I'm very glad to see people thinking about this book. I've read it many times. I think you missed a big point in the story. The point of capitalism. PKD himself talked about the anti-capitalistic aspect of this book. People want animals because they have been SOLD the idea of owning an animal. People have been sold that the bigger, more expensive an animal is the better person you are. Animals have nothing intrinsically with empathy it's all about capitalism. Deckard does not like being a cop. He hates it. He feels being a cop is his best way to earn the most money. Deckard has tried to earn money in his job that he hates yet he and his wife cannot climb the social ladder of shallow possessions. Even the sheep they once had was a gift from her parents. That sheep died ( of Tetanus ) and he bought a fake sheep to hide his shame of not being able to afford a real animal. When it's suggested that he could buy a smaller animal Deckard is disgusted with the thought that everyone in the build will see they had 'fallen' down the ladder of society by owning a 'lesser' animal. This book is indeed about empathy because no one has any real empathy anymore. Androids don't have empathy because they are constructs that lack the ability to have empathy. People have lost empathy to capitalism. People do want to share their joy inside the empathy box and animals are a great source of joy to share. real emotions are in short supply in this world. These are people who supplement their own emotions with the mood organ. Real joy should be shared with as many people as they can reach. I think Mercer plays a bigger role in the story than you gave him. I think Mercer is trying to bring empathy back to humans. Mercer tells people that owning animals is a way to have empathy because he is trying to undo the numbing effects that capitalism has done to humanity. Kipple, the creature like mechanism by which all things waste to nothing, is always present to remind us that material things are nothing. There is no real explanation of where the empathy boxes came from. The story says something to the effect that... 'not long after the empathy boxes started to show up'. Mercer does not just bring animals back to life. He brings them back to life by reversing time itself. I know how this works is not explained. Remember, Mercer saves Deckard by stopping time for Deckard. Mercer stops time and talks to Deckard before he warns him of the android behind him. Mercer tells Deckard that he must kill Pris. Mercer tells him that Killing the androids is a task that he must do. I think that there is a great connection between Mercer and john Isidore. In the chapter where John Isidore is introduced the narrative starts to give an origin story. It is the origin story for Mercer but there is no clear distinction that it is Mercer's origin. At first I thought it was John Isidore's origin story. I thought it was John Isidore who was found "off the coast of New England . . . or had it been Mexico,". Also,Mercer tells deckard that he lives there because of John Isidore. For me the pinnacle of the book is John Isidore's psychedelic encounter with Mercer near the end of the book. All of John Isidore's hopes and beliefs have been crushed and he falls into the tomb world (again?). Mercer comes to not only save John Isidore but to tell John Isidore that he is even a better person, a more moral person, than even Mercer ( or at least the actor that is playing Mercer). I think this is the most poetic passages I've ever read. It brings the hurt, the pain that John Isidore is feeling to a point. Then is gives John Isidore the recognition that he is the only smart person in the world ( maybe that's putting it too strong). It gives him back hope. "Is the sky painted?" Isidore asked. "Are there really brushstrokes that show up under magnification?" "Yes," Mercer said. "I can't see them." "You're too close," Mercer said. "You have to be a long way off, the way the androids are. They have better perspective." "Is that why they claim you're a fraud?" "I am a fraud," Mercer said. "They're sincere; their research is sincere. From their standpoint I am an elderly retired bit player named Al Jarry. All of it, their disclosure, is true. They interviewed me at my home, as they claim; I told them whatever they wanted to know, which was everything." "Including about the whisky?" Mercer smiled. "It was true. They did a good job and from their standpoint Buster Friendly's disclosure was convincing. They will have trouble understanding why nothing has changed. Because you're still here and I'm still here." Mercer indicated with a sweep of his hand the barren, rising hillside, the familiar place. "I lifted you from the tomb world just now and I will continue to lift you until you lose interest and want to quit. But you will have to stop searching for me because I will never stop searching for you." "I didn't like that about the whisky," Isidore said. "That's lowering." "That's because you're a highly moral person. I'm not. I don't judge, not even myself." Mercer held out a closed hand, palm up. "Before I forget it, I have something of yours here." He opened his fingers. On his hand rested the mutilated spider, but with its snipped-off legs restored. "Thanks." Isidore accepted the spider. He started to say something further - just beautiful. Thanks, john ps. Mercers favorite animals are the Toad and the Donkey
You need to do a top 10 or 20 sci to books and another lesser known obscure top 10 sci fis, or something like that” top 10 world building sci fi novels” or top 10 sci to ideas that were accurate” etc etc Although I’d just be happy with
What's interesting is how even the narrator goes calling the andy posing as the Russian's skull "his brain-box" when Deckard shoots him. It's like nobody cuts these guys a break.
