Saturday, December 15, 2007

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick (1968)

The value of all non-human life is made explicit in Sidney's price guide, but Decker here struggles with the relative value of human and android. Humans are barely functional, bickering chickenheads attached to empathy machines while the "andys" strive to their own version of empathy and civilization.

A state-run media religion called Mercerism inculcates group empathy through technology emplacements. The appropriately named Al Jarry serves as the unknowing figurehead for worship.

Unlike the film, humans and androids alike are not pretty. Their are either dieased and half-witted or eccentric and oddly-proportioned. Clever idea not played out the movie: Pris and Rachel are identical models - impossible to distinguish.

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