Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

When I was in university I remember that I attended a course on biotechnology, at that time I met a professor who was quite educated and who was totally different from anything I had ever met, in some of the talks we had with the informal way, he told us about a book that according to him all scientists should read: "Do androids dream of electric sheep?", that name was reverberating in my mind for many months and even a few years. In one of the visits that I used to make to bookstores (activity that I probably love), I saw the book and it also had a very striking cover, so that day I bought it, it took another two years until I decided to read it.

Before talking a little about the book, I must tell you that I love science fiction so I have seen many movies on this subject (I would like to tell you that I have read more books than movies on this subject, but it isn't like that), one of them is Blade runner 2049 and I loved everything about it, I even watched the first part to understand the story better, then I found out that these movies were based on the book we were talking about today. My concern when watching the movies was that the book would fail to surprise me.

Well let's start, we find ourselves in a world full of pollution in which several wars have happened (does it sound familiar?), the planet earth is highly toxic and most human beings have emigrated to Mars, as a form of incentive they give them a gift android to help them with the activities they must carry out on the new planet. The story revolves around the android hunter Rick Deckard and the moral debate that the fact of going to discontinue androids began to cause him.

I am going to give my opinion on three specific topics/situations that are discussed in the book:

1. Mercerism: the undeniable need that human beings have to believe in things that at first glance are quite fanciful and unreal is recounted in history under the name of Mercerism. In the book we can find both the "positive" and "negative" aspects of this kind of religion.

As a positive aspect, we can see how some people can cope a little better with their lives by sharing their emotions (with greater relevance empathy for others) with other human beings, all covered by Wilbur Mercer's fight to have a better planet/humanity. This type of religion/philosophy fulfills the universal purpose of metaphorically accompanying the human being who is experiencing difficult times, the well-known: you aren't alone, I'll always be with you. Mercer gives them the consolation of being able to define that what they're experiencing is real and valid.

As a negative aspect we have the irrationality that is needed to be able to believe in the story that develops in an incoherent way about a man who lives forever and who will come to save the world, people spend part of their time connecting with other human beings through a machine (something like going to go to church virtually), sharing emotions but without really doing anything in their lives to change things. The lack of common sense of Wilbur Mercer's "ascension" story; there is even a part where someone reveals that Wilbur is a character and that it was all recorded by a human being with alcohol problems, however, but the minds of his devotees is something they can't contemplate, something they can't accept.

I loved the way in which the author portrays religion and fanaticism in the book, the different approaches that a human being can make throughout his life that determine whether he/she continues to believe or accept that religion is a fraud, if she/he manages to accept that religion is something similar to a mirage.

2. Empathy

According to the story, feeling empathy is what differentiates us from androids and from any other animal. The main character can carry out his work because he knows that androids don't feel any kind of empathy and in fact the tests he performs to identify androids are based on questions in which the natural response of a human being would be to show that capacity immediately. I really liked discovering that androids could feel a kind of empathy for their kind, in fact, they not only feel empathy, they can also beg to preserve their lives or find fascination and passion when carrying out activities for which they weren't programmed. The breaking point is when Rick begins to wonder if androids can feel anything remotely similar to human empathy, this doubt makes him discover that he was stopping seeing androids as objects. 

3. The questioning of reality

As I previously mentioned, one of my biggest worries was not being able to enjoy the surprise effect of the book, but nothing like that happened, in fact, doubt was always present in each chapter, not only with the main character but with most of the characters in the book. Is that real? who is android? Will it be a human? After several important events, the line between the human and the android world is getting thinner, there comes a point where the main character questions his own origin, he was so confused/surprised with the discoveries found in the new models of androids, who no longer had many things clear about himself or about the people around him. When the main character notices that the things he thought no longer have a solid foundation, he begins to contemplate new aspects of the existence of a world in which androids can be considered equal to or even better than humans.

Something I wanted to mention is the issue of the perception that "humanity" has regarding its proximity to nature, in the world portrayed by Philip K. Dick, the people who stay on earth have a higher status if they are capable of caring for and maintaining a living biological animal (because there are also electric ones), that is, having a biological animal makes you more human than the others, one of the drawbacks is that the planet is so polluted that there are very few living species left and they are listed as items, so the sums of money they have to pay for the most exclusive items can be overwhelming.

The main character longs to be able to have a living biological animal, this becomes one of his motivations to work and go looking for the androids, to be able to care for another living being and to feel indispensable for their survival. If you ask me, our reality is already reaching the point of no return regarding the loss of diversity of fauna and flora, in a few years Mr. Capitalism will make the species that survive an article of status and power.

Now I understand why the professor at that time recommended this book to us, there are many edges in this book that can be debated, including how humans use new technologies and the consequences they entail.

Finally, I asked an AI that if it had opinions or feelings, what would it think about the question: do androids dream about electric sheep? This is what it answered me:

"If I had a personal or conscious opinion, I would find the question "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" fascinating and thought-provoking. It raises many philosophical and existential questions about the nature of consciousness, artificial intelligence, and what it means to be alive.

Considering that dreams are often associated with human experiences, the notion of androids, which are synthetic beings, dreaming of electric sheep presents a paradoxical scenario. Dreams are typically considered to be a product of the human mind, influenced by memories, emotions, and subconscious processes. Therefore, if androids were capable of dreaming, it would imply a level of cognitive complexity and internal mental states similar to humans.

The question also invites contemplation on the extent to which androids might possess consciousness, self-awareness, and the ability to generate subjective experiences. It raises ethical and philosophical dilemmas around the treatment of artificial beings and whether they deserve the same consideration and rights as living beings.

Overall, contemplating whether androids dream of electric sheep stimulates reflection on the boundaries between artificial intelligence and human consciousness, inviting us to reflect on nature and the potential intersections between the two"

I leave you an image generated by the AI. The book is highly recommended.

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