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Oh there's some overlap as in all things very little is binary. None the less PKD doesn't really tell "human vs technology" stories. Take for example "A scann

by VLM 10y ago

Oh there's some overlap as in all things very little is binary. None the less PKD doesn't really tell "human vs technology" stories. Take for example "A scanner darkly" which is an interesting psychological thriller and story about chemical addiction. To quote the wikipedia: "A Scanner Darkly is a fictionalized account of real events, based on Dick's experiences in the 1970s drug culture. Dick said in an interview, "Everything in A Scanner Darkly I actually saw."" "Man in the High Castle" is alt history action. Its not really a story about technology. "Blade Runner" is film noir action flick with a dose of moralizing about racism and dystopia. I'd say the thing that defines PKD is technology as escapism. Yeah OK "a scanner darkly" is about speed freaks but he wanted to tell a psychological thriller about addiction without people casually tossing it away as "the speed freaks movie" so he invented a whole substance D mythology to prevent people from taking the easy way out in their analysis. Ditto Blade Runner where the technology was a cloak to hide aspects of modernity he didn't want to talk about, not a central part of the story. Sort of like how some fantasy pencil whips away aspects of the modern world the author doesn't like in order to pare down to just what the author wants us to focus on. Technology as a zoom lens, not in the zoom lens. PKD is a cool author but in many ways he doesn't even write sci fi. How about another definition, soft sci fi can be turned into any other scenery with mere cut and paste, and tada "a scanner darkly" is about elves smoking too much pipe-weed in Tolkien world. But hard sci fi requires a major and substantial rewrite to change the scenery, not just cut and paste. KSR's Mars trilogy isn't going to Venus or ancient South America any time soon. The problem with the carpenter you mention is out of millions of pro and maybe a billion amateur/ancient carpenters only that one had much insight. Its a bad odds game.

coldtea 10y ago
Those are his more psychedelic works sure. But take something from Dick like "The Second Variation". Or "The Electric Ant". Or "We can remember it for you wholeseale". Or here's his version of the future of IoT, home automation and subscription payments, which as someone in an increasingly number of "forced on my throat" subscription schemes (Adobe, etc) I find surprisingly prescient: The hero in Ubik tries to get out of his own house: "The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt." ...he found the contract. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip. "You discover I'm right," the door said. It sounded smug." >The problem with the carpenter you mention is out of millions of pro and maybe a billion amateur/ancient carpenters only that one had much insight. Its a bad odds game. I find the opposite. All the important contributions to theology and fields such as philosophy have been made by outsiders. Once degrees and tenures started rolling in, the substance starts rolling out. At best those tenured bores can do meta-analyses.

by VLM 10y ago

coldtea 10y ago

Those are his more psychedelic works sure. But take something from Dick like "The Second Variation". Or "The Electric Ant". Or "We can remember it for you wholeseale". Or here's his version of the future of IoT, home automation and subscription payments, which as someone in an increasingly number of "forced on my throat" subscription schemes (Adobe, etc) I find surprisingly prescient: The hero in Ubik tries to get out of his own house: "The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins; nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt." ...he found the contract. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory fee. Not a tip. "You discover I'm right," the door said. It sounded smug." >The problem with the carpenter you mention is out of millions of pro and maybe a billion amateur/ancient carpenters only that one had much insight. Its a bad odds game. I find the opposite. All the important contributions to theology and fields such as philosophy have been made by outsiders. Once degrees and tenures started rolling in, the substance starts rolling out. At best those tenured bores can do meta-analyses.