Voight-Kampff Test

The only way to tell a machine from a man is by how it feels.

More than a scan, the Voight-Kampff test is an interrogation of empathy itself. It is the blade runners' way of telling a replicant from a human. In the rain-slicked sprawl of Los Angeles 2019, this diagnostic tool serves as the Blade Runner's first weapon against rogue Nexus-6 models who have slipped past the off-world colonies. Used almost exclusively by officers tasked with 'retiring' escaped replicants, the procedure forces a subject to confront moral dilemmas designed to trigger visceral reactions. A replicant's nonverbal responses to the questions differ from a human's. It is not about what they say; it is about how their body refuses to lie.

Quick Facts

Target subject: Nexus-6 and later replicant models

Lore & Background

The machine registers the fluctuation of the pupil and the involuntary dilation of the iris, along with blush response, respiration and heart rate. Rachael, an experiment with implanted memories, needs more than a hundred questions where twenty or thirty are usual.

Reader's Guide

The Voight-Kampff test functions as an empathetic stress test, utilizing a sophisticated optical apparatus to monitor minute changes in the subject's eye physiology. The examiner, typically a trained Blade Runner, administers a series of rapid-fire questions designed to trigger an emotional response. In practice the device registers the fluctuation of the pupil and the involuntary dilation of the iris. Humans exhibit immediate, involuntary physiological reactions driven by genuine empathy. A replicant's responses differ from those of a human. This tool is wielded almost exclusively by the Los Angeles Police Department's special unit dedicated to hunting escaped replicants. It serves as the first line of defense before a potential 'retirement.'

Did You Know?

A blade runner named Holden administered the test to Leon, who shot Holden on the second question.
Deckard administered the V-K test on Rachael, a Nexus-6 replicant who believed she was human, and concluded she was a replicant after a much longer than standard test.
Tyrell expressed interest in seeing the test fail first when Deckard tested it on a Nexus-6.