There was an interesting scene in chapter 5 that could discredit the Voigt-Kampff test. The Voigt-Kamff test was administered by police to detect whether someone was a human or an android by providing a series of situations or images to stimulate an empathetic response. Rick Deckard administered the Voigt-Kampff test to Rachael Rosen who was specifically selected by Eldon Rosen to be tested. The test had concluded that she lacked the necessary empathy that all humans should have. Rachael said, “You would have retired me” (Dick 52). Eldon explained to Rick that Rachael had grown up away from Earth aboard Salander 3 and did not have the same exposure to empathy that someone on Earth may have had. Eldon set this up to prove that not every human passes the Voigt-Kamff test. Though Eldon does later admits that Rachael is really an android.
Is it ethical to continue using Voigt-Kamff test? What are some potential benefits and/or consequences of using the Voigt-Kamff test?
I feel like testing in general is a fatal societal flaw. We standardize our kids from grade 3 with tests and demands that must be met to be deemed socially useful. The Voight-Kampff test reminds me more, however, of the DSM-5 which is widely used to diagnose mental health issues. It’s fundamentally flawed, especially in terms of eating disorders as it sets weight requirements to be “anorexic” and this leads people to be denied treatment for a deadly disease. I think that continuing to use the Voight-Kampff test would result similarly and additionally, more life like androids/AI could definitely learn to beat the test by learning to mimc humans
The idea of testing someone to try to fulfill some amount of “humanness” is extremely immoral and flawed. The Voight-Kamff test seems only to test how closely someone follows the ideals of Mercerism, which seems like a brainwashed form of empathy. The empathy seems so strong that it might even be unauthentic. If someone doesn’t follow Mercerism, they will most likely fail the Voight-Kamff test. Not only that, but someone might struggle with this test if they are affected by things like Asperger’s or mental illness because of their struggle with these things. Not everyone is good at tests as well, people would probably get nervous or something, and this would cost them their life. There is no fail-safe to this system.