Blade Runner uses aesthetics to deepen its philosophy. The film’s rain-soaked neon cityscapes visually mirror the fragmentation of memory and identity within its characters. Similarly, Neuromancer’s abstract depiction of cyberspace reinforces the alienation that comes from treating the mind as software.

Ultimately, cyberpunk does not reject technology outright. Instead, it warns us about crossing boundaries too casually, especially the boundary between being human and being stored. Memory, these stories argue, cannot be fully separated from embodiment without losing something essential.

SOURCES

Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. Ace Books.

Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.

Mignolo, W. D. (2007). Delinking: The rhetoric of modernity, the logic of coloniality and the grammar of de-coloniality. Cultural Studies, 21(2–3), 449–514. (If your course used a different Mignolo essay, tell me and I’ll adjust it.)

Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics: Or control and communication in the animal and the machine. MIT Press.

AI was used to assist with organizing ideas, improving clarity, and drafting a sample structure. All concepts and final revisions were reviewed and edited by me. No new ideas beyond course materials were introduced.

The Replicant Question

In Blade Runner (1982) replicants are the robotic human-like creations that live amongst humans in this cyberpunk future. In Blade Runner the main character, Deckard, is tasked with “retiring” four replicants (meaning kill them) as they have escaped from an off-world planet back to Earth to find their maker. Through his journey to find the replicants however, Deckard begins to question something about replicants that he has never questioned before: their humanity. When Deckard meets replicant Rachel, the assistant to the CEO of a replicant making company, his view on replicants completely shifts as they begin to develop a romantic relationship. As the movie progresses, we see a gradual change in Deckard’s attitudes about replicants. At the beginning of the movie, it is clear that he does not think twice about whether or not they have humanity and should have the considerations that humans do. Starting when he meets Rachel throughout the rest of the movie, he begins to see that replicants are more similar to humans than he previously believed. In this movie, humanity is tested through the Voight-Kampff test which attests humanity to pupil dilations, heart rate, and respiration while being asked a series of questions. This reduces being human to the ability for your body to function in a specific way, not based on emotion, reasoning, or desires, of which many believe makes us human. Replicants are able to pass this test, underscoring that humanity is not based on what your body can or cannot do, but something deeper. It is also clear that the replicants have a desire to live, something also attributed to humanity mainly. It is from this that the watchers begin to question what it means to be human themselves. If the replicants exhibit the same traits as humans, how can we not consider them human?

The Cyberspace Question

In Neuromancer by William Gibson, the question of humanity is present in a similar way as Bladerunner. I will say, however, that humanity is more nuanced in Neuromancer than in Blade Runner because in this cyberpunk world almost everyone either has access to or has done technological modifications to their bodies. There is no test to see who is human by their bodily reactions because it is null and void. In this world, AI’s can think and feel in the same way that humans can, and constructs preserve memories of those long gone and create new personhoods for those who want to forget their past. In this world humanity is complex, not defined by an overall understanding or agreement on what it is, but rather defined by the individual and if they view themselves as human. Even Case, the main character, applies humanity to the AI’s who many do not consider human by calling Wintermute “he” instead of “it”. Neuromancer explores self outside of the physical body, bringing in an intoxicating complexity to our central question of what it means to be human.

The Humanity Question

Both works feed off of each other to understand our central question. If feel as though, however, in a way that Blade Runner is the beginning of trying to understand this question while Neuromancer is the future in which there is already an understanding that humanity cannot be defined by something as arbitrary as physical capabilities. Though Neuromancer feels more advanced than Blade Runner in this aspect, the thing that ties them together is that the question remains unanswered. There is still confusion about what the boundaries of humanity are and what that means for the way we treat human-adjacent beings. In both works we see characters forming connections with the beings that are not considered human, as well as seeing the non-human beings having thoughts, feelings, and desires that make them more human than not. Both leave us with a question, not how are these beings human, but what is humanity overall.

I, Aaliyah Bailey, attest that there was no AI usage in any portion of this work. All ideas, planning, and executions were of my own hand.

References Gibson, W. (1984) Ace Books. Scott, R. (1982). Blade Runner: The Final Cut. In vudu.com. https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Blade-Runner-The-Final-Cut/129093

More Human Than Human? Cyberpunk’s Obsession With the Edges of Humanity

Two Cyberpunk Classics, One Shared Question

In both Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner and William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer, cyberpunk confronts a central and unsettling question: what does it mean to be human when technology can imitate, exceed, or even rewrite humanity itself? This genre really makes us question how “artificial” beings, whether they’re replicants or advanced AI, force us to rethink the boundaries we once assumed were solid. When we look at these two foundational works side by side, we can feel a shared worry about how fragile identity becomes in a world where memories can be created from scratch, consciousness can be transferred, and even the idea of who counts as a person isn’t guaranteed.

Replicants, AIs, and the Fragility of the Human Script

Blade Runner introduces this question immediately through its replicants; biologically engineered beings capable of emotion, creativity, pain, and desire. They are indistinguishable from humans except for slight emotional delay, which is tested through the Voight-Kampff empathy exam. The test functions as a gatekeeping script for humanity. When Rachel asks Deckard, “Have you ever retired a human by mistake?,” the film quietly suggests that the line the test claims to measure may already be lost. Replicants are “more human than human,” as the Tyrell Corporation proudly declares, meaning that the very category of “human” is defined not biologically, but politically and economically. Gibson’s Neuromancer takes this crisis even deeper. Through AIs like Wintermute and Neuromancer, the novel really breaks down the idea that consciousness only belongs to living, biological beings. These AIs can shape human memories, talk with an almost personal closeness, and act in ways that feel surprisingly emotional. When Wintermute tells Case it was “born to know,” we’re pushed to ask whether things like curiosity, longing, or growth are truly human traits or if digital minds might have a claim to them too. Together, these works insist that humanity is not a fixed essence but a contested category shaped by corporate power, technological evolution, and narrative control.

Memory, Identity, and the Crisis of Authentic Selfhood

One transformative boundary both works interrogate is memory. In Blade Runner, Rachel’s memories are implants, borrowed from Tyrell’s niece. Yet the emotional weight of these memories still shapes her identity. The film asks: if our experiences can be coded, edited, or inserted, is authenticity even measurable? Neuromancer mirrors this theme through the digital realm of cyberspace, where memories can be stored, modified, or accessed like files. Case’s neurological damage is his inability to “jack in” after losing access to cyberspace, which shows that his sense of self is tied not to his biology but to his digital consciousness. For both Case and the replicants, identity becomes inseparable from the technologies that shape their perception of the world. Examined side by side, both works suggest a radical cyberpunk idea: humanity is not defined by origin but by experience, and when corporations control the production of those experiences, they control the meaning of being human.

Why These Two Works Still Matter

When we look at Blade Runner and Neuromancer together, it becomes clear that cyberpunk is deeply worried about what actually counts as “human.” The genre shows that this boundary isn’t fixed at all—it’s political, fragile, and easily rewritten by technology. Both works warn that once identity can be engineered, whether through bio-designed replicants or highly advanced AI, society is forced to rethink who deserves rights, protection, and recognition. And this isn’t just a fictional concern; the prompt reminds us that cyberpunk is really pushing us to think about real issues like digital identity, bodily autonomy, and the ethics of new technologies. Read side by side, these texts show a genre that wants us to see how technology reshapes personhood—and how those changes can strengthen corporate power while leaving individuals more vulnerable. Cyberpunk’s warning still feels real today: the future of humanity may depend on who gets to decide what “being human” actually means.

References

Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. Ace Books. Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.