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"SF is a controlled way to think and dream about the future."
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In the future world of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the Earth has been ruined - how this occurred is not important to Dick. Few animals were able to survive; it is a signal social accomplishment to have a live animal. Since a live animal is too expensive, robot animals are procured instead.
Perhaps you are looking to purchase or research a robotic companion? You've come to the right place.
For additional verisimilitude, some of the "animals" could even feign illness, until "cured" by a repairman disguised as a veterinarian (see disease circuit).
It was also possible to create an autonomous robotic version of an actual pet:
In the novel, humanity has effectively ruined the natural world; the obsession with mechanical animals is used to both show the shallow social needs of human beings as well as the quirky, likeable quality present in people who love their pets. Androids don't seem to have the capacity to care for others, of their own kind or even animals.
It is true that we have a special admiration for creations like Sony's Aibo that we do not have for real animals. As the French philosopher Jean de la Varende remarked about androids and automatons, "I admire the man who gives himself so much pain to manufacture what God makes so easily".
On the other hand, it is also true that philosophers have for centuries believe that animals are mere automata anyway; as Descartes says "all the actions of beasts are similar only to those which we perform without the help of our minds."
Compare to robot dog from The Iron World (1937) by Otis Adelbert Kline, robot animals from Reunion on Ganymede (1938) by Clifford Simak and Purza the Pukha, from The Rowan, a 1990 novel by Anne McCaffrey.
Don't miss Ray Bradbury's mechanical hound from Fahrenheit 451; a fireman's best friend? Perhaps. Comment/Join this discussion ( 2 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
Splendid View Of Eclipse From Orbit Visualized And Repurposed By Arthur C. Clarke
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
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