Moby-Dick

Substance D. Philip K. Dick -a highly regarded science fiction writer who is said to be one of the greatest of his time (Metzger and Straub 88) brought this idea to life in his novel A Scanner Darkly. By referencing his first-hand experience with narcotics, Dick was able to accurately illustrate the mind of a substance abuser and portray the potentially harmful effects drugs may have on the brain; however, his novel contradicts society’s…

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…

The book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was published in the year of 1968 by the author Phillip Dick. This novel was a depiction of a futuristic outcome of androids being created with similarities to humans. Within the book, readers are given a vivid understanding that the main character Rick Deckard is human. Shortly after, readers compare Dick’s book to an adapted version in 1982, of a futuristic film interpretation by Ridley Scott, who utilized the book to call into question the theme of…

Kurt Vonnegut could twist the world like M.C. Esher on acid. His controversial humor and style shattered my twelve year-old world of He-Man and arcade games, only to replace it with dick jokes and a new world of literature that liberated my mind and influenced my own writing. One day in the spring of 1995 I attended a physics demonstration at my middle school that would change how I viewed literature. What does physics have to do with literature? Well, the physics provoked but the…

In his novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Ship?” an American writer Philip K. Dick takes aim at what it is to be human and how to recognize one among androids. Dick introduces the Voigt-Kampff machine to serve as an interrogation tool to distinguish humans from androids. By examining the depictions of various characters – humans and androids, we can see Dick is arguing that Voigt-Kampff Empathy Test is implausible and doesn’t make any sense from the humane and ethical perspective. In general,…

is rewritten but are there other reasons as well? Authors of this genre write science fiction novels for varying reasons, some might write science fiction for the enjoyment and pleasing of an audience with their imagination or others like Phillip K. Dick might do it to share and explain their philosophical ideas. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" not only entertains its audience but, also, engages the reader to question their ideas and reasoning on what truly makes a person “alive.” In the…

Blade runner is a science fiction film about the future, in this futuristic scenario there are robots called replicants, these are visually indistinguishable from humans, and are exclusively used for menial or dangerous work on off-world colonies. Replicants are banned from earth, if one of them managed his way to earth, blade runners will be sent to hunt them and then retire (kill) them. Deckard, who is a blade runner, has the mission to retire four replicants who have got to earth to find a…

In Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, humans and androids stand in direct opposition with one another: they must destroy each other to maintain their existence on a dystopic Earth with an ever-dwindling population. With this being said, the distinctions between dehumanized humans and humanized androids seem to grow smaller all the time, creating a cause for concern for both humans and androids alike, begging questions of what it means to be human, what it is to…

HλLF-LIFE Half-Life, a science fiction first person shooter developed by Valve Corporation, it was their first video game to be released. At the time Valve was creating this game they were an unknown game company. It was very hard for Valve to find a publisher but they had what Sierra Entertainment wanted, a game based on the Quake engine, later signing Valve on a one-game deal. The game was released on November 8, 1998, on Windows, PlayStation 2, OSX, and Linux. Developed on the GoldSrc…

terms of intellect and survival. However, Philip K. Dick challenges the superiority of humans by juxtaposing androids and human beings. Dick shows that humans are not as unique and exceptional as believed to be. Dick characterizes humanity as being machine-like but empathetic with the descriptions of humans in the novel and the flagrant ways that androids act human. Because androids are characterized as being machine-like and empathetic by Dick, androids are human. Humanity is machine-like due…