P.K Dick 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a science fiction novel written by Philip K. Dick in 1968. The setting of the novel is in the future which is post-apocalyptic, following the nuclear war, World War Terminus. The population and Earth have been damaged significantly as a consequence of the war. As a result of the radiation the majority of the animals are either extinct or endangered, which means ownership of animals signifies status in the novel.  Dick puts great emphasis on the human emotion of empathy and portrays this through the way humans react to animals.  The novel focuses on Rick Deckard, who is a bounty hunter confronted with the job of “retiring” six fugitive Nexus (the most innovative type of android). A parallel plot shadows John Isidore who is a man with a below average intellect who assists the escapee androids. Joining Deckard’s assignment the novel looks at the concept of being human and differing from humans, the androids lack empathetic emotions. Fundamentally, Deckard analysers the significant qualities which distinguish humans and androids.

This critical essay will apply two central postmodern theories to the analysis of  the novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’. These theories include Adorno’s ‘The Culture Industry (1944) and Baudrillard’s ‘Simulacra and Simulations’ (1981) which both give an illuminating understanding about how the novel demonstrates a postmodern approach to society and in particular consumerism. Baudrillard suggests that society is ‘sheltered from reality’ and believes that the reality of society is fabricated by the mass media to an extent that a ‘real’ reality is unobtainable. Consequently, the culture industry simulates reality by using the media to imitate the way that they believe people should behave and how society should look. In the novel Adorno and Baudrillards views and theories on simulation can be evidently distinguished. For instance, Dick has used simulation as an important theme in the novel through the blurring of what is reality and what is not, an example of this is the simulated humans and animals. In the novel the androids, which are reproductions of one another, although they do not have an original, are manufactured by large corporations on a mass level, “custom-tailored humanoid robot – designed specifically for YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS FOR YOU AND YOU ALONE” (p.14). The absence of individualism that the androids have is a principal illustration of post-modernism and maintains the interpretation that the androids are a simulation, as a result of them being a copy of a human being ‘humanoid’, although they bear a great resemblance to actual human beings in reality they are not.

Also Adorno’s belief about the power that the culture industry holds, he believes that the media through measures like the television are “stunting consumers powers of imagination”(p.1039), specifically the media influence through television can be identified in the novel by means of the prominence of the ‘Buster Friendly’ television program and the impact which this has on the characters (Bernstein,1991). The fact that the television program in the novel is simplified and  is presented by the character ‘Buster Friendly’ who ironically takes the form of a clown,  rather than a television program which gives the characters stimulation and the opportunity to think, helps to convey this point clearly.

Adorno’s idea that individuals are related to statistics that are separated by ways such as income and intelligence groups is supported in the novel. Also the fact that these groups of individuals are imposed by the media influence and constant advertising is made clear. For example, the different character groups are divided by social status in the novel which is established through level of intelligence and quality of reproduction. Similar to the way that individuals in Western society are subjected to the culture industry “twenty-three unbroken warm hours a day” (p.63) in the novel the characters who are the ‘consumers’ are ambushed with advertisements  and propaganda, “Emigrate or Degenerate! The choice is yours!” (p.6) that Adorno proposed. The television program which is promoting the prospect of emigration is supporting the large organisations who are manufacturing the androids in the novel. The organisations in charge of manufacturing the products are those that hold the power over society, this is comparable to the way that the media and television programs promote certain products in society. 

Adorno’s opinion that “the ideology underlying all forms of mass culture is one that supports the existing power structures in society” (Butler, 2005), can also be identified within the text. For example, the companies in the novel which produce androids such as the Rosen Association are even influenced by the government, “control inordinate power, he thought. This enterprise is considered one of the system’s industrial pivots” (p.38), which in this case offered individuals an android as motivation to leave for Mars “Emigrate or Degenerate!” (p.6). This confirms Adorno’s idea that the organisations who hold the power, including the government have influence through the media. Adorno’s argument is further demonstrated in the text by Deckard who states that,  “The manufacture of androids…has become so linked to the colonization effort that if one dropped into ruin, so would the others in time” (p.36). This portrays that the government and the individuals in authority and interweaved economically together with the organisations in society like in the novel.

In numerous ways Dick has accurately predicted modern society which shows that even though the novel was written in 1968 it is not out dated and can still be applied to contemporary society. For example, the borders between what is reality and hyperreality have evidently blurred, similar to how Baudrillard anticipated, each stage of society's presence has been defused by simulacrum and this has been mirrored through the characters in the novel. The theme of reality can be identified within the book and in particular the difficulty which the characters have in differentiating between whether or not certain things are real in the novel.  For example, in the text when the character Isidor could not tell if an animal he was repairing was real or not, “the fakes are beginning to be darn near real” (p.67). This demonstrates the way that Dick presents the concept of simulation and the difficulty that individuals have in separating the simulation from reality. This connects with Baudrillard’s (1981) theory about ‘Disneyland’ and how individuals do not realise that the reality they are living in is actually a simulation.   

Another example of simulation which can be identified in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, is when the characters are reduced to questioning if there are any differences between the androids and humans ‘the latest generation of Nexus-6 andys approach nearer and nearer to human empathic ability’ (p.105). In the novel Rick runs the ‘voigt-kampff’ (p.103) experiment that examines feelings of empathy, which Rick believes is the only method to define whether people are actually humans or if they are androids. Some of the androids in the text begin to simulate empathetic feelings, for example Rachel, an android that Rick is having a relationship with displays emotion towards other androids that she has formed friendships with. On the other hand Rick comes across characters that are human, though they show little or no empathy towards others.  This blurs the line between humans and androids for Rick and leaves him questioning what is reality opposed to simulation.

To conclude the novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ has a vivid connection with postmodernism theories and the notions which can be identified from Adorno’s ‘The Culture Industry (1944) and Baudrillard’s ‘Simulacra and Simulations’ (1981). These theories enhance the understanding of interpretations of Dick’s androids and the simulated characters in the novel. The novel demonstrates a postmodern approach to Western society and although it was written in 1968 it can be related to how the culture industry effects consumerism in contemporary society. After reading the novel you are left with thoughts about how advancing technology and the machines that undoubtedly will be developed in the future may effect individuals and whether in modern society you, yourself are being tricked into believing a ‘simulated’ false reality. 

References

Adorno, Theodor W. (1944) Adorno The Culture Industry. London: Routledge.

Bernstein, R. (1991) “The Electric Dreams of Philip K. Dick.”  The New York Times Book Review. 3 November 1991:1; 28-30.

Butler, M. (2006) Philip. K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. In Johnson, D. (ed) (2005) The Popular and Canonical: Debating Twentieth Century Literature 1940-2000. Abingdon: Routledge.

Dick, P. K. (1968) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. London: Orion Publishing Group.

Snipp-Walmsley, C. (2006) Postmodernism: Simulations and the loss of the ‘real’. Pp.412-413. In Waugh, P. (2006) An Oxford Guide: Literary Theory and Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.