Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep Essay Topics

In Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, humans and technology (otherwise androids) are put into opposition, and due to them being diametrically opposed, Dick is able to explore biological l;entities versus mechanical ones, real versus artificial. Dick depicts a technological world, to showcase humanity’s struggle to define human nature. A struggle that Dick “solves” with empathy, the uniting factor of humanity. The sophistication of technology serves as both a tool that molds and distorts the construct of human existence. Through this novel, Dick is able to modify the idea of “the human” with his commentary on forces that produce an “other” and turn man into machine. As technology becomes more sophisticated and

Mercerism, a pseudo-religion centered on the concept of humanity’s shared consciousness and empathy, serves as the foundation and reasoning for Deckard’s job as a bounty-hunter. The religion’s central figure, Wilbur Mercer, is a god-like figure who, illustrated through his repeated climb up a hill to nowhere, is doomed to an endless cycle of death and rebirth. By connecting to a device called the “empathy box”, followers of this pseudo-religion are able to fuse and climb up the hill with Mercer, experiencing his struggles and the emotions, both good and bad, of other believers. “‘No, it’s that empathy,’ Irmgard said vigorously…‘Isn’t it a way of proving that humans can do something we can’t do? Because without the Mercer experience we just have your word that you feel this empathy business’” (Dick 209-10). Irmgard’s statement implies that Mercerism is a way that humans prove their humanness. Mercerism is revealed to be a fraud hidden behind a guy named Al Jerry from Indiana, an artificial and technologically construct that propagandized humanity. Mercerism is an illusion, and by extension, so are the distinctions between androids and

Mercerism states that “You shall kill only the killers” (Dick 32), and to Deckard, escaped androids who killed their masters is the definition of the killers. As it becomes increasingly harder for Deckard to differentiate between humans and androids, the construct of human existence that has been fed to him through Mercerism starts to blur and crumble. This can be illustrated with Deckard’s interactions with Phil Resch, a fellow bounty hunter. Resch is identified as an android by both Garland and Luba Luft. Resch, his cold and emotionless nature, and his enjoyment for killing represent an obstruction to Deckard. Resch lacks empathy, which defines humanity and distinguishes humans from humanoid robots, but according to the Voigt-Kampff scale, he is human. This distablizes Deckard’s belief that there is a difference between humans and androids and introduces ambiguity. Resch, through his lack of empathy, also represents man becoming a machine, hunting without no regard, becoming the killer Mercerism