Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

by Philip K. Dick

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Questions and Answers: Chapter 5

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Questions
1. What is measured by the Voigt-Kampff Test, and how do the results indicate whether or not the test subject is an android?

2. What are the results of Rachel Rosen's test?

3. Are the results to Rosen's test accurate?

4. Why is Deckard tempted by the bribe put forth by the Rosen’s?

5. Why is Deckard more disturbed by the realization that the owl is fake than by the results of his test session?

Answers
1. The Voigt-Kampff Test measures involuntary physical responses to questions. If a test subject responds flatly to a question involving emotionally challenging scenarios, the test subject is concluded to be an android because of the lack of empathic response.

2. Rachel Rosen tests positive as an android.

3. Although the Rosens argue that Rachel is a human who was raised in isolation and therefore incapable of responding to the questions like a normal human, her responses to the questions accurately classify her as an android.

4. The Rosens attempt to bribe Deckard with a real owl. Owning an animal thought to be extinct is something beyond Deckard's wildest dreams.

5. Owning an animal is Deckard's greatest desire. The thought of owning a real owl was beyond his wildest dreams. When it was revealed that the owl was a fake, Deckard was more devastated by this realization than by the inaccuracy of his android-human testing methods. Deckard's desire to own the owl was more powerful than his desire to save mislabeled humans from bounty hunters.

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Questions and Answers: Chapter 6