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"I do think there is a link in that in both cases, writing fiction or writing a computer program, at any given moment you're focusing on a very specific and particular thing—one word, one line of code, whatever."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Andy | ||
| A slang term for "android" - an artificially created humanoid being. |
The key difference between human beings and artificial human beings in Philip K. Dick's world is not intelligence - machine intelligence equal to (or surpassing) human intelligence is assumed. The most important difference is empathy, having feelings for other beings.
The most advanced androids, with the Nexus-6 brain unit, can select within a field of two trillion consitituents, or ten million separate neural pathways.
In the novel, androids are offered to people who will leave the ruined Earth to live elsewhere in the solar system. Androids are, as a rule, not allowed on Earth. In the novel, groups of androids escape their masters and go to Earth, where they try to blend in with the remaining population.
Part of bounty hunter Rick Deckard job is to test suspected escaped androids prior to "retiring" (killing) them.
| Presently he had the pencil of light trained on her right eye and the adhesive patch again in contact with her cheek... "My briefcase," Rick said as he rummaged for the Voight-Kampff forms. "Nice, isn't it... One hundred percent genuine human babyhide." He saw the two dial indicators gyrate frantically. But only after a pause. The reaction had come, but too late. |
| Technovelgy from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Doubleday in 1968 Additional resources -
|
Here's a brief quote showing how the word is used in the novel:
In this remarkable novel, your idea of what it is to be human (and your perception of other human beings) is systematically thrown off-kilter. One of the best sequences from the book, in which Rick Deckard is taken into custody and accused of being an unfeeling killer by a group of very convincing androids, is not seen in the movie.
If you are interested in this theme of being fooled by machine intelligence, you might also consider reading the chilling (really!) short story "Almost a Wife" from the collection The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.
Also, andreide can be found in L’ève future - Villiers de l’Isle Adam - 1886 (thanks to @Pierre Metivier).
“Are you going to retire the six remaining Nexus-6 andys?”
(Comparison of Future Eves)
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Tech news articles related to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Andy-related
news articles:
- EveR2-Muse Robot's Many Faces
- Toshiba's Lifelike Communication Android
| Japan's AI Buddharoid Automonks |
| Lawyer AIs Create Chaos In Our Legal System |
| Grok Scores Best In Psychological Tests |
| Google's Nano Banana Pro Presents Handwritten Math Solutions |
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'...each of them is a neural mapping of the mind of a Tibetan monk who actually lived.'
'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.'
'... every veephone on the continent would display, over and over, two propositions.'
'Completely silent, accurate up to about twenty meters. No recoil...'
'He wore spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.'
