Chapter 10

[rhet...@gmail.com]

I just finished chapter ten. I love this sort of plot twist, and it's
one that's common in a PKD (Dickian?) plot. It struck me that the
difference between androids and humans is largely nominal. Apparently
an android's body utterly mimics a human's biological features, and
it's simply in the subtleties of human empathy that they are
deficient. Deckard is, for all intents and purposes, a murderer and
yet he doesn't have trouble with it (he even stopped referring to
androids as "it").

What makes this chapter great in my opinion is that when deckard is
accused of the murder and taken to a police headquarters, the people
that arrest him seem almost as bewildered about the situation as he
is. He is strongly associated with being a murderer and yet they talk
to him casually and try to work through the problem together...and
these are apparently mortal enemies! I like the underlying sentiment
here. Reality isn't as solid as we would like it to believe and all
of Dick's characters seem compassionate to those facing the
consequences of this truth, even the androids. I also think it's odd
how calm deckard takes all the accusations and implications. He
simply knows that reality is as he remembers it and moves along with
equanimity. Resch seems something of a twin of Deckard. One wonders
how Deckard himself would respond to the bad news...

another thing I've noticed is the theme of entropy and how many
characters talk about how the whole earth is being steadily reduced to
kipple. I think it's a bleak outlook, but it's a common theme in
literature and film these days.

[Megan....@gmail.com]

it is a common theme these days... global warming, anyone? does this
make PKD an activist before his time? or is this simply a common
thread that humanity contemplates at certain times in life? Is
contemplating the decomposition of earth a frivolous pursuit that
happens in times of prosper? this is an arguable outlook on our
current state of the world, but i'll argue that as americans, despite
our issues with iraq, we're still sitting darn pretty. was this a
theme explored during WWI, WWII?

[10lees]

I think PDK was an activist before his time. If you read the 'about
the artist' he dropped out of UC Berkeley to avoid participating in a
mandatory ROTC program. (I can't imagine that UCB ever had a
mandatory ROTC program, certainly no one who attends there today would
enjoy such a thing.)

This piece was before it's time. In fact the only dissapointment is
in the dates, if you moved them to 2120 instead of 2020 it could still
be a view of the future. I think that all humanity has contemplated
these thoughts, what if the world ends and what will cause it to
ends? Actually I should ammend that, not all humanity has
contemplated this, but all thinking humanity has. Many societies
contemplated it over history, many 'calendars' have an end date that
arrives soon (the mayans being the most notible) (and it creeps me out
to no end).

I read a very interesting article in the paper here (and have even
linked to it: http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/insight/story/151427.html
) about the decline and fall of America. Many of us are convinced
that America will fall in the next generation as a superpower - and
that we underestimate our rivals problems. We think that our problems
will destroy us, and they might, but I think it more likely that our
problems will cause a greater divide between the classes instead of a
destruction of America. We are being split across increasing
'educational' lines as well.

Now that I am completely off topic, back to the book. I loved the
theme of entropy (new book out called 'The World Without Us' about how
the world would revert if we didn't exist / ceased to exist) and the
similarities between Deckard and Resch - did anybody else think that
Resch really was an android? I was completely convinced by the time
the test was given that he was. Deckard was disturbed that someone
could enjoy killing so much, but didn't he derive his greatest
pleasure from killing as well? It seems to be a game of wits with
him.

Other thoughts?

[Megan....@gmail.com]

i find the dates in the book intriguing. i like that PKD used a
relatively short time frame for his futuristic outlook. i think it
reflects what 10lees is referring to about the predicted self-
destruction of the USA. Did he use that date on purpose, to reflect
the human reaction to predict end-of-times? or, was it really his
prediction.