Slog - Comments on Ask Science Fiction http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction Once every five months or so there's an appreciation piece about great sci-fi novelist Philip K. Dick. PKD's anthropology of the future was spot on, and movies like The Matrix owe their conspiracy conceits to Dick's 4-D scenarios. PKD, at his best in the 1960s, was a discombobulated futurist who was obsessed with: corporate power; androids; Potemkin Village realities; the latest opiate for the masses (figuratively as some media star, or literally as some weird drug pastime); and information. His masterpiece is 1969's Ubik which is about, among other things, corporate advertising in the land of the dead. I'm glad... Copyright 2008 Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:10:24 -0800 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:37:37 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Katelyn Dear Science Fiction,
Neuromancer vs. Snow Crash: go.

]]> Katelyn http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783870 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783870 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:18:39 -0800 Comment by exelizabeth Reading about science fiction is almost always substantially better than actually reading it.

]]> exelizabeth http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783872 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783872 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:20:51 -0800 Comment by Angela Ohh P.K. Dick... a man after my own heart.

]]> Angela http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783886 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783886 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:30:04 -0800 Comment by MichaelPgh If you haven't seen it already, "A Scanner Darkly" is very, very cool. And funny. Darkly funny, of course.

]]> MichaelPgh http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783917 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783917 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:01:38 -0800 Comment by supergp PKD's short stories were a dozen times better than his novels.

@Katelyn: Neuromancer defined a genre. Snow Crash was a fantastic pastiche of same. Neuromancer is more important, Snow Crash is better written.

So, they really shouldn't be compared that way.

]]> supergp http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783937 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783937 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:19:07 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle I always dream of Electric Sheep.

Mind you, now they have an American flag on them.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783944 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783944 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:27:05 -0800 Comment by F There's no question that his obsession with the differences between perception and reality was heavily stoked by his mental illness later in life (see Valis), perhaps triggered by massive drug use.

]]> F http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783981 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783981 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:46:11 -0800 Comment by Big Sven "Overrated?" Whether or not "Blade Runner" was a faithful adaptation of "Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?", "Blade Runner" is the best science fiction movie ever made.

I did an unscientific poll of 20-30 fellow SF geeks last year (we all work at an aerospace startup) and respondees overwhelming chose "Blade Runner" over "2001."

]]> Big Sven http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783982 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c783982 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:46:15 -0800 Comment by supergp @8: That's because none of them had actually managed to stay awake during 2001...

]]> supergp http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784041 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784041 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:29:11 -0800 Comment by COMTE That doesn't surprise me in the least, BigSven. If you queried a bunch of 50 or 60 year-olds on the same subject, you'd probably get back a response of "Forbidden Planet" or "The Day The Earth Stood Still".

We're all products of our times, and our tastes will naturally reflect a certain bias in that direction.

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784045 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784045 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:30:29 -0800 Comment by Fyodor Zulinski I'm duly impressed with the last year or so's worth of PKD love, and agree re Blade Runner. People gotta stop thinking this movie even touches on Dick's ideas... Lucky for him, dying before he was able to see anything past the first 20 minutes.

]]> Fyodor Zulinski http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784074 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784074 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:48:22 -0800 Comment by Bison Blade Runner may fail at conveying Dick's aesthetic, but I think it is far more successful as a film in its own right than its inspiration was as a book.

]]> Bison http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784103 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784103 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:15:09 -0800 Comment by supergp I'm forced to agree with Bison. Blade Runner surpassed its source material. Which, unfortunately, is unusual for PKD film adaptions. :-/

]]> supergp http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784114 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784114 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:25:41 -0800 Comment by Josh Feit
1. Blade Runner doesn't get Dick's aesthetic

2. Blade Runner is overrated

These were 2 separate statements. I wasn't saying or trying to imply that they're related.

]]> Josh Feit http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784157 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784157 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:20:06 -0800 Comment by Big Sven Right, Josh, and I am enthusiastically disagreeing w/ #2.

]]> Big Sven http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784195 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784195 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:52:59 -0800 Comment by Big Sven COMTE, I agree that we are all products of our environments- thus my illogical fondness for "Better Off Dead" and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'".

But I have many friends in their 50s-60s, and while many of them love "Forbidden Planet", and to a lesser degree "The Day The Earth Stood Still", a strong majority agree that "Blade Runner" is the best SF movie ever made. (Though I will say a higher percentage of them vote for "2001" than Gen X and Ys- that seems to be the top "generational" film for them.)

]]> Big Sven http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784225 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784225 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:22:59 -0800 Comment by Hoppy Harrington @12 - how do you define success? Commercially? Popularly? Anyone who has read the book (do androids dream of electric sheep) knows that it is far more nuanced and intellectually interesting than the movie. That mudede regularly jizzes on the keyboard abou blade runner's aesthetics notwithstanding, as a meditation on society and self-awareness, the book runs circles around the movie.

I have to second the commenter above who said that PKD's short stories are better than his novels. His short stories are compact, viscously efficient, and intellectually delicious.

As an aside, I'm surprised nobody put Paycheck w/ Ben Affleck up for best PKD-inspired hollywood flick. j/k

]]> Hoppy Harrington http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784357 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784357 Arts Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:56:52 -0800 Comment by Fyodor Zulinski What the fuck is wrong with liking "Better Off Dead"?

]]> Fyodor Zulinski http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784407 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/ask_science_fiction#c784407 Arts Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:37:37 -0800