15. Are Androids People?

What about robots? AIs? How does science fiction construct these beings based on real social ideas of what it means to be a person, and how do real social systems affect the creation of these fictional beings? In today’s episode, Akshata and Christian take a break from discussing scientific studies and dive into the world of Blade Runner, its sequel Blade Runner 2049, and the book that inspired them, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Spoilers for all of the above). What starts out as a discussion about the nature of personhood in science fiction quickly evolves into a broader discussion about themes commonly found in cyberpunk media. Our hosts begin by discussing the differences between robots, artificial intelligence, and androids. They then move on to other topics, such as the influence of capitalism in cyberpunk societies, the presentation of women in Blade Runner 2049, and use and abuse of Asian aesthetics in cyberpunk. Overall, it's a riveting and wide-ranging discussion, one that this time explores connections between sci-fi and society. Sources and shownotes can be found at: https://workbyakshata.wordpress.com/?p=665 Follow The Expanding Brain Podcast on twitter: https://twitter.com/brain_expanding Email us with any questions or topic ideas at [email protected]. Support us on Patreon if you like what we do, want to see bonus content, or have a couple bucks to spare: https://www.patreon.com/expandingbrain Our personal twitters are: https://twitter.com/artbyakshata and https://twitter.com/blkWittgenstein.