Philip K Dick discussion

maybe this is a question for those who KNEW P.K.Dick when he was alive ... extrapolating into our future (as Philip liked to do in his own work) what would the P.K.Dick of today be writing about?

Were contemporary concerns that great an influence in his writings?

:)

re: getting our news from comedians

I could be easily tempted to wander into a debate/appraisal of the late, great, Bill Hicks at this point ...

:)

What a great thread, thanks.

One story that sometimes comes to mind is "The Nanny" and in particular when I'm looking through computer magazines. I always think about how old systems become obsolete and were virtually forced buy new ones, like how Windows is constantly upgraded. The result is that consumers continually must buy, that computer products are continually thrown into landfills and resources are continually wasted at increasingly faster rates, all essentially for corporate profit.

Also, I like the word "extrapolation" because I don't think scifi authors usually claim to "predict" anything. They simply use reason to examine what might be. That's not magic, its just logic and a sense of concern for humanity.

And I believe Ray Bradbury also posited having a clown newsman in Farenheit 451 on the wall-tv screen. I'm not sure who thought of that first, though.

on the subject of "extrapolation" I don't think Dick did predict anything, if you look at his books now, from the future, he was wrong plus, but he was very succesful at projecting the neighbouring climate into a pseudo-future, a might-be place. You gotta like it just for that, he tried to show how shit it could go, not know it could get a whole lot more shit than that, thanks to influences (political and social) outside his ken.

:)

Yeah, all Dick's books do mulch together and I reall like that, I like it when characters pop up again and again in different guises. I love how his worlds feel fuzzy-warmm and familiar.

I think we pretty much agree, but what would Dick SAY today? I have no idea. However, if I could take a wild guess I could see him being really angry about how we let technology (cars et al) destroy our environment and result in global warming, among other things. I think he would be fascinated by the issue also since its affects are long term and complex.

Then again, who knows, maybe he would say this is all an illusion, and reality is actually located somewhere in the World of Warcraft? =P

LOL I think W.O.W. was prophesied by PKD, its the precursor to the sympathy boxes. Also we have those small robot dogs, not android pets per se, but close enough.

"Also we have those small robot dogs"

James,
you mean those barking sliding shoe-box-things off of Star Wars? or do you mean the Sony AIBO?

Personally, I like how Dick was almost bang-on with the sinister rise of China. It finally came to pass, factoring in Dick's usual linear-extrapolation error factor.

Hey Mike,

Are you Michael Carus. I tried to blow your picture up, but the pixels distort a bit. The picture did sort of look like Mike Carus. If you are, you owe me a game of GO.

Peter,
that's the most surreal (and arbitrary) thing anyone's ever asked me, and thanks.

:)

I have never really thought of Dick as a futurist, or a writer concerned with prediction.

If he happened to touch upon something that "came true," I think it was only because he tended to really understand people, and the deep rooted commonalities found in all of us.

That is, he was so good at capturing his here and now, and filtering it through the eyes of very real characters, that he also seemed to be "predicting" the future because it is so easy to identify with the pathos found in his books.

I don't think there would be much of a difference if Dick was writing today. Of course the drug culture is different, and some social attitudes have changed, but his themes run deeper than kind of SF or genre triviality.

Dick was mainly concerned with the authenticity of human emotions, and this is something that could be examined now in many of the same ways as Dick 30-40 years ago.

but are you he, Michael CARUS? If so we really should touch base. buddygodeaux@yahoo.com
561 - 865 - 9305
A's

man, this group is really active lately - wonder how cal is getting on with his why doesn't he call it Dickheads? PKD splinter group?

:)

anyway, Peter, I am Mike Philbin (goodreads author). I once tried to learn to play GO. I got through a few basic moves, but I was strategically shit.

Mike

Definitely the AIBO lol

Whats GO? And is that a distorted picture of Snape as your avatar, Mike?

Go is a strategic board game where you turn a black piece into a white piece by surrounding it with black pieces. My avatar is one of my drawings.

:)

Go sounds kinda like Othello... Your avatar is neato. Was it inspired by Snape by any chance? At any rate, thats really cool art.

thanks Ubik,
if you do a google search for RAISM (the songs of Gilles de Rais, part 1 meathook seed) you'll find a 32-page 'graphic' graphic novel I drew for Creation Books back in 1990 - parts 2 and 3 never came about. This self-portrait-ish was inspired by one of Bobbie Gillespie of Primal Scream's favourite poses.

if PKD were alive today? He'd probably kill himself, toot sweet! He predicted all of the malarkey we call LIFE today, didn't he? Why actually suffer the nonsense...?

I think the end of the novel "Philip K. Dick Is Dead, Alas," is relevant here. You have a world that is being made better by literal angels ("The Choir") who to all appearances have a direct link to God.

And there's PKD, writing furiously, knowing we can do better.

Phil found plenty of reasons to try to kill himself during his life, Judith. If he had the opportunity, I can only hope he'd fail again.

You guys REALLY need to see the film Hostel 2.

Why not one? Because it's shit. Why Hostel at all? Because that's where we are. A coterie of sharks among the pilchard. A gang of global economists fighting for the best kill, and we (dear humans) are nothing but collateral damage.

I think if Philip K Dick was alive today, he'd be on TV "every fucking day" begging the common man to stop funding these fools.

RENOUNCE THE NEW WORLD ORDER is what he'd be screaming every transmission, take back FREE PLANET.

:)

The Empire never ended?

not for 2,000 or more years