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Jaime Lopez
Professor Haven
Mt. SAC
English 1C
10 October 2006
The Illusion of Reality and the Reality of Illusion
In this universe, the human mind can only try to fathom the mysteries it holds within,
with the hope that an unchangeable conclusion about a certain subject can be reached. The
pursuit of understanding and accepting something as true can be hard, but it is still essential for
our survival. Understanding is the basis for security, and security is one of the most basic of
needs of humanity. In fact, it is number five in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which is a widely
accepted psychological compilation of human needs (Huitt). And yet, in this chaotic mass we
call a world and home, can one truly distinguish what is real and what is not? Can we really
accept something, when its very essence is questionable? Can there be a law, an unbreakable
contract between the brain and the universe, which will always hold true? The novel Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a novel about the theme illusion versus reality, showing
that certain realities can be viewed as illusions, or certain illusions can be viewed as realities:
how we define both reality and illusion depends on an individual perspective.
It is true that “history is replaced by stories, by multiple individual points of view.”
(Rossi) Any event may have a variety of point of views. In order to feel an emotion, something
must trigger it; for example, to feel happy, one could watch a baby take its first steps. Yet this
same event has the power to instill different emotions depending on the person witnessing the
event. A person in a wheelchair may feel envy, someone that is blind may find it saddening,
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while a pedophile may be compelled to enter a state of complete ecstasy. The Penfield Mood
Organ is a device used to trigger certain emotions in a person. These implanted emotions are real
in the sense that they are felt, in the sense that they affect how one functions in life, and in the
sense that everyone seems to accept them. With the Penfield Mood Organ, humans are not able
to choose an emotion for a particular moment in time, but are controlled to feel one emotion
regardless of the situation.
To the people experiencing the emotion, the emotion is real because they feel it.
However, to an objective observer, who knows that the source of the emotion is a machine, the
results may not be as immediate. The conclusion will vary depending on the time period and the
norms of that period; while we today would shudder at the artificiality of the situation, people in
the near future may find it perfectly normal. It can be argued that emotion is the experience of
feeling, and that since we are experiencing induced feelings, the emotions felt are artificial. The
opposing viewpoint is that an emotion, even if brought about by a mechanical device, is still an
emotion, and that people are still able to choose their experience and thus experience feeling,
even if it is through the push of some buttons.
"Dick's novels put into question our 'commonsense' acceptance of reality as given
(Calvin). Androids are one example. Androids in the novel are creatures of flesh and blood. It is
as if a lack of empathy is their mortal sin, and slavery their eternal punishment. Even though they
are carbon based, these beings are still considered and referred to as androids, simply because
they act like machines. Their mental processing skills are so logical and precise, and their lack of
empathy so deep-seated, that in the process of their classification they are dehumanized. Both
humans and androids can be classified as either a human or android, and the conclusion Dick
makes is that what is finally important is not whether we are “originals” or “copies,” but whether
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we are kind and human-like, or unkind and android-like (Gregory). This would allow humans
and androids to transcend into either categories, with unkind humans becoming androids, and
kind androids becoming human. However, questions like how the labeling is done and who gets
to do the labeling still remain unanswered. Another question that arises is, does the fact that you
were born a human or “born” an android matter more or less than whether you “turned” into a
human or android?
An analogy to human and android labeling can be woman who gets a sex change. Is
he/she now a man? Or will he/she always remain a woman? From a psychological standpoint, the
once-woman has the mindset of a man. From a biological standpoint, the once-woman now has
male parts, and is therefore a man. Just going with masculinity and femininity, the once-woman
is (presumably) more masculine than feminine. Yet most people would have a problem with
calling the person a man, but would rather regard the person as something “in between” a man
and a woman, someone not quite either. Such would be the case with an android being regarded
as a human or a human being regarded as an android.
Mercerism is the accepted religion of the future, and is prevalent throughout all of
humanity. Near the end of the book, it is found that the main figure of Mercerism, Mercer, is a
fake. The androids think they have destroyed the precious religion of humanity by exposing it as
a “swindle.” To the androids, who think with logic and not emotion, the rational thing to do after
the basis of a religion is found to be false is to leave the religion. This is their calculation, but in
the end it fails to manifest itself. Mercer foreshadows this, knowing that “they (the androids) will
have trouble understanding why nothing has changed.” (Dick Do Androids 189). The androids
fail to realize that to humanity, Mercerism is an idea and a way of life, and that a person of true
faith would not abandon their religion because it is based on a make-believe physical reality.
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Rather, it is the nonphysical properties of a religion that appeal to an audience. In this case, the
nonphysical becomes the reality and the religion will exist because humans choose to believe in
it. In a certain literal sense ideas are alive. (Dick “Shifting”). From this it follows that Mercerism
is alive, and whether or not it can be “killed” is questionable.
“The real is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away” is a quote by
Dick (Calvin). In this sense, Mercerism will be considered fake. Mercerism, like any religion, is
an idea that requires the belief of others in order to be real. When one stops believing in
Mercerism, it goes away, just like all the other religions went away in the aftermath of the World
War Terminus that is portrayed in the novel. In this case, Mercerism becomes an illusion, where
it once was a reality. Mercerism, however, may have some properties that will never go away.
For example, even though the general Christian religion may be forgotten, its principles may still
be “correct,” and still be present even though one does not believe in them. People may believe
that God does not exist, but in the end God may still be “there.”
“Deckard retains his faith in an underlying, authentic self that he brings to and takes
away from Mercerism's global encounter groups; without this innate being … nothing would
remain when . . . he and Iran disconnect from their mood organs.” (McNamara). If Deckard
stopped believing in an authentic self, then he would cease to be human and become machine, a
machine programmed by the mood organ and powerless without it. People all over fuse into this
world and join together. The world that people fuse into when they use their emphaty box is
exposed as a fake, and yet when humans fuse into it, stones cut them. It is as if the belief that
what they are experiencing is real is so great that it overshadows the virtual reality and provokes
the illusion into becoming a reality.
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Philip K. Dick writes that: As to our reality being a projected framework--it appears to
be a projection by an artifact, a computer-like teaching machine that guides, programs, and
generally controls us . . .” (Calvin). If this is the case, then reality is simply an illusion that we
are not aware of. The Turing principle states, “It is possible to build a virtual-reality generator
whose repertoire includes every physically possible environment.” (Deutsh 135) We may have
built this device already, and are simply biological masses moving within it. Mercerism and the
world we fuse into certainly imply that we are at a stage, or if not at a stage then moving towards
a stage, where machinery dominates man. What we call control today may be an illusion inputted
into our brains by machines.
“There is--and this should never be forgotten--a fundamental relationship tying Dick's
novels, however delirious, deranged, surrealistic, nightmarish they can be, and historical reality,
that is, our historical reality.” (Rossi). The concepts found in this fictitious novel may be
considered illusionary. Nevertheless, they depict the realities of the present and probable future
conditions of the world. Androids are slowly becoming a reality, as are devices that can control
emotions. Deep brain stimulation involves planting electrodes in a region near the center of the
brain and sending in low voltage from a pacemaker in the chest, and can be used to make people
with clinical depression “happier” (Dobbs). Control of emotions by machines seems feasible in
the near future.
Dick often writes of two worlds: “one is the world of appearance, produced by the
demiurge, . . . the other is the real world which is hidden but can perhaps be conjectured by
interpreting hints and traces.” (Rossi). These two worlds often clash in his writing, and the reader
is left to wonder which world is which. The theme of illusion versus reality is something Dick
explores to a great extent in his works. His intention is not to persuade, but to provoke thought
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throughout each individual that makes up his audience. Most of the time, what ends up
happening is that what one considers illusions may be in fact realities, and what one considers
realities may end up being nothing more than illusions. However, it is ultimately up to the reader
to decide the meanings of illusion and reality, as well as the categories each encompasses.
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Works Cited
Huitt, W. “Maslow's hierarchy of needs.” Educational Psychology Interactive. 2004. Valdosta
State University. October 8, 2006.
<http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html>.
Calvin, Ritch. "The real eXistenZ transCendz the irreal (1).(Critical
Essay)." Extrapolation 45.3 (Fall 2004): 276(18). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson
Gale. Mount San Antonio College. 10 Oct. 2006
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Deutsh, David. The Fabric of Reality. New York: Penguin Press, 1997.
Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. New York: Del Rey, 1968.
Dick, Philip K. "Shifting realities. (Column)." Omni 17.n6 (March 1995): 6(1). Expanded
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College. 10 Oct. 2006
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