Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1 by Philip K. Dick

The irony that she’s using artificial despair to get back in touch with it is one thing but Deckard’s almost-fury that she would choose to embrace her depression took me aback (it becomes clear as the story progresses that she does suffer from depression – her choice of mood is her permitting herself to feel it, rather than overwriting it with false enthusiasm). He’s appalled to discover that his wife has chosen 6 hours of despair – because she has decided that artificially positive moods have cut her off from reality. Deckard selected an optimistic, business-like attitude to get the most out of his day. The Penfield mood organ lets you program absurdly specific mental states (the desire to watch TV regardless of what is on – although there only ever seems to be one show on). The opening chapter was probably my favourite part of the book (uh oh) – full of snide commentary, although I may have read it with rather different filters to the ones Dick wrote it with. The story opens one morning with SFPD bounty hunter Rick Deckard greeting the morning with almost Lego Movie enthusiasm – because that’s the emotion he programmed into his mood alarm. Years later, Earth has been depopulated, humanity fleeing to colonies in space to escape the fall-out and embracing Mercerism, a new religion of empathy driven by suffering and shared awareness, designed to end all wars. After all, if you know how others feel you would never push the button. World War Terminus unleashed nuclear war on the world.

Spot the obvious problem though: I have seen Blade Runner, and it’s really hard to read the book without being influenced by it. Double whammy confession time: I hadn’t previously read Philip K Dick’s classic, and I don’t much like Blade Runner.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1 by Philip K. Dick