There seems to be a lot of confusion concerning this question.
The following text (provided by Netrunner) should provide a better
understanding of the situation.
Firstly we have to make a distinction:
a.
Reps have programmed emotional responses that are built in to make
them seem like Humans. These are not real emotions and the Reps
don't *feel* them - they are simulations of the responses that Humans
give. These are what allow Reps to interact with Humans and help
them to appear Human.
b.
Some Nexus 6 Reps have started developing their *own* emotional
responses. And these *are* real emotions. It is the first stage
to the eventual possibility of them developing empathy (as we see
in Roy at the end).
The
V-K test measures a number of physical responses to the questions.
These add up to a measurement of empathic response. The Reps respond
with answers and programmed physical responses. Humans respond naturally.
I am sure there are aspects of the test that I "don't know"
but certainly one aspect is, for example, not just measuring things
like how much of a blush response there is, but the speed at which
it happens. Reps and Humans have the same basic responses, but at
different levels and speeds. (Note that the V-K machine predates
Nexus 6 Reps and was designed to identify Reps that had no true
emotional responses of their own, hence the question of whether
it will still work in identifying Nexus 6 Reps.)
There
may also be some questions that allow Reps to make mistakes. For
example (from DADoES), "Your husband hangs a picture on the
wall of a naked girl lying on a bearskin rug - how do you respond?"
Well, if you're a human in this post-apocalyptic world, you respond
to the fact the rug is bearskin and ignore the naked girl part.
If you're a Replicant, you might miss that point.
Can replicants reproduce?
We are never told whether or not they can, but it makes sense to
assume that they cannot. It would just create too many problems
and bad publicity for the replicant "manufacturers" if
they could:
- People could breed their own replicants, so Tyrell would make
less money.
- The replicants are viewed as commodities, not as human beings.
But what if they start having children? Could they still be regarded
as less-than-human commodities instead of real people?
- How would the public react to babies of parents that die after
4 years, and are thus unable to take care of their offspring? Would
the newborn itself live longer than 4 years anyway?
Can replicants become intoxicated?
There
is no evidence that they do, though this is not proof they can't.
Unless they specifically have a way to quickly metabolise alcohol,
then being biological, alcohol must eventually affect them. They
obviously do drink alcohol as a bottle can be seen in the reps'
apartment in Leon's photo. This is ignoring the possibility of Deckard
being a replicant, but again, although there is plenty of evidence
that he drinks a lot of alcohol, it is arguable whether he actually
gets drunk or not.
|