Philip K Dick discussion

In your opinion who was living in half-life?

Joe Chip or Glen Runciter?

Maybe this is a question for the group AFTER we've gone through a thorough Group re-Read of this title in 2012?

:)

whoops sorry :)

its a book i will gladly re-read next year.

Don't apologise, Pickle, UBIK discussion is a great idea ... maybe we 'should' assign it to our Group Read list for 2012 (if we're all hear after all the hype has murdered reality).

:)

At the time I read it I came away with two impressions that seemed equally valid: Joe Chip was the one in half-life AND they both were and dreaming the reality of the other. It felt like a Hall of Mirrors with infinite regression.

I laughed at the ending, having been assuming that Joe Chip was the one in half-life. I don't think too much about PKD's reality-bending, but my tentative answer to this question would be that Chip's the one in half life, and that the coins were a red herring and/or a joke.

When I read it, I feel like it's Runciter only in half-life, but when I think about it, I feel Dick is making it possible for either one or even both to be in half-life at the same time. I don't think he cares which you put, but cares that he got you thinking about it

hello everyone I did a re-read of this book and gave it some thought. Here is my conclusion on what I though was happening.

I think the mission to the moon was a set up by Ray Hollis to strike a blow against Runciter and his organization. Ray Hollis knew that Runciter's business has seen better days and could use the money. Therefore, Runciter would have a hard time turning down a big contract even if it sounded fishy such as it did with the push for them to leave quickly, not reveal the true person hiring them, and that it required them to go to the moon.

When Runciter visited his wife for advice early on in the book, we were briefly explained the state of half-life. Runciter's conversation with his wife was interrupted by Jory Miller who was another half-life person. We learned that other half life people can fuse and communicate with one another in a shared conciseness.

On the moon a bomb goes off and apparently kills Runciter and leaves the others alive. This is what I think was happening. All of them die in the bomb blast. Runciter however probably died first. They are all placed in cold pack. Runciter finds the product UBIK by one means or another. Jory Miller fights desperately to devour the life force of the team in order to prolong his own present existence against Runciter trying to save them with UBIK. Jory Miller sets up illusions to trap and confuse them.

At the end of the book Joe Chip gets a life-time supply of UBIK from Runciter's wife. Then he notices his face is now on all the money instead of Runciter. I think the reason Runciter's face was on all the money was because he discovered UBIK and that was used as a message to others to search him out. Therefore, Joe Chip is now meant to give UBIK to other new people in half-life; to protect them from being eaten by people like Jory Miller.

What is UBIK then? My understanding is that UBIK is a mystical substance from a powerful being from the after life. Kind of a god like figure. Creator of the universe. And since half-life does kind of mean half-dead they can interact with this being in some way and get the substance UBIK. Runciter's wife and the other half-lifer's must have learned this sometime along the way. How else could Runciter's wife remained alive for 3 plus years after being seated next to Jory Miller.

Before the bomb goes off some of Runciter's people reported having strange dreams. In those dreams they heard music and Ray Hollis and his men were giving them threats. I think Ray Hollis's people used their powers in some way or another to help succeed in their mission to kill them on the moon with the bomb. The team had pat who could reverse time and Runciter himself said he saw the attack coming with the use of one of his precogs. I think there must have been some struggle or battle between the two of some short not mentioned in the book. The fight must have been tough because Ray Hollis was shown on TV showing an expression of relief, as if to say "glad my plan worked I was worried there for a minute."

Your conclusion is really good but, if they all die in the explosion, who puts them in the cold packs? Ray Hollis? If he wanted to kill them and he succeeds, why bother help them move to half-life instead of killing them off completely?

Mmmm.... I've read this book several times but I think it's time for a re-read. Maybe this time everything will make sense :)

Marta wrote: "Your conclusion is really good but, if they all die in the explosion, who puts them in the cold packs? Ray Hollis? If he wanted to kill them and he succeeds, why bother help them move to half-life ..."

When Ray Hollis was on TV he was pretending to show concern over the matter and he stated how he wanted to attend Runciter's funeral while at the same time showing a sign of relief. I would believe that if anything Ray Hollis did not want to be connected to the bombing so as to escape accusation. I suppose some of the authorities on the moon would have to transport them into half life. Also, they would have to be in the same half-life location as Runciter's wife for Jory Miller to attack them. However, it makes sense though that they would be put there since that is the same place as Runciter's wife and they could then be together.

Hi guys.

I think that both of them were in half life. In my opinion, all of them died on the Moon. Runciter probably wasn't part of the group (in half life) because he was put next to her wife, who was in isolation (thanks to him) at the time. That's probably the reason behind the difficulties in their communications (between Runciter and Joe). That's why Runciter could easily get the Ubik, even knowing nothing about it. Thanks to Ella, who helped him indirectly and telling him nothing about his death.
After Ella's departure his husband got probably moved with all the others.

I just finished reading it for the first time and I can't stop trying to make sense of it. Here is my theory: I think Runciter died in the blast and at least Joe Chip survives to put him in a cold pack. Runciter doesn't know that he himself is dead. In his experience he is the only survivor and he is having trouble reaching everyone because Jory is taking them over just like he was doing to Ella.

So Joe is really alive, but in Runciter's false reality there is a dead Joe and Runciter is trying to reach that dead Joe. The book is the hypothetical perspective of dead Joe. Then the real Joe gets through to Runciter in the end when his face is on the money. So it's like a dream within a dream scenario, from two different characters.

Marshall wrote: "hello everyone I did a re-read of this book and gave it some thought. Here is my conclusion on what I though was happening.

I think the mission to the moon was a set up by Ray Hollis to strike a b..."

Hi I pretty much concur with everything thanks for this post!

One thing I wondered is if Runciter is in half-life, why would his wife not reunite and communicate with him, and bother working with Joe instead? Unless all three of them were in half-life but only Joe and Runciter's wife were linked by proximity in storage or some such. Or Ruciter became linked with the others later. It's been a few years since I have read it so maybe that could be explained.

I tend to think that they all died in the moon blast, as there just isn't any other reason the image changing on the money would have changed to Joe's picture if Runciter was alive in the real world. The largest part of the novel is Joe awakening into his existence in half-life, and being attacked by Jory and so forth. Unbeknownst to him, Runciter died as well and is communicating to him from within half-life in a confused state, both mistakenly believing Runciter survived and is outside.

I can't think of why Runciter and his wife would be separated in half-life but each connected with Joe. It sort of becomes a question as to who can communicate with who and what is reality and what is an illusion. Which I guess is the question Philip K. intends for us to ask.

That is a good question. It also may answer the one problem with the everyone died and is in a fake reality answer. That would be Why create a fake reality within another fake reality. The reason could be that Jory wanted to fool Runciter and his wife so she would not know he was dead and would not try to help him. He was put in first and he created the fake world and then when the rest were put in he created the second reality to confuse things further.

There is no reason to assume that those in half life could communicate with those in the real world without some device. Therefore it is better to think he died with them. Been awhile since I read this. If anyone has other ideas please share them.

Marshall wrote: "hello everyone I did a re-read of this book and gave it some thought. Here is my conclusion on what I though was happening.

I think the mission to the moon was a set up by Ray Hollis to strike a b..."

I almost completely agree with this post, but with one change - Runciter did survive the blast but died after the vast effort he expended trying to contact the dying (after his meeting with Joe in the hotel room). He was already well over 100 and it mentions several times all the special things inside him keeping him going. Then, before the last chapter, he's completely wiped out and even says, "...the arduous, prolonged task of reaching Joe Chip had depleted him." He also says, "This has damn near finished me off." I think it did finish him off.

So he dies in the lounge and is put into coldpac. Immediately he starts seeing Joe, who after being saved by Runciter and Ella, is now a hero figure who will save others. Just like he tells Ella, the fight will go on. The ending sort of reminds me of the ending of the first Matrix, Joe being Neo.

(I know this is three years later, but I just finished the book and then discovered this group, wanted to see what people thought!)

Daniele wrote: "Hi guys.

I think that the both of them were in half life. In my opinion, all of them died on the Moon. Runciter probably wasn't part of the group (in half life) because he was put next to her wife..."


Oh, one of the best interpretations I've seen! Good work! ;)

I don't actually think you can look at "Ubik" too literally. Main theme of the book is, after all, that everything around you might be a lie and you shouldn't believe anything you are said.
Basically every 50 pages the life of Joe Chip drastically changes- first, his life is (temporarly) altered, so Pat becomes his wife. Then, the mission goes terribly wrong and Runciter dies. Then, everyone starts slowly dying, Runciter tries to communicate with him, Pat turns out to be the villain, but she's not, it's Jory... It's all about reality around you changing, lying to you.
And what's Ubik? It comes from the word "everywhere" and the last chapter clearly states that Ubik is some form of self-conscious godlike being. But.. it's also false, as we see money in Runciter's hands changing shape.
I guess it's like Dick is trying to say: world around you is a lie. You may think, that there's at least one true thing in there- a god. But maybe a God himself is living a lie that's being manipulated by something else? What if even a God is living in a fantasy?

I'm not even going into all pararells between Runciter-God, his wife-Holy Spirit and Joe Chip-Jesus (after all, they names begin with J.Ch.)
It's clear through Dick's books that he didn't believe the reality he was living in. He thought that goverment was constantly lying to everyone, that Stanisław Lem was a group of soviet agents.
And Ubik takes that paranoia to the god-tier (literally).

Dick was influenced by the Tibetain Book of the Dead. The most logical interpretation of the ending is the Runciter was dead as well as the rest of them. Jory created two fake realities. Not one. In the Bardo between life and death reality can be formed through pure thought by those who know how do it. That is one Buddhist interpretation of the afterlife.

Bartek, great analysis. I think it's spot on. You can definitely see the same theme in some of his (not as good) other novels especially Eye in the Sky and Maze of Death. Maze of Death happens to have been written at almost the same time as Ubik. So I think those works reinforce the idea.

I think they're both in half-life. I think Glen was killed or died between the second to last time we see him and the very end of the book. While it might be possible that he was dead since the bomb blast, I think Ella is a rare trustworthy element of this book and at the end of the book, she indicates that Glen is alive and needs help running the company.

EDIT: I think Ben's theory, above, further reinforces the argument that Glen dies (or half-dies) towards the end of the book.

Hello, just joined to post here. One powerfully metaphorical e-book. I've read all down this list to see if this interpretation has been posted.

It has to have been Joe Chip in half-life. The emotional motivation of the story was the heart-break Glen Runciter felt at the deterioration of the mind of his wife. This could be mitigated by the company of others. So, unwilling to put himself to cryogenic sleep and personally share the burden, he creates this multi-pronged plan.

Mr. Runciter wants his wife to have company in the half-life. This I assume is more effective if the company are people who knew her, and knew her husband.
Mr. Runciter wants to obliterate his rival, Ray Hollis. Business as usual includes psychics, somehow he gains access to his rivals moon-base for his supreme industrial sabotage. Ray Hollis does not want this event, sends dream messages forewarning the work team.
Mr. Runciter cannot risk the psychics to perceiving what is in the immediate future. Enter Pat Conley, the ace in the hole. She selects for realities where the dreams are not communicated between the team to prevent the team from unionising against Mr. Runciter's diabolical plan to exploit their personal value.
Jory is the mental dependence of Ella. The story opens with Mr. R feeling Ella depend on him, rather than Ella depending on unknown offsiders. Mr. R huge sums to prevent this, to keep Jory in half-life. The head of an interstellar business with hourly advertising on the capital planet, he does not want more business. He wants more employees because he is about to kill the best labourers. Also to capitalise on the social wave set in motion by the industrial sabotage.
The final twist is Mr. R spending (useless) Joe Chip money. Mr. R wanted Joe Chip's life. It is Joe Chip's blindness to his own value (2nd in command to Glen Runciter) coupled with shallow greed (can he afford the door?) that prevent him from seeing through the plan because he assumes Mr. R wants monetary gain, instead of more time with loved ones at the expense of fungible colleagues.

Zach wrote: "I just finished reading it for the first time and I can't stop trying to make sense of it. Here is my theory: I think Runciter died in the blast and at least Joe Chip survives to put him in a cold ..."

As mentioned I believe that PKD plays with the concept that everything around you might be a lie and tries to communicate this sense of absolute uncertainty to the reader.

By reaching the last chapter of the book, the readers are pretty much certain that Runciter is alive and he is helping the others in half-life against Jory, but the brilliant last page and a half turns everything upside down.
I think it is very possible that Runciter is the only one that died and as Zach wrote we have been reading the perspective of dead Joe, after all it was hinted again in the book the concept of double presence - in the half life and real life.
"This was just the beginning"