Incorporating Robots into Human Law - An Analysis of Robot Prototyping in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Alex Proyas’ I, Robot.

• Main Author: Katarzyna Ginszt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland 2020-09-01
• Series: New Horizons in English Studies
• Subjects: science fiction prototyping; robot ethics; robot rights; law; ai
• Online Access: https://journals.umcs.pl/nh/article/view/10470

Science fiction narratives have not only influenced the way the majority of people imagine the future, but they have also shaped the general expectations for the technological development. This phenomenon has been called “science fiction prototyping” by Brian David Johnson. The prototype of a robot is created by science fiction works. Robots as artificially created entities are often presented as potential “members” of future society. Therefore, their legal status in imaginary reality is worth considering. The analysis of Blade Runner (1982) by Ridley Scott and I, Robot (2004) by Alex Proyas juxtaposes features that, according to the legal tradition, are most often attributed to moral subjects of legal protection with human-like features of robots. The interdisciplinary approach adopted in this study involves applying legal reasoning to the study of science fiction.