Replicants

In 1968, Philip K. Dick published his book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which was later adapted for the big screen as 1982's Blade Runner. The premise of the story deals with androids called replicants, which are genetically crafted to near human proximity. Blade Runners were law enforcement officers assigned to capture and/or kill rogue androids, whom many of had realized that they were sentient. My blog article has little to do with the book or movie, but everything to do with replicants. 

It has been stated that the average cell in the human body lasts seven years and that the human body replaces itself every 7-10 years. This is a gross generalization. There are some cells that last the duration of a person's life, and some that last very short periods. Yet, a large part of a person's body will replace itself several times over throughout a person's life. Each new cell replicates through a person's DNA encoding. So, in a way, we are naturally replicants, as each cell is a rough facsimile of its prior self.

What does that mean for human life?

First, it tells us that being a human person does not require the exactitude of earlier cellular iterations. In other words, my cells from infancy are not identical to my cells at middle aged. Yet, I possess the same biological blue print and recognizable attributes of my prior cellular self. I retain memories and experiences. I am still me, even where the physical me has been reconstituted. 

Second, this affects morality and ethics. For example, it is a common refrain amidst pro-choice people that human person-hood is reliant on birth and viability. Many borrow from a perceived Judaeo-biblical imperative that a person is not alive until he or she takes their first breath at birth. This draws on Genesis 2:7, where God breathed into Adam and he became alive. What about Eve I wonder? She was made from Adam's rib and was not born, nor does it say in Scripture that the Holy Spirit infilled her lungs when created. She breathed, so I suppose that she was alive, but it was different than Adam. A baby is even more distinct, because they technically breathe throughout gestation. On a purely cellular level, a zygote receives oxygen, since all cells need it to live; yet, there is a new and unique DNA at work in replication. And when a fetus ages, the unborn breathes through an umbilical cord. The mode of receiving oxygen may differ, but oxygen is being received and aids in propagating life.  

Besides, elsewhere in Scripture, the unborn are acknowledged as living, such as the example where John recognized the presence of Jesus while both were unborn babies in the wombs of their mothers (Luke 1:41). What I can glean here is that person-hood is less reliant on the depth of development and more on the independence of replication. In Blade Runner, the androids realized their sentient natures, which were already present. In humanity, life is already present in the unborn, though their self-actualizing awareness comes later... Even later than birth. We need to consider this prior to abortion. Granted, viability may be necessary when making life or death choices between mothers and the unborn, but generally speaking, it is warped to treat new life so irreverently that abortion stands as means to an end regarding a perceived inconvenience. Still, we are all replicants.