ABSTRACT
The catalyst for the main plot of Blade Runner 2049 is the discovery, as Sapper Morton puts it, of a “miracle.” The “miracle” of replicant reproduction is presented as having extremely important implications for the status of replicants and how they may be treated by their human counterparts. Several characters in the movie see replicant reproduction as blurring the boundaries between humans and replicants. This chapter focuses on the way of seeing replicant reproduction as significant. It briefly discusses the significance of reproductive capacities, arguing that being able to reproduce is neither necessary nor sufficient to be one’s own master. The chapter frames the moral status of replicants in terms of whether they are “mere products.” It offers Cartesian argument for replicant personhood, which applies to any replicants who question their nature, regardless of whether they were born or manufactured.
