Technology and Culture - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

Read the first SIX CHAPTERS of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Thursday, Feb. 6, you should
write at least one page (double-spaced, 12-point font) on aspects of culture and technology, in this first part
of the novel. (You can also write more than one page, if you want. Also: don't count any headers — like your
name, my name or the date or the class title — toward your one-page.) Submit this writing on Blackboard
before coming to class.
When beginning to write, you don’t need to spend a whole paragraph introducing the novel or the nature of
this assignment — just leap in and start telling us about your reactions!
Here are some questions that might help you organize your thinking, as you read the first six chapters: How
do the main characters use technology? Is the technology in the novel used for leisure, or for religious
purposes? How does technology relate to the characters’ personal lives? Their professional lives? What is
the relationship of technology to money? To entertainment? To policing and social justice?
You can also think about the style of the writing. Did anything in the text strike you as funny? (Why?) Were
you particularly sympathetic to one character? What surprised you in these chapters?
More hints: When thinking about this assignment, consider whether the uses of technology bear any
comparison with the ways you and your classmates discussed technology, during our first class. This is a
science-fiction novel — but does it describe anything that feels familiar, in our current-day experience of
technology and culture? If you see a point of comparison, tell us about it. Have fun with this!
Finally: This is not a checklist-style assignment. You don’t have to answer every question listed above. (You
probably CAN'T answer all those questions, in one page.) These are just prompts that may help get you
going. Focus your writing on your strongest ideas.