In Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the character J.R. Isidore is what most people call a “chicken head.” The term “chicken head” was given to those who were mentally damaged by the radioactive dust that has covered their atmosphere. Even though J.R. has been mentally damaged, he is by far the most empathetic character in the novel. Most of the so-called “normal” humans think people like J.R. are less than human. J.R. goes as far as saying, “But what does it matter to me? I mean, I’m a special; they don’t treat me very well either like for instance I can’t emigrate” (Dick 163). Considering that empathy is the main characteristic of being human, how should we feel about the way the unaffected people treat J.R.? This can
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is only a special who is below, or not equal to, the humans who were unaffected by the dust. However, if we take into account the organism/machine binary from Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto,” he is actually more “human” than the non-specials. This organism/machine binary is the relationship that humans and other living beings have with technology. In A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway, she claims, “ we are all chimeras, theorized and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs. The cyborg is our ontology…”(Haraway 457). Dick proves that this binary is indeed breaking down through the character J.R. Isidore. J.R. in a sense reaffirms humanity in the face of the organism/machine breakdown. Even though J.R. proves that the organism/machine binary is breaking down he also serves as a figure that separates humans from machines reinforcing the binary at the same time. He shows empathy where a human would and a machine wouldn’t separating the two. J.R. is an important figure because he suggests that the human race’s perception of “normal” may, in fact, be more akin to a machine. If we go as far as to place other human beings into categories, (such as “chicken heads”) and consider ourselves superior to them, we are exhibiting the same apathy as
is only a special who is below, or not equal to, the humans who were unaffected by the dust. However, if we take into account the organism/machine binary from Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto,” he is actually more “human” than the non-specials. This organism/machine binary is the relationship that humans and other living beings have with technology. In A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway, she claims, “ we are all chimeras, theorized and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs. The cyborg is our ontology…”(Haraway 457). Dick proves that this binary is indeed breaking down through the character J.R. Isidore. J.R. in a sense reaffirms humanity in the face of the organism/machine breakdown. Even though J.R. proves that the organism/machine binary is breaking down he also serves as a figure that separates humans from machines reinforcing the binary at the same time. He shows empathy where a human would and a machine wouldn’t separating the two. J.R. is an important figure because he suggests that the human race’s perception of “normal” may, in fact, be more akin to a machine. If we go as far as to place other human beings into categories, (such as “chicken heads”) and consider ourselves superior to them, we are exhibiting the same apathy as