— Philip K. Dick asks in the title of his classic 1968 sci-fi novel. In a post-apocalyptic setting he explored the question what it is that separates man from machines.

 

In the book, Dick’s protagonist – a human bounty hunter – sets out on a seek-and-destroy mission to eliminate androids that have gone off-protocol. In order to identify and track down the renegades he uses techniques to test the robots for that one quality that they don’t possess – empathy.

 

In 2014, two digital artists from Berlin inverted this theme in a smart move. In their art it’s the machine who turns on the viewer, putting us humans into an empathy test.

words by Philipp Vogt // www.witness-this.com