Notice: This will contain spoilers for the following media:
-
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
-
Blade Runner
Overview
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a dystopian sci-fi story written by Philip K. Dick and published in 1968. In this story, we get a glimpse of west coast living in a future where global nuclear war has greatly damaged all Earth at every level of life.
Due to this damage, a significant number of animal species have become endangered or outright extinct. For a majority of this experience, we follow the daily life of one Rick Deckard, whose name will sound very familiar to anyone who has seen either Blade Runner or its sequel, Blade Runner 2049. If you have seen the original Blade Runner, many of the story beats will echo as you get a glimpse at just how much bigger the problems have become for the characters.
For a book first published in 1968, at the time of this writing approaching 60 years ago, the way the setting and technology is portrayed left a somewhat uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. This is because while a lot of the book leverages vague descriptions of mechanics to avoid creating a world of technology that could never be, it’s quite unnerving once I realized that by and large we are still marching towards the future described therein.
When Emotions Become Television Channels
In a futuristic world with flying cars and life-like mechanical animals, it comes as no surprise that other somewhat frightening technology will have emerged. The primary technology that composes the primary motivator for the novel are androids so realistic they can pass as human. In this world, however, technology much more frightening to me exists. One such innovation in this world is called a “mood organ”. By operating this device, a user can stimulate their brain into any emotional state. That is to say once engaged, this device will immediately alter your brain’s state to reflect the desired mood, regardless of current or previous emotions. A good portion of the first chapter explores the broad combinations of moods the device can stimulate.
While technology has advanced to the point where humans can selectively experience particular emotions, the tech of this world has advanced equally as far from the opposite side of the spectrum. Androids who originally could be picked out easily from a crowd are now borderline impossible to identify, save for a bone marrow analysis and the empathy test similarly employed by the two Blade Runner films previously mentioned. Shifting focus to the previously existing human life, we begin to understand just what the potential ramifications await a planet ravaged by nuclear war.
As a result of the nuclear blasts, massive amounts of radiation still taint a majority of the planet. Both humans and animals alike are left dealing with the repercussions. For man, fertility problems and mental capacity have begun to wreck the long-term survival of the species. While incredibly bleak, it’s largely overshadowed by how the rest of the animal kingdom of the world.
The effects of the blasts were exponentially worse for animals at large, with entire species being eradicated. As a result, owning one of the few animals that still live is seen as a status symbol. If one cannot afford the actual animal, the alternative is to buy a life-like mechanical version of it instead. Most people in this world are encouraged to own some type of animal, as it increases empathy in accordance with a philosophical line of reasoning in this world dubbed “Mercerism”.
Mercer the Martyr
If you’ve played any VR game, then you’re just a few steps away from experiencing Mercerism yourself. In this religion, participants partake in a collective experience. That experience is of a man named Wilbur Mercer. To participate, followers grip two handles of a machine called an empathy box, which then links every user to Wilbur Mercer as he repeats a climb to the top of a hill while being pelted by stones from above. Users experiencing this can occasionally feel the influence of other participants, and even the pain of the stones as they strike the character they inhabit. This in combination with the owning of rare or exotic animals are what give the people of this world a sense of fulfillment and meaning.
The Characters
The portrayal of Rick Deckard in this novel was surprisingly fresh, even though I had seen the character in action throughout the Blade Runner film. This is largely due to several big changes that the film made, likely for the sake of tightening up the plot to the specific story beats. I’d argue the biggest change and the most impactful one came in the first chapter, with the addition of Deckard having a wife.
By simply adding a character whose relationship to Deckard is already established, in addition to being privy to his behavior and emotions gave me as a reader an entirely new perspective to the character of Rick Deckard. It also re-contextualized my understanding of his character, and made me excited to see just how it plays into the overall narrative I expected the story to take based on my bias from seeing Blade Runner first.
This of course is in reference to the relationship that Deckard builds with Rachael, a woman who has relations with Deckard at one point during the story. While it did not have a significant impact in the overall plot, it painted Deckard’s character in a different light than Blade Runner. I assume this portion was removed as it did not immediately benefit the narrative that the movie was attempting. I’ve noticed that this tends to be a very specific trend commonplace in movie adaptations, sometimes at the expense of hamstringing either the characters or their motivations.
Final Ramblings Thoughts
It’s hard to describe the feeling I had realizing that some of my favorite works are from a time so long ago that my parents’ could have read them when they were my age or younger. On one hand it shows that the characters, setting and plot have the staying power to cross generations. On the other, it makes me sad that I have yet to encounter other truly engaging works from my own lifetime. The only book I could recall that engaged me so immediately and incessantly would have to be Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. Speaking of which, I really ought to get back to reading that series, as there are two more novels I have yet to begin reading, and my opinion is still subject to change pending my completion of them.
I’m sure with enough digging I can scrounge up another novel or series that enraptures me so, but for the time being I think I’ll just enjoy the bliss that this book gave me and continue digging through the archives of older series that I will probably also come to love.