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Paul Duane@paulduane.bsky.social |
I think the reason Philip K Dick is still the predominant SF writer of the last century is, he was the only one who foresaw a future where everything would be boring, inconvenient and dehumanising, and where the only way you can win is to somehow refuse to give up your humanity.
62 replies 615 reposts 2630 likes
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Kye Fox
@kyefox.com
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The narrator in "The Eyes Have It" is the model smartass reply guy. He really had a line on the future
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Cate 🐬
@catebridget.bsky.social
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1 replies 1 reposts 12 likes
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Casper
@casperh.bsky.social
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I've been reading a bit of his work lately. It's incredible - and also very confusing which is great.
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Chaiah
@chaiah.bsky.social
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Predominant in what way? When I think of the last century SF writers, I think of Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke.
3 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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Ben Walsh
@bwalsh.bsky.social
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Huxley's "Brave New World" was on this territory I think
1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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vfig
@vfig.bsky.social
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i havent read enough PKD, but some of Bradbury's work is in this vein. "The Pedestrian" immediately comes to mind.
1 replies 0 reposts 7 likes
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Chris Lamb
@lambarch.bsky.social
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In a similar vein, I often think about the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation
1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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Ciaránavirus
@sarklor.bsky.social
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It takes a very special kind of genius to consistently imagine the most soulless godawful fucking future
1 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Transcatgirls4jesus
@trnscatgirls4jesus.bsky.social
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Okay but where are my diners that have doses of drugs in gumball machines?
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Dip Ⓐ🔴⚫🟢🤠
@dipperdesperado.bsky.social
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do you have any good PKD recs that tie into this feeling for u?
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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andy™
@andylevy.net
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2 replies 0 reposts 36 likes
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@loresme.bsky.social
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I remember a weirdly accurate prediction. Strangest I've ever seen: Computer translation works... but poorly due to lack of context... So, bored people play games where they translate movie titles to Japanese, then back to English and try to guess what the original title was...
1 replies 0 reposts 10 likes
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Barbara Drake-Vera
@barbaradrakevera.bsky.social
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So right
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Ralf Haring
@ralfharing.bsky.social
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Kafka: "but what if everything was dehumanizing and also you *can't* win?"
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Carly A. Kocurek
@sparklebliss.bsky.social
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Yeah, like the Kafka of the information age.
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Barrenlens
@barrenlens.bsky.social
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I'm not sure he thought he was foreseeing anything. I suspect he was living it. But I didn't know the mam obvious
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Jim Rossignol
@rossignol.bsky.social
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I feel like Ballard was there, too, but his books are even less amenable to adaptation.
2 replies 0 reposts 13 likes
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ͲᏂҽ⠀ᗪ໐ƈ৳໐ɾ
@doctorwh.ooo
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ᑕαຖ'৳ Ⴆҽ ɱҽ ຖɠℓ. Ꮥ໐ɱҽᏂ໐ຟ.ᐣ ᖇҽϝนʂҽ ৳໐ ɠᎥงҽ นρ.ᐣ ᑎ໐ຖҽ ໐ϝ ৳Ꮒα৳ ʂ໐นຖԃʂ Ꮒҽαℓ৳Ꮒყ.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Kate Watson
@loreandordure.com
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It was probably unfortunate that I was re-reading High Castle at the time of the 2019 GE but I ended up sitting up all night reading and drinking whisky and those memories will probably never leave me… 🤣🥴
1 replies 0 reposts 29 likes
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Paul Lucas
@plucas.bsky.social
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He was certainly a talented and popular author, but I think he's far from being the 'predominant SF writer' of the 20th century.
1 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social
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Can’t overlook the miserable futures of John Brunner that we also somehow ended up living in. The Sheep Look Up. The Jagged Orbit. Stand on Zanzibar.
0 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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Buzz Foster
@buzzfoster.bsky.social
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And don't forget that maintaining your humanity means not just not winning, but a tortured existence.
1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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word
@words.bsky.social
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the future is a bipolar speed addict from orange county
0 replies 0 reposts 7 likes
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Paul Duane
@paulduane.bsky.social
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People replying to this with “i prefer a different 20th century SF writer”, please realise that I am reading your replies in the annoying voice PKD gave to characters who say obvious things with immense confidence.
4 replies 8 reposts 270 likes
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keyboard masher
@zaczac.bsky.social
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I've been on an Ursala K Le Guin kick, and haven't actually gotten to any of his novels, where should I start?
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Chris Williams
@gaffa.bsky.social
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His book "Galactic Pot-Healer" predicted the boring and stupid ways we would use infinite computing power and communications ability. "The cliche is inexperienced."
1 replies 1 reposts 10 likes
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Ken Lowery
@kenlowery.bsky.social
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I unironically believe Verhoeven is in conversation with this and added a distinctly American ingredient: all of this will also be a tacky insult to our collective intelligence.
1 replies 0 reposts 10 likes
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David Bowman
@dlbowman76.com
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I think this is right. I went on a huge PKD binge a few years ago, and I think that this is the uniting thread of his books and more crucially, the nucleus of what it means to be human (for him anyway) is empathy.
0 replies 0 reposts 27 likes
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Socialism for All / S4A ☭ Intensify Class Struggle
@socialismforall.bsky.social
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TBF every Marxist also foresaw this
1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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John O’Donnell
@jodami.bsky.social
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The future is that part of Ubik when Joe Chip cannot open the door of his apartment because he hasn’t got the money to pay for it.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Jak
@jaksays.bsky.social
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He and Asimov Mostly P K Dick wrote about extreme paranoia (largely due to psychedelics)
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nongebrokts
@nongebrokts.bsky.social
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Octavia Butler also I have also read that the Pox was caused by accidentally coinciding climatic, economic, and sociological crises. It would be more honest to say that the Pox was caused by our own refusal to deal with obvious problems in those areas. We caused the problems: then we sat and watched
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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winnerbowzer
@winnerbowzer.bsky.social
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The author name dropping in this thread is predictable and hilarious.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky”
@pixelatedboat.bsky.social
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He also foresaw that the experience of interacting with artificial intelligence would be annoying
4 replies 0 reposts 209 likes
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Anne Billson
@annebillson.bsky.social
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One of the things I love about Dick is the way his everyman characters are obsessed with collecting, for example, old opera 78s. Even in his bleakest futures, people would find pleasure and solace in the arts.
1 replies 0 reposts 22 likes
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Phil Edwards
@philedwards.bsky.social
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This, but also that you don't win.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Naho-Gulo
@notkoze.trashmammal.club
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Is it that he predicted it? Or that big tech didn’t realize they were cautionary tales? Cue the torment nexus memes haha
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Ian Greenleigh
@greenleigh.bsky.social
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Probably also because his bloodstream contained more amphetamines than an entire college during finals
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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John in Ohio
@sollus.social
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Ubik feels pretty prescient. Paying money to use everything in your house. Even for just leaving.
1 replies 0 reposts 16 likes
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High Priestess of Cheese 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
@listentocrass.bsky.social
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Didn’t he write a scene where a character’s own door demands he pay money for the convenience of leaving his own house? That scene has stuck with me ever since I first read it
2 replies 0 reposts 11 likes
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Darryl Mott
@abstruse.bsky.social
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And take drugs. Lots and lots of recreational drugs.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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They Buttered My Boy
@siegegangcommander.bsky.social
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Douglas Adams?
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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jace cavacini
@dysamoria.com
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I’ve read a few of his works, and so far I don’t recall a lot of winning, just a few uncomfortable draws. Maybe I need to read more.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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JT Lindroos
@jtlindroos.bsky.social
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Yes. Though a bit of a shame many think PKD equals the films based on his books. While I do love quite a few of them, not sure any of them get close to that very specific texture and tone of his books... though I should re-watch BARJO!
2 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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Maxim Šimić
@maximsimic.bsky.social
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It all kinda started when creativity was recoined into "content making". Your art is now content, then your content is fodder for AI. It's all a word-label game. It's easier to give up content than art.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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Acieed Ed
@aciddome.com
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Yeah PKD and for me a bunch of Brunner books. The way the environment is fucked up for example. 'Organic' food chains etc. Chilling
1 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Dead Weirdo Studios
@deadweirdostudios.bsky.social
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Genuinely waiting to open up my news app to learn that one of these “luxury” sardine can builders has finally gone and made people’s apartment doors subscription based.
1 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Scott
@scottywan82.bsky.social
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I hate how right this is. 😭 I always found his work so draining and depressing, but that’s exactly how things feel all the time now.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
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populuxe 🍃
@populuxe.bsky.social
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phil said the two questions he was keen to ask were “what is real?” & “what does it mean to be human?”
1 replies 0 reposts 41 likes
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Lonepilgrim
@lonepilgrim.bsky.social
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I love the references (Perky Pat & thematic) in eXistenZ
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Maq
@maqusan.bsky.social
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I’m not a huge fan of Neal Stephenson but Snow Crash’s vision of private franchised everything was pretty on the nose.
2 replies 0 reposts 23 likes
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A cavalcade of anger and fear
@uhhhclem.bsky.social
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In Galactic Pot-Healer he correctly predicted how in the future people would use the internet to fuck off at work. Like there was a brief fad where people did _exactly_ what Joe Chip does with his online friends, even though "online" wasn't even a thing in 1967.
1 replies 0 reposts 6 likes
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Colby Wood Pigeon
@fregloman.bsky.social
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Back in the day John Brunner was the only other writer that I could compare to PKD. Shockwave Rider is still one of my faves.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
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Ren Zelen
@renzelen.bsky.social
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I started reading Philip K Dick from an early age. Cripes, it explains a lot about the person I am in adulthood…😏
1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Critical Nostalgia
@highway62.bsky.social
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He's the only one who grappled with modernity and what humanity would do with it. Not just "these toys are great" but "oh geez, what is the system of control going to do with them?" c.f. Burroughs (though he's not often regarded as SF as genre, aldo much harder to read.)
2 replies 1 reposts 7 likes
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BSTY
@bsty.bsky.social
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PKD 1980
2 replies 2 reposts 17 likes
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Jesse Saunders
@jdfs.bsky.social
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The baby lands that the rich people had curators for in Now Wait For Next Year seem very relevant, though most baby lands in reality are self curated and with things that remind us of the past rather than being of the past.
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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EAll
@ealluia.bsky.social
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Ubik's humorous depiction of microtransactions and how they affect one's relationship to the world is more prescient than most hard-nosed sci fi ever got.
1 replies 0 reposts 9 likes
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Chamber of Gouf Unsealer
@nuclearbob.bsky.social
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The nagging microtransactions in Ubik only fail to be completely prescient in that they can be negotiated with.
1 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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MTMcGurk
@mtmcgurk.bsky.social
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I’ll check out more of his work from the library. The only one I’ve read so far is “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.”
2 replies 0 reposts 3 likes
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Shiv Ramdas
@nameshiv.bsky.social
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Huxley wasn't terribly far from this either, he just had a warped idea of what bored people
1 replies 0 reposts 10 likes
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Sad Uncle
@sadunkal.bsky.social
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Not the only way.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes