Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick.

Discussions about possibly dreaming androids ahead.  Spoilers!










I'm on page 86 of my version, and Deckard has just left to "retire" Polokov.

I'm picking up a few main themes.

1.  Is it live or is it Memorex?  There are all sorts of artificial life forms here - androids and "electric" animals.  As the technology advances, it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell the one from the other.  Given that androids are absolutely not allowed on Earth and it's very important - indeed vital - that every family have a live animal this is a very important distinction to be able to make.  There're also very important reasons to make it unclear which is which, which leads to a lot of deliberate deception, and elaborate tests to tell android from human.

2.  Post-apocalyptic.  This is a world that has suffered a nuclear holocaust and had most of it's citizens immigrate to colony worlds.  In fact, colonization is constantly being urged on those who remain on Earth, which is painful for those who are not allowed to leave due to the radiation effecting their genetics.  Because of the colony worlds there's no danger of humanity becoming extinct or mutated, but there is a lot of talk about the disintegration of life on earth.   There's a planet-wide depression - with mood machines to moderate your mood..  There's a real fear of being alone as the earth is so empty.  (This is a feeling you did not get very much from the film.  Lots of crowds.)  There're (radioactive) dust reports, Ajax model Montebank Lead Codpieces, and random genetic checks.

3.  Animals.  The nuclear explosions led (unsurprisingly) to a mass extinction event.  Owls started falling from the sky, then the other birds.  There were animal obituaries - for entire species - in the paper.  The reaction was to pass a law that every family had to raise at least one animal to help preserve the species that were left.  Animal ownership became a show of prestige as well as civic duty. Everyone has a Sidney's, a catalog of animals, their prices, and their availability, and it's illegal to have an advanced copy.  Hence the trade in electric animals, the disguising of repair services for vets, and the gaucheness of asking if an animal is real.

4.  Empathy.  Due to the nuclear event, it has become very important to foster empathy in humanity.  Killing has become anathema, and everyone is vegetarian, and probably vegan. Empathy is what separates humans from the androids.  The tests relay on autonomic empathetic responses that androids can't replicate to suss androids out.  There's a religion - cult? - Mercerism that operates through an empathy box that puts you, apparently, into direct emotional/mental contact with the rest of the human race and can effect you physically, and lets you follow the journey of a fellow named Mercer up the cliff and down into the tomb and back again.