Ubik

In the science fiction novel Ubik by Philip K Dick there is a product named ubik that is advertised in many different ways and as many different things but each way shows a new side of how advertising affects consumerism and how produces manipulate the advertisement industry to make their product more desirable. Philip K. Dick incorporates advertisements throughout the book that all around the same item, Ubik. This item is portrayed as many different things but all these different versions of ubik are advertised in a similar way by Dick describing it as the “best” product for whatever it is intended to be used for. This is a good insight into modern day consumerism because most companies want their product to be portrayed as the best because what consumer doesn’t want the number one product that just means they are getting the best quality right? Throughout the book Dick makes ubik into a cereal, a hairspray, a conditioner, a salad dressing and so many other things. A good example is “The best way to ask for beer is to sing out Ubik. Made from select hops, choice water, slow-aged for perfect flavor, Ubik is the nation’s number-one choice in beer. Made only in Cleveland” which Dick uses at the beginning of chapter 2, page 10 of Ubik. Also “Instant Ubik has all the fresh flavor of just-brewed drip coffee. Your…

In his novel Ubik, Dick uses consumerism to try and sell it. His viewpoint about consumerism is that no matter where you go and no matter what time frame it is, you will be in a place surrounded by it. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, consumerism is the belief that it is good for people to spend a lot of money on goods and services. Which is ads and stuff that people like. Dick is trying to tell us that consumerism is based on what a person buys and how often they buy it. In an excerpt…

Mark Weiser discover a brand new word “ubiquitous computing" around 1988, throughout his tenure as Chief engineer of the Xerox town research facility (PARC). each alone and with PARC Director and Chief somebody John Seely Brown, Weiser wrote a number of the earliest papers on the topic, mostly process it and sketching out its major issues. Recognizing that the extension of process power into everyday situations would necessitate understandings of social, cultural and psychological phenomena on…

In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato suggests that reality may be very different from what we imagine it to be. We can see this in the novel Ubik where the inertials experience illusions rather than reality. Some people are comfortable with living in their own reality, which is based on their subjective ideas on the world. Plato believes we should all seek to escape from this “cave”, our realities, made up of false perceptions and face the harsh realities although it can cause us pain. Just like…