In short
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Is a postmodernist science fiction novel set in a post-apocalyptic world void of animals which is covered in dust…
“those who could not survive the dust had passed into oblivion years ago” (2007, 1)
Humans remaining on the Earth (who haven’t already emigrated to Mars) experience and manage their everyday void of life in different ways.
“From the useless pole lamp in the living room it oozed out, meshing with the empty and wordless descent of itself from the fly-specked ceiling. It managed in fact to emerge from every object within his range of vision, as if it – the silence meant to supplant all things tangible” (2007, 16)
Silence, lack of hope, of the realisation of the enormity and totality of their reality. In a society where citizens rely on a Mood Organ to eradicate the ability to ‘sense the absence of life’ (2007, 2) Where the most common mental illness is suffering from what is termed ‘absence of appropriate affect.’
*Modern day reduced affect can be symptomatic of schizophrenia, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, depersonalization disorder*
“At his console he hesitated between dialing for a thalamic suppressant (which would abolish his mood of rage) or a thalamic stimulant (which would make him irked enough to win the argument).” (2007, 2)
Humanity which cannot feel and relies on mood augmentation raises interesting questions around whether assimilated or programmed emotional responses are truly real, looking to Bauldrillard’s work on Simulacra and Simulation, it is easy to postulate that if you rely on a machine to stimulate feelings, then those feelings cannot be real. Pushing Bauldrillard’s theory further, by using the Penfield Mood Organ, Dick has created a ‘hyperreality’ as there is no discernible way to signify whether any subsequent action or activity (as a result of simulating emotional responses) is genuinely intended or not. A species programmed to behave and think in a controlled and predetermined way.
Imagine living in a society where you relied on a device to argue and communicate with one another through… oh wait, we do. P.K Dick’s science fiction world can be likened to a meme war or shamed wall on social media. Just like present day couples furiously texting, becoming more and more enraged, Rick and his Wife Iran have their first conflict.
“If you dial,” Iran said, eyes open and watching, “for greater venom, then I’ll dial the same. I’ll dial the maximum and you’ll see a fight that makes every argument we’ve had up to now seem like nothing. Dial and see; just try me.” She rose swiftly, loped to the console of her own mood organ, stood glaring at him, waiting.
The destabalising issue here is one of reliance, to exist in a society where a device reproduces or creates emotional response paired with the consumption of mass media and TV which acts to desensitize and evoke a loss of affectivity. The human paradox of Androids is actualised. Paradoxically there is another defamiliarising aspect underlying all of this which is the all too familiar realisation that Dick’s novum (a Penfield mood organ) is a common sight in the 21st century. Mood augmentation through plugging in and connecting up has become a reality from postmodernist fiction.
During their argument in the first chapter, Rick dutifully dials what is required while Iran challenges and admits she has been experimenting with her mood organ. Rick Deckard and his wife Iran have an interesting if not contradictory approach to using the Penfield, Rick submits and dutifully dials, while Iran has a deeper commitment and understanding towards being in tune with her ‘real’ feelings and emotional state.
“My schedule for today lists a six-hour self-accusatory depression,” Iran said. “What? Why did you schedule that?” It defeated the whole purpose of the mood organ. (2007, 2).
Kevin R. McNamara (1997) picks up on the marital shadows cast by the mood organ by highlighting that by the end of the novel ‘harmony between Rick and Iran has been restored’ . McNamara continues that “If she once had refused to dial 594 on her mood organ (“pleased acknowledgement of her husband’s superior wisdom” {7}), and he once has wished he had “gotten rid of her” because “nothing penetrates” her anymore({81}; himself included?)”
McNamara suggests that “At his final homecoming Iran declares herself “damn glad” that he has returned “home where {he} ought to be” {208}. He retires for some “{l}ong deserved peace” without first dialing 670 on his own Penfield {209}. As Rick and Iran finally abandon the media apparatus, authentic emotion, and unmediated reality along with it, appears ready for a comeback. It seems likely that they will have sex again and maybe even have children. Most importantly, these final events occur in “real time”, as expression of their authentic biological and emotional needs. The novel thereby humanizes Deckard at the same time that it reinstates traditional gender roles.” (1997)
Our ability as humans to experience the world through augmented reality has opened up a whole new aspect of existing. The recent craze over reality TV speaks of a trending trope of what it is to be human and what reality really is. In truth it is subjective, we don’t really know what makes you – ‘you’. This is a societal concern which has risen up through postmodernist fiction which employs techniques such as intertextuality & using interwoven narratives; take our own reality and a sub plot of Rick Deckard’s – they aren’t a million miles away. Blend in a pastiche of 1960’s fears and hysteria about the cold war and emerging technology and we have a real life – present day – sci fi inspired narrative.
A hallucinatory filter over a red tree. Spot the animals. Photograph: Google
And in answer to the question Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Yes.
Dick, P. K. (2007) Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep? The Spartan Press Ltd: Lymington, Hants.
McNamara, K.R. (1997) Blade Runner’s Post-Individual Worldspace and Philip K. Dick’s Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep?
A full pdf of P.K. Dick’s ‘Do Andriod’s Dream of Electric Sheep?’ can be found here.
A Penfield in every palm... 