Good quote. For me what distinguishes the film and makes it better than the original story is exactly the elevation of the replicants into fully sentient beings. Batty started out as a grifter in the original and became the center of the story in Ridley Scott's film.
I was surprised that the question of sentience and what it means to be a human was actually less pronounced in the original story than in the film. I would have expected something more challenging (if that's the right word) from Dick.
Maybe androids in Electric Sheep have almost a Capgras Delusion quality, especially in the scene in the fake police station. They seem human but they're lacking an essential emotional quality that makes them 'real.'
