Ethical Conundrums In Blade Runner 2049 (I Loved It)

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Ethical Conundrums in media Blade Runner 2049 (I loved it) This movie discusses an ethical conundrum regarding the rights of artificial intelligence. Now, artificial intelligence is beginning to become an overused movie trope where AIs become more intelligent than humans. The entire series of Blade Runner revolves around this idea and this newest installment is no different. The movie poses the question on what makes something human. Does the fact that a replicant has emotions and memories make it human? There are a number of ethical schools of thought that we discussed in class that may apply to this dilemma. To start off, cultural relativism can be applied to this discussion. In a way, the replicants have their own culture. It may …show more content…

The humans within Blade Runner’s world attempt to avoid many moral dilemmas that may come up by practicing Utilitarianism. It’s difficult to say whether an artificial intelligence can be held accountable for murder or theft. As with many laws that are created for humans, not many of them can be reapplied easily to replicants. Thus, the movie avoids these problems entirely. By the humans considering the replicants as non-human they can apply an action that has the best outcome for every human involved. This includes sending out bounty hunters (or Blade Runners) to kill the replicants before they commit any crimes that cannot be held lawfully accountable …show more content…

The story follows Ben and Alex who fight for survival after their pilot suffers a stroke and their plain goes down amid a mountainous area. Immediately due to this scenario involving two strangers, two schools of thought stand out as being part of this movie’s ethical discussion. These two schools of thought are Kant’s Theory and Ethical Egoism. Kant’s Theory becomes apparent because he believed there must be respect for other people. As long at the person is rational, they must be treated as an end, never as a means only. In the case of Alex and Ben, Alex is injured. Ben is faced with the choice of exerting his own energy to aid Alex and keep her alive, or to leave her to die. Kant believed that we must strive to promote other’s welfare. Alex’s rights as a human being must be respected and if harm could be prevented, it should be prevented. Ben must keep helping Alex so long as it furthers the ends of

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