Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Assignment Example

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? A thought that gets ‘impregnated’ into an individual’s mind can be given ‘birth’ and ‘raised’ by science. That is, the human mind is an uncontrollable thinking entity. It gets ideas or thoughts at any moment and when that thought arises, the human will always want to translate it into action. And, one of the tools that can be used for that “translation” purpose is science and technology. Using science, the human gives form to the thought and achieve some sort of completion. That completion will give tremendous confidence and boost to the psychology of the individual. Individuals will then believe, that confidence, to be a sense of power. So, we can see the link between science, psychology and power, with science being the initiator. But, some times the acquired power could be a false sense of power as well. This paper will discuss this link and the role of science through the characters, Case and Armitage in Neuromancer written by William Gibson and through Androids in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, written by Philip K. Dick, and thereby analyze how the science in Science Fiction is essential to making Science Fiction a literature of cognitive estrangement. Neuromancer The environment in Neuromancer is full of science in the form of cyberspace. In that environment, the central character of Case, a computer hacker was recruited by a shadowy character, Armitage along with Molly to complete a series of missions. And in the course of the story, that mission control gets transferred to an Artificial Intelligence entity, named Wintermute, which uses Case’s services and science to integrate with another AI entity, Neuromancer. The mind of Case is an addicted one. Apart from the drug addict ness, which he suffered due to his low life; Case’s mind was also addicted to an entirely different entity, the entity of Cyberspace. That is, Case’s desire to connect to the cyberspace was thwarted by the injections of neurotoxins administrated by his corporate employers for his act of stealing. So, this injection of neurotoxins destabilized his nervous system and made him ‘handicapped’ to jack in the cyberspace. This of inability of Case to connect to the cyberspace created a sort of craving for the cyberspace and which only transformed into addiction. “For Case, who'd lived for the bodiless exultation of cyberspace, it was the Fall. (Gibson p.12)”. And, this addicted mind got a new thought process when Mr. Armitage, wanted to utilize Case’s hacking abilities. So, using the computer technology and science of Hacking, Case got a new purpose in his life. And through this adventures Case corrected all his physical faults, “He spent the bulk of his Swiss account on a new pancreas and liver” (Gibson p.317). Then, he got involved in more missions, which eventually gave him lot of power. The power, which clearly overrode his master, Mr. Armitage. That is, when Case got many successes and the resultant power, the Artificial Intelligence known as, Wintermute, for whom the Mr. Armitage is working, discarded Mr. Armitage and selected Case as its point man to achieve its target, the target of integrating with the Neuromancer. So, it is clear that the thought process of Case, initiated by Mr. Armitage attained full form and got the power mainly using the computer technology of Hacking. Hacking is one of the important advancement of science (though it has been used both in positive and negative ways) and is normally featured in many science fiction literatures. Here also it is used as one of the important components of science and thereby makes this novel, Neuromancer a literature of cognitive estrangement This aspect of Neuromancer is further strengthened by another character, who like Case also exhibits Science, Psychology and technology link and again proves that Neuromancer is a literature of cognitive estrangement. That is, Mr. Armitage’s original name was Colonel Willis Corto, a Cold war veteran who was grievously injured in a fatal military attack. The devastated body and mind of his was reconstructed or reengineered by the entity, Wintermute to reach its own ambitions, which is to integrate with Neuromancer. So, in the case of Mr. Armitage, science only gives him his life, mind and thereby Psychology. Then using his Psychology, Mr. Armitage recruited Molly and Case to help in the missions, which was actually given by the Wintemute. And, with the success of, both the recruits, his power got boosted and he enjoyed a real leader status. "organization man" (Gibson p. 84). Even though, the science of hacking (used by Case) diminished his power, he was ‘reborn’ literally, due to the science of medicine and Artificial intelligence. So, here also, Neuromancer exhibits its scientific richness, thereby proving it is a literature of “cognitive estrangement” Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a 1968 science fiction novel, which was set in 1992 brings in the science element in the title itself and introduces the actual scientific element of Androids in the futuristic San Francisco. They are the object of attention of the central character, Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who goes after the renegade or rebel Androids, who have escaped from the colony planet of Mars and from the position of being slaves to the human inhabitants. Deckard’s duty is to capture them and ‘retire’ them. In one of the missions, he is after the Nexus-6, considered the most advanced type of android with maximum human features. In Dick’s novel, the androids are manufactured using the scientific knowledge that would prevail in the future (1992 was considered future as it was interpreted from the time the novel was written). As science will be most times used when the humans need comfort, Androids are manufactured mainly as slaves to the human inhabitants of other planets. Called Andy, these Androids were made human like with all the physical features of humans, using only science. Even the behaviors of these Androids were made human like by using the scientific technology of electronic chips. Behaviors in the sense, the thought process of the Androids were designed to make them similar to the humans, with the exception of few qualities. The few qualities which differentiate them from the humans can be found out after conducting certain psychology based tests and importantly by using scientific instruments like Voight-Kampff, which also helps do the identity tests. As described by the character, Eldon Tyrell, Voight-Kampff does the identity test by observing the “capillary dilation of the so-called blush response, fluctuation of the pupil and involuntary dilation of the iris” (Dick). So, these psychology based tests done on the Androids using science, brings in the element of psychology in to picture, thereby creating an association with science. That is, science only created them into entities having a mind of their own, with human like psychology. This human like psychology also brings in the element of power into the equation. That is, when the Androids were sent to the colony planets to work for the humans, their human like psychology only made them understand the negative attribute of being a slave. If they haven’t had that psychology, they would have functioned without raising any opposition. So, Androids did not want to be slaves anymore and instead wanted to ‘live’ a life of autonomy and power. So, to achieve power, they escape from their human masters and try to live in San Francisco, without being caught by the authorities and the bounty hunters like Rick Deckard. So, in this novel also there is a science, psychology and power link. That is, only because of science, Androids were created, that too with the mindset and psychology of humans, and then the science created human like psychology only pushes them to achieve power, by freeing from enslavement. So, because of this link and the role of science, the novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, can be considered a science fiction literature of cognitive estrangement. That is, as Androids could not have been invented and developed the way it was done in the novel, without the important contribution of science, this novel also falls into the bracket of science fiction literature, earning cognitive estrangement. So, both these novels set in futuristic locations, one in United States and other in Japan, has important characters who imbue science in their every day functioning, creating both positive as well as negative outputs. As theirs present condition and future wish are dependent on science, all the three characters use science in many situations and forms, thereby providing cognitive estrangement to both the science fiction literatures. Works Cited. Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York: Ace, 1984 Dick, Philip. K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Orion new Ed. 2005. Read More