Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Reading About Androids Together

This summer we will be reading Philip K. Dick's classic science fiction novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the book that was made into the influential and provocative Hollywood film, Blade Runner. What fun! Here we have the New Student Reading Project equivalent of a Summer Blockbuster! A good book and a good movie.

We get to read about the "androids" and watch the "replicants" together while pondering and discussing and debating the essential existential question: "What does it mean to be human?"

The book and film offer us the opportunity to explore both our future and our past. Written forty-two years ago in 1968--a time well before personal computers and the Internet--the book is set in the not-so-distant future of 2021, a mere 11 years from now. It depicts a bleak world decimated by a nuclear holocaust in which most of the Earth's living animals have been destroyed. But the book also envisions a world that offers the hope of a better life gained through the benefits of space travel (emigration to Mars) and artificial intelligence (robots as workers and servants). Technology giveth, and Technology taketh away.

The original version of the film was released in 1982, just before digital special effects began to dominate modern movie-making. It is a visually stunning film, set in a dark and dreary, rainy and smoky Los Angeles. The year is 2019. The film's story is derived from Dick's book. They share a lot of DNA, but they are separate and distinct works of art. Both are now considered icons of modern popular culture.

Join us here in July and August as you read this book. My guest authors and I will be posting information about the book, the film, the Reading Project, and Cornell throughout the summer and we will gladly try to answer any questions that you have.

And to the Cornell Class of 2014, there is only one thing to say to you:

"Emigrate or degenerate!"

Can we talk here?

All six Android lectures are now available for web viewing on our Reading Project Events site. It is not required of you, but I hope you will join me in watching and listening to all of these lectures. They give us much to think about as we start our Fall semesters.

Time now to meet in our small group discussions. Hundreds of these groups will gather and meet this afternoon from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. in rooms all over campus.

Your Room Assignments are are also posted on the Reading Project web site.

There is so much to discuss: Bounty hunters, New New York on Mars, Penfield Mood Organs, World War Terminus, Sidney's Animal & Fowl Catalogue, Mercerism, electric sheep, humanoid robots, "specials,"empathy boxes, kipple, empathy and entropy, and more.

See you this afternoon. And don't forget to bring your essays to your discussion group.

"The electric things have their lives, too." (p. 241)

Page images: Reading Project discussion group in the Andrew D. White Library, a part of Uris Library, and the cover of the Cornell edition of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

Android lectures today

This afternoon at 3:30 p.m, six Android lectures will be presented simultaneously at separate locations across campus. The latest word is that at least three and possibly all six of these lectures will be taped and streamed on the web. Stay tuned for more details later.

Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m., we will get to discuss what we have read and heard about Philip K. Dick and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in our small group discussions.

I look forward to hearing what you all think of the book.

Find yourself questioning the value of reading a science fiction story?  Check out National Public Radio's  "Sci-Fi Inspires Engineers to Build Our Future."

"Emigrate or degenerate." And stay dry.

Cornell Incept Date: August 20, 2010

Androids and replicants only "lived" for four years after their inception dates. For the members of the Class of 2014, your Cornell life begins today. May your next four years on campus be engaging and transformative. And as lifelong Cornellians, may there be no end to learning for you.

Just as Cornell is not just about the swimming test, the Reading Project is not just about reading a book or writing an essay. It's all about thinking and learning and sharing an intellectual experience with your classmates and others. And there are a variety of other Android-related exhibitions, events, and films to enjoy as well:

• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

August 21 to September 19

Johnson Museum study gallery

A special installation of contemporary paintings and video that share Philip K. Dick's dystopian view of the post-apocalyptic world at the center of this year's New Student Reading Project.

• The Case for Relationships

August 20 - October 8; Carol Tatkon Center Art Gallery

(Sponsored by the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Carol Tatkon Center, and the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Part of the Reading Project Series.)

Created from themes found in this year’s New Student Reading Project book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, this exhibit explores some of the current scientific efforts to preserve the wild kingdom and encourages the viewer to ponder the role of animals, real or mechanical, in our everyday lives.

• Android Dreams: Philip K. Dick and Ridley Scott's Replicant Futures

August 19 to October 8

Kroch Library - Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections

• 2010 Ithaca Community Read - Sponsored by the Tompkins County Public Library (TCLP). See their list of Events for details.

• Dickstopia: The Dystopian Realities of Philip K. Dick - A Film Series at Cornell Cinema.

Afterwards, you will be able to say, "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...."

Reading a book

Cornell has asked its new undergraduate students to read a book before coming to Ithaca for ten years now. In that time the New Student Reading Project has served as an introduction to Cornell as a "learning community." It has been an intellectual experience that the new students have shared with Cornell faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, administrators, and members of the Ithaca community.

The Reading Project is also about reading.

A good book often leads to other good books. Or to other readings. Perhaps even to new horizons. Now I am curious to read other Philip K. Dick novels and stories. There are a lot to choose from.  I think I'll try either Ubik or The Man in the High Castle next. Which would you recommend?

And then there is so much other science fiction to explore. I just read Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. (Great Cornell references by a Cornell author.) Now I want to re-read his books, Slaughterhouse 5 and Breakfast of Champions again. And William Gibson's Neuromancer is now on my must read list. I also want to read Philip K. Dick's short story, "The Adjustment Team."  There's a new movie coming out next year--The Adjustment Bureau--based on it. Here's one of the trailers for this film:

And of course I could always watch Blade Runner a few more times. I find something new in it with each viewing. Great film. Or should I say films? There are several distinct versions of the film with very different endings. Each is interesting in its own way. (I like the "workprint" version and The Final Cut the best.)

Books. Movies. Popular culture. Are you dreaming of electric sheep yet?

Welcome to the future

And if you are a member of the Cornell Class of 2014 your future is now. I doubt any of you will be traveling to Ithaca in a Blade Runner "spinner" or hover-car, but you will soon be making your way to our campus.

Welcome.

Will your next four years at Cornell be empathic or entropic? Will you be studying artificial intelligence, bio-diversity, human ecology, or literature? Will you change the world or change your views of the world? Only time will tell.

Philip K. Dick envisioned a rather bleak and desolate world for the year 2021...radioactive dust, bounty hunters, and killer androids. Think about what the next eleven years of your life will be like. Who will you be then?  Where will you be?  What role will you play in determining what comes next?

Cornell has asked you to read a book this summer. We have 8 million more of them in our libraries for you to read and study, and access to over 40 million more books through our Borrow Direct interlibrary loan service. As Cornellians, you are now affiliated with one of the biggest and one of the best academic research libraries in the world.

I look forward to hearing an Android lecture this Sunday and discussing the book with some of you on Monday afternoon.  After that, I hope to see you all in the libraries.

Travel hopefully.

Rare Androids

Our book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was first published in 1968. Here's what the first American edition looks like. This copy of the book and a selection of Philip K. Dick and Blade Runner books, artifacts, and other materials will be on display in the Cornell University Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections later this week. You can also view this exhibition online at Android Dreams: Philip K. Dick and Ridley Scott's Replicant Futures.

There's even a Blade Runner video game.

Android lecturer - Thomas Whitlow

Professor Thomas Whitlow

Department of Horticulture

Faculty Fellow, Ecology House

Tom Whitlow grew up in a Maryland suburb of Washington, DC, where he spent his free time riding his bike beyond the urban fringe in search of natural habitats, preferably inhabited by snakes and other herps. While pursuing his Bachelor’s degree at SUNY ESF, he became intrigued by plant ecology. After several years of working for the federal government and consulting firms, he entered a PhD program at the University of California, Davis where he studied the physiological ecology of inter tidal salt marsh species. Since coming to Cornell, he has studied the mechanisms trees have for tolerating environmental stresses, invasion biology, and phytoremediation. Most recently his research has focused on the process by which trees filter fine particulates from the air. He teaches a popular fall course in Restoration Ecology (HORT 4400). Dr. Whitlow is currently on the faculty of the Department of Horticulture and serves as a faculty fellow for Ecology House. In his free time, he enjoys bicycling, photography, woodworking and playing guitar.

His lecture:

“Biodiversity, Ecocomplexity, and the Human Experience”

Kennedy Hall, Call Auditorium

Android lecturer - Shawkat Toorawa

Professor Shawkat Toorawa

Department of Near Eastern Studies

Faculty-in-Residence, Mews Hall

Shawkat M. Toorawa (Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, 1998) is an Associate Professor of Arabic literature in the Department of Near Eastern Studies. He and his family are also Faculty Family-in-Residence in Mews Hall on North Campus. When he’s not teaching (such subjects as the Arabian Nights, the modern poetry of the city, or medieval manuals of princely advice), spending time with his family, or showing and watching movies—he spends his time thinking about a group he calls the ‘Bad Boys and Girls of Baghdad’ (who lived in the 800s), and about how things rhyme.  This Fall, Dr. Toorawa is teaching a course on Science Fiction, Medieval & Modern, and another on Medieval Arabic Poetry.

His lecture:

“‘A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away…’ When Words Fail Us”

Willard Straight Theater

 

Android lecturer - Gretchen Schoeffler

Dr. Gretchen Schoeffler

Department of Clinical Sciences

Gretchen Schoeffler is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care and is currently the Chief of Emergency and Critical Care at the Cornell Companion Animal Hospital. She completed two bachelors’ degrees in Biomedical and Veterinary Science respectively, prior to obtaining her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at Texas A&M University.  After graduation she went on to complete a small animal rotating internship at the University Of Georgia College Of Veterinary Medicine. Following her internship she moved to New England and completed a standard track residency in Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Medicine at Tufts University.  Prior to coming to Cornell, she worked to establish Emergency and Critical Care programs in two private specialty referral practices.  Her current interests are both clinical and academic.  In addition to establishing and building the rapidly growing Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care Service she is currently assisting in the development of simulator based teaching methodologies for veterinary professionals and paraprofessionals.

Her lecture:

“Pets of the Future”

Bailey Hall Auditorium

 

Android lecturer - Hod Lipson

Professor Hod Lipson

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Faculty of Computing and Information Science

In 2001 Hod Lipson joined the departments of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and the faculty of Computing & Information Science of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. He is also a member of the Computer Science and Computational Biology graduate fields at Cornell. Prior to this appointment, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Brandeis University's Computer Science Department and a Lecturer at MIT's Mechanical Engineering Department. He received his PhD in 1998 from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Before joining academia, he spent several years as a research engineer in the mechanical, electronic and software industries.

His lecture:

“What Do Robots Dream Of?”

Baker Laboratory 200