According To Kaczynski's What Makes Us Fundamentally Human?
All three authors not only focus on what makes us fundamentally human, but like Kaczynski, they look at what the greatest danger to humanity is. According to Dick, Eggers, and Kaczynski, the greatest danger to humanity is losing what makes us fundamentally human (via technology). Dick believes that there are a few things which make us fundamentally human, a first of which is empathy. The way in which androids (“andys”) are distinguished from humans is by having them take a “Voigt-Kampff Empathy Test.” This test “measures capillary dilation in the facial area” (known as blushing,) as well as it “records fluctuations of tension within the eye muscles,” both of which are natural human reactions in response to a morally shocking stimulus - physical determinations of the human emotion of empathy. Why was empathy chosen to determine whether or not something was human? Because it seems that empathy “existed only within the human community, whereas intelligence to some degree could be found throughout every phylum and order including the arachnids” and including androids and other mechanical beings. Because humans are the only living creature known to have empathy, it is chosen as one of the distinguishing factors between humans and androids in Dick’s novel and therefore is something which makes us fundamentally human - according to Dick.
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Androids do not have the ability “to keep the animal[, for which they are trying to care,] alive. Animals require an environment of warmth to flourish. This “environment of warmth” includes empathy, which only humans are able to give other animals. Yes, other animals are able to care for other animals, but humans are the only species able to care for other animals through empathetic means, which is part of what makes us fundamentally human (according to
Androids do not have the ability “to keep the animal[, for which they are trying to care,] alive. Animals require an environment of warmth to flourish. This “environment of warmth” includes empathy, which only humans are able to give other animals. Yes, other animals are able to care for other animals, but humans are the only species able to care for other animals through empathetic means, which is part of what makes us fundamentally human (according to