Do Android's Dream of an Electric Sheep

  This science fiction novel written by Philip K. Dick is one of the very first novels that discusses the concept of robots, or androids. This story highly emphasizes on how humans represented in this story resent androids which are just simple machines with broken thoughts and concepts while those humans themselves are also partial.

  Most stories and movies handling the issue of predictions of our future are rarely positive; these authors and directors know too well that human nature motivates us to move in the direction of egoism rather than altruism. On the surface, our behaviors and actions might seem selfless and benevolent, but the real intentions are hidden inside the facades of such ostensible attitudes. Even this novella "Do Androids Dream of an Electric Sheep" talks about a foreshadowed disastrous world resulted from numerous nuclear wars that have erupted out of human selfishness.

  It is true that some people have actually committed their deeds out of total humanitarianism. However, these people represent such a minority of the whole human population that we name them historic figures, and write and read about these heroes.

  Going back to the story, the author Philip K. Dick demonstrates his point about how humans do not consider androids as equal creatures. Humans believe that as they possess qualities such as passion, love, and sympathy that are unique only to their kind, they have the right to discriminate themselves from the others including animals and clones. I have to say that humans are not that different from other creatures, and such qualities they worship that help to distinguish them from others are ironically much more damaging in defining humans as intelligent and social creatures with altruism. In the book, there exist bounty hunters who kill androids. Such bounty hunting is legal, because humans in the book did not see any problem in killing those who thought to be more inferior.

  Nontheless, it is the very same humans who have created such laws, and therefore these rules cannot be justified from a detached view.As an objective reader, I can only see these principles of behavior as mere rationalization of their own sins.

COMMENTS
Yun Jo: I quite agree with your perspective. What really seems to draw the line between humans and androids? And what is really "human" and what is really "artificial"? Good points!

Chonghyun: I find your raised question or the justification of the law EXTREMELY interesting. How can "our" law intrude the jurisdiction of "their" lives? The given assumption then is that these androids are completely subdued as human property. But is it quite true? How about animals? What gives us the right to punish, cell, or chastise these animals? Anyway, interesting topic.