When new and old technology collide in science fiction

Mar 27 2009

I am currently reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (aff link) by Philip K. Dick. While I’m finding it to be a very interesting and entertaining read, I chuckle at the use of a mixture of futuristic technology with old-school "technology" from the 1960s.

The future technology Dick uses is quite interesting; especially the very human-like androids that can be almost impossible to distinguish from real humans. And, the fact that android animals also play a prominent role in the character’s lives is interesting. The main character, Rick Deckard, has a fake sheep he keeps as a pet. The sheep looks and acts like a real thing, but is a total fake.

Even today, the idea of artificial intelligence that is indistinguishable from real human intelligence is an area of study that has really taken off over the last decade or so. While AI has certainly made advances sense the 60s, we are nowhere close to seeing human-like androids walking around (or are we?).

Yet it’s the technology of the 60s in the book that amuses me the most. For an example, there are newspapers! I don’t even read physical newspapers anymore as I get all my news online (face it, newspapers are becoming extinct even as I write this). In another scene Rick is reading the contents of a file on onion skin paper. Huh? And televisions with the good ‘ol cathode-ray tube technology!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way criticizing Dick or his book. I find this old-meets-new technology paradox in most science fiction I read. In fact, there was another novel I read last year that had great examples of the technology from the author’s era mixed with very futuristic tech. But for the life of me, I cannot remember which book it was, or even the author.

This is nothing more than a simple observation I have made while reading, and thought I’d share it with you.

Have you observed anything amusing in your reading (particularly science fiction)? If so, let us know in the comments below. I promise we won’t laugh at you too hard!

One Response

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Joannah
http://linuxmemory.net

Joannah 3/28/2009 5:36 am