Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Polokov and five other androids have escaped from Mars, where they were sent to perform basic labor, and come to San Francisco. His colleague, Dave Holden, has just been shot and hospitalized by an android, Polokov, whom Dave was trying to track down. Mercerism was founded by a man named Wilbur Mercer, who appears before his followers as an old, robed man climbing up a steep hill. Followers of Mercerism celebrate empathy by gripping the handles of an “ empathy box,” allowing them to feel the emotions and sensations of other people. Isidore is a follower of a strange religion called Mercerism. Meanwhile, we’re introduced to a mentally challenged man named John Isidore, a “special,” who lives alone in an abandoned apartment building in San Francisco. One such test, the Voigt-Kampff, is designed to measure humans’ natural empathy-androids, who supposedly have no empathy, can’t pass the test.Īs the novel begins, Rick Deckard, a seasoned police officer, is contemplating buying a real animal to impress his neighbors-he and his wife Iran Deckard own an electric sheep. Police officers run elaborate psychological tests on suspects. The law enforcement officers on Earth try to hunt down these androids and “retire” them-i.e., kill them. These androids are used as workers or assistants on other planets, but some escape and live on Earth, disguised as people. Furthermore, science has succeeded in building androids so realistic that it’s become virtually impossible to distinguish them from human beings.

Because the war destroyed almost all animals, having a pet is the ultimate sign of luxury. People with talent and intelligence are sent to colonize other planets, such as Mars, while those who can’t pass the proper tests are left on Earth to eventually die. The novel is set in the year 1992 in San Francisco, following an enormous war, World War Terminus, that’s destroyed most of the natural world and left Earth’s surface dangerously irradiated.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick