Miller: Human v Android

Michael D. Miller

Androids Blog

15 March 2014

Human v. Androids

The book entitled, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Phillip Dick examines what appears to be his theories on what makes humans, humans. Dick chose empathy as the quality that separates human from all other creatures and androids on the planet. 

An android, no matter how gifted as to pure intellectual capacity, could make no sense out of the fusion which took place routinely among the followers of Mercerism — an experience which he, and virtually everyone else, including subnormal chickenheads, managed with no difficulty (Dick 12).

Phillip Dick in his book states that the use of the empathy box by humans is an avenue for humans to experience their feelings of empathy. Mercer is the character depicted in the vision seen by the humans in the empathy box as a person engaging in a seemingly endless struggle to climb a mountain while rocks are thrown at him. The human using the empathy box feels the struggle and pain of Mercer that connects the user with the other humans using the box at that very moment.

Heilemann writes, Mercer is also for mankind a way to separate themselves from the androids, seeing as there lack of empathy disables them from using the empathy box (8). Humans feel empathy as well as a host of other emotions because it is engrained in the human soul. Feelings in humans are not connected to a religion. Feelings are connected to being human. Mercer is not the only way for humans to feel. Deckard experiences feelings toward Racheall Rosen and may even have fallen in love with her. He also experiences the feeling of empathy for Luba Luft after she was murdered by Resch.

Mercer’s experience bring about feeling of empathy in the human that is using the box, just as when Pris is cutting off the legs of the spider prompts feelings of empathy in Isodore. Isosdore feels empathy for the spider as its legs are being cut off by Pris. He believes it is better to drown the spider rather than allow it to suffer. The empathy box could very well bring about the feelings of anger, frustration, or revenge for the human experiencing Mercer’s trial.

Buster Friendly and his Friendly Friends compete for the attention of viewers on Earth and other colony planets alike. Isodore found it disheartening that Buster frequently insulted Mercer. Isodore suspected that Buster was possibly an android;

            How did Buster Friendly find the time to tape both his aud and vid shows? Isodore

wondered. And how did Amanda Werner find time to be a guest every other day, month after month, year after year? How did they keep talking? They never repeated themselves — not so far as he could determine. Their remarks, always witty, always new, weren’t rehearsed. Amanda's hair glowed, her eyes glinted, her teeth shone; she never ran down, never became tired, never found herself at a loss as to a clever retort to Buster's bang-bang string of quips, jokes, and sharp observations (Dick 29).

Buster Friendly was dumbing down the humans with mindless television talk, much like television today. In some fashion, Buster Friendly’s show was dehumanizing people, essentially turning off their ability to feel emotions; such as of empathy through the mindless chatter and endless talking about nothing. 

The androids were incapable of feeling empathy. Because of this, the three remaining androids find it rather amusing that Buster Friendly and his Friendly Friends in front of millions of viewers on worldwide TV reveal that Mercerism and the empathy box is a hoax (Heilemann 8). However, it was not a hoax. Regardless of the assumptions made by anyone using the box; Wilbur Mercer is not a human being, that he is in fact an archetypal superior entity perhaps from another star (Dick 83). The experience of human emotion is genuine. Very much like watching a sad movie when you cry at the end. The actors are portraying a character’s experiences, which thereby provokes an emotional response from the audience. The actors themselves did not experience the trial of the character. The feelings experienced by the viewer are genuine prompted by either a factual or fictional character portrayal. 

I believe that Phillip K. Dick was writing this book because he was experiencing the influence of television and how it affected his life and the lives of viewers. Not to mention the turmoil of racism in the era in which he lived and most likely watched on television. I believe that he was pondering these ideas and wanted to relate his feelings to future generation, not knowing how or what future generations would most likely be able to relate to. His generation of television shows included a variety of sci-fi TV shows, moon landings, and speculating how life would be in the future greatly influenced the writing his book.

Works Cited

Dick, Phillip. Do Androids Dream of electric Sheep? New York: Oxford, 1968. Print.

Heilemann, Michael. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner. Web

15 March 2014.

Cacique-Bojra, Dehumanizing the Human.

Dehumanizing the Human.

The essay, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner written by Michael Heilemann

argues that one of the central themes of the book is “that of dehumanization.” (p.11) Heilemann

describes dehumanization as characters lacking empathy and only acquiring it through a third party

such as the empathy boxes and/or the Penfield Mood Organ. What Heilemann does not appear to

realize is that there is not one sole factor in the composition of a human. While empathy can be one

of those factors, there are still other complex factors that make us human. There is no one word

answer or a definite set of words that is universally agreed to mean human.  

The central point of the novel is exactly the opposite of what Heilemann argues. The book questions

humanity and what makes humanity. When Rick encounters the Toad and becomes excited for the

new life that he is responsible for, he thinks he has found something that has also risen from the

ashes, a living being who shares his journey. Thus he is deeply sadden when Iran tells him that it is

electric. Resigned, Rick replies “The electric things have their lives, too” (pg. 96) ch.22 displaying a

characteristic that an android would be unable to come to means with. The resignation of Rick that

electric beings, are in a way similar to humans is a human thought. It is a human thought because a

mechanical thought process machine would not be able to twist their thoughts to come up with a

mushed conclusion that humans and androids are the same but uniquely different at the same time.

Another example of humanization was Lubba Luft description of humans as “a superior life

form” (p.53) who she strove to be through her mannerisms. She thought humans had a sort of

connection with each other that was impossible to duplicate in the androids. These thoughts can be

categorized as segregation between the races, a unique human characteristic not displayed in any of

the other beings that we share the world with. Lubba’s belief that humans were a superior life form,

gave rise to she herself being a human. Lubba is just another human who fell into the claws of a

social construct that dictates that humans are better than androids.

Philip K. Dick wrote the book not to divide and create disparity in humanity but to question what we

 take for granted, what it is to be human. In the paragraph, Heilemann mentions that most of the

characters, both human and androids alike are “programmable insensitive shell(s)” but what if that is

what humans are. Humans are so self-absorbed with the concept of themselves that they compare

everything relative to them without realizing that variations can also be part of the central figure.

Works Cited

Philip K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York: Ballantine, 1996. Print.

Michael Heilemann. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner.

Munoz: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

“On the surface, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is about Rick Deckard, his sad life, his hunt for the androids and how he in the end succeeds in finishing his assignment despite the problems he meets underway. Underneath it however larger questions of lost humanity and the individuals perception of reality lurks.” (Heilmann 12)

            Philip K. Dick brings into question a lot of things, one of the most important follows what is reality and how sure can we identify it. Rick Deckard is a dynamic character that learns from his actions and those around him. Yes Rick Deckard can be very challenging and has had his ups and downs but I wouldn’t say it’s a sad life, which he has lived. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is so much more than a bounty hunter, “and how he in the end succeeds in finishing his assignment despite the problems he meets underway”(Heilmann 12) This is just one part of the story an event but not what the story is about. For one, Mercerism plays a bigger role in guiding Rick and his endeavors telling him what is wrong and what is acceptable. The image of social control by either Buster Friendly or Mercer which fight each other to gain control over earth. Thus we come to understand individually each ideological belief, where Buster Friendly is all about commercialism and the promotion of a better life. Mercer gives a sense of collectivism by sharing and connecting with the emotions of all the other humans that used the empathy box.  “Roy and Irmgrad Baty. If they’re dead, then it really don’t matter. They’re my best friends. Why the hell don’t I hear from them, I wonder? She cursed angrily” (Dick 149) Pris one of the Nexus-6 that are being hunted down is not only expressing emotions but as well is telling how this escaping from mars was all for living a better life. “Androids are in other words treated like a piece of property no better than the slaves once brought up from Africa to serve the same purpose in the white mans lands” (Heilmann 10) Dick gives many themes and the purpose of this book is trying to grasp life and showing that everyone wants to live and it doesn’t matter if your a regular, special, or android we all seek the same thing.

            Dick gave a lot of freedom into what the real message of the book was, it gave a wide range of unresolved questions that makes it so intriguing into reading. My two main conclusion of what this book is about is how Rick Deckard realized that there are still people that are human such as Isidore that praises life organic or mechanical, and the most empathetic and human character, which isn’t talked about much, is Iran. Thus also showing the dark side such as Phil Resch, “The beam missed its mark but, as Resch lowered it, burrowed a narrow hole, silently, into her stomach.”(Dick 134) Finally the other conclusion I have is the idea of how reality is something that humans have created to create categories and social classes to feel superior to those who aren’t considered human, which can be perceived in history, such as: slavery, against the American Indians, in religion such as the Crusaders where they could kill Muslims or any other religion who were going against Christianity. I guess it all comes down to how obscure reality is, and how it cannot be defined by one person or society rather it shouldn’t even exist because its creating unbalance instead of a way that everyone could live together in peace. In the book if there wouldn’t be any persecutions against the Androids then there will be no violence considering that they want to just blend and live a “Human” life. They aren’t good or bad they just want to feel and live, and they only have a life span of four years.

Works Cited

Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York: Ballantine, 1996. Print.

Heilemann, Michael. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner”. 2001. Web. 13

Mar 2014.