TECHNOLOGY AND THE UNCANNY VALLEY
The next example we saw of human clones providing suspenseful skepticism for the viewer is in Blade Runner. An opening crawl following the main titles informs the viewer that advances in genetic technology have allowed scientists to create sophisticated biologically-engineered humanoid beings called "replicants". Following a violent revolt that takes place "off world," replicants are declared illegal on Earth. This revolt leads to a number of escapees fleeing to earth. The movie focuses on a specific group of “replicants” who happen to be the most sophisticated escapees yet, the Nexus-6 “replicants”. These “replicants” are anatomically identical to humans but are engineered without the ability to have their own emotions. Because they look like humans the escaped replicants seem very uncanny because they seem so familiar yet are deadly murderers without any emotion.
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