Weekend Buff

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

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

Philip K Dick is considered one of the best science fiction novelists of all time. If you haven’t heard of him, you are certainly familiar with his work. His stories have been made into numerous movies including Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, The Man in the High Castle, Screamers, Total Recall, and Blade Runner.

Blade Runner is based on his short novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and it’s our recommendation for this week’s installment of Weekend Buff.

Philip K Dick (PKD) sets many of his novels, including this one, in the future. Dystopian police stories are a frequent topic of his writing and is the basis of this novel. Our protagonist is Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter/investigator for the San Francisco Police Department in the year 2021 (you just missed it).

Earth is feeling the effects of World War Terminus; a nuclear event that caused planetwide destruction and spurred immigration to Mars and other worlds. Little survives on earth as numerous species have been driven extinct by the radioactive fallout. The people left living on earth are critical workers and those so mentally damaged by the radiation that they are not worth relocating.

To accomplish the mission of mass migration, androids were created as slave laborers to build new societies. They are outlawed on earth. The androids have become so lifelike and so intelligent that they often spurn their masters in the pursuit of freedom. They have adapted emotions with the exception of one. Empathy. They can only mimic empathy, they cannot feel it, cannot understand it.

And that is their weakness. Bounty hunter Rick Deckard is assigned to locate and “retire” androids who have escaped to earth. He runs complex empathy tests on suspects and “retires” them with a laser blast to the head - in exchange for a substantial reward.

The book has many underlying themes. The value of animal life and pets as a status symbol, the conflict between religion and popular culture, the value of every life, and the definition of humanity.

But to me the most significant theme is the book’s study of empathy. Deckard is a hardened cop. He kills androids regularly, saving the bounties to afford a real live pet. He kills creatures to buy a creature. He initially does not recognize this irony, but as time goes on and his body count mounts, he begins to feel empathy for the quasi-living androids – although he does not know why. It gets to the point where he feels he can no longer do his job.

But androids are machines, they feel no empathy, so why can’t he go about his job with no remorse. The theme likely hits close to home for many cops. Mentally hardened by one terrible situation after another, it is easy to slip into a callous state of mind. Looking at perps as less than people, despising the way some individuals live, dreading the next domestic with horrible human beings and their screaming kids, it’s easy to lose your empathy towards people.

Although Deckard’s feelings are not quite the same, the book is an interesting study in police work and humanity.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? runs about 200 pages, and it’s a quick read. PKD is not verbose and not a sesquipedalian (ironically, I had to hunt for that word). He gets to the point and keeps the reader engaged. You can find the book in most library apps or order it on Amazon for about $10. Take a look at a post-apocalyptic world and the poor souls who inhabit it. If you don’t have empathy for them – you might be an android.!

Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe!