Will Androids Ever Dream of Electric Sheep?

Cyborgs vs Androids

6 min readJan 3, 2023

Science Fiction vs. Future Reality. A short, speculative article about the future of androids, cyborgs and humans.

In this article I explore the differences between androids and cyborgs, touch on technology, and speculate on their future development. I also give you my take on whether androids will ever dream!

I recently read for the third time, Philip K. Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’. Many of you will recognise this scifi classic as the novel that the Blade Runner movies were based on. In the book, a bounty hunter, Rick Deckard, ‘retires’ replicants — androids that look, act, and feel like humans. Deckard struggles with his own humanity as he fights to retire the last group of replicants on Earth.

The book is a thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be human, and the question of whether we can tell the difference between humans and androids. It’s also a great example of science fiction writing at its best — speculating on future technologies and how they will affect humanity.

Whilst reading, I got to thinking about cyborgs and androids, their differences and what is likely to be their tech development paths.

Cyborgs vs Androids

When I think of cyborgs and androids, I often think of science fiction characters like the Terminator or Ash in Alien. But the difference between the two isn’t just in their appearance, it’s also in how they’re made: In current usage, cyborgs are essentially humans with mechanical parts added to them, while androids are robots designed to look like humans.

The word cyborg was coined by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline in a 1960 paper titled “Cyborgs and Space.” In this paper, Clynes and Kline proposed the idea of using cybernetic technology to enhance the capabilities of humans in space exploration. They argued that it would be necessary to modify human beings in order to adapt them to the extreme environments of space, and that this could be done by integrating artificial components into the human body. The term “cyborg” (short for “cybernetic organism”) was used to describe these modified humans.

Since its inception, the term “cyborg” has been used more broadly to refer to any being that is a combination of biological and artificial components, whether or not those components are used for space exploration. The concept of the cyborg has been a popular theme in science fiction literature and media, and it has also been the subject of scientific research and development in a number of fields, including artificial intelligence, robotics, and bioengineering.

The first use of the term android, on the other hand, is a bit more difficult to pin down. The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction says..

“..the first work of fiction to use the term android may have been a book-length verse Utopia by Mark Drinkwater, The United Worlds, a Poem, in Fifty Seven books (1834), in which “androides”, machines “in the form of man”, do all the heavy labour;”

The (oft un)reliable Wikipedia has the term dating back to the 1700’s, but adds…

“The term android was used in a more modern sense by the French author Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam in his work Tomorrow’s Eve (1886). This story features an artificial humanlike robot named Hadaly.”

Does the Tech Exist?

Please indulge this simplification: Cyborgs are enhanced humans, and androids are purely artificial robots made to look similar to humans. Technology to deliver both exist today, albeit in a rudimentary form.

Cyborg tech is already being applied to humans in the form of prosthetics: artificial devices that can replace or augment missing or impaired body parts. Prosthetics can be used to restore functions such as mobility, sensation, and dexterity, and they can be made to look and function like natural body parts.

Androids also exist, although in their current form, they are pretty clunky compared to their Scifi counterparts. What holds android tech back is our inability to create artificial intelligence that matches or exceeds the thought process of humans, and can be inserted into an artificial skull. We cannot yet grow a brain in order to create sentient androids.

Convergence of Technologies

Cyborg and Android tech are on course to converge. Some of the key technologies that are needed include:

Bioengineering: Both will likely require the development of artificial body parts or organs that can function seamlessly with biological systems. This will require advances in the field of bioengineering, including the development of materials and technologies that can mimic the functions of natural tissues and organs.
Neural interfaces: In order to control artificial components using thoughts, it will be necessary to develop neural interfaces that can read and interpret brain signals. This will require advances in the field of neuroscience and in the development of implantable devices that can interface with the nervous system.
Robotics: Both also require the development of advanced robotic technologies in order to enable them to perform a wide range of tasks and to move and interact with their environment. This will require advances in areas such as kinematics (the study of motion) and control systems.

Androids will lag Cyborgs by some years simply because we will not have developed the brain to give them in order them to function as the androids do in SciFi. It will come eventually. At some point we will be able to enhance humans by giving them a new brain, complete with historic thoughts.

At this point we there will exist three species of ‘humans’: Humans without enhancements (a diminishing minority); Humans with enhancements — we will all be cyborgs to a greater or lesser extent; Artificially grown humans with enhancements — AI driven androids.

Will Androids Dream?

The whole question of whether or not androids dream is a bit of a paradox, because dreaming is so closely tied to the experience of being human. But it’s also an important question to ask because it allows us to reflect on what makes us uniquely human. And since AI technology is advancing at such a rapid pace, we have no choice but to consider what kind of future we’re building for ourselves.

Technically, androids shouldn’t need to sleep, as future power sources are likely to be essentially inexhaustable. But, if we ever built an android that was conscious, self-aware or sentient enough to think like humans, would their consciousness make them feel a need to sleep? And even if we did build such an android, say, by inserting a cybernetic brain into a human body and hooking it up to a fully functioning set of motor skills, there’s no guarantee that they would become super-human workaholics, willing to take on the difficult, dangerous, or repetitive tasks we humans would give them?

If they were truly sentient, wouldn’t they just curl up in their bed like any other human would do when they’re tired and go right on with their day when they woke up again. Wouldn’t they complain, or strike, or take liberties, just like a human workforce?

So will androids dream, and if so, of what? Well, if they are truly sentient, I would predict yes, androids will dream. Of what? I can’t say and to be honest, I don’t really care what they are actually dreaming about! The important point is that if they do dream, it will be a key milestone in our journey toward understanding what it means to be human.

What do you think? Will androids dream? I’d love to hear from you! Leave us a comment below and let’s chat about it.