A sentient being is described by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as being something who is responsive to sense impressions.  In other words, a sentient being is a being that is aware of what is taking place in its surroundings.  In my opinion, all human beings would be considered “in the club” as far as consideration as a sentient being.  I am aware that some people would argue this point by saying that some mentally challenged are not aware of what is happening around them, but I don’t believe that should knock them out of “the club” because they are human beings and they were born from two human parents.  I can also see where replicants could be considered sentient beings since they can be programmed to recognize what is happening in their surroundings.  This issue of defining what makes a sentient being is very important because it determines who is similar to us, and who is not.  It also determines how we treat our neighbors.  In Blade Runner, the replicants seemed like sentient beings, but they were only robots.  They react to the situations surrounding them, but they have no feelings, emotions, or memories.  If we know what our “neighbors” are, human beings or cyborgs, we can know how to treat them.  I agree with treating people in a society equally, but no where does this include the replicants.  A person in a society would consist of beings born in a sexual nature from two parents.  Whether the society was Clemson University students or an ant farm.  This opinion would eliminate replicants from equal treatment from me because they were designed and built in a lab.  I would propose a slight change to the definition of a sentient by adding that the being would have to be produced sexually or asexually from members of its own kind.
 

I believe that a human being can act however he wants towards a cyborg.  First of all, a replicant or cyborg is a machine created for doing a specific task.  In the case of Blade Runner the machines were developed to act as slaves.  Would you hesitate to “retire” your car if it did not work anymore?  No, I don’t think so.  This is the way to think of replicants or cyborgs.  No one would keep an old car around if it did not go anywhere, and I would be surprised if anyone ever said he/she felt as if his/her car, washing machine, or alarm clock felt like it were part of the family.  Someone could, however, consider her/his dog or cat a part of his/her family because it is alive and aware of its surroundings.  If they do not perform their job correctly or efficiently then they should pay the consequences.  In the case of human beings, if men/women fail to perform their duties at work, then they are fired.  If a replicant ceases to do its job, then its consequence is retirement. If they were created for slavery as they were in Blade Runner, that is what they should be used for, and their owners should have the right of “retiring” or destroying them when they are not useful anymore.  Replicants should be known as property.  They should not have any rights, and should only do what they were programmed to do.  In Blade Runner the replicants were created to act too much like human beings.  I think that this is too confusing for the rest of society and cost Tyrell and others their lives.
 

In the first book of the Holy Bible, we read that God creates all humans.  This is the Christian standpoint.  I understand that Christianity is not a shared belief by everyone, but I believe it to be somewhat analogous to genetic engineering.  The Bible says that humans were created in God’s image.  This passage almost says that humans are replicants of God.  The Christian belief system also says that God has the right to take someone from the Earth, which would be that person’s physical death.  This is where Christianity can be related to genetic research and engineering.  Because replicants are made in the image of humans, the creator and owner of the replicants would serve as the god figure for the replicant.  Therefore, this gives the right to “retire” the replicant at anytime to the creator of the replicant.
 

In today’s society this technology is not far off.  Scientists are cloning animals and they are able to detect families that have the possibilities of having children with birth defects by examining the DNA and the genes of the people.  It will not be long before scientist and genetic engineers have the capabilities of building human-like organisms.  This is where I think that the research has gone too far.  It is good that the scientists can tell couples whether or not they would be able to have healthy children together, and be able to alter their genes to prevent a birth defect or a disease from occurring.  Building humans goes too far.  The scientists are trying to play a god role here, and I do not think that this is right.  Of course it would be nice to have a heart or a kidney waiting for someone to use rather than having a patient waiting for someone that is willing to transplant an organ.  This is not the part that I am against.  When scientists try to build the whole person, by using the DNA patterns from someone else.  I believe that every person is an individual and is completely different from everyone else.  By taking the genetic patterns of someone and creating a being from it almost takes away from that person’s humanity.  When a baby is conceived, it has the DNA structures from a mother and a father and is an individual.  When a being is conceived in a lab from only a single person’s DNA there is almost a clone of that person made.  This is where ethics and morals come into play.  I think that a lot of problems begin when a robot is created in the image of a human and taught to act and react to situations as only a human would.
 

I feel that making clones of people or making robots that so closely resemble human beings is unethical and wrong.  I would not consider a replicant to be a part of a new species or any society.  A replicant is merely a machine with the sole purpose of whatever it is programmed to do by its creator.  People are getting too sentimental these days.  There is no need to get upset when the time comes to “retire” a replicant.  Because it is changing the speakers in your car because your old speakers are blown and do not sound good anymore.