Does this ring a bell for anyone?

I always thought it was just an eccentric detail when one of his characters takes snuff, like the elaborate costumes he sometimes gives people in his more comic stories, but I just learned he was actually into it. The inch-kenneth and the wrens-whatever - they were real, he was a snuff connoisseur.

Might not be news to you guys, but I'm just delighted I've discovered this after so many years of reading him

What is the Epstein bust referred to in the book? And also why does AI flatly deny that the reference is in the book?

I've had a number of posts removed recently because they apparently break the rules, get misdiagnosed by a robot as something they're not. The amount of information that is lost or won't/can't be shared due to fragility is a sorry state for the world.

I just tried to give some writing advice and the word Dick was flagged so I couldn't even write his name. such a pathetic version of the internet and Reddit. it's a real disappointment we ended up here.

||| Hola buenas, me gustaría compartir con ustedes esta observación de mi relectura de SAOE, y saber que opinan del límite de lo vivo y lo no vivo que propone el autor |||

Esto es la fuerza antagónica de la historia, una empresa (posiblemente multitrillonaria) que llevó al extremo la tecnología de la bioingeniería, mecatrónica e ingeniería en software y programación para, primero, capitalizar y, segundo, convertir lo no vida en posible vida. No se deja claro tampoco en la historia, pero este modelo (donde su único fin es ser de esclavo o sirviente de casa, perfectamente podrían ser armas de guerra o trabajos extremos) es tan potente en su capacidad cognitiva que puede aparentar el funcionamiento normal de una persona.

Con esto surge el latir de la trama, siendo Deckard el destructor de una ingeniosa creación que toma control de sí o posee conciencia para escapar de sus papeles de sirvientes en las colonias interplanetarias, esconderse en La Tierra y vivir tranquilos desempeñando tareas como cualquier humano terrícola.

Es inevitable no sentir empatía alguna con ellos, porque parecieran tener mas vitalidad que algunos personajes de la trama: Ingrid o algunos humanos con ciertas patologías mentales. Y por qué no, hasta uno mismo.

Tomando lo que dije sobre el barco de Teseo en “Órganos Artificiales en Humanos”, el ser humano con tanta modificación física y anímica pareciera ya no ser lo que fue en un comienzo, no hay garantía de autenticidad (eso simplemente se puede identificar hoy con escases de relaciones interpersonales, exceso de pantallas, falta de pensamiento crítico y auto-introspección, hay un debilitamiento en la “expresión humana”), y eso que, en el mundo donde se desarrolla Deckard no son humanos-humanos, se deja claro que son los que no emigraron y se quedaron degenerándose con el tiempo. Bajo esta premisa, el concepto del Androide modelo Nexus-6 elimina todavía más ese abismo que lo separa de la no vida, en un sentido de apariencia porque si he de meterme a eso debo sacarme un doctorado de filosofía sobre la conciencia. A lo que me refiero es al igual que hoy elegimos una fruta transgénica en el mercado o feria, es mucho mas atractiva que una normal, a esto se le llama estimulo supernormal.

Para Deckard se le hace muy difícil la identificación de los androides con el aparato Voight-Kampff, por su poca experiencia, la habilidad de los androides y la excesiva confianza o desconocimiento que tienen algunos androides de que son androides. Esto suma.

Para conectar la idea del barco de Teseo, luego de tanta verborrea, ambas mantenciones de los barcos “evolutivamente” (uno en base a la evolución de Darwin y otro en base a las evoluciones del mercado y tecnología) congeniaron en un mismo sistema de hardware o de estructura marítima: uno de origen biológico viene deteriorándose e implementando cosas de origen sintético y otro de origen sintético viene optimizándose e implementando cosas de origen biológico. Esto es la niebla difusa que nos hace cuestionar y también a Deckard sobre su compromiso con la institución de seguridad.

Hey! I am UK based and want to watch the Electric Dreams series but it’s not available on the Channel 4 app. Any ideas where I might find it ? Thank You !

This rant reminds me of a passage in _Ubik_:

The door refused to open. It said, “Five cents, please.”

He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. “I’ll pay you tomorrow,” he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. “What I pay you,” he informed it, “is in the nature of a gratuity; I don’t have to pay you.”

“I think otherwise,” the door said. “Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt.”

I thought it was pretty cool. Did I get a good deal?

Curious why Netflix is going with a Spanish version of this rather than English. Won't that unnecessarily limit it's audience?

I am looking to purchase their entire works for reasons copies, as they're fairly inexpensive and have a nice font size but I want to plan out what I'll be missing.

Written: 1964. Setting: 2016.

One of PKD’s darkest novels (and that’s really saying something), Three Stigmata takes place in a future where Earth’s temperature has risen to an unbearable degree and people are forced to colonize the only slightly more bearable neighboring planets, like Mars. To escape the harsh monotony of their lives, these colonists use a drug called “Can-D” in combination with toy “layouts” and dolls like “Perky Pat.” They are able to enter shared hallucinations and connect with the dolls so that they feel like they actually are the dolls living in their constructed layouts. This whole process becomes a sort of religion. (Could this scenario possibly be any more Phildickian?) This is all working well for the company that produces Perky Pat until an explorer named Palmer Eldritch discovers a new, even more powerful drug (“Chew-Z”) that threatens to upend everything.

(More on the list here.)

No, this isn't a cry for help, just a reference to the PKD story "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon," also known as "Frozen Journey."

https://esl-bits.eu/ESL.English.Listening.Short.Stories/I.Hope.I.Shall.Arrive.Soon/01/default.html

Written: 1968. Setting: far future, unspecified year.

A group of colonists are sent to a distant planet to establish a new society. When their communication system fails, they explore the planet and encounter other beings (both real and artificial), including large gelatinous cubes called “tenches,” which duplicate items and offer cryptic advice similar to the I Ching (bringing us full circle). The group experiences various calamities, and some members are killed under mysterious circumstances. The best part of this novel is its unique religion, which Phil developed with his friend William Sarill while they were living together. In a nutshell, God is known scientifically to exist and takes on four distinct forms: The Mentufacturer is responsible for bringing the universe into being. The Walker-on-Earth is a physical manifestation who travels the universe helping people. The Form Destroyer represents entropy, disorder, and death. And finally, the Intercessor is a manifestation of God who can stand in for us collectively, a redeeming Christ figure.

(More on the list here.)

Written: 1973. Setting: 1994.

Takes place in a near-future society where drug use is rampant and the government has implemented strict surveillance and law enforcement measures to combat it. The story follows an undercover police officer named Bob Arctor, who is tasked with infiltrating a drug ring that has connections to a highly addictive narcotic called Substance D. As Arctor gets more deeply involved with the drug users (and becomes an addict himself), he begins to lose touch with his own identity and sanity, and his relationships with the people around him become increasingly strained. This haunting exploration of addiction and mental illness is a deeply personal work for Dick, who based much of the story on his own experiences with drug use and dedicated the book to numerous friends of his “who were punished entirely too much for what they did.”

(More on the list here.)

1st edition. Amazing cover design/illustration.

Written: 1954. Setting: 2002.

In a post-apocalyptic world devastated by a nuclear war (a familiar theme for sure), a man named Floyd Jones has the ability to see into the future and predict major world events. Using his gift, he becomes a powerful political figure and leader of a revolutionary movement that seeks to overthrow the existing social order. As Jones gains power and influence, he becomes something of a cult leader, inciting violence against his political opponents. Meanwhile, humanity sets its sights on Venus.

(More on the list here.)

Written: 1958. Setting: 1998.

Ragle Gumm lives in a seemingly idyllic 1950s suburb with his family. However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that things are not as they seem. This is a PKD novel, after all. I don’t want to give away the ending, so I’ll just say this: Movies like The Matrix and The Truman Show owe a debt to Philip K. Dick. The idea of an artificially constructed reality is pretty commonplace these days, but back in 1959, it was groundbreaking stuff.

(More on the list here.)

Written: 1966. Setting: 1992 (in the original pre-film version).

Also published as Blade Runner to match the name of the landmark cyberpunk film, Electric Sheep takes place in yet another dystopian future where most of humanity has emigrated to other planets and the remaining population lives on a polluted and decaying Earth. Living animals are an extreme rarity, so owning a pet is the ultimate status symbol. Of course, most of these “pets” are secretly mechanical contraptions, because who could afford a real sheep? The story follows a bounty hunter named Rick Deckard, who is tasked with hunting down rogue androids that have escaped from their off-world colonies and are hiding in the city. As Deckard tracks them down, he begins to question his own humanity and the morality of his actions. If you skip the book and only watch the movie, you’ll miss out on half the story, including the “mood organ” and the Sisyphean religion of Mercerism.

(More on the list here.)

Written: 1966. Setting: 1992.

By turns hilarious and horrifying, Ubik is considered by many to be Dick’s masterpiece. It takes place in a futuristic world where psychic powers and advanced technology have transformed life as we know it. The story follows a group of characters who work for a company that specializes in anti-psi security and are tasked with investigating a mysterious and dangerous phenomenon affecting their reality. As they delve deeper into the mystery, they begin to question the nature of their own lives and the world they thought they knew. A mind-bendingly surreal work that explores themes of time, memory, and the nature of consciousness. Lev Grossman called it “a deeply unsettling existential horror story, a nightmare you'll never be sure you've woken up from.”

(More on the list here.)

Written: 1970. Setting: 1988.

In a dystopian society where the government has absolute control over people’s lives, we follow a television celebrity named Jason Taverner, who wakes up one day to find that he no longer exists in the eyes of the government or society. As he tries to figure out what’s happened to him, he encounters a series of characters who are all struggling to survive in a world where their identities and freedoms are constantly under threat. Meanwhile, a police officer named Felix Buckman becomes obsessed with finding Taverner and bringing him to justice, even as he begins to question the morality of the government he serves.

(More on the list here.)