Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick

A strange name for a strange novel. And a strange author, from what I can gather. Phillip K. Dick is widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern science fiction, which distinguishes itself from older Sci Fi with its interest in how technology corrupts human identity and morality. Dick seems to be the first Sci Fi author to examine the problem of humans and smart machines, and how this could affect life in the future.

Electric Sheep is about a world in which androids are virtually indistinguishable from human beings. The main character, Rick Deckard, is a bounty hunter, charged with killing, or "retiring" escaped androids. Since the androids so closely resemble humans, the matter of retiring them takes on a moral dimension. Are androids alive? Do they have the right to life that humans do, or is retiring an android a morally neutral act?

This is the first science fiction novel I have read in quite some time, and found it quite enjoyable. Dick's book is provocative and imaginative, but also deeply flawed. Dick never deeply examines the ambiguity of the android life -- at times they seem near human, at other times cold and unspeakably cruel. This paradoxical behavior is never clearly explained. This may be by design, but for me it left the book incomplete. I wanted the humanity of the androids to emerge, much as I wait through every episode of "Star Trek" to see Mr. Spock show his human side. Not to ever see it is a mild disappointment.

Dick was a schizophrenic in real life, and I wonder if this sometimes shows in the book. Schizophrenics are known for their "flat affect," that is, an inability to emotionally connect with other people. At times Electric Sheep has character interactions that seem unnatural, even when two humans are involved. In certain situations, I found myself thinking, People don't act like that. 

This book was the basis for the cult classic movie Bladerunner. The movie, which I saw a long time ago, as I remember it did a better job of playing with the ambiguity of being an android, a thinking machine. In Bladerunner, there was always an open question: Who were the androids (called replicants in the film) and who were the real people? The confusion greatly heightens the impact of the movie. Dick never clearly hit on this theme, though he hinted all around it. Perhaps if he had, he would have transformed Electric Sheep from a very good book into a great one.