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21 February 2013
The Role of Speciesism and Technology in Limiting Animal Equality
Although much of science fiction literature and film is set decades or even centuries in
the future, non-human animals in this genre have seen little development in comparison to that of
their human counterparts. Having introduced innovative technologies, such as electric boxes to
control emotions and planetary species converters, human characters in this genre have made it
difficult for animals to become equals in terms of material production. Equality, however, is not
simply a measure of a species’ intellectual capacities. In this essay, I will be examining why,
through speciesism and the reliance on technology in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep? and Clifford D. Simak’s “Desertion,” animals remain perpetually as companions
even though they possess "human” qualities that in an increasingly technologically-driven world,
humans themselves often lack. As British philosopher Jeremy Bentham points out, on the
treatment of non-human animals, “The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but,
Can they suffer?”1
Peter Singer, in “The Animal Liberation Movement,” expands on Bentham’s argument
by discussing how the “equal consideration of interests” principle supports animal equality in
regards to suffering and enjoyment. Singer describes the principle as “equality of consideration
of interests, not equality of rights, that the case for animal equality seeks to establish.”2 In other
words, non-human animals have the capacity to feel pain at the same degree as humans, although
their physiognomies may require different stimuli to inflict said pain—to achieve the same
amount of pain as a baby whose rear has been slapped, a horse may need to be beat with a metal
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Bentham, Jeremy, Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1907).
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Singer, Peter. “The Animal Liberation Movement.” Old Hammond Press. 1985.
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rod. What deserves attention in this example is not the right not to be slapped, for a slap on a
horse’s rear will not hurt the horse; but instead, it is the interest of not being subject to that pain.
The members of different species may have different builds, but their interests are equal.
The animal interest is well-illustrated in Simak’s 1944 story “Desertion,” where human
protagonist Fowler realizes that he and his dog, Towser, by the end of “Desertion,” are equal
when he detaches himself from his speciesist beliefs—that, according to Singer, are a “bias
toward the interest of members of one's own species and against those of members of other
species.” Until he enters Jupiter’s atmosphere with Towser, Fowler is almost obsessed with
furthering the development of the human race, placing humanity on a tier above all other parties.
He refers to “Man” repeatedly throughout the story to emphasize how the mission to walk on
Jupiter will serve a particularly human cause—to become and subsist as a Jovian or Godlike
being for the purpose of exploiting Jupiter’s resources. This illusion of “Man” dissolves,
however, after Fowler decides to take his dog with him outside of Jupiter’s domes.
Although Fowler cares about his dog’s interests, it is not until he enters Jupiter’s
atmosphere that he learns that human forms of communication are not as significant as primarily
construed; Bentham’s “Can they talk?” is proven an insignificant question in determining a
being’s status. Towser tells Fowler that he “knew when [he] wanted food and when [he] wanted
a drink and when [he] wanted out, but that’s about all [Fowler] ever managed” (123). Focusing
solely on the form of communication humans understand, outside of Jupiter Fowler is unable to
understand his dog. Furthermore, the fact that speech can be a hindrance rather than an asset
supports that non-human animals’ inability to speak is not a factor that deems them any lesser
than their human counterparts. Thought signals are more effective.
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Before entering Jupiter’s beauteous and thought-inducing atmosphere with his dog,
Fowler says that he had expected to experience “terror inspired by alien things” (Simak, 125). In
addition to removing both the “terror” and the “alien” imprinted in his mind after witnessing
Jupiter’s wonders, being in Jupiter’s atmosphere also causes him to redefine the word, “Man.”
Leaving Jupiter would turn Fowler “back into a man” and Towser “back into a dog” (Simak,
126), for other individuals in society, in their ignorance, would try to place them back into their
unchanging roles as “master” and “pet.” On Jupiter, Towser is, in contrast to the animal seen
gnawing on a bone at his master’s feet (Simak, 121), perceived as a sentient being whose simple,
yet wise statements alter Fowler’s mindset and goals. He is seen as such not because Jupiter’s
atmosphere had made him more human-like, but because Fowler learns to see him in an unbiased
light. Unlike the men in the dome who are “shut off forever from that personal, intimate contact
with other living things,” Fowler is able to bypass the boundaries that speciesism had set for him
and reach as Jovian, god-like, and contenting an understanding of life he could possibly grasp.
He realizes that for the first time, he is “using [his brain]…to figure out things [humanity] should
have known all the time” (124).
In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (DADES), the relationship between the cat and
its owners, the Pilsens, is similar to Fowler and Towser’s Jupiter experience, in that the
relationship is unique in a universe where animals are viewed more so often as commodities than
kin. Words in this novel are also an unnecessary form of communication to develop thought as
they are in “Desertion.” Horace, the cat, during life, was known to “stand and stare up at [the
Pilsens] as if asking a question” to which they could not find an answer (Dick, 80). Being able
to question and wonder if a very non-human like trait, for questions are what ignite the creation
of new theorems, technologies, etc.. Asking questions is a signal that we are intuitive and
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interested in learning. The cat asking a question, thus, proves that he has “interests” that the
“equal consideration of interests” would argue as traits signaling equality. The fact that Mr.
Pilsen would potentially commit suicide, if he were informed of his cat’s having passed away,
places Horace—the non-human animal—on yet another level equivalent to “Man’s” (Dick, 80).
He is able to mourn the loss of a cat at the same degree a person would mourn an innocent child.
In others’ perspectives, Horace may appear as merely an animal that serves as a status symbol
that also provides the Pilsens with companionship, but the Pilsens see Horace as a fellow family
member, blurring the alterity between cats and humans. Mrs. Pilsen further blurs the distance
between the two species by saying that “we all will eventually [know the answer to Horace’s
question]” (Dick, 80). We all go to the same place, when we die; therefore, how different can we
possibly be?
The animal companions in both “Desertion” and DADES are misconstrued as inferiors to
“Man,” causing humans to remain ignorant in a universe where understanding is not necessarily
coupled with technological invention; however, when animals are viewed as equals, Fowler
achieves peace and the Pilsens experience an unforgettable love. Although non-human animals
may not use language the way we do or have identical reactions to certain stimuli, both of our
species are essentially equal, if we realize that we both have the capacity to suffer and enjoy
(Singer). Love and lasting friendships are developed on an acceptance of differences; therefore,
dwelling on non-human and human distinctions is unhelpful in a world where, due to devotions
to technology, loneliness is increasing. We too can figuratively reach Jupiter if we listen and
learn from other species that inhabit our universe.