Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

in novel •  2 years ago 

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I just finished the classic sci-fi tale, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Which inspired the Blade Runner films.) The Harrison Ford film (haven't seen the other) captures the mood of the book well, even if plot details differ a little.

The year is 2021! The world has suffered a strange atomic holocaust: the cities seem to have been spared, but the world as a whole is choked with radioactive dust, killing almost all creatures but mostly-miserable humans who survive or flee to Mars. (Which is no Holiday Inn itself.) Aside from cities, it seems the Soviet Union still survives in the book, published in 1968.

But the action all takes place in two cities: San Francisco and Seattle, mostly the former. The AI company that creates the next-gen androids is based in Seattle, and the hero flies up there and meets the android femme fatale. Interesting coincidence, that the story is based in what would become Silicon Valley, essentially, and in its satellite to the north, where Amazon and Microsoft, along with large Google and Facebook engineering teams, are no doubt laying the groundwork for post-humanity.

It's a bleak picture of the future, indeed. Glad we've made it to 2022 without it materializing, yet. Entropy is an important theme of the book . . . A good read.

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