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Ernesto Corona
Professor Batty
English 114B
7 May 2014
The Definition of Being Human
In the world we live in today we define ourselves as humans by the way we interact with
one another. It is what makes us different from other living species. We carry certain traits that
are unique to us such as speech, physique, and behavior. In the book Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep, written by Phillip K. Dick, humans define themselves by feeling empathy. It is
what separates them from everything else such as androids. It creates a barrier in which those
who do not feel empathy are lesser than those who do. Mercerism, a religion in the book, also
plays a role in empathy, however bringing up an idea of what is real and fake. The book
highlights a dystopian world in which humans start anew in the creation of a new society. The
book warns us about a world in which speciesim is predominant because of what a person
believes or follows. If an individual is not human whether it be an android or a mechanical
animal then they are lesser. Not feeling the same emotion and sharing the same ideas as humans
separates an individual from society leading to discrimination and speciesism.
In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep the author, Phillip K. Dick, primarily focuses
on the idea of empathy and how it separates humans and non-humans. Rick, the main character,
is a bounty hunter that kills androids not only because he gets paid for it but also because they
are not welcomed on Earth. World War Terminus destroyed the Earth in which the majority of
people had to relocate to a different planet. Those androids came from that planet; their purpose
was to be slaves to humans living there. Rick was one of the humans who stayed on Earth. Rick
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has a wife, animal, and believes in Mercerism. Almost everyone on Earth, that is human, has an
animal and believes in Mercerism because they believe that is what makes them human and
separates them from androids.
In the novel Mercerism is a religion in which a person fuses with Wilbur Mercer, the God
like figure in the religion, and feel his pain. One single figure, more or less human in form,
toiled it way up the hillside: an elderly man wearing a dull featureless robe, covering as meager
as if it had been snatched from the hostile emptiness of the sky(Dick 22). When fusing with
Mercer he is always seen trying to climb a mountain while being thrown rocks at. You fuse with
Mercer using a black box also called an empathy box. The purpose of the religion is for the
person to feel empathy. Androids do not do this because they feel no emotion. Wilbur Mercer
gives those that fuse with him advice such as killing androids for example. However towards the
end of the novel the religion turns out to be a fake religion. Therefore bringing up the concept of
what is real or fake anymore. Humans are controlled by an idea and live off of it. Mercerism is a
fake religion. It is an attempt to get humans to feel empathy so they can come together as one.
This separates the humans and non-humans. Those who feel empathy are superior to those who
do not therefore making a social ladder with androids being at the bottom.
Rick the main character of the story was a believer of Mercerism and also owned an
animal. The animals purpose was similar to Mercerism in which its purpose to make you feel
some kind of empathy and also give you some type of social status among humans. If you did
not have one then you were suspected of being an android. Owning and maintaining a fraud had
a way of gradually demoralizing one. And yet from a social standpoint it had to be done, given
the absence of the real article(Dick 9). Amongst humans, owning a rare animal meant that you
had higher social status however you were still human. Animals were one of the ideas that
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separated humans and androids. Rick had an electric sheep, he knew that it was not right to have
fake animal but made it his goal to get a real animal. This can relate to materialism in todays
world in which you must have something to fit in with society. Rick tries to obtain his animals
by killing androids. He gets paid doing it and finds no reason why not too. He believed they were
not welcomed anyways because they were hostile and different.
Rick administers the Voigt-Kampff test, its purpose is to determine if you feel empathy
or not. The androids look and seem human, but their lack of empathy sets a clear dividing line
between them and the empathic humans of the novel, one guarded by application of the Voigt-
Kampff empathy test. (Viskovic). He uses it on people that he suspects are androids so he can
know for sure if their androids or not. What is real and fake has gone so far that humans cannot
differentiate themselves from one another. Those that are not human are killed if you failed the
test. Earth in the novel has become a world full of turmoil only accepting of its own kind. The
test is an example of what can possibly happen when government does not rule anymore and all
your left with is what you have knowledge in. Empathy, for example, is an emotion that only
humans feel. Rick kills the androids that fail this test since it is the only way he can know if they
are real or not. Earth in the book has become a planet in which only humans and there ideologies
are accepted. Ideas like Mercerism, maintaining an animal, and overall feeling empathy.
Androids are an example of a species not accepted because they lack characteristics of
humans. According to Vint Sherryl and her article on Speceisism and species being in Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? she states From this perspective, the treatment of androids
within the novel comments on our historical and current exploitation of animals, and also our
exploitation of those humans who have been animalized in discourse, such as women, the
working classes, and non-whites, particularly slaves. Humans felt superior to androids leading
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them to feel power of them and exploit them. It can also be compared to the holocaust in which
the Jews were seen as different. The book forecasts it again but in future tense. Speciesism is one
of the many themes in the book. Androids are discriminated against because they lack empathy.
The humans on Earth can be compared to Hitler in which they kill off a race simply because they
are not pure or do not fit in.
The novel highlights several warnings such as examples of what might society changes
into. Also it depicts what can happen if you are different. Empathy is just an example of what
might define humans in the future. As U. N. Secretary General Titus Corning's declaration that
Mankind needs more empathy indicates, people in this post-apocalyptic society generally and
habitually reveal that they, too, don't have enough of what they want to believe is humanity's
defining characteristic(Palumbo). Ideas can be drawn from the novel such as what will define us
as humans in the future. Characteristics such as height, physique, or even skin color again could
define us as human in the future. Those that were not the same, were treated unfairly for example
the androids in novel. They did not share the same emotions and ideas as humans therefore
leading to their exile and bounty.
In todays world we are constantly adapting to new things. In order to fit in with the rest
or survive, people must adapt new ideas whether they like it or not. The book is commenting on
how our future can be made by what defines us humans. Empathy and religion is what defined
humans in the book. In todays world, people are defined by race, religion, gender and species.
The book forecasts a dystopian future in which humans are characterized by emotion. Androids
in the novel are an example of a species that does not share the same concepts as humans. The
novel highlights the consequences that happened to those that did not share the same ideologies
as humans. They were not accepted and therefore killed leading us to forecast dystopian world
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similar to the novel. Not feeling the same emotion and sharing the same ideas as humans
separates an individual from society leading to discrimination and speciesism.





















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Works Cited
Dick, Philip K., and Philip K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York:
Ballantine, 1996. Print
Palumbo, Donald. "Faith and Bad Faith in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" The Journal
of Popular Culture, 46.6 (2013): 1276-1288.
Vint, Sherryl. "Speciesism and species being in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Mosaic
[Winnipeg] 40.1 (2007): 111+. General OneFile. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Viskovic, Richard. "The rise and fall of Wilbur Mercer." Extrapolation 54.2 (2013): 163+.
General OneFile. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.