Blade Runner - Auto Encoded

One of the overarching themes of the story is that the task of determining what is and isn’t human is becoming increasingly difficult, with the ever-increasing technological developments. The new ‘Nexus-6’ androids developed by the Tyrell corporation start to develop their own emotional responses over time, and the new prototype Rachel has had memory implants leading to her thinking that she is human. The method of determining what is human and what is not, is most certainly borrowed from the methodological skepticism of the great French philosopher René Descartes. Even the name Deckard is strikingly similar to Descartes. Deckard goes through the film trying to determine who and who isn’t human, with the unspoken assertion that Deckard himself is having doubts whether he is human.