By now, everyone who was interested, should have seen Bladerunner 2049. Have you ever asked yourself, where did it all begin?
In 1968, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published. Phillip K. Dick was into his thirteenth year as an author, and the world was introduced to Rick Deckard, who retires read: kills replicants. (But can you kill that which is technically not alive?)
The novel, which became Ridley Scott's cult-classic film, Blade Runner remains the best and most excellent depiction of a future world in which most species of animal are extinct, and the Earth has a star that never shines. It's a dark, bleak place.
Earth is relegated to being an island amid rising sea waters, except the tide is heading off-planet, where more and more people emigrate to avoid the polluted, ruined and mostly-infertile planet (and populace), as the cradle of humanity withers away to a Cyperpunk wild-west.
To call a novel a short story is a misnomer, but on every occasion I have commenced reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? it has been completed in a single sitting, meeting the definition of short story, in a technical sense.
It is far from a short story - it is a captivating, engrossing, and immersive page turner, full of atmosphere, mystery, and speculation. Exploring the very notion of what it is to be human, (or perhaps not be) Dick effectively manages to enrapture an audience with an entirely believable world.
In a world where the best status symbol one can own is a real, live animal, (or, for those less fortunate, a convincing replica of one) - you find yourself reflecting upon the fragility of life as Deckard, essentially a bounty hunter, retiring rogue androids kills things, ends their consciousness so that he might enjoy the consciousness of another creature.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? asks a question with its title which in of its self, references one of the underlying questions of the novel - is Deckard himself an android? Does he have a pre-mandated expiration date? Where exactly can one draw the line between human and android?
By modern standards, the language used in the novel is a bit clunky, but once you become familiar with the stlyings that Dick uses throughout the tale, you become completely immersed in one of the best pieces of speculative fiction ever written. To call it science fiction is a complete misnomer.
If you haven't read this seminal piece text of the genre, then you truly must.