Classic sci-fi, readable for those, like me, who don't read much sci-fi. Philosophical. Inspiration for the 80's film Blade Runner. (Unfortunately, Philip K. Dick passed away just a few weeks before its release.) Was Deckard an android? If so, does it actually make a difference to how we perceive him? The book raises questions about empathy and gives the reader plenty to ponder.

Probably my favorite Philip K. Dick book, Goodreads' favorite too by the look of it. As you are probably aware the classic sci-fi movie Blade Runner is based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Great as the movie is when I first saw it I was very disappointed as it bears very little resemblance to this book. The filmmakers jettisoned most of what makes this book so special and focused only on the android hunting aspect though at least it does explore the moral issues involved. The movie’s visuals are certainly stunning, and the world of Blade Runner is beautifully designed. However, it not the world of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is set in a dystopian Earth much dilapidated after “World War Terminus”, most of the populace have already emigrated to the colony on Mars. This is not a post-apocalyptic setting, however, as government, the police, and businesses are still functioning though everything seems to be quite shabby. Radioactive dust has killed off most of the animals and the dust is still everywhere, not to mention the masses of “kipple”, basically rubbish that seem to grow by itself.

This is the cover of my old copy of this book. Love it!

This coveting of animals is one very crucial aspect of the book not used in the film adaptation. Ownership of real animals (as opposed to electric ones) is a status symbol, much more so than fancy cars which nobody seems to be interested in. The protagonist Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter for the San Francisco Police Department whose job is to hunt down and exterminate androids that escaped their life of servitude on Mars to live among humans on Earth in the guise of humans. His dream is to own a large real animal, but at his salary, he has to settle for the eponymous electric sheep.

The questionable morality of hunting down androids is nicely explored here. They are machines but they are also living, thinking beings, they have souls, or in a more secular term, sentience. Human life on Earth is generally miserable but they do have some interesting ways of alleviating their mood. The most direct way is by the “Penfield mood organ” with a dial for adjusting moods to numerous settings, then there is the “empathy box” that let you live the life of a Messiah while you are plugged in; entertainment on TV is basically just one show “Buster Friendly and his Friendly Friends” somehow broadcasting live 24/7.

This is one of the most well written Philip K. Dick books, Dick’s writing style is often criticised as poor or clunky, and his dialogue is often said to be stilted. I think his critics are missing the charms of his minimalist prose style which is an ideal vehicle for the bizarre stories he had to tell. His admittedly stilted dialogue seems to be very fitting for the universe his often eccentric characters occupy. Also, now and then he suddenly slips in the odd poignant passages like “You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe.”. He was quite capable of writing elegant prose when it suited him. However, the stories and the ideas were more important to him.

A cyberpunk-ish cover

Some of the dialogue is also oddly hilarious:
“I can't stand TV before breakfast.”
“Dial 888,” Rick said as the set warmed. “The desire to watch TV, no matter what's on it.”
“I don't feel like dialing anything at all now,” Iran said.
“Then dial 3,” he said.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? has some of Dick’s best characterization. The characters are more vivid than most of his other books. Deckard and the “chickenhead” (brain damaged) J.R. Isidore are particularly believable and sympathetic. The androids are generally rather callous but quite pitiful all the same. There are also moments where reality seems to wobble wonderfully in the patented PKD style but this time without the aid of any hallucinogen.

I can not praise this book enough, it really is one of the all-time greats. It is a pity that Hollywood is now planning to make Blade Runner 2 instead of making - for the first time - a faithful adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

Note: Interestingly Dick foresaw an android model called "Nexus 6", but I bet he did not imagine they would look like this.


Graphic novel cover

“This is insane.”
“This is necessary.”

Another classic that has taken me much too long to get around to.
And what a shame, since this is a really good book.

“Is it true, Mr. Deckard, that you’re a bounty hunter?”

I won’t go into a lot of detail regarding the differences between the Blade Runner film and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, although there are some fundamental deviations, especially as far as the conclusion of the story is concerned. I will say this: the novel explains the empathy testing better, which is rather important in fully comprehending the gist of the plot.

You understand, don’t you, that this could go wrong either way.

The same ambiguity that drives the film is obviously present here. It’s a clever book, no doubt, and Philip K. Dick was an iconic author for good reason. He was also, by all appearances, a troubled soul, which might explain the streaks of genius that permeate his ideas. There are moments when things get a bit metaphysical (or bizarre), but it is par for the course when it comes to reading P. K. D.

This rehearsal will end, the performance will end, the singers will die, eventually the last score of the music will be destroyed in one way or another.

It’s evident that themes of morality and consciousness resonated strongly with the author. What does it mean to be human? Or to be alive? P.K.D. does come up with an answer of sorts, but it’s the kind of book that is designed to make readers think for themselves.

Because, ultimately, the empathic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.

Now if only the Electric Sheep had actually made it into the movie…

5 Stars
Added to Favourites

'Everything is true,' he said. 'Everything anybody has ever thought.'
'Will you be all right?'
'I'll be all right,' he said, and thought, And I'm going to die. Both those are true, too.


My first read book of 2017, and definitely a new favorite of mine.

I've been meaning to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for a really long period of time, and I'm so happy that I finally managed to read it, because it exceeded my every single expectation. What more can I say, except that this is one of those books that stands side by side with 1984? I loved the characters this book had, the amazing twists in every single chapter, and the amazing world Dick created (that in many ways is quite similar to ours). Nonetheless, my favorite thing about this book is just the questions it raises: What it takes to be a human? Are 'we', the humans, really that much different from robots? Will androids (that are being more and more developed) one day just take over the earth from us? , and of course: Do androids dream of electric sheep, just like Deckard dreamed of a real one?

Truly an extraordinary book, that, in my opinion, everyone should read, at least once.

I could say that I love Dick, but that would be weird. I do very much enjoy Philip K. Dick's writing and though this is not one of his best, the "Pizza and Sex Rule" applies to him; ie. just as even bad pizza and / or sex is still pretty good, bad PKD is as well. And this is not bad at all.

The first mistake that a new reader would make is to watch Blade Runner and expect a novelization of that film; it was LOOSELY based upon the book. I'm a big fan of the Ridley Scott film starring Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer, but the movie diverged from Phillip K. Dick's literature early on. The book is far more bleak than the film, if you can believe that, and much more intricate and complicated. Blade Runner benefits from a simplified storyline.

The author was far ahead of his time both in the complexity of his story and the perspective from which he writes. There are elements of Brave New World, I, Robot, and Dune; but the author has a unique voice and the story is an original. It is not an excellent work, as there are gaps and inconsistencies and many loose ends that are never tied in, but the concept and provocation are superb.

One element of the book that was completely left out of the film was a sub-plot involving a Christ-like messiah and a faith system based upon what could have been a hoax. First published in 1968, this was one of his more theological based novels, and a trend that would continue steadily becoming more frequent and invasive until the end of his writing.

A MUST read for PKD fans as well as SF/F fans period.

*** 2020 Reread:

One thing I love about PKD writing is the accessibility. He discusses complex, sophisticated issues, but he never is. There’s a blue-collar element to him that is ubiquitous across his canon. He grew up working low level retail and repair shop jobs and it never left him.

Another element of this book that I picked up on more this time was the empathy religion set up around Wilbur Mercer. When I read this before, I thought of it as kind of a weird sub-plot but this is a fundamental part of Dick’s vision. Humans who feel empathy with the Christ-like Mercer are separate from the androids who do not feel empathy? Or do they? PKD is too much of an artist to make this simple, his world building is a rich tapestry of detail and nuance.

Along with Mercerism is the attraction with caring for animals, real animals if possible (in the post-war diseased world) but electric animals if need be. This relationship with animal husbandry is tied together with the distinctions between humans and androids, naturally biological and created.

A great SF novel.

In Which the Emphasis is on Androids Who Grasp the Twin Handles of Empathy

n  "Deus sive substantia sive natura": Spinozan


Just as in the animal kingdom there is a continuum between humans and animals, there is a continuum in this novel that incorporates humans, androids and electric animals, the main difference being that the latter two are artificial or human constructs.

Here, n  the androids are organic and sentient.n They are not purely electrical or mechanical robots infused with artificial intelligence. They are technically alive, and closer to humans than to electric sheep.

The proximity to humans means that a test is required to differentiate them. The test that emerges is based on the capacity for empathy. n  Predatory animals have no empathy, because they would not eat, if they were concerned about the feelings of their prey.n Thus, Dick posits that real humans must either be herbivores, or omnivores who can regulate or turn off their appetite for meat.

Because the Nexus 6 androids are manufactured by a commercial entity, the aim is for their product to satisfy the test for human qualities. n  The more precise the tests become, the more sophisticated and human the androids become.n What Nexus 6 cannot achieve, Nexus 7 will.

The problem is that the androids can still be permitted or programmed to be predatory. The more they can escape detection, the greater the threat to mankind.

Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter who is one of the few safeguards between humanity and predatory androids. His function is to identify and kill androids who have returned to Earth from Mars (because they have been deemed to be predatory). To perform his function, he has to overcome his own empathy, which he does on the basis that n  you can kill something that would be your killer,n more or less out of actual or anticipatory self-defence.

It becomes more problematical when the android has breasts, even if they are small, she is 18, the rest of her body is relatively childlike and she is seductive in her own right.

The challenge for Deckard is whether to terminate or fornicate and, if both, in which order. Needless to say, he adopts a typical curious, but practical, male approach to his predicament.

At first, Rachael doesn’t know she is an android, then, when detected by Deckard, like most cyber- or fantasy-women, she denies that she is either alive or human. Hence, like most cyber-relationships, n  the concern of the novel is to determine the point at which the inorganic becomes organic, and the intelligent becomes human.n

The novel’s drama lies in the grey area in the middle of the continuum. Despite the fact that they have sex, the question for Deckard is whether, in the absence of sufficient empathy, he must kill his sexual partner.

This question arises on most weekend mornings around the world, usually in the mind of the woman (who as at the date of this review is rarely an android). Fortunately for guys, they are able to escape before the female fires a shot from her laser gun. It’s just that here, in the novel, the question is reversed, which means that a common or garden variety of male might procrastinate on the termination option in case he does not have evidence that would stand up to judicial scrutiny.

Some reviews of the novel suggest that there is a flaw in the plot, in that Rachael appears to have empathy, even though she has learned that she is an android.

My reading is that n  she is the first of a breed of android who is empathetic.n She says she loves Deckard and, when he returns to his wife after killing all of her android friends, she kills his goat (in the absence of a rabbit). This is the vengeful act of a human, not an un-empathetic android.

Hence, human constructs have reached the point where, if not “human”, n  they deserve to be treated as human,n the test being whether a male would fornicate with them (although as at the date of this review, this test needs to be fine-tuned in some cities and rural environs).

Dick is a profoundly philosophical writer whose novel cautions men to love their woman more than their goat and, if they don’t have a goat, to love them more than their sheep. If your lover is an android and you do the right thing by her, then hopefully she won’t dream of electric sheep (because this would be non-aspirational).

n  Dick is equally concerned with the public and private aspects of modern life.n

Here, as in the case of Chandler and Hammett, the world of the private Dick is so imaginatively drawn that a film-maker of the profile of Ridley Scott would have enough content with which to imagine a totally different plot that could take place in the same world with the same characters (whether or not he had read the book or the treatment).

There is very little resemblance between the novel and the film “Blade Runner”, which is one of my top five favourite films and, on a good day, could knock “Casablanca” from its #1 perch.

No matter how much you might enjoy the director’s cut, n  the author’s cut is superlative,n if not necessarily inferior or superior. The progeny of this novel is worth consuming in any and all of their manifestations.


SOUNDTRACK:


Vangelis - "Blade Runner" (Movie Theme)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VgNoK...

Vangelis - "Memories of Green"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBkMVe...

"She's a Replicant"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWPyRS...

"Tears in the Rain"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU7Ga7...

Rutger Hauer Discusses "Blade Runner"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7KYsE...

Brian Eno & David Byrne - "Quran"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUh8Ck...

White Zombie - "More Human Than Human"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0E0yn...

Fear Factory - "Replica"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RJsRQ...

"Moments Lost" - Music & Art inspired by "Blade Runner"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCnJ-...

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/6/507...

www.indiegogo.com/projects/moments-lost

“Adonde quiera que vayas te obligaran a hacer el mal -dijo el anciano-. Esa es la condición básica de la vida, aportar que violen tu identidad. En algún momento toda criatura viviente debe hacerlo. Es la sombra última, el defecto de la creación, la maldicion que se alimenta de toda vida en todas las regiones del universo”.
Exelente! Me alegro mucho de haber releído esta gran obra. Y más cuando ambos films, “Blade Runner” 1 y 2 me gustaron tanto. Una novela relativamente corta, lo que sin embargo ratifica el hecho de que no hacen falta tantas páginas si se de la recreación de una ingeniosa y original idea se trata. La prosa está justo a la medida, digamos, sin llegar a ser exquisita, es muy madura.
Una vez más me he extasiado en el disfrute de una novela de ciencia ficción, carente del desquicie técnico-descriptivo obligatorio que se espera de las obras del género en nuestros días.
Este libro me lo leí siendo mucho más joven, y nada que ver con el disfrute experimentado a día de hoy en su relectura pasados veinte años. Nada que ver! Es una experiencia más madura/consiente, filosófica y enriquecedora, la que me inspira a continuar mi camino, en mi afán por convertirme algún día en uno escritor tan grande como su autor: P. K. Dick.

Well, January 2021 has come and gone and still, unlike the author predicted, android semi-humans are mostly at the nascent stage of test tube babies. But it was in fact a step back to the Past… a Plague Year.

I chose Daniel Defoe’s Journal of that time as my literary vade mecum!

Now, when a (rather Draconian, no doubt) era of semi-stability has come to our Spenglerian Decline of the West - at least for many poor suffering souls - we can look once again, warily I would suggest, to a Dickian Future.

Last night, before waking, I dreamed of a future of Electric Sheep….

It was set, appropriately, in 1962/63, the school year I first started reading Dick. It was bizarre. There was one dominant rule of thumb to the future I summoned up from my waking subconscious:

There was no place for us outsiders. The losers!

Aspies need not apply. For one thing, the chemical stabilizers used on us to “correct” us have turned us into semi-androids - going round and round the same pre-programmed circles!

For Dick - and in my dream - WE’re the Problem.

WE’re his Target here.

So I’ve given it the five stars it deserves, because Yes, friends, The Future is Now.

Subhumans like us will be the Scullery Boys of a New Age.

And for us, it is taking us Test Tube Toddlers to the Far Future:

To the day when Ringwraiths will once again invade our Sleepy Shire and we will all go happily galloping -

To Mount Doom with Gandalf!

La novela corta ¿Sueñan los androides con ovejas eléctricas?(1968), del maestro de la llamada Era de Plata de la Ciencia Ficción, Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), la leí hace muchos años motivado por el estreno de una de mis películas favoritas del mencionado género que se basaba en ella: Blade Runner. La película es una obra maestra y la novela también me maravilló, sin embargo, me acuerdo casi a la perfección de la primera y apenas de la segunda (maravillas de la memoria visual, debe ser).

Así que decidí volver a leerla y tengo que decir que me ha fascinado de nuevo. Más filosófica que la película, recrea un mundo casi muerto y una humanidad sin esperanza donde los únicos culpables somos nosotros, los humanos (no hay alienígenas a los que culpar), pero que, empeñándonos en que haya otros, perseguimos a seres que nosotros mismos hemos creado (androides cuasi humanos), en vez de intentar ayudarnos mutuamente para mejorar las vidas de ambos.

En el libro no hay tanto espectáculo, ni hay final feliz, no hay, en definitiva, redención posible ni para nuestra especie ni para los androides. Un amargo final que lanza un aviso de adónde llegaremos si no tenemos más cuidado con el progreso incontrolado.

Sin duda, ha sido un acierto su relectura.

SF Masterworks #4: A desolate sparsely populated Earth of sparsely populated cities, constant and random nuclear fallout, with the continual societal pressure for these city dwellers to emigrate to the colonies - this is the setting for PKD's most famous work... one that was adapted to become the movie Blade Runner.

You know the story, a bounty hunter has to 'retire' some of the newest form of androids that have escaped the colonies and come to Earth, which is illegal for them to do. As well as a well paced and interesting story, what PKD does well, is really provide the details and tone to bring this post WW III 'lost Earth' to life. A book of open spaces, and inner monologues, of desperate need to belong and yet unsure of what to belong to. A story of un-tethered humankind. On top of that, it does exceptionally well in making utterly clear there is no way an Android has any (human) rights, it's a machine! Classic sci-fi, which like a fair bit of 20th century sci-fi, does not age well. 6.5 out of 12.

2010 read; 201 read

Welcome to San Francisco in 2021 (this was the far future back when this was written)!

Meet Mr. Rick Deckard, bounty hunter for the city police department, employed to track and "retire" androids that are hiding amongst "real" human beings. The problem with the androids is, of course, finding them as the models have become more and more convincing. Some don't even know that they are androids (it depends on their programming).
Another, perhaps even worse problem: What if empathy is what distinguishes US from THEM, but you're not supposed to feel empathy for your assignments?!
This novel is proudly presented to you by the religion of the future, Mercerism, and is sponsored by electric pets since almost all real animals on Earth have become extinct after WWT (World War Terminus) which has left the planet crippled by dust and fallout. The smart people have left Earth a while ago, emmigrating to places like Mars (though some say it's not what the ads promise - shocker, I know).

It was a bit weird that nobody remembered how WWT had come about, who fought, who did the most damage etc since we were also told that it had happened only about one human lifetime ago or not even that. On the other hand, considering how many drugs these people must be on, it wouldn't surprise me if their memory was busted in general.
And then there are the mood organs - little external (artificial) devices that you dial your emotions with. Wanna excitedly enjoy whatever is on television? There's a setting for that. Wanna be calmly professional, childishly joyful or talk in a way that puts others to sleep? There are settings for that. Wanna be thankful for the superior intelligence of your husband (or, rather, he wants you to)? There's a setting for that too. And yes, to me, that was the most creepy aspect of the novel.

But there are other "uplifting" aspects of this dystopian society such as how disabled people are treated or who is considered "damaged" and therefore not allowed to emmigrate.

And then there is this weird obsession with animals. I, myself, am an animal lover and a cat mom. Nevertheless, all these animals (artificial and real) kept on roofs of giant apartment complexes? That's just plain weird. Just like their Sydney List (where descriptions and price lists are given). At first I liked that the current major religion wanted people to care for and be good to animals, but seeing as not being rich or lucky enough meant not getting into God's Mercer's good books, I revised my opinion very soon.

In general, the theme of this book is real vs fake, right down to what makes humans "real" and androids "fake". We see it in the lies every person lives: they set their moods to whatever is expected instead of actually feeling anything, they buy artificial animals if they can't afford real ones just so they don't lose face in front of their neighbours (and God Mercer), and let's not forget that any of humanity's creations will always be, at least in part, a reflection of humanity itself so the androids' lack of empathy (one of the few ways how you can determine if one is an android or not) can actually be regarded as a disease in this society as well. You can pretend to care but that doesn't mean you actually do (which is exactly what the bounty hunters' test for androids is all about).

One can read the author's own beliefs into this novel or see certain later developments as symbolic for various personality disorders and psychological traumata. It's up to the reader and I like the ambiguity of that as much as the one about what this version of humanity actually is, what's happened in the past - what it all means.

Funnily enough, like most people who know both, I, too, prefer the movie. *lol* Not just because of the action/pacing. I also understand why they decided not to include the deeper musings on spirituality in the movie as that would probably have been relatively difficult to convey and wasn't necessary for the movie's plot.

Anyway, so far, this is my favourite of PKD's stories and I'm glad I got the audio version narrated by the impeccable Scott Brick!

Non essere triste, scienza

“Dovunque andrai, ti si richiederà di fare qualcosa di sbagliato. È la condizione fondamentale della vita essere costretti a far violenza alla propria personalità. Prima o poi, tutte le creature viventi devono farlo. È l'ombra estrema, il difetto della creazione, la maledizione che si compie, la maledizione che si nutre della vita. In tutto l'universo”.

Gli androidi vogliono assomigliare agli esseri umani e confondersi con essi, per questo sembrano più umani della nostra specie, anche nella malvagità: vogliono riscattarsi dalla condizione di “cose” e costituiscono così una comunità speciale, sottoumana, che rappresenta i valori di chi è perseguitato e privo di diritti. Quindi Rick Deckard, di professione cacciatore di taglie, addetto cioè al ritiro delle unità cibernetiche ribelli, inizia a interrogarsi su cosa in esse o in se stesso sia distintivo, unico e irriducibile. Quale sostanza, come l'empatia assente che si misura tramite altri strumenti informatici, sia sufficiente a differenziarle in quanto inorganiche. La visione del destino di Dick è oscuramente pessimista: c'è stata una guerra che ha costretto gli uomini a colonizzare lo spazio e la condizione di schiavitù è irredimibile per ogni soggetto che abita la narrazione con le scelte, il desiderio e le necessità; il sé nel mondo degli androidi è divenuto innaturale e l'amore è tutto rivolto verso l'inanimato. L'entropia progredisce verso l'annientamento, e labili e elusive sono le tracce che motivano gli uomini a mantenersi integri e determinati. È una storia che dura un giorno e una notte: portare a termine il compito di killer legale e fuggire verso un altrove con la fragile e amata moglie, fuori da un sogno, da uno scenario artificiale, da un deserto arido e smisurato. Dick oppone al simulacro apocalittico il filo di una narrazione intensa e pericolosa, la trasformazione del mondo inumano in una testimonianza di estreme e poetiche sequenze di parole. Il coraggio invisibile di Deckard non gli risparmia la sconfitta, l'orgoglio insopprimibile dei duplicati non impedisce alla polvere di prevalere su essi: annicchiliti dal continuo, gli uni e gli altri sono così interconnessi da non essere più in grado di comprendersi e nemmeno di soffrire.