📚心得【銀翼殺手】 ｜Review 《Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 》 by Philip K. Dick, 1968

#老經典 #生化人 #生命探討 #戰後末日 #底層人的掙扎 #有繁中翻譯 #有電影

雖然自己一向沒有很喜歡PKD這類作者"偽科學"的風格，但在Hyread電子書平台上找著各個圖書館能現借的中文科幻小說時翻到，想想這麼有名的老經典自己沒看過實在說不過去，雖然只能借7天但又不花錢，就趕緊看完了。

看完當下的感想是：小說過譽了，用半吊子的方式探討一個議題，也沒立下什麼結論，故事方面甚至突然之間懸崖式收尾，個人認為是罕見的「電影優於小說」的例子，還有那Ryan Gosling經典的meme "You look lonely. I can fix that."場景。

故事背景：地球在經歷另一次大戰之後，受到放射塵嚴重汙染，眾多動植物滅絕，養真正動物成為蓋高尚的興趣；許多人都移民外星了，大型企業不斷宣傳，留在地球就等著死亡與退化。伴隨著太空移民的是仿生人（生化合成人）技術的精進，地球人帶著如同奴隸般、有血有肉的仿生人開拓太空殖民地，讓它們擔任各種危險和底層的工作。部分愈來愈新型的仿生人不想當奴隸，偶爾會殺了奴隸主，脫逃回龍蛇混雜、方便躲避的地球。為了追捕它們，因此出現了「仿生人賞金殺手」這樣的職業。

無論仿生人做得多麼的真，殺死它們是「除役」，不是真正的「殺戮」。而為了避免誤「除役」真人，這些賞金殺手使用一種稱為「孚卡系統」的裝置來測試，簡單地來說就是測試受測者的「共感能力」(同情其他生命的能力)，因為人具有共感能力，而生化人沒有－理應是這樣的。

⚠以下有雷，請斟酌。⚠

故事的核心思想，在於探討所謂「人類」的人性與同情心到底為何？沒有部份人性的人類，與有部分人性的仿生人，之間的區別、界線在哪？他們是否該被當作同一類生物對待？沒有部份人性的人是人類嗎？還是這些人只是反射機器？

故事中生態浩劫後，家家戶戶有的電動動物和仿生人之間的相似，著實令人深思。電動動物可說是劣等版的仿生人，一種相當低階的機器人；反過來看，仿生人也可說是進階版的人造動物，雖然用的不是電路與機械。那麼人類呢？只是進階版的仿生人嗎？

在我來看，人類為何有人性？我們都是細胞組成的，而細胞都是原子組成的，若原子的運作是能被預測的，那不過是兆億個原子組成的人類是真的有「自由意志」的嗎？又何謂自由意志呢？如果人是理性的，會朝對自己或他人最佳利益的選項作選擇，那實際上人是沒有所謂選擇的自由意志的吧？即使事後後悔當初的選擇，那也只是因為「當下只能就自己所知道的最佳選擇來執行」罷了，當初的自己可能沒有擁有足夠知識或資源作出更好的抉擇。所謂共感能力、同理心，也不過是在同類的群體生活中，為了讓自己也被他人如此對待所演化出來的思考模式；若是如此，故事中的仿生人為何不能稱之為人？不過是「立場不同於人類」的類人種族，仿生人之間是有同理心的。

科學方面，劇情中人類與仿生人雙方都用了不少不科學的武器對抗，什麼雷射槍、磁場防護罩、能干擾人腦的電磁波等都出現了，看了實在讓人汗顏…要是這故事作者是Isaac Asimov，一定會說「設計者一定會留下安全機制啊！怎麼可能讓仿生人去殺自己的奴隸主？」，但《銀翼殺手》特別的是，故事中設計仿生人的公司隱隱約約表現出"覺得仿生人才是新人類"的態度，貌似希望用仿生人的低成本與高競爭力來逐漸替代人類這個種族。

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IMO總分：60分，核心思想值得花點時間思考，但電影優於小說的普通經典作品。

核心思想：★★★★☆ 核心討論議題是否有趣*5

劇情細節：★★☆☆☆ 綜觀整體劇情的質與量*4

角色刻畫：★★★☆☆ 角色群的必要性與深度*3

科學軟硬：★★★☆☆ 是否符合現實物理現象*3

結局滿意：★★☆☆☆ 結局滿意度與有無餘韻*3

易讀程度：★★★★☆ 閱讀時章節是否難消化*2

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#Classic #Bioengineering #What_is_Life #Post_Apocalyptic #Struggle_of_Underclass #Chinese_Translated #Movie

Although I've never been particularly fond of Philip K. Dick's style of "pseudo-science," while searching for available Chinese sci-fi novels on the Hyread e-book platform, I came across this one. Thinking that such a classic is something I shouldn't miss, I decided to read it despite only being able to borrow it for 7 days for free. I finished it as quickly as possible.

My immediate thought after finishing it was: the novel has been overrated. It explores a topic in an incomplete way without reaching any definitive conclusion. The story itself even ends abruptly, making this one of the rare examples where "the movie adaptation is better than the book." Plus, there's that iconic Ryan Gosling meme scene in the movie: "You look lonely. I can fix that."

The story takes place after Earth has endured another major war, leaving it heavily contaminated by radioactive dust and resulting in the extinction of many animals and plants. Raising real animals has become a high-class hobby. Many people have immigrated to other planets, while large corporations constantly promote the idea that staying on Earth leads to slow death and degeneration. Along with space colonization comes advancements in bioengineering technology, allowing Earth humans to bring flesh-and-blood bioengineered beings called "androids" (slavery-like human creatures) to pioneer colony planets and handle various dangerous and low-level jobs. Inevitably, some newer and smarter models of androids no longer want to be slaves. Occasionally, they kill their masters, escaping back to Earth, a place chaotic enough to be easy to hide. To track them down, a career called "android bounty hunter" emerges, a path the protagonist named Rick is on.

Regardless of how lifelike these bioengineered androids may appear, killing them is called "decommissioning" instead of "murder." And to avoid mistakenly killing real humans, these bounty hunters use a device called the "Fuka system" to test the empathetic ability of individuals (their capacity for sympathy toward other life forms). The theory is that humans possess this ability, while androids do not.

⚠Spoilers ahead, read with your own caution.⚠

The core of the story lies in exploring what defines the humanity and empathy of so-called "humans." If a human lacks certain aspects of humanity, what distinguishes them from an android with some degree of humanity? Is empathy just a spectrum? Should they be treated as part of the same species? Is someone without any aspect of humanity still considered human? Or are these individuals merely mechanical reactors like programmed robots?

After the ecological disaster, the similarity between the "electric animals" (realistic animal bots) in households and androids is truly thought-provoking. Electric animals could be described as low-cost imitations of real ones, lacking true life force and can only perform limited actions. Meanwhile, androids are advanced creations born from cutting-edge bioengineering technology and compared with electric animals. If electric animals are the degradation of real animals, are androids the degradation of human beings?

Also, what exactly is humanity that human claims to possess? We are all composed of cells, and cells are made up of atoms. If the operation of atoms can be predicted, then is it possible for human beings, consisting of trillions of atoms, to truly have any "free will"? And what exactly is free will? If people are rational and choose among options that are in their best interest, do we actually lack freedom of choice? Even if we regret our past decisions, it's only because "we acted based on the best knowledge they had at the time." The original self might not have had enough knowledge or resources to make other better decisions. So-called "empathy and compassion" may merely be thought patterns that emerged in human evolution for the purpose of ensuring reciprocal treatment from others. If that's the case, why can't androids be considered as possessing empathy? They're just a "species different from humans" with a stance different from humans, yet androids do possess empathy among each other.

Scientifically speaking, the story features numerous unrealistic weapons on both sides of humans and androids, such as laser guns, magnetic shields, and electromagnetic waves that can disrupt human brains. If this story were written by Isaac Asimov, he would probably claim that "creators would definitely leave safety mechanisms in place; there's no way androids would kill their masters." But another thing that makes 《Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 》 unique is that the company designing androids subtly convey a stance regarding androids as the "new and better humans," apparently aiming to gradually replace the human race with the low cost and high competitiveness of their android products.

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IMO Rating: 60. The core ideas are worth pondering, but in terms of classic works, the movie is superior to the novel.

Core Theme: ★★★★☆ (*5)

Plot Quality: ★★☆☆☆ (*4)

Character Development: ★★★☆☆ (*3)

Science Validity: ★★★☆☆ (*3)

Ending Satisfaction: ★★☆☆☆ (*3)

Readability: ★★★★☆ (*2)