| Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep -------------------------------------------------------------- by Karla Friscia __Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? illustrates man's constant quest for feeling in an unfeeling world. The Earth had been decimated by war, most of its occupants migrated to colonies on other planets. Of those humans remaining on Earth, there are few who are classified as "regulars." Most of the remaining population are "specials", their genetic make-up mutated by the radioactive dust that has blanketed the planet. __On this infertile, mutated soil, a new religion thrives. This religion is called Mercerism, a religion in which the humans who ascribe to are supposedly able to join and experience one another's joys and sorrows through a device called an empathy box. This empathy box is one of the only ways "specials" are allowed to interface with other human beings, as their status in many other respects separates them from the rest of humankind. They are unable to emigrate and unable to hold many jobs as well. The empathy box is one of their only means to feel any sort of joy or sorrow from interfacing with other human beings. __Empathy boxes aren't the only machines from which human beings are able to utilize to gain feeling. Some families are the proud owners of "Penfield Mood Organs", machines which are used to dial for any mood or feeling imaginable, from "self- accusatory depression" to "ecstatic sexual bliss." This machine is yet another illustration for the need for feeling, no matter how ersatz, in a world where humanity is separated and fragmented. When there aren't any people around to evoke emotion, those human's remaining still strive toward feeling in any way possible. __Perhaps the least ersatz way for humankind to find feeling on Earth is to own an animal. The doctrine of Mercerism edicts the ownership of any living animal, no matter how small allows one to honorably fuse with Mercer though the empathy box. The only time Dekkard, our main character seems to experience any emotion of his own is in one way or another connected to the ownership of an animal. His main drive throughout the book is the want to replace his electronic animal with a real one. His means to an end is the ìretirementî or extermination of organic androids escaped to earth. Though his need to kill these androids brings him much pain and self loathing, his belief that a real animal will be his one true road to happiness overshadows all other feelings he experiences. __In fact, one of the ways Deckard is able to differentiate between these organic androids and human beings is the detection of a certain feeling (or lack thereof). The lack of the emotion empathy, which the religion of Mercerism is based upon, indicates an android existence as opposed to a human one. Though it causes Deckard great stress to "retire" these androids, which think and bleed and appear to be very much like humans, he does so anyway through his quest for positive feeling through the possession of a live animal. __Overall, Dick's novel seems to illustrate the quest for feeling in all forms. Although the feelings may not always be positive, each individual, whether through machines or action is driven by the quest to feel in a world where life is scarce. Since feeling is intrinsic to being alive, the quest for feeling is synonymous with the quest for life. |