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"I kind of take it for granted that our great-grandchildren will regard us as a sort of precursor species. That they won't think of us as human and if we could see them, we probably wouldn't think of them as human either."
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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
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