Each person is also subjected to the same punishment so that they have empathy versus sympathy for Mercer. The empathy box makes the experience a group event instead of just an individual event, in which all emotions are fused to give each individual a feeling of unity. Even "chickenheads," that is, mentally slower people, can participate, while androids cannot. "Isn't it just a way of proving that humans can do something [androids] can't do? Because without the Mercer experience we just have your word that you feel this empathy business" (209) says one android, correctly articulating the precise reason Mercerism is so popular. The fact that replicants cannot participate fully in the fusing with Mercer helps humans to maintain control over them, and also is proof to the dominating influences of the androids.
However, although fusing with Mercer does somewhat show the superiority in emotions of humans, having the moral dimension of empathy does not mean all actions are correct either. "As Mercer said, I am required to do wrong. Everything I've done has been wrong from the start." In the end, Mercer is revealed to be just an old man who was taped walking up a mountain once. Ironically, the one who exposes the truth is Buster Friendly, an android who is possibly vengeful because he cannot ever be a part of the whole Mercer experience, or, conceivably, he just wants to stop the dependence of humans on empathy boxes. .
Animals also play a large role in the differentiation of humans and androids. If one can care for an animal, it is seen as a show of compassion. Furthermore, animals are very rare, and they are signs of wealth and high status. Although on the surface it seems that animals are truly cared for, it becomes more and more obvious throughout the book that they are very much more status-symbols, to be envied after. In fact, there is a large industry of artificial animals, because the pressure to own the larger, mammalian and avian animals is so high.