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"Writing about the future, I have a vested interest in there being a future for me to write about."
- John Brunner
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| Andy | ||
| A slang term for "android" - an artificially created humanoid being. |
The key difference between human beings and artificial human beings in Philip K. Dick's world is not intelligence - machine intelligence equal to (or surpassing) human intelligence is assumed. The most important difference is empathy, having feelings for other beings.
The most advanced androids, with the Nexus-6 brain unit, can select within a field of two trillion consitituents, or ten million separate neural pathways.
In the novel, androids are offered to people who will leave the ruined Earth to live elsewhere in the solar system. Androids are, as a rule, not allowed on Earth. In the novel, groups of androids escape their masters and go to Earth, where they try to blend in with the remaining population.
Part of bounty hunter Rick Deckard job is to test suspected escaped androids prior to "retiring" (killing) them.
| Presently he had the pencil of light trained on her right eye and the adhesive patch again in contact with her cheek... "My briefcase," Rick said as he rummaged for the Voight-Kampff forms. "Nice, isn't it... One hundred percent genuine human babyhide." He saw the two dial indicators gyrate frantically. But only after a pause. The reaction had come, but too late. |
| Technovelgy from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Doubleday in 1968 Additional resources -
|
Here's a brief quote showing how the word is used in the novel:
In this remarkable novel, your idea of what it is to be human (and your perception of other human beings) is systematically thrown off-kilter. One of the best sequences from the book, in which Rick Deckard is taken into custody and accused of being an unfeeling killer by a group of very convincing androids, is not seen in the movie.
If you are interested in this theme of being fooled by machine intelligence, you might also consider reading the chilling (really!) short story "Almost a Wife" from the collection The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.
Also, andreide can be found in L’ève future - Villiers de l’Isle Adam - 1886 (thanks to @Pierre Metivier).
“Are you going to retire the six remaining Nexus-6 andys?”
(Comparison of Future Eves)
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More Ideas
and Technology from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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and Technology by Philip K. Dick
Tech news articles related to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Andy-related
news articles:
- EveR2-Muse Robot's Many Faces
- Toshiba's Lifelike Communication Android
| Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents |
| Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand! |
| AI Operates An Excavator |
| Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish |
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
