Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick

So many of my favourite films have their origins in works by Phillip K. Dick, so it is with some degree of shame that I admit this was the first book of his I have actually read. First published in 1968 (making it part of New Wave SF) I can see why it's considered a classic. The inspiration for the Blade Runner franchise, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep easily surpasses its derivative films even though they are great too. This is the second book from The Essential Cyberpunk Reading List and I can see why they say it was an important forerunner to the genre.

.::[FIRST IMPRESSIONS]::.

I bought it second-hand so I was a little disappointed when I got the 2017 Del Rey edition - but that's pretty superficial of me. I had re-watched the original Blade Runner a couple of weeks prior so I had the general gist of the story reasonably fresh in my mind. From the blurb on the back I was immediately intrigued by the World War that drove man-kind to the brink of extinction and off-planet as I love post-apocalyptic films. I was excited by the prospect of learning more about androids. 

.::[PART ONE - ANALYSIS]::.

The main plot of the book follows Rick Deckard a bounty hunter charged with retiring rouge androids. The method he uses to identify androids is the Voigt-Kampff Empathy Test. Empathy I would say is one of the main themes of the book, I like how PKD elevates it to the defining feature of what makes one truly human. The religion of the world, Mercerism, is some kind of fusion with a guy named Mercer in which empathy is experienced in some kind of collective experience through a device called an empathy box.

In doing some post reading research of this book to find some interesting things to share I came across the idea of the empathy box being derived from the role television played in creating a more empathetic society which is believed to have contributed to the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960's, the historical context of which this book was first published. The universal love that characterised the counter-culture of the 1960's I would say would be the highest manifestation empathy and it's interesting that PKD decides that what distinguishes humans from androids is that the latter are incapable of feeling or experiencing it.

That being said, TV is differentiated from the empathy box by means of its content. There is only one station and it broadcasts Buster Friendly and his Friendly Friends (SPOILER WARNING) which turns out to be run by androids who aim to discredit Mercerism by revealing him to be a fraud.

This dichotomy between what the empathy box and TV provides is interesting. If we take them together to be the explorations of the role TV in the real world fulfils then we see how it's dual edged. It both discredits and reinforces what makes us human and we should be cognisant of what the media we consume is really trying to achieve - is it bringing us together toward a more empathetic society through shared experiences or seeking to destroy that empathic link we all share.

The other piece of tech in the book that I loved was the Penfield mood organs. As someone who suffers from bipolar I on one hand really want a device that allows me to dial the desired mood. But on the other see how this artificial stimulation of emotion makes us more like androids.

Speaking of androids, I thought it was interesting how PKD gave them four-year life cycles. I wondered whether it was a comment on politicians lacking empathy as it's the same as their term limits.

Degenerate or Emigrate was another concept that I thought was cool. After World War Terminus people emigrated to Mars or stayed on earth because a segment of society were affected making them chickenheads or specials. I think the lesson behind this is it's important to grow and experience new things lest we degenerate. People who never take the time to grow as people should be treated as second-class citizens in my opinion. Stagnation brings damnation.

.::[PART TWO - REVIEW]::.

I loved this book and look forward to reading more PKD in the future. I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the derivative films which in of itself speaks volumes because the films are fantastic too. I thought the last chapter or two were a bit superfluous and attempted to wrap it up too neatly. My favourite part of the book was when Deckard gets arrested and there's questions as to whether he himself is an android, something completely lacking from the film. Overall I'm giving it... 4 out of 5.