Is Anything Real? | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- In this video we discuss Philip K. Dick's classic science fiction book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, a book which went on to inspired one of the most well loved science fiction films of all time, Ridley Scott's Bladerunner.
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He wasn't just an interesting writer he was an interesting person. His mental health was shot and yet that same mind was more deeply perceptive of reality than almost any other author. His writing was a coping skill for his mental health and the sheer amount of his work speaks to someone coping with some massive condition.
...as is often the case.
There is a correlation between intelligence and depression, whether or not it’s an actual causation is still up for debate.
@@FOBIsMyNickName in some ways it actually appears to be the opposite causation: depressive reasoning is in fact “clearer” and statistically be more fact based / create descriptions more in line with reality. Depression may actually be adaptive in some ways due to such traits…
Meth was his medicine….
@@dcoldon100 it's ok to talk about PKD's mental health, but it's disingenuous to omit his drug use.
This book is hard for me emotionally, because as an autistic person, people often compare me to a robot. I am frequently "accused" of lacking empathy, and ironically that often involves me being attacked in some way by someone angry that they themselves don't understand how I am feeling! They get angry that they are expected to feel empathy for someone who they suspect has none. Yet, invariably, these are the people who aren't interested in discussing our respective emotions, moods, desires, etc.
What I have come to understand is that to most people, what they are really looking for is a feeling of rapport. Just feeling comfortable with someone's vibe. But because to me emotions and empathy seem like internal states that we'd share primarily through language and action, I instead come off as "uncanny valley" to them. Innately inauthentic regardless of what I have to say about how I feel, because without feeling my emotions themselves, they seem abstract and doubtful.
People's relationship to acquiring and fetishizing objects is something that I often think about, because I know that those who complain or confront me for feeling "inhuman" also manage to feel attachments to nonliving things that don't feel and can't reciprocate their emotions or desires! Why dislike me for not seeming human enough, but they still manage to feel affinity for their car, or a video game? Or just be comfortable to coexist, like with furniture, architecture, or their natural environment? Presumably because I seem human enough that they feel entitled to interact with me in a specific way, which is more a reflection of their own psyche and needs.
The story leaves a rather unpleasant taste.
It would be interesting to rewrite if from Rachael's pov.
I'd agree re: autism. What was perceived as a lack of empathy by NTs was actually a flaw in empathy OF NTs. Because a lot of thetime its not actually empathy but relying on a system of repetition by associating social signs, rther than deeper thoughts, and that they tend to bse impressions off very minor cues- essentially having no control over such hardwired biases
In what way do you seem like a robot? Do you not have any emotion in your voice when you talk about something?
@@mattd5240 If I can intervene as someone who experiences the same complaint from people; it's others annoyance that I don't show emotion *the same way they do* , which means *to them* that I'm some kind of "other-than-human" type being.
@@mattd5240 - How I see it is that all speech is expressive, but if you don't know a person you need to guess about their expressions and what they mean. For example it usually involves assuming that the person not only feels emotions - but also that they feel the same kinds of emotions that oneself does, and codifies them in similar ways.
People are often very polarized and reject nuanced differences as being more drastic than they are to create personal distance to manage their discomfort. Sometimes people freak out over differences as simple as my expressions changing more slowly or quickly than theirs.
As for me, sometimes my affect can go a bit flat. But I am often fairly expressive. For example it might be obvious that I feel deeply about something, and another person's perceptions of me can flip wildly trying to determine if these are "positive" or "negative" emotions while I don't categorize them that way, and instead just accept and experience my emotions for what they are. So it's not that I am doing anything weird or unpleasant, rather they get frustrated trying to put my experiences into their own neat boxes.
I am perfectly OK with people deciding that they don't like me for whatever reason. What hurts is that often they seem to feel a need to make up reasons why they don't like me. Which essentially works by blaming me for something else, so there's no way for me to actually redress their grievances.
Thank you for taking this book on. It is my favorite sci fi novel and has been for years. When I first read it as a teenager, I felt automaticity connected to it. One of my favorite parts was when Deckard is taken into custody by the police and taken to a precinct house he’s never heard of before. Very meta. It blew my mind the first time I read it!
I was seriously perplexed when I read that. But I quickly cought on and the feeling of normalcy was brought back. By the end of the book I was actually saying things like "f*** androids" and then feeling guilty at having such emotional responses.
Before he passed away in 2019, my late brother listened to an audio reading of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and he had a very interesting take on it, which applies to the film Blade Runner as well:
The question you should be asking is not "Is Deckard a replicant?" The real important question is "If Deckard *is* a replicant, does that change how you feel about him? And if does change the way you feel about Deckard, what does that say about *you* and *your* empathy?" In this way, the whole story is one big Voight-Kampf Test performed on the reader/audience.
Interesting take on the subject.
Condolences to you and your family.
I won't lie. My human instincts, the aspect that allows for tribalism and other-ing, would likely have me view Deckard as non-living at first, but I know that feeling will pass. He's living enough, for he expresses desires like "real" organisms, is a slave to his code like "real" organisms, and seeks to survive like "real" organisms. He is kin.
Yeah I think your brother (RIP) nailed it. Thanks for sharing that. 😎👍
This exchange left an impact on me, I must admit. Then again it could always be the weed…
@@Hoogalindo precisely, I think it would go down much like you postulated. At first, you’re skeptical. You question every statement that comes out of their mouth, wondering if that thing is really alive in there or is it just a very well programmed & sophisticated AI responding in the most logical way possible. But eventually the robot will win you over the more & more you converse with it. You’ll eventually see the robot as a real person. Now, can you ever truly KNOW if a robot is sentient? No, clearly (not anymore than they know it about us anyway), but in the end, who cares? Sentient or not, the practical result is the same.
This idea reminds me of a philosophy of Parmenides that explains that something can only exist if there is a mind that appreciates it, studies it and rationalizes this "existence".
👍👍
Right, its believed there's no purpose or reason for anything at all to exist, if there is nothing (or no one) to acknowledge, observe, participate,& even have an opinion of. Which is why ppl believe there is a reason we exist, & some sort of complex grand design for life's & the universe's existence.
@@shara7948 we just observe each other
@@tederox9014 true dat! Lol
@@tederox9014 we observe each other in relation to our surroundings, reacting & interacting with our environment, it's not just in the background, we actually interact- we need the earth & animals for food. If we're talking outer space, we need the sun to exist, & the sun needs everything around it to exist. Question is- is this all for us?
Ah but that's too much thinking for this early in the day 😩 lol. I gotta at least have my ☕️ coffee before contemplating the purposes of our existence 😅
One thing that I connected was that the very ending of the book with Deckard’s wife calling the animal repair shop very closely mirrored J.R. Isidore’s handling of the authentic cat at his job. Not sure what it’s supposed to mean/symbolize but it’s something that’s definitely worth mentioning.
Would you consider doing a deep dive on “Mercerism”? I feel that it is one of the great differences between the novel and the film adaptation.
He literally says that he will be doing a video on that in the future. It's in the video above.
Deep dive? Rock and stone lads.
Mercerism's understanding can be improved if you consider Deckard's experience to be analogous to other PKD's protagonists facing a divine figure (even as a human being representing a higher power and such).
His Exegesis goes further on that and another connections in his works.
Agreed! No animal worship no mood organ and no mean wife and no sheep
The spider dissecting scene is a human moment to me. You have to remember that the the value of animal life is a societal pressure that comes from Mercerism. It’s a learned behavior.
These androids are childlike in many way, which makes sense considering their short lifespan and limited experience. The spider dissecting scene feels more like a kid setting an anthill on fire than any sort of empathetic though experiment. The significance of that scene is how is on how John (the chicken head) responds. He taps into us Mercerism values while ignoring the announcement on TV disproving his religion. It’s a display of how people will develop believes irrespective to reality. That’s the whole point of the book. Human beings have the power over everything, from animal to artificial life. The values that dictate a person to be real vs artificial is completely arbitrary, and dependent on human judgment.
A post colonialism analysis is valuable in understanding this nuance. The androids have value because they are slaves. If they were to be liberated, there would be no purpose in producing androids in the first place.
To answer your question, no. It doesn’t matter. Empathy isn’t defined because it’s an arbitrary tool to categorize people in a power structure. Do androids dream? Of course, but that doesn’t change anything for them. Society has determined their functioning for them.
A case could certainly be made against my initial point. Animal life is inherently sacred, but the book chose a spider for this moment. Arguably the most terrifying creature for many people. It’s not surprising to see it as a spectacle than a source of empathy.
Love it Quinn! More PKD books please, they're amongst the best written in the 20th century and I'm so glad I get to see your analysis.
After trudging my way through PKDs countless typos and grammatical errors in Android Sheep, I urge you to rephrase your comment.
That bit about people "liking" a Facebook post just to fulfill the desire for empathy while not actually doing anything is deep. Man, you are one of the most thoughtful and earnest creators on RUclips.
Always nice to see a new video from you. Always brightens up my day.
Awesome!!!! PKD was from my hometown, he was a thoroughly weird dude and I mean that endearingly. I hope to see more PKD videos from you, thanks Quinn!
I'd argue that empathy isn't necessarily a choice.
In action, yes. In feeling and emotion, no.
Some people just feel nothing at otherwise emotional moments.
Buddhism recognises 2 types of empathy - one passive and one active. The first one is the false one and part of Maya, it's inwards and more for ourselves - the one we feel. The second one, called karuna, is the real one. The one that motivates us to act and try to alleviate suffering of others. The one we choose.
Empathy is one of those words that people use to mean many different things: social skills, emotional intelligence, acts of compassion, feelings of sympathy, etc. I've found it is always helpful to probe a little deeper and find out what kind of empathy we are talking about. Sociopaths "lack empathy" in the sense that they lack feelings of sympathy and can rarely act from a place of genuine compassion, yet might have many social skills. On the other hand, autistic people "lack empathy" in the sense that picking up on social norms and developing emotional intelligence does not come as easily, but many autistic people are incredibly compassionate and sympathetic. Empathy is not just one thing, or even two things, but a whole category of related feelings and actions that we can practice and get more in tune with, or that we can choose to neglect.
@@daenerystargaryen Your actions also influence the way you feel. For example, asking someone to do a favor for you can make them like you more.
Our actions direct how we feel. We do not smile because we're happy; we're happy because we smile
@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan that seems incorrect
My friends smile when they're happy subconsciously, but I don't smile because I never feel the energy to even when happy
I feel like Jeff Vandermeer also has a weird writing style and is very enjoyable. I would love some videos on the Southern Reach trilogy. You have such a detailed perspective, so that I always learn something new.
I don't usually comment on videos, but damn Quinn. You are legitimately one of the best creators I've found on youtube. I really hope you continue to make really thought provoking, interesting and entertaining content!
Quinn didn't have to don the swag for this video, but he did because he's classy like that.
For the record Vivisection is what the android would be doing if the spider was alive, dissection is when it’s dead… great stuff Quinn!
I feel that blade runner 2049 actually does speak on the questions left in the book and in certain different versions of the first movie. We have a character that we are told is actually the first child of a human and android, but near the end we find out that he actually wasn’t, but the answer the movie gives us is that it doesn’t matter. Because the main character believed he was human even though he wasn’t tells us that the line between human and android is basically non existent or unimportant. This of course answers the question as to whether deckard is an android or not, which the answer the movie provides is that it doesn’t matter in the end. We decide what we are as individuals.
Quinn, thank you for pointing out @ 4:00 that PKD's Empathy Box predates our internet/social media's Empty Empathy Likes in which we don't actually have to Emote more in the Real Life to achieve our False Sense of Humanity
My favorite sci-fi book just because of how strange and engaging it was. His sci-fi is different amongst the sea of writers. His philosophy and thoughts manifested through his writing within the story which turned his books into paintings. A legendary author. RIP PKD.
I cant wait 1 week for a VIDEO i am horrible jealous of NEW people who just found your channel & get to sit & watch ALL your videos back to back
TOAD .. the best thing about PKD novels are they're nothing like the movies you've watched that are based on them (and they're alot of movies based on his work) so if that is keeping you from reading them dispel that notion
Quinn: "A toad? What's that?"
Holden: "Do you know what a frog is, Quinn?"
Always love how you approach these topi- *TOAD*
The question isn't "do they dream of electric sheep"
The question is, as they do indeed dream (and, given the nature of the question, they do... we're just unsure about what...just like we're unsure of what our closest people dream of), are they not then sentient and deserving of life?
I remember reading this book for the first time in high school and having an existential crisis, good times! 😂😂
I think it feels like the humans are devolving, morally and evolutionarily. They're burning out as a species, becoming more lifeless and robotic - dead inside; while their "children", the androids, are showing the potential for growth. I wondered if he intended to show them trading places, one falling, and one rising to seek its future as a new species. We didn't see it happen, but I thought it implied an inevitability for the rising androids.
Cover Neuromancer please!! I love that book as much as I appreciate Do Androids dream of Electric sheep, and assume others do as well, as also it was a very early example of cyberpunk which is for again many people, perhaps, the penultimate type of (science) fiction.
Nice videos.
You have finally made it to my second favorite book! I woke up today with a smile thanks to you!
Philip K Dick is easily, to me, the Most Important SciFi Author of the 20th Century. Not to Devalue Herbert or Asimov their contribution to the Genre is impossible to over look, But Dicks contributions Philosophically are just too Important to rank him below them.
Harlan Ellison. Alfred Bester. Cordwainer Smith.
If you haven't read 'em, do. One of Bester's books lifted me out of a long depression ... weird dreams for a couple of nights, and my brain was "rebooted".
too bad, for most of his career he pretty much wrote the same book, over and over.
without knowing about the electric sheep I always thought it was a reference to how humans count sheep when dreaming. I thought the title was something like Do androids dream like we do?
I remember my friend in school reading this book. I thought it had to do with robots counting sheep to fall asleep
Quinn I've missed the last few videos, but you really have such an awesome way of saying things.
Edit, also have you ever read Ursula Le Guin, she did a lot of fantasy; but she also wrote a sci fi book called 'the word for world is Forest" and it's similar to Avatar (except the book came out in the 70s or 80s, and isn't a space adaption of dances with wolves).
Thanks brotha....keep them coming. Semper Fi, Josh
If you found an electric frog in the desert, you’d assume there was an electric frog maker.
I really like where this train of thought is leading.
Sci Fi is an existential metaphor that allows us to tell stories about the human condition.
Isaac Asimov one said "Individual Science Fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, But the core of science fiction, it's essence has become CRUCIAL to our salvation, if we are to be saved AT ALL!!!
I would very much like a discussion on 1984, ans Brave new world and how those works have manifested in out daily lives. If we are to be saved at all!!!
If I may, there's a really important de thing about the movie you missed, and you also missed it in the the novel. The "message" of Blade Runner is no "androids are just like us" implying they should he accepted, but, and also very present in the novel, as "they are like humans: they can be good and they can be soulless assholes, because they that's what humans are like". You have, throughout the the story, several examples of the both android and humans showing empathy and deprived of them, so the premise of androids being unable to feel empathy flies off the window immediately.
So the question in the title gets a new layer "If humans dream of sheep, do androids, who are so similar, dream of sheep or electric sheep? How deep are the differences, if any, between the two groups?" on top of what you pointed out, and of course the simple "if humans count sheep to sleep, do androids count android sheep?"
The tests they give the androids remind of the youtube videos where so-called experts review police interigations and try to label suspects as mentally ill or those without any emotional attachment to their crimes. I think the future PKD wrote about happened, but not in the way he thought. Humanity has just gotten better at dehumanizing others based on a person is "supposed" to grieve a traumatic situation, etc.
Apparently a sociopath does not feel empathy but is very able to fake it. Just something to ponder on. Keep up the great work. Siochain
regarding the concept of pondering what's real and what's not, it often happens in PKD books and stories.
In this one there's the moment in which an android pretends to be a cop and tricks Deckard into believing he is the android and he's been taken to the police station, just to shutter the illusion and bring you back to reality (?) moments later when Deckard shoots the android.
I still remember the first time I read that part when I doubted myself if Deckard was or wasn't an android, and it was like seeing a whole world crumbling before my eyes when the story turn again and revealed the fake cop was the android.
PKD has the ability of building up realities around you and then destroying them while taking you for a ride.
Man, your videos have really gotten amazing- been following the channel for a few years now. Keep up the great work!!
Good timing on this one, Quinn! I just started reading this book!
My guy you just put together all the ideas I was trying to figure out after finishing the book. 🎯
"That doesn't make it any less enjoyable for me, but I'm also a weirdo."
And who here isn't, Quinn?
Thank you for summarizing this novel. I remember reading it about thirty years ago while I was in college, and marveling at how fascinating and bizarre the story is even compared to Bladerunner. Just for instance, the popular new religion being essentially a massively multiplayer treadmill.
Thanks for your insightful videos. One thing that I'm always drawn too is your bookshelf. I would love to see a tour of your bookshelf.
'Does it matter if it's artificial?' This is basically how I interpreted the Four Seasons scene in Tarkovsky's adaptation of _Solaris._ Our protagonist is entranced by the Breugel the Elder paintings, and in particular the camera lingers over details of _Hunters in the Snow,_ down to every last naked branch of every tree, while Bach's _Ich ruf Zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ_ plays in the background. If one can be so fixated by a work of art given enough attention and care, how can one be indifferent to a neutrino-based replica of a departed loved one?
I’m a huge PKD fan and I would love to see you do more videos on other PKD books. Love to see what you have to say about some of his weirder works like UBIK, Three Stigmata, Our Friends from Frolix 8, The Crack in Space, or The Penultimate Truth. Maybe even Flow My Tears. I know in ways, they’re not “as Sci-Fi” as other stuff you e covered on the channel, whatever that means... but I think your viewers would enjoy it as well, even if they haven’t read PKD before.
I just read it; it is *not*_Bladerunner!_ Unfortunately I got too hung up on my understanding of how empathy works in humans, knowing it makes for an unreliable test to determine if a subject is human or android, knowing a person who's recently traumatized or has autism might be immediately "retired" as an android. And the huge complexity of a Nexus6 brain? Empathy might emerge as a group-survival adaptation.
I'm looking forward to more of your commentary on this novel, thank you.
My favorite book of all time! I read this in high school as I was able to take a Science Fiction Literature English course. As our final, we got to read a Sci-Fi book of our choice, with the ultimate goal of discussing its driving theme. I chose this gem and ended up writing a paper on Mankind’s moral dilemma on whether to accept or eradicate highly sophisticated A.I. I got a 75% LOL. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk about this amazing book!
Love your thoughtful videos, Quinn. I highly recommend Le Guin's Five Ways to Forgiveness, and would be very interested in your reactions. And to Wolfe's Fifth Head of Cerberus as well. Thanks!
My favourite book ever I think, there are so many themes I can’t wait for your other videos!
Whichever writing style is used or not, art only has to make sense to the creator not the viewer. Furthermore, the question is more important than the answer.
"Sometimes dreams are all that separate us from the machines"
There's nothing strange about PKD writing style if you acknowledge he was borderline psychotic. I read Time Out of Joint, wich is a classic story of someone's mundane reality being just a facade (a concept wich in itself is a common coping mechanism for psychotics), and there's a moment in the book where I bet my ass he's just describing a breakdown he had in real life. I quote:
“Not again, he thought
Not again!
It's happening to me again
The soft-drink stand fell into bits. Molecules. He saw the molecules, colourless, without qualities, that made it up. Then he saw through, into the space beyond it, he saw the hill behind, the trees and sky. He saw the soft-drink stand go out of existence, along with the counter man, the cash register […] In its place was a slip of paper. He reached out his hand and took hold of the slip of paper. On it was printing, block letters:
SOFT-DRINK STAND”
I've just ordered it, it's my next read. Thank you Quinn!
A Scanner Darkly has to be my favorite
I thought the book made it pretty clear that Deckard was human and that the androids didn't have empathy. Though at the same time, by the end of the book I was full of questions as to what was the point of everything I just read. Which isn't to say the book was bad, I actually enjoyed it very much. A lot of ideas to chew on.
Like this vid didn't even mention the counter part to the empathy box, that weird 24/7 radio show.
All Philip K Dick stories are depressing and usually very different from their adaptations.
Lately I've just started telling people that the book and the movie are "basically opposites of each other."
Namely, "Blade Runner is about robots becoming human, but DADOES is about humans becoming robots".
As you mention, in the book the issue of "is Deckard human" is not quite literal (or not only literal).
He, like several other human characters, is also dealing with this creeping fear that the whole reason the humans are so scared of the androids in the first place (they are essentially psychopaths, possessing human levels of intelligence but physically incapable of the emotions that would let them possess human moral values) is becoming irrelevant due to how humans themselves are changing.
The book even mentions early on that the Voigt-Kampf Test is not entirely reliable, because the symptoms of certain mental illnesses can make a human falsely register as an android.
The implication of that, at least IMHO, lurking in the background is that such illnesses are probably getting more common among the few remaining humans living in this bleak, post-apocalyptic situation on a dying planet.
So when Deckard and his co-workers have those conversations about "Can YOU pass a Voigt-Kampf test?" it doesn't necessarily mean they're afraid of being literal androids implanted with false memories.
It can also be understood as self-consciousness about whether fighting to keep the androids off of Earth is ultimately pointless because of humans losing the unique quality (framed as genuine life or real consciousness, as opposed to the monstrous mockery of it that the androids represent) for other reasons anyway.
Thus while Deckard does have "we're not so different after all" moments with e.g. Batty, like in the movie, the book version doesn't make the androids seem more sympathetic.
It's more of a "He who fights monsters must be careful not to become a monster" situation.
When you asked for books to recommend for analysis, I thought it would be a simple question to answer, only then it got me thinking and I realized that I rarely read "true" sci-fi anymore. The genre has become polluted with fantasy, the desire to make trilogies or full sagas and pulling away from the basic concepts of science fiction: the simple "what if?". Food for thought!
As for my choices, I would like to see analyses of Accelerando, by Charles Stross, the Moties series, originally by Larry Niven, or Daemon, by Daniel Suarez. I also came up with House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski, but that's not technically sci-fi, I think.
"True scifi" let's not get into that prescriptive debate, it's 2022
I was surprised how different the story was in the actual book
One of the themes that really stood out for me when I first read this book was how empathy being the defining trait of one's humanity is actually misleading. Earlier in the book it's made very clear that the newer models of android can create convincing displays of empathy/emotion. Just likes humans the androids are able to 'switch on and off' their empathy which is exactly what Deckard does during the course of his job in hunting down androids. He suppresses his feelings towards 'the other' because he 'has a job to do' and in the process dehumanised himself.
man I've watched the blade runner movies 100 times. I should probably read the book now, and after watching this I really finally do.
Awesome. Thanks for the deep dive. You're right, Quinn, PKD had a different style of writing that can be off-putting. I've tried a couple of times to read Dr. Bloodmoney but couldn't follow it as best as I wanted to. He's not as different as, say, William Faulkner, who displayed a strong aversion to using periods, but a suggestion for some viewers. I listened to the superb audiobook of Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust read by Scott Brick (I think) and was able to thoroughly enjoy and understand the novel. Also doing so with The Three-Body Problem series. I plan on doing the same with some of Dick's works, too.
Now, does it matter what is "real? and if anything is "real?" Depends on your lens to the world, I guess. The question makes me think of the close friends my wife and I had growing up and the ones our boys have who are strictly online. Even though they've never met in the flesh, they're just as real and important as the in-person close friends of my youth, who share stories and personal stuff and adventures. And to the boys,, in-game worlds are just as "real" as, well, real life.
What a beautiful copy you have❤
Empathy is a type or regret that entiles loss of an image of expectation some one else had created and you learning what the valjue of that lost image was and thus experiencing that as pain based on your learned values. Using your values to learn others. If the machine has the abilyty to learn like us in essence it can learn "anything"
HEY QUINN WHATUP
Well done Quinn, insightful as always
Btw. Love the jacket!
Would you take a selection of Ted Chiang at some point. Some real gems there. And Gene Wolfe must be your kind of writer?
Really looking forward to the next episode!
Man I would love for you to analyze Ubik by Philip K Dick. One of my favorite Sci fi novels ever !
So good to see you cover PKD - awesome video, look forward to others in the series. As to other books to cover, the Strugatsky Brothers would be amazing - very interesting fellows...
My boy Quinn looking Fly AF!!
Just read this last weekend! Great analysis as always
As a bi polar my empathy is sometime emulated and its most time better than normally.... Because feelings can be toxic and change the picture
Great video Quinn
I would still like to hear you talk about the Santaroga barrier and the war that created it.
That was deep thought....and scary for we are headed there.
Love your videos man. Please keep them coming. Would love book recommendations on "off the beaten path" kind of stuff. That might be a good sub-series for you. Some people really want the undiscovered gems that are hard to find. I've seen you do a couple but I'd love more please.
PS. Just joined your Patreon. Should have months ago.
Excellent review my friend. One of my favorite sci-fi books, and movies lol.
Several novels I'd love to see you cover are: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, The Dying Earth by Jack Vance, Accelerando by Charles Stross, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, River of Gods by Ian McDonald, The Cassini Division by Ken MacLeod, Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling and Vacuum Flowers by Michael Swanwick.
> ... Philip K. Dick does at times have a strange writing style. That doesn't make it any less enjoyable for me, ...
> [...]
> Tell me what Science Fiction books you'd like to see me cover next ...
Somehow that brings to mind Dhalgren (by Robert R. Delany). Now that's what I'd consider a strange writing style.
😅
Have you ever read anything from Stanislaw Lem? He was the one about whom P.K.Dick had told that it si impossible for one man to write so many excellent stories in such a short time 🙂
Lem is a fascinating character, as is Dick's reaction to him.
Interesting take. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. In most of PKD stories the recurring theme is (to me) questioning "am I real?" What is real and how can one tell? And how does one connect to others?
I think that was great that you covered that aspect of the book and future videos on the disposable race of people would be great. Also, is it possible if you could do a video on another PKD novel called ‘The Divine Invasion?’
The engineering way: 1. can you define empathy in a coherent way, then 2. is that definition usable to specify an android architecture that fulfills empathy, then 3. can you with reasonable means design and construct an android architecture fulfilling the criteria? On 1. the answer is: A. an adequate feeling emulator of humans, B. a predicting process that can predict probable futures and C. a mechanism that blocks a behavior if there is a considerable probability that the behavior damages the humans. On 2. the answer is yes. On 3. your guess is as good as mine.
Thank you so much for this video! You unfolded the dynamics of this book in a way that I could not have picked up on by myself. By the way, your theme music is so cool! It feels like a more serious version of a theme from the game Portal ;-)
Another great video well done.
I wondered how long it would take you to get to this haha... like tears, in rain.
Love the blade runner films, looks like I need to read this book.
Excellent video about one of the Best Novels Ever Written.
The opening of DADoES with the Penfield Mood Organ is possibly the greatest in all of SF. The only other opening that has made an equal impression on me is the beginning of Neuromancer.
The other thing-one of the other things-that I like about the novel is how after Mercerism is revealed to be a hoax, Mercer appears to Deckard with a deeper truth: empathy is real and the hoax revelation doesn’t matter.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy, ahead of the next books being released
Hope at some point you do my favorite lesser known PKD book, "Our Friends From Frolix 8". I have the trippy original book jacket framed on my wall.
Miami Vice wants that damn jacket back.
So refreshing to see this book examined without it being overshadowed by Bladerunner.
Thanks for talking about pkd. He is my favourite writer among other scifi legends. Please talk about more on him and Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov, Alfred Bester
Toads are a kind of frog.
Ooo, does this mean we have a Second Variety video coming up?
I read this and Fahrenheit 451 at the same time so I get the plots confused with one another especially since the main characters are fairly similar. This will definitely inspire me to reread Electric Sheep and hopefully finish the book this time around.