For me, the most powerful passage in this one is;<p><pre><code> """ The authentic human being is one of us who instinctively knows
what he should not do, and, in addition, he will balk at doing
it. He will refuse to do it, even if this brings down dread
consequences to him and to those whom he loves. This, to me, is
the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to
the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this
resistance. Their deeds may be small, and almost always
unnoticed, unmarked by history. Their names are not remembered,
nor did these authentic humans expect their names to be
remembered. I see their authenticity in an odd way: not in
their willingness to perform great heroic deeds but in their
quiet refusals. In essence, they cannot be compelled to be what
they are not. - P.K Dick """
</code></pre>
This underpins my selective abstinence from certain areas of
technological life. It lets me laugh at "inevitability" and
"necessity, fear no "inconvenience" or being "left behind" or "out of
the loop", and I could hardly care less that some others have a
"competitive advantage". " I simply follow my own path, using the
tools that work for me, the ones I understand, as I see fit for my own
aims. And I feel oddly happy that most of what I do, my parochial
craft, will be washed away and forgotten.<p>But (quietly and not that it matters), I also suspect that such an
"authentic" attitude is something the great organising Moloch machine
shits its pants in fear of, because the authentic human cannot coexist
with it and thus requires its destruction.
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”<p>Great quote.<p>So great I even posted it to my twitter account (my other bookmarking service)
But the paste dropped the end quote mark and added a comma to the front.
HN did not and did the above paste just fine.<p>It bothers me, and I don't know why.
I wonder how many of the people commenting on this essay read all the way through. It starts out quite lucid and makes some seemingly insightful points, but as the essay goes on he starts to descend into some strange metaphysical ideas about time not being real and reality being a retelling of parts of the Bible.<p>I’m not familiar with much of PKD’s works or his life story, but I honestly can’t tell if he had mental health problems or if this essay is supposed to be a sort of self-aware self-referential story about reality breaking down.
"But the problem is a real one, not a mere intellectual game. Because today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups — and the electronic hardware exists by which to deliver these pseudo-worlds right into the heads of the reader, the viewer, the listener."<p>I love his work. His mind.
What's the deal with the "headline ... in a California newspaper", "Scientists say that mice cannot be made to look like human beings"? Is this referencing some actual thing or did he just make it up?
What's interesting is that early on he talks about when you watch TV the "Words and pictures are synchronized." - then both the Bible quotes and his quoted story have a rhythm, rhyme and alliteration in which to do the same.<p>I found myself half way through the passages and I've stopped paying direct attention.<p>He's re-writing our view of the universe by hypnotizing us.<p>Like any good magician, he's told us the trick, right at the beginning. Like Romeo and Juliet or the opening song of Frozen - and we immediately forgot it - and then we were tricked anyway!<p>Mr. Dick, I see what you did there.
Ironic, given that a hallmark of a "Phildickian" work is that the protagonist's reality can fall apart before the end of the work.<p><a href="https://philipdick.com/literary-criticism/essays/phildickian-a-definition" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://philipdick.com/literary-criticism/essays/phildickian...</a>
“There must indeed be a mysterious Holy Spirit which has an exact and intimate relation to Christ, which can indwell in human minds, guide and inform them, and even express itself through those humans, even without their awareness.”<p>When I finally realized this for myself I was rather shocked, not in a bad way, but it surprised me that it hadn’t been talked about more before I came face to face with it… God and Christ are the most well known and “perceivable” when people think of church literature yet ironically the Holy Spirit is the most accessible and influential of the three in the present reality. It wasn’t until I experienced it that I looked back and understood, as if it’s something that can’t be taught in the slightest, to any degree comparable to when the actual manifestation of that indwelling reveals itself.
The genre of Hard Science fiction means that the author has enough background knowledge that the physics of the plot and world building is reasonably sound
"In Acts, the disciple Philip baptizes the black man, who then goes away rejoicing. "<p>These days preaching has been replaced by podcasts. We listen to the new prophets and are baptised when we click on the Subscribe button, rejoicing our newly acquired view of the world