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jakebartz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
glossyjul's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was incredible and the depth of layers that are open for further critical analysis is never ending… I finished it the other day having always been a fan of blade runner and feel like my mind wanders again and again to points in this text that made me Think.
Do androids dream of electric sheep? In the same way humans dream of electric sheep? The human dreams of its electric sheep in terms of its maintenance, its cogs and parts and whether it’s enough? Do other humans have better models, more electric sheep, are their electric sheep going to make it longer? are they really a suitable and close enough imitation of the Real Deal… how much of a fraud are they for owning an electric one… or should they just be content that a replica like this of an extinct animal can even exist…
Probably not… the androids seem more interested in the far and few real animals they can find… the spider with its legs torn off by one of the androids… “look it still works without them”… an incomplete spider is still a spider… a human without its empathy still functions as a human… but in that sense the androids run into 2 issues, their supposed lack of empathy (in a space run down into literal dust due to corporate colonialism done by human beings being very ironic) and their inability to bleed right- their false contents. The first part of the test and the prior list should make it easier to blame the android for its inability to emote convincingly, and then much like the flap in an electric sheep revealing it’s lifelessness… to prove it once the android is killed.
But do the androids count electric sheep, do they dream about electric sheep… is their inner world an inner world of electric stuff… much like the humans who consider their reality, the lifeblood inside them the Real reality… are they as delusional… I think not… they don’t need the electric sheep as a status symbol…. They don’t need to feel “special”… they need to prove to their makers that they can pass off as them… they need to be convincing People… and sure the test says that androids cannot care about humans but would androids raised on Mars a place colonised after the extinction of almost all life on earth really assume this to be an innate human quality… it almost feels like fairytale or script or a trap to assume it is so. How would an android know to take care of animals when they no longer exist. It almost feels more human to Not care to as Rachel does, slit the throat of the sheep in a fit of rage and passion… in that moment she is more Real than Deckard even with her 2 year lifespan.
Meanwhile Deckard’s retiring of androids and his wife’s constant self pitying addiction to her empathy box and connecting with Mercer feels more machine. Yet this is their reponse to these utterly pitiful circumstances, they live in an abandoned earth populated by dust and replicas of life, they are the Un-Specials that couldn’t relocate to the Mars that the androids said they “wouldn’t like”. The ULTIMATE mark of status as has been sold to them by the colonialist corporations that first shipped the chosen ones off. Deckards almost comedic delusions of grandeur and self importance in his job as a bounty hunter are almost more pitiful than Iran… he isn’t important or powerful… he’s a grain in the last puffs of sand in a dying void and this is the narrative he tells himself to not entirely crumble. If he cares about life and obtaining signs of it for his wife to “feel better” or for the sake of their own ability to reproduce some hope… logically he is doing nothing in that realm- he is a mere pawn killing off these escaped androids, escaped property, escaped toys, escaped tourist attractions… not because they are a true threat to the definition of life or some grand philosophical narrative about empathy… but because they threaten the colonialist dream… the next nexus’s are to be as identical to humans as possible and their makers don’t want tales of these rogue escapes to survive… these machines are not meant to develop a desire to return to the barren dust, the origins of humanity… the graveyard that is earth- that is poor marketing.
Do androids dream of electric sheep? In the same way humans dream of electric sheep? The human dreams of its electric sheep in terms of its maintenance, its cogs and parts and whether it’s enough? Do other humans have better models, more electric sheep, are their electric sheep going to make it longer? are they really a suitable and close enough imitation of the Real Deal… how much of a fraud are they for owning an electric one… or should they just be content that a replica like this of an extinct animal can even exist…
Probably not… the androids seem more interested in the far and few real animals they can find… the spider with its legs torn off by one of the androids… “look it still works without them”… an incomplete spider is still a spider… a human without its empathy still functions as a human… but in that sense the androids run into 2 issues, their supposed lack of empathy (in a space run down into literal dust due to corporate colonialism done by human beings being very ironic) and their inability to bleed right- their false contents. The first part of the test and the prior list should make it easier to blame the android for its inability to emote convincingly, and then much like the flap in an electric sheep revealing it’s lifelessness… to prove it once the android is killed.
But do the androids count electric sheep, do they dream about electric sheep… is their inner world an inner world of electric stuff… much like the humans who consider their reality, the lifeblood inside them the Real reality… are they as delusional… I think not… they don’t need the electric sheep as a status symbol…. They don’t need to feel “special”… they need to prove to their makers that they can pass off as them… they need to be convincing People… and sure the test says that androids cannot care about humans but would androids raised on Mars a place colonised after the extinction of almost all life on earth really assume this to be an innate human quality… it almost feels like fairytale or script or a trap to assume it is so. How would an android know to take care of animals when they no longer exist. It almost feels more human to Not care to as Rachel does, slit the throat of the sheep in a fit of rage and passion… in that moment she is more Real than Deckard even with her 2 year lifespan.
Meanwhile Deckard’s retiring of androids and his wife’s constant self pitying addiction to her empathy box and connecting with Mercer feels more machine. Yet this is their reponse to these utterly pitiful circumstances, they live in an abandoned earth populated by dust and replicas of life, they are the Un-Specials that couldn’t relocate to the Mars that the androids said they “wouldn’t like”. The ULTIMATE mark of status as has been sold to them by the colonialist corporations that first shipped the chosen ones off. Deckards almost comedic delusions of grandeur and self importance in his job as a bounty hunter are almost more pitiful than Iran… he isn’t important or powerful… he’s a grain in the last puffs of sand in a dying void and this is the narrative he tells himself to not entirely crumble. If he cares about life and obtaining signs of it for his wife to “feel better” or for the sake of their own ability to reproduce some hope… logically he is doing nothing in that realm- he is a mere pawn killing off these escaped androids, escaped property, escaped toys, escaped tourist attractions… not because they are a true threat to the definition of life or some grand philosophical narrative about empathy… but because they threaten the colonialist dream… the next nexus’s are to be as identical to humans as possible and their makers don’t want tales of these rogue escapes to survive… these machines are not meant to develop a desire to return to the barren dust, the origins of humanity… the graveyard that is earth- that is poor marketing.
jetix's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
ah, i see why it's considered sci-fi classic. it's pretty nice for a book written by a man.
"I like her; I could watch her the rest of my life. She has breasts that smile." is an actual quote from this book. this, along with "her breasts bobbing with agitation" from a different story by him, leads me to a conclusion that dick (what a fitting last name) was one of the original men writing women. so he's got that going for him, i guess.
p.s. marking this as funny because it's hilariously bad.
"I like her; I could watch her the rest of my life. She has breasts that smile." is an actual quote from this book. this, along with "her breasts bobbing with agitation" from a different story by him, leads me to a conclusion that dick (what a fitting last name) was one of the original men writing women. so he's got that going for him, i guess.
p.s. marking this as funny because it's hilariously bad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Sexism
garylamb's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
theliberry's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.25
bellec's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
milobubba's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
crispy98's review against another edition
2024- At first I thought this book was everything I despised in sci fi: janky dialogue with shallow characters and a plot that advances solely on the random aberrations of the author. While the characters speech certainly felt rudimentary at times, the plot was absolutely intentional and profound.
Around the middle of the book I grew to enjoy its story and found myself constantly questioning reality like Deckard. This isn’t a dystopian novel akin to 1984 as its philosophical underpinnings reflect the essence of humanity rather than societal trajectory. I’m team human all the way but there is an interesting morale question raised on what defining factor distinguishes us from ever advancing technology. For me, it is humanities ability to confront nihilism with optism coupled with the intentional ability to defend against entropy, or kipple as the book refers to. The many takeaways about human nature itself, irrespective of androids, is a testament to a profound, thought provoking read.
Around the middle of the book I grew to enjoy its story and found myself constantly questioning reality like Deckard. This isn’t a dystopian novel akin to 1984 as its philosophical underpinnings reflect the essence of humanity rather than societal trajectory. I’m team human all the way but there is an interesting morale question raised on what defining factor distinguishes us from ever advancing technology. For me, it is humanities ability to confront nihilism with optism coupled with the intentional ability to defend against entropy, or kipple as the book refers to. The many takeaways about human nature itself, irrespective of androids, is a testament to a profound, thought provoking read.