Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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In Philip K. Dicks world of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, life has become a precious commodity. But, the definition of what life entails has become very vague. A new hierarchal order has been set up to rank a particular lifes value. Humans still reign supreme, at least in theory, but the exaltation and protection they place on an animals existence in this futuristic society closely shadows, and even trumps, that of another human being. Far beneath animals, is a close race between “chickenheads”–humans of less than average intelligence and virility– and Androids , a completely organically made slave class, created for those humans “wise” enough to flee Earth. But on this futuristic Earth full of Human rebels who refused to leave, human rejects forced to stay, and renegade androids escaping Martian servitude, humanity is becoming harder and harder to discern.
Human nature in Dicks future reality is much the same, but slightly warped. First and foremost is their instinctive animalistic trait for survival. These humans are the ones that made it through World War Terminus and continue to live on a residually radioactive planet, so their survival instincts have taken over and arguable lessen their other aspects of gentile humanity. The society values of these times are also radically different from pre-war times. In so small a population, social status has become even more important to attain. And the way to attain said statues is by owning, or at least convincing others that you own, a real and living animal. Some traits, however, are still as strong, but less understood. The paternal need to care for another being is still strong ingrained in humanity, but most of this caring drive has been diverted from other people to animals instead. So, the disintegration and mutation of these humanistic traits make it hard for Rick Deckard to do his job, to hunt down and “retire” renegade androids in his city. The only semblance of human nature left that he depends on is empathy, something androids had never before been able to recreate. But, with the way things are going with the advancement of androids and the dehumanizing of people, his job has become harder than ever before.
Unsurprisingly, if the basic under workings of human nature are changing, human relationships are changing, too. Deep, caring human connections are rare. People, due to the survival instinct, are more competitive minded and, as such, more judgmental. Never does Rick Deckard ever really mention anyone as a dear friend. He only refers to a neighbor to up show in animal ownership, or a coworker to outdo, or a wife to resent for spending his hard earned money. Early on in the story we find that he doesnt really care about his wife, nor does she really care about him. They are just going through the motions of what should be a mutually caring relationship. The only thing he ever mentioned loving, or anyone else he knew ever loving, was an animal. Empathy, the only human characteristic depended upon, is ever rare between people. It actually is a forced emotion, brought on by use of a Mercerism empathy box. The only empathic thought made for others is when people are superficially and supernaturally connected with them. Being human, Rick already struggles with empathy, but also being a bounty hunter, forces him to forgo the feeling entirely in the case of androids. So, how human can an android hunter really claim to be?
Androids, on the other hand, have not had the same long evolutionary process as humans. There “nature” is not natural at all. In fact, it is completely manmade. They were created for the sole purpose of serving humans. They were given life simply to be given as an incentive for people to move off of Earth. Humans gave them the basic components of existence: a body, a brain, intelligence, memories; and then left the rest of development up to chance, and