My take was that the artificially shorten their lives so that consciousness can't develop. That's the piece that, when you combine it with their powerful specia

My take was that the artificially shorten their lives so that consciousness can't develop. That's the piece that, when you combine it with their powerful specializations, would enable replicants to take over. Until then they have the consciousness of a toddler at best and are easier to manipulate. By the time consciousness starts to dawn "accelerated decrepitude" kills them off naturally.