Oppenheimer, one of the creators of the atomic bomb, once said that his work on the bomb caused him to “become death, destroyer of worlds.” In the decades following the Second World War, the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States caused widespread fear that a nuclear war would erupt between the two countries. Oppenheimer himself joined the Atomic Energy Commission after the Second World War, hoping to prevent any further use of nuclear weapons (REF). The threat of atomic annihilation pervaded the collective consciousness of Americans throughout the second half of the twentieth century and had a heavy influence on American culture, particularly American media and storytelling. A world in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust
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Dick was an author known for defying convention and, fittingly, his contribution to the post-nuclear-apocalyptic genre ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’, does not follow this formula. ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ follows two main characters: Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who tracks down and kills escaped androids, and John Isidore, a ‘chickenhead’ who has suffered brain damage from nuclear fallout or ‘dust’. Instead of an anarchic and apocalyptic society, the novel depicts a society that has experienced positive social change following a nuclear war, known as ‘World War Terminus’. The positive social changes centre around the rise of a religion called Mercerism. Because of Mercerism, people in Dick’s novel have developed a strong sense of group identity and experience a deep connection through the use of a device called an empathy box. Furthermore, the nuclear war has caused a shift in people’s values, increasing concern for the environment and for preserving remnants of the world before the war. Lastly, while many people treat androids unjustly, Mercerism is causing some people to view them with more acceptance. These constitute beneficial social development that the nuclear war caused or that followed the nuclear
Dick was an author known for defying convention and, fittingly, his contribution to the post-nuclear-apocalyptic genre ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’, does not follow this formula. ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ follows two main characters: Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who tracks down and kills escaped androids, and John Isidore, a ‘chickenhead’ who has suffered brain damage from nuclear fallout or ‘dust’. Instead of an anarchic and apocalyptic society, the novel depicts a society that has experienced positive social change following a nuclear war, known as ‘World War Terminus’. The positive social changes centre around the rise of a religion called Mercerism. Because of Mercerism, people in Dick’s novel have developed a strong sense of group identity and experience a deep connection through the use of a device called an empathy box. Furthermore, the nuclear war has caused a shift in people’s values, increasing concern for the environment and for preserving remnants of the world before the war. Lastly, while many people treat androids unjustly, Mercerism is causing some people to view them with more acceptance. These constitute beneficial social development that the nuclear war caused or that followed the nuclear