In the movie "Blade Runner", human beings have created genetically engineered beings to assist in labor. These beings are called "replicants". They are created to be extremely intelligent and they are programmed to die after four years. In the movie, the situation goes out of control, and the replicants start killing humans. So the humans form a police force just for killing these replicants. These police officers are called Blade Runners. We must wonder, is it okay to "retire" (or kill) these beings? In the movie, one of the replicants, Priss, quotes Descartes" famous line "I think, therefore I am." This brings about a great deal of questions, such as "Is this a true statement? Are the replicants people? Do the replicants think?" .
In Descartes" Second Writing, he states that the only thing he can be sure of is his existence. He knows he exists because he thinks. He is a thinking thing. I agree with Descartes" belief that we are indeed people because we have thought. Many people feel that this means the replicants must be people, since they appeared to have thought in this movie. I don't believe this is true. There is a great difference between having intelligence and having thought. For instance, my computer has intelligence. If I ask it what 659479 x 1979998 is, it can answer me in mere milliseconds. But it doesn't have its own thought. It was programmed by someone to do what it does. It only acts on what it has been told to do. .
In Blade Runner, the replicants are programmed with intelligence. They can use this to answer questions and perform tasks. But they cannot create their own thoughts. The unicorns in Blade Runner prove this theory. Deckard thinks about a unicorn in the movie, and then he finds one outside his door. This shows that the humans know what he is thinking, which actually makes sense, because they put those images into his mind. They programmed him to think certain things.
