Philip K. Dick: Difference between revisions

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* [[Author Stand In]] - {{spoiler|1=Horselover Fat (a pun on Philip Dick) in ''VALIS'', as well as Nicholas Brady in the discarded early draft that was posthumously published as ''Radio Free Albemuth.'' In both, however, he also includes a ''separate'' character [[Mind Screw|named Philip K. Dick]].}} Feel free to blather now.

** Furthermore, in VALIS, there is a point where a third character finally snaps and tells Horselover Fat that Fat IS P.K.D. Up until that point in the narrative (told through Fat's eyes) the reader assumes they are two different characters. It is simultaneously revealed to Fat, as well as the reader, causing the reader to feel as schizophrenic as the author/character. PKD seems to disappear from the plot, or meld with Fat, after this revelation.

* [[Broken Aesop]] / [[Family Unfriendly Aesop]] (or maybe [[Misaimed Fandom]], [[Your Mileage May Vary]]) - Oh lord, ''Electric Sheep''. While Dick considered artificial people the most horrific excess of a degenerate society obsessed with escaping reality, many readers came to sympathize with the robots, including the people who adapted it to film. [[Roger Ebert|One critic]] went so far as to compare Deckard to [[~~Godwins~~ Law|"A Nazi measuring noses"]] & the general consensus among AI advocates is that if truly intelligent robots ever appear, the book will probably be looked back upon in a similar manner as ''[[Birth of a Nation]]'' is today.

* [[Broken Aesop]] / [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] (or maybe [[Misaimed Fandom]], [[Your Mileage May Vary]]) - Oh lord, ''Electric Sheep''. While Dick considered artificial people the most horrific excess of a degenerate society obsessed with escaping reality, many readers came to sympathize with the robots, including the people who adapted it to film. [[Roger Ebert|One critic]] went so far as to compare Deckard to [[Godwin's Law|"A Nazi measuring noses"]] & the general consensus among AI advocates is that if truly intelligent robots ever appear, the book will probably be looked back upon in a similar manner as ''[[Birth of a Nation]]'' is today.

** Considering that the book's ideology kinda centered around the difference between appearance of a thing and the actuality of its identity (emotion/compassion apparently being the deontological decider for humanity), you could argue that it's a subversion of the whole "If it talks and speaks like a human it is human." The idea that identity is interchangeable and variable depending on perspective is kinda a driving point, where you have humans creating a situation of absolute dystopia where the pinnacle of human technology is perfectly suited to the environment it was created in (i.e. the robots being ideally detached from the horror of earth in order to 'live' there), and humans dig their own graves by undermining reality. It also tends to try to highlight the difference (and if there is actually any) between sentience and programmed routine, and what constitutes self-awareness (jury's still out on that one). However, the fact that Dick wrote this while high on amphetamines could just meant he had a really bad trip.

*** Also, [[Blade Runner]]? Wow, talk about complete inversions of the subject material (we get it, everyone has feelings!)

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** In ''Cosmic Puppets'' this is played with extensively while the protagonist is gradually having his reality disassembled around him while he desperately tries to grip on to ''anything'' that might sustain his sanity. He is literally pulled to the brink of a nervous breakdown when two people with their eyes closed walk ''straight through'' the people he is trying to talk to before moving through a house wall. It doesn't help when the seemingly [[Only Sane Man]] in the vicinity says (paraphrased), "Of course, it's perfectly normal. You're not mentally ill, are you?"

* [[Chekhov's Gun]] - ''Paycheck'' is a deconstruction of the concept.

* [[Do Anything Robot]] - ''Sales Pitch'' is about a [[Do Anything Robot]] that serves as its own salesman and touts its ability to do absolutely anything, so you don't have to do anything at all.

* [[Do-Anything Robot]] - ''Sales Pitch'' is about a [[Do-Anything Robot]] that serves as its own salesman and touts its ability to do absolutely anything, so you don't have to do anything at all.

* [[Downer Ending]] - Many. ''Second Variety'', ''Sales Pitch'', ''Faith of Our Fathers''...

** Occasionally a [[Bittersweet Ending]] may be evident, but you'll never find a [[Happily Ever After]] on PKD's side of science-fiction.

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* [[God Is Evil]] - Considering his obsession with Gnosticism, this isn't surprising. "Faith Of Our Fathers" was the first really well-known [[God Is Evil]] SF story.

** Mostly it comes in the form of either "[[Oh Crap|the Demiurge suddenly got interested in your life]]", or "the complete/higher God was looking the other way when the Demiurge decided to [[Kick the Dog]]" (with the Dog in this case being one of PKD's protagonists).

** By the time we get to the appearance of "[[Light Is Good|The Pink Light]]", the manifestation of Sophia (in different forms), and alternate interpretations of the Torah (which are then used to validate multiple levels of existence), it becomes "Aion Telos is trying to help but can't get through to humans because Yaldaboath is blocking the entrance to the Iron Fortress." [[Take a Third Option|That said]], what we're really talking about here is the intervention of the ''Advocate'' versus the Adversary, because the Godhead itself tends to be either [[Neglectful Precursors|too bored to pay attention]] or... well, [[Nice Job Breaking It Hero|broken.]]

** By the time we get to the appearance of "[[Light Is Good|The Pink Light]]", the manifestation of Sophia (in different forms), and alternate interpretations of the Torah (which are then used to validate multiple levels of existence), it becomes "Aion Telos is trying to help but can't get through to humans because Yaldaboath is blocking the entrance to the Iron Fortress." [[Take a Third Option|That said]], what we're really talking about here is the intervention of the ''Advocate'' versus the Adversary, because the Godhead itself tends to be either [[Neglectful Precursors|too bored to pay attention]] or... well, [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|broken.]]

* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: all humans and sentient creatures have both redeemable and damnable qualities (with generally more time spent musing on the damnable). There is no black and white, only mixed shades of grey, and if you think you've finally come across someone who fits into either a pure white or black category, then you are probably about to find out something about them that dilutes them to grey again. The only exception from this rule are those that are manifestations of the demiurge, and even then the psychosis backing the [[Complete Monster]] always has a dimension of understanding to it that makes the reader unable to label them as definitively evil.

* [[Humans Are Bastards]] - they really, really are.

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* [[Reality Warper]]: many, with their powers constantly becoming more intricate and elaborate throughout the decades of P.K.D's writing career until you get to ''The Divine Invasion'', at which point you may need a pen, paper and a flow chart.

* [[Robot War]] - His most famous story of this kind, "Second Variety", was made into the film ''[[Screamers]]''.

* [[Self Fulfilling Prophecy]] - {{spoiler|Minority Report, both versions.}} In {{spoiler|Paycheck}} the government's discovery of a future-seeing device causes it to bring about the disasters the machine prophecies.

* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]] - {{spoiler|Minority Report, both versions.}} In {{spoiler|Paycheck}} the government's discovery of a future-seeing device causes it to bring about the disasters the machine prophecies.

* [[Shown Their Work]] - many of his stories, but especially ''V.A.L.I.S.''; I hope you know your Taoism, Gnosticism and mythology well. Some working knowledge of Koine Greek doesn't hurt either.

* [[They Look Like Us Now]] - ''[[Screamers]]'' with human looking robots. As well as many stories with artificial human-looking robots or aliens, some who have no idea that they are not human - an [[Paranoia Fuel|some who are terrified that they are]].

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* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]] - He wrote ''entire books'' that resemble extended, fictional meditations on Judeo-Christian and Gnostic semiotics. ''The Divine Invasion'' comes to mind especially.

** ''The Divine Invasion'' [[Paranoia Fuel|will have you desperately leafing through translations of the Torah just to make sure the End Of Days isn't coming next week.]]

* [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs]] - He was known for finishing many of his novels in less than a week, a feat he usually achieved by taking amphetamines and writing non-stop. ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'', however, which is ''about'' drug addicts, was written after he became sober.

* [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs?]] - He was known for finishing many of his novels in less than a week, a feat he usually achieved by taking amphetamines and writing non-stop. ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'', however, which is ''about'' drug addicts, was written after he became sober.

** Fictional drugs play significant roles in several other stories, such as Can-D (which tranfers your mind into a Barbie-like doll named Perky Pat) and Chew-Z (an afterlife-simulating hallucinogen {{spoiler|that allows the title character to control your perception}}) from ''The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch''.

* [[What Measure Is a Non Human]] - ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''

* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]] - ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''

** Also What Measure Is A Human - pick a book, any book...