Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep and Blade Runner is an essay written by Michael Heilemann
that offers words of analysis on Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, a 1968 novel scripted by Philip K.
Dick. While reading this essay, it can
be noted that Heilemann has dissected Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep with a distorted viewpoint. This can be observed on page seven of his
paper, when he states “. . .reality is that androids are the enemy of society
and the feelings are something you get through Mercer and the organ, not
something that spontaneously arise, and especially not toward androids
(Heilemann 7).” Specific examples from
Dick’s text clearly display that the author of the book did not construct a
world in which feelings come from an object that is independent of humans (i.e.
Mercer or the organ), such devices merely manipulate human feelings. Human feelings remain a unique output of
humans. This is most evident by the fact
that androids cannot be given feelings.
If someone can create a mood organ that creates feelings, why can they
not create an android that creates feelings?
To
comprehend the phenomenon of empathy and how it is designed to exist within the
world of the book, Dick provides us with a specific understanding on page 30 of
the novel, “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 30).” This statement provides evidence that Dick
scripted the novel with the intention to create a reality in which the
occurrence of empathy could not be explained by the tactics of intellectual
capacity, but is instead, a phenomenon that occurs within humans. This statement therefore disproves Michael
Heilemann’s claim that . . .”feelings are something you get through Mercer and
the organ, not something that spontaneously arise. . . (Heilemann 7).” How could someone create a mood organ if the
fusion of feelings is something that cannot be made sense of with intellectual
capacity? Clearly the mood organ affects
and manipulates human feelings, but it does not create them.
On page 142
of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,
Rick Deckard states, while conversing with Phil Resch, “I’m capable of feeling
empathy for at least specific, certain androids (Dick 142).” This claim by Deckard illustrates a
logistical flaw in Michael Heilemann’s belief that “. . .feelings are something
you get through Mercer. . . (Heilemann 7).”
The empathy that is spread through Mercerism cannot be experienced by
Androids, as we learned by observing the page 30 quote, “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. . . (Dick
30).” It is known that the followers of
Mercerism feel empathy towards each other, but does empathy come purely through
Mercerism, as Heilemann argues? No, it
does not, otherwise Rick would not be able to feel it for an android, which is
inherently not a part of Mercerism.
I think
that Heilemann was thinking when he wrote his piece, but he was not thinking
the right things.
Andrew Wlos
Works Cited
Dick, Philp C. Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. New
York: Del Ray, 1968.
Print.
Heilemann, Michael. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment