The 9 prophetic visions of Philip K Dick

[@lisapt6702]

Love this essay. I was a young teen in the 70s and PKD was most definitely not prominent in the book stores. However a used bookstore near me had his battered old paperbacks and I bought every one. I was angry at Bladrunner as it told a completely different story from Electric Sheep, although I’ve come to like the movie for what it is. The one thing I always found, in every story, was hope. Even in the bleakness of the world, or the shattering of lives, there is always some irrational hope to cling to.

[@KidFresh71]

Philip K Dick was more than a visionary: he's the man who remembered the future.

[@JohnKuhles1966]

Exactly ... "Higher Self" may be the sum of "all you's" in all parallel universes (multiverse) combined ... Having access to "living wisdom" of all of them, not just "book wisdom" ... and if you are able to transcend duality thinking you may even access "Future (multidimensional) Self" as well ... Your DNA is a Fractal Antenna to the Quantum World. Having access to higher levels of Awareness does not necessarily mean you can translate that easy to your current "state of being". Imagine if you could talk to yourself that is 20 years younger than you, what would you say? If you say anything, you will not be recognized as being you, but you are able to share personal wisdom/insights to your "younger self" ... Do you think your "younger self" is able to use these new insights, or do you think your "younger self" rejects them or dismiss it by default? Now imagine meeting your "Future Self" that is 100s of years older on a Soul level. Same problem but even more complex. That is why your current "state of being" is KEY to understand if you are able to (spiritually) grow/progress faster or not.

[@Joe-ff1oh]

What was his predictions

[@Joe-ff1oh]

@@hereforthedip thanks

[@JohnKuhles1966]

👍@@7thD_JAILBREAK108

[@radiofreealbemuth8540]

Bingo.

[@don-eb3fj]

Philip was ABSOLUTELY CORRECT that Rome did not fall - it was merely broken down like a travelling circus into pieces and packed up for export in various wagons, the better to be widely distributed like the wispy seeds of a dandelion that once taken to the wind invade every available plot of soil and are the bane of every garden and gardener. Each of the Abrahamic religions helped carry its own genetic component of Roman Civil Law to new lands, the Eastern Byzantine Empire serving as the nursery and the Muslim conquest and reintroduction to Europe (after a fallow Feudal period) of the dreams of Empire maintaining its lineage. How many thriving native cultures did Rome subject to the scythe of monotheism before its "fall"? How many fertile civilizations became sterilized due to its "advances" and the impregnation of its poisonous seed? Now, our "developed" world is "wholly" owned by the proxy subsidiaries of a new mutation of a "wholly" Roman Empire, through its statutes and its programs of bread and circuses, its gladiatorial distractions and 24/7/365 opium for the masses, its neon spectacles piped into the perceptions of every living human being from cradle to grave lest we might have a moment of clarity to hear the whisper of a time forgotten in the din, and remember that we are enslaved by our own acceptance of it all.

[@doctorstarcrumbs]

Horselover Fat agrees indeed. It’s like the art of war. Deception and camouflage is used. Then they say it’s the Jews. It’s not. It’s Rome.

[@welshginger3428]

By all means please do consider some prolific writing…You have a knack for it. 😃

[@don-eb3fj]

@welshginger3428 Thank you, sincerely. I am sharpening my quill and distilling my ink, while sowing a few seeds of my own, "guerilla gardening" like Johnny Appleseed. Your encouraging words are much-appreciated drops of rain. 🙏

[@AlienBigCat23]

Opus DEI Hire

[@celiacresswell6909]

That’s an interesting idea and well written

[@LittleOrla]

April 2024 . . . . . Strange Days. Yes, I'm glad I've read alot of PKD. He prepared me for today.

[@samrowbotham8914]

Phil was a true autodidact with an incredible memory that allowed him to learn other languages such as 'Koin Greek', 'Egyptian Coptic, 'Latin' and 'Hebrew'. You only have to go through the glossary of his Exegesis to understand that he was a sesquipedalian and could easily create neologisms such as 'Homoplasmates', 'Ditheon' and 'Firebright' etc. It was such an interesting insight into Phil's psychology that I offered to buy a copy for Tessa and she accepted. Phil revealed in his notes that he was a Gnostic and I had discovered them thirty years ago. It is fair to say that along with Jung he did much through his writing to help restore gnosticism into modern consciousness. My favourite PKD novels are Valis, The Divine Invasion and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. I also enjoyed Deus Irea, The World Jones Made and Eye in The Sky. The last one has the main character being swept up into the troposphere from where he sees a flat earth.

[@AndreaSzabo7171]

Brilliant 💖 I love having to look up words I not sure about ty

[@samrowbotham8914]

@@AndreaSzabo7171, So do I . This is why I created my own lexicon read eclectically, I am a bibliotaph and a librocubicularist.

[@TheSopheom]

Well done! PKDs conclusions on objective reality, divergent timelines, and how malleable it all is are brilliantly stated under the veil of science fiction. There is an interview where he speaks of being persecuted for "knowing too much." The thing is, he wasnt sure what he knew too much of. Fascinating.

[@AngryArgie]

You are the master, Damien. I thank you for your work. I sit down in my little apartment in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I listen to your voice in deep analysis of PKD's visions and prophecies. I am content. I am complete.

[@TheMeWatch]

I have been obsessed with “Valis” for the last year and a half. It’s incredible.

[@markarchambault4783]

I read it when I was 18 or so and it scrambled my young mind at the time.

[@magickmarck]

It's a real piece of literature by any measure.. and it's own thing too

[@ArtBellJr]

Philip Dick to me was an example of a Christian with psychological problems. But to be ok to challenge your faith and ask the tough questions. I love humans like him that spend their time free thinkers who create new ideas.

[@athenassigil5820]

Aside from his novels there's also 2 other books I'd recommend. One is The Exegesis of PKD an edited work of him trying to terms with all the weirdness he was dealing with from 74 on. The other book is High Weirdness by Erik Davis which explores all the weird transformational things that were going on in the early to mid 70s. PKD is explored in the last 3rd in the book....great, weird stuff! I really enjoyed listening to your lecture on this, by the way. P.S. I also forgot to mention the lecture PKD gave to a group of French scientists in 1977. It really parallels thematically with your video.

[@k8eekatt]

We came here from listening to that video. It cut off at 45 min...do you know if there is a part two?

[@perjanuschas8050]

​@@k8eekattI'd like to find that too

[@Blontified]

The Exegesis is well worth sifting through.

[@minoudude]

High Weirdness by Davis is pretty mind-blowing. Highly recommended !

[@brendalong3852]

I read everything I could find by Phillip K. Dick. It seemed to me that he was talking about how society could drive its member crazy. He wrote some of the scariest stories I ever read.

[@jeremyledbetter8022]

Our Reality is a construct within our own mind. Life is but a dream but we can be the orchestrator of our own dream or reality. We cannot break through this world through our body experience but only through our spiritual self. This is why spiritual awakening will open our eyes because we have a break through. It’s letting go of everything we think we know. The walls we build within our minds must come down.

[@DUKEHadToDoItToEm]

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep has more to say than the movie Blade Runner did" Yes. I try to tell people that all the time and they just get angry that I could ever like a book more than the movie based on the book

[@RobDaCajun]

Have you read William S Burrough’s Bladerunner the Movie? It’s where Bladrunner’s title got its inspiration. I’ve read both at about the same time in my life, my twenties. Back to back Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner the movie. Are both prophetic in different aspects.

[@zpfriem]

One of my most vivid epiphanies was my first trip to Europe from the USA. I brought two collections of PKDs short stories. The entire trip I was suffering a waking hallucination that multiple realities exist right in front of us, they are the singular realities we create for our own sanity, and the collected ones we call culture. Walking the beaches of Normandy I imagined my reality, as a 19 year old at the time, that 50 years earlier, my reality would be death on this beach. When you wake up to this idea, there is no turning back, as the possibilities and perspectives are infinite, all you can do is ride that pink beam of light.

[@kathrynhenniss7043]

One of your deepest, one of your best. Superb essay. Thank you, author.

[@DamienWalter]

Thank you. That madman is good material.

[@j.477]

,,, psy/hypra-fis' van Gogh ...

[@MilouTintin]

Little did he know the times would become much stranger, with no end in sight! "Curiouser and curiouser!"

[@DamienWalter]

Maybe.

[@Sorg22]

Damien, that was so substantially top-notch simply astonished! You've added to my life quality.

[@Rebeccakittie]

You’re my new favorite! So glad I found you. 🙏Thank you. From an Aquarius dreamer and sci-fi fan. Sci-fi is actually truth pre-disclosed.

[@Khayman_0]

I live in Colombia, so PKD work wasn't very popular few years ago and it was hard sometimes to me to find his books. About that time I was really obsessed with PKD stories and I met so few people that know his work that some times I started to think if he wasn't an imagination of mine. It was really strange but also, I believe, an effect of reading his novels and short stories. Anyway, I love his works and love listening to your podcast about SF.

[@DamienWalter]

Thanks Arturo! What's your best PKD?

[@Khayman_0]

I have been through several stages in regard this question. When I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep I thought it was his best work, but when I read The Man in the High Castle I backtracked my previous choice. And when I read Ubik my mind was shattered in a million pieces so I naturally thought this was his best work. Nowadays, I think I can't choose one PKDs story as his best because in some way I think his major novels and stories are part of one bigger picture that works as a metaphysical explanation of the world and reality we live in today, almost like if they were volumes from an encyclopedia. And every book talk about a topic that it's complementary of the other: what does it mean to be human? What is empathy? What is reality? What does it mean to something to be real? What is the human mind?... Anyway, I have enjoy several of his novels, maybe 8 or 10, and several of his short stories, maybe 30 or 40, and I always carry in my mind Ubik, Do Androids, High Castle, A Scanner Darkly, The penultimate truth, and short stories like The Faith of our Fathers, We can remember it..., Foster, your dead, The electric ant... Thanks for asking.

[@lydiamalinovic9402]

we know him...

[@michaelkaminski84]

Faith of our Fathers is such an underrated classic.

[@Khayman_0]

@@michaelkaminski84 it's an amazing story

[@allisterwhitehead]

He certainly is the best surrealist author I've ever read. He had the ability to take a complete dimensional shift in an instant and still hold the story together. I think 'A Scanner darkly' is a wonderful book. Maybe not as appealing as his other stories due its all too familiar themes but nonetheless, a book you'll never forget.

[@oirampeceda2409]

Good stuff for sure!

[@MarmaladeINFP]

It's hard for me to claim a favorite PKD book. I have multiple favorites. But among my top favorites is 'A Scanner Darkly'. I get why it doesn't get as much attention as some of his other work. But I still think it's one of the strongest examples of his capacity at storytelling that he developed later in life. It is profoundly compelling on a psychological level.

[@oirampeceda2409]

We share a birthday 🎆

[@paulmonahawk4921]

We are certainly living in a phildickian reality for sure!

[@joechip4822]

Must have been around 1983 when I explained to a then school mate of mine that she should take note of the name 'Philip K. Dick', because I was sure that he would become more relevant each year. Of course I was right. And of course she didn't listen - they never listen, and this is what makes Dick's darkest and most bizarre prophecies become actual reality.

[@thisfoodhits6205]

So glad you brought up the similarities he had with Thomas Pynchon, I’ve thought that for a while now but had never seen or heard it mentioned before.

[@superfrodies]

I just finished reading Valis last night, and as I was laying in bed I was thinking "that could never be reproduced as a movie, but if it WERE to be adapted to film, who could pull it off..." and I immediately landed on Paul Thomas Anderson because of how successful he was adapting Pynchon's Inherent Vice. Just a weird little synchronicity there. Had to share.

[@celiacresswell6909]

This has stood up so well. Fantastic work

[@philsophkenny]

Loving these videos.

[@mongolianqwerty123]

PKD was the first post-modern pop prophet. The virtually unknown current prophet of hypermodernity is Jason Bickford. He is the spiritual heir to Dick, he even made a video called U-Bick about the synchronicities between his and PKDs life and work. His channel is Symbols, Patterns & Gnosis. For those with ears to hear and ice to sea

[@DamienWalter]

U-Bick. I like it.

[@emgee691]

Thank you for your excellent presentation. I have watched the Man in the High Castle series. Outstanding. Challenging. Multi layered. Did not realise it came from Phillip K Dick. Part of what I do with human beings is work with self discovery, self authority self love, beliefs and above all , judgements. Self judgements . Are we living in "strange" times? If your views of your world and humanity and yourself are pretty fixed and rigid, you probably will say this. Or if you hold a narrow version of " normal", then anything or anyone outside your view of ",normal" will seem strange and Abnormal. To you. And then, you'll be tempted to deny it, or dismiss it, or ignore it, or ridicule it, or discredit it, or fight it or crush it. Because it will challenge and question what you believe, BELIEVE, to be real and true.

[@zachvanslyke4341]

Thank you for your analysis of PKD. It was awesome and I agree with all of your points 🙏

[@Chexsum]

when science fiction is in the non-fiction section you know itll be weird

[@maxpower001]

I had an experience a few years ago very much like pkd's exept i wasnt hit by a pink beam of light off a girls cross necklace. Mine was triggered by a "secret meditation" ive learned. At first i was absolutely terrified!! I thought i was dead and i was in some type of wacky death trip. Anyway after i learned to come to terms with what had happened, with this total clarity i was able to kinda "tell what was gunna happen" it was very much a spiritual awakening in the highest sense.. it was totally bizarre, i stopped trying to explain to people because i felt as if everyone thought i was loosing it, until i was able to prove it and show what i was talking about.

[@maxwatkins5166]

You could predict the future? How far in to the future?

[@maxpower001]

@@maxwatkins5166 i know how bizarre it sounds but it lasted for about 3 days, and i was able to very clearly sense what was going to happen or i was making it happen as soon as i thought about something.. Me and the people in my immediate circle were super freaked out. The 1st time it happened i thought it was some spooky death trip type thing but the 2nd time i was a little better prepared for it... Ive always kinda had a 6th sense keeping me out of immediate danger but this took it to a whole new level.. I was never able to explain it into words properly but when i heard about pkd's experience that was kinda like what happened to me, almost like a flood of information, way too much, way too fast.. At 1st It was terrifying until i learned to roll with it AND NOT TO TALK ABOUT IT because right away people think your cheese slid off your cracker. Its totally natural for people to fear what they dont understand and i get it, id be sketched out if someone claimed supernatural powers too lol i didnt last long. I almost had the feeling that your mind maintaining that level of vibrations couldn't be good for anybody. There would have to be a negative side effect to all that

[@maxwatkins5166]

@@maxpower001 so you were seconds/minutes ahead of our ‘physical reality’ as it unfurled? Could you give an specific example pls? I once could se the immediate future flight path of flying birds (few yards ahead) when tripping on shrooms as(bit like DonnieDarko when the arrow of time ejects form him - only much much shorter) which I concluded pertained to the power of intention and decisive action. But the idea of longer than the immediate is absolutely fascinating.

[@maxpower001]

@@maxwatkins5166 2:30am i was thinking about a chick i haven't heard from in months and just like that she called outta the blue at 2:33am, i was sitting at a red light and pictured a car accident and then i happened right in front of me, images of vw's popped into my head then out of nowhere about 5mins later a car carrier loaded with vw busses cruised by.. stuff like that. At 1st i was freaked out by all this but i learned to go along with it

[@maxwatkins5166]

@@maxpower001 thanks for sharing. The girl calling you is quite a common phenomena I think...still significant, if not even more so given its prevalence. The accident must have been mad...”did I just make that happen”? Kind of mad...glad you’ve learned to live with it. The VW one I would say is fairly common too...had you been looking to buy one at all?I’ve experienced and heard from others such when buying a new (second hand) car. Eg my step brother bought a white VW golf tdi, he settled on a white one as he didn’t think he’d seen many...sure enough driving back from buying it and the days following he sees them everywhere...we see what we’ve been looking for...similar with paranoia. Although yours does differ from that if you had no intention behind it. Can I ask your zodiac Max Power and whether you smoke weed or take anything else? I think they open up mind sharing qualities like telepathy and thought planting (like the girl calling you)

[@rred8674]

When I was born my mother could not know that I would have a birthmark (heterochromia) in my left eye. She had no way of knowing this when she named me Rachel.

[@hertzair1186]

PKD said he wrote his novels based on parallel lives memories in parallel realities…such as WW2 being won by the Axis (Man in the High Tower)

[@anthonynicoli]

So, so well articulated, supported and sequenced. Nicely done! I invite you to explore transactionalism and process philosophy if you have not already.

[@bernardocoto8519]

I remembered that short story about the guy who finds out he is an android the moment you started analyzing it. Awesome story

[@disseminationnetwork]

Great overview, thank you, I will re read and look deeper at these stories.

[@jesserantakangas5594]

this was not at all what i thought id search on him / his life and couldnt agree with every point BUT very interesting, thought out chat from someone who obviously knows alot more than me, and i did listen to the end. thumb up. hail felix

[@F.W.Goodsell]

PKD could not survive today. It is beyond even his imagining.

[@MarmaladeINFP]

I agree with how this video begins. PKD is and is not a fiction writer. First and foremost, he is a mad prophet, radical visionary, and obsessive philosopher. Then he occasionally put his wondrous speculations, challenging ideas, and probing thoughts into narrative form.

[@dc2778]

Thank you for this, extraordinary well done.

[@DamianLoved]

This may sound strange, but I find comfort in the notion that we may exist within a simulation or, PKD puts it, "a computer-programmed reality." I'm not sure why that is, either. Anyway, thanks for the video. I've read 7 or 8 of the author's books and I have many to go-- PKD was prolific as the day was long. After his presentation in '67 on this very subject, (I watched it here a few months back) I'm fascinated by the nature of his, for lack of a better term, spiritual awakening.

[@DamienWalter]

There's a very deep appeal to mental abstraction as an escape from suffering. I think simulation theory represents that for many people. Many spiritual experiences are in truth extremes of abstraction. I think PKD was caught up in this trap to some extent.

[@DamianLoved]

@@DamienWalter I think you're right. Thanks for taking the time to post.

[@valkay2896]

Because perhaps if we are living in a simulation, then power of thought, positive thinking, and conjured visions focused come true are just means to reprogram our life. We just have to learn how to maintain that concentration and confidence in the beliefs. Reincarnation would be just living another programmed life. 😀

[@samrowbotham8914]

Read Tom Campbell and Bernardo Kastrup.

[@j.477]

,,, non-strange 2moi ruther weird ) archaic meaning of ' magical/other-worldly " ( ...

[@neutralrobot]

Philip K. Dick and Thomas Pynchon are two of my favorite authors, and I have never heard them referred to as having a lot in common before. What do you see as their commonalities?

[@quantumfineartsandfossils2152]

3:00 yes a prophet is the will of god I made sold a painting a long time ago that is in a private collection that encapsulates this mechanics

[@DougVanDorn]

I grew up in the 60s. I always figured that I would live to see Asimov's future, or maybe Clarke or Heinlein's. But I never, EVER suspected that the future I would live to see would be... Phil Dick's. And tbh, when you think about it, that fact is both terrifying and depressing. Interesting, but devoid of much hope. Only confusion and chaos in the dark.

[@cocobololocoloco]

This is excellent...a wildcard recommendation from YT !

[@michakoodziej5741]

Damien, thank you for your amazing work! You explore almost all subjects, which are of interest for me: SF, consciousness, Storytelling, Marxism. You are amazing, keep going ❤

[@DamienWalter]

Thanks Micha

[@michakoodziej5741]

@@DamienWalter you’re welcome, Damien. My name is Michał. For some reason YT doesn’t “like” the “ł” letter in my name.

[@vedacarmony5754]

As a child of the sixties, I read most of PKD. Along with Aldous Huxley, Orson Scot Card and many others, they formed my psyche in ways I can only guess.

[@DamienWalter]

For the better.

[@brentdobson5264]

90 degree dimensional shifts are referenced by Phlip K. Dick as well as Drunvalo Melchizedek * who referenced ufo ' s trajectories ...as well as dimensional shift graphics and schematics ( displayed on Egyptian tomb ceilings as wheel patterns midst 90 degree ceiling edge symbology ) . * " The Ancient Secret Of The Flower Of Life " ( volumes one and two ) ....Drunvalo Melchizedek .

[@brentdobson5264]

@@someguy2016 As best as one can recall / deduce ...it got it'self referenced in the video somewhere ....or it would never have triggered here an association to make a post having to do with right angles and dimensional shifts .

[@benjaminseng4271]

Phil writes and talks about his books, probably more than any other author. You dont have to interpret his work he tells you exactly what its about. "Blade Runner" or Do androids dream is about a pure psychopath (android) interacting with a decent human (deker). The human can not influence the pure psychopath only the psychopath can influence the human to be more psychopathic. By killing a killer you have become a killer, moral paradox.

[@ariedebruyn5218]

God damn it. I'm reading Lies Inc. right now and I wish you were still alive to help us understand all this crap. Just so you could help explain it to everyone. If your spirit still exists... Please, guide us all to a peaceful solution.

[@michaelcullen6375]

Spielberg is the most overrated director in Hollywood. The only reason his films are watchable are special effects, editing and an endless amount if promotion.

[@thebendu33]

No, that would be JJ Abrams

[@danwroy]

Spielberg is amazing but his edits to the Minority Report story were just mutilation.

[@tabhabbish6336]

Said the man in the arena.

[@Tyrell_Corp2019]

There’s a great book called: “Cinema of Loneliness,” by Kolker. It mostly covers great directors like Kubrick, Altman, etc. But he devotes a small section to the phenomenon of how bad Spielberg is and the reasons for his rise. You might like it. Your sentiments parallel pretty much what he’s getting at.

[@JohnBlack-kv8us]

David Lynch is worse

[@paulkestyn518]

Today my TV on the internet started explaining the Actors actions as if I couldn't see the Episode, after I left room into another room. I never said or did anything to my 2014HP.

[@NateBostian]

If you were going to communicate to younger ages groups the idea that “the stories we tell ourselves determine our reality”, what media, channels, or books would you recommend? I work with students age 3-18 and would like to sharpen my skills at communicating this idea.

[@DamienWalter]

Role Playing Games. Ability to generate your own character, but the frame narrative is bigger than you are.

[@mythywmyth]

You could always find works that are more intellectual than they can handle and make your own notes and use that to express the ideas in your words to demonstrate that how we interpret ideas individually is part of the inner story we all have within. If there's a specific concept you want to share simply look up key words and you'll have to sift thru a few sources but you'll find what resonates with you and then you'll find your way of sharing it with the students. What a great job you have. Hopefully, this info can help

[@ZakStandridge]

Cheers, mate

[@ygolonacable]

There's a low-budget movie adaptation of "Radio Free Albemuth," the novel Dick wrote before VALIS, but his publisher wanted to change it so much that Dick put it on the shelf and wrote VALIS instead.

[@robertmiller1299]

An important part of PKD’s insight was the result if the mind-boggling quantity of drugs that he abused.

[@DamienWalter]

It's unclear how many drugs PKD took and how much was self mythologising in his stories. Writers lie for a living. But the certainly played a part.

[@michaelgarfield]

Excellent riff, Damien, but minor correction: the "A" in VALIS stands for "Active," not "Automated."

[@SP-ny1fk]

The only predictable thing is human behaviour - we can see into the future simply by observing the unconscious mass-man and the recurring patterns of behaviour he has made in the past, leading up to the present, and going on into the future. In fact, you can remove time from the picture, and what you are left with is the same person containing the same seeds of the same outcomes.

[@groggs321]

Time doesn't exist, we created it to give the illusion that everything didn't happen at once

[@StopFear]

I have read and listened to an audio of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Edlridge. It is not that good as far as Philip K Dick's use of the English language. But there is something profound in the ideas in it and I think most readers did not understand what PKD is trying to show in it. In my opinion, the meaning in it is a sort of his explanation of how all the functions of a God , not unlike the God in Abrahamic religions in the real world, could be replicated by a hypothetical alien being. Also that perhaps they would not be in any meaningful way different.

[@bjarne431]

Pkd was arguably not a good writer, but his ideas was incredibly unique and interesting

[@francissreckofabian01]

I'm not triggered. I suspect you are correct. Dick is my favourite SF writer (Terry Pratchett doesn't really count as he mostly wrote humorous fantasy/social criticism/satire) I may have read about half of his 50 or so novels. Some of the early ones are good. I've read all the best middle period novels. I have yet to read the Valis trilogy or Ubik. There are just so many book to read! Some of his short stories are excellent too. I recall reading Second Variety in my early 20s and being affected by the ending. Both sad and amusing. I know it's a cliche but Hollywood is unlikely to do justice to good SF novels. Maybe Europeans can do it??? It seems to me that one of his main themes is reality. What is real. Is the protagonist real. A lot of thinking goes on when reading Dick. Fine essay.

[@DamienWalter]

I have a Pratchett essay in the works. Actually I'm jsy waiting for a title.

[@TheTurkey79]

Check out "Radio Free Albamuth" it's my fave PKD book B)

[@spacechimp5141]

I think the drugs he took in the 50s/60s fried his brain and he started to believe his own writings. Nonetheless, he was a great writers.

[@ericsierra-franco7802]

A brilliant and unstable prophet of the future!

[@DamienWalter]

Yes. The two are often paired.

[@SpinSurgery]

So a hyper object is a cybernetic dynamic system? I would have to, in this one case, vehemently reject PKD’s advice to be looking for these Big Others and meta narratives. Its almost unavoidable result is that you’ll be foaming at the mouth with conspiracies. We just don’t have the context from our perspectives. It’s actually downright dangerous and embarrassingly arrogant to think oneself capable of seeing “hyperobjects”. When it comes to questioning things, we need to approach abstractions from the opposite angel. Here’s a good example that makes ppl uncomfortable; let’s just pretend that climate change actually was a lie created by this or that system preserving power that wanted to push people into activating panic by a threat of imminent death for some purpose. What do any of us have besides faith in the honesty and accuracy of others to be able to see this systemic collapse in motion and come up with a real solution for it? We have nothing. I’m not a climate scientist. I can’t see any of it first hand and even if I was and could collect data and create models etc, I would likely be able to use reason to hypothesize the concept but not without many risks of category error or assuming cause and effect. So while in reality of course I’ll place my bet that oil companies have a much more apparent motivation for attacking this narrative than scientists have a motive to make it up, but I can’t deny I have a skepticism that there is the opportunity to abuse climate change for social control as well, but as long as the proposed solution doesn’t cause more harm to human organization than the consensus projections among researches im with the green side. I just feel it’s important to be consistent with our skeptical and even paranoid assumptions. To be on the look out for “hyperobjects” is most definitely as big of a way to blindly walk into manipulation as unquestioningly giving our obedience over to a medieval religious order. The only good faith way to live what PKD was implying is also a nihilism trap in itself, but maybe we can live the paranoid students life as long as we are able to find stability and sanity in finding meaning just by playing the game? 😉

[@threeleggedman]

I'm pretty sure it's Vast active... not automated.

[@curtisblankinship2696]

He was influenced by AE Von Vogt. What's the deal with AE Von Vogt?

[@nickd8719]

He avoided sci fi stereo types

[@jellis3194]

V.A.L.I.S.: Vast *Active* Living Intelligence System. Just for the record.

[@wboyle9721]

Free thinkers

[@ketherwhale6126]

I would say visionary.

[@Kyle_Warweave]

If bookshelves are full of an author with all his books and if these books are also about a dystopian future then you can bet your ass that certain influential figures behind the scenes (with a similar dystopian agenda) benefited especially greatly from these books...

[@samrowbotham8914]

That is the opinion of Jasun Horsely expressed in his book 'The Prisoners of Infinity'.

[@Kyle_Warweave]

@@samrowbotham8914 I will check it out. I see that the book has some good reviews and is related and/or advised to read together with Whitley Strieber. Recently the latter got my interest and I have read "The Key: A True Encounter" which I can recommend to everyone on my behalf. I've started the classic "Communion" so with "The Prisoners of Infinity" I'll be covered for the next lockdown(s). Let's hope this won't be 'till infinity. Thank you for sharing !

[@billkeon880]

The pink light or psychedelic drug idea of peeling away the surface reality to find different levels of reality or alternate planes of existence is of course mistaken. It’s a well known phenomenon for people with chemical imbalances in brain chemistry (natural or drug induced) have these visions - but it’s their own internal alteration in their brains, they aren’t making some new discovery in the real, natural world. We love these writers for their great imaginations and ability to weave stories together but they are not revealing new realms of existence. These are the delusional ways of religion. Enjoy the fictional stories and their morals and social critique but don’t believe unproven, alternate realities.

[@lanegeorgeton8266]

Thx

[@MajelCats]

I’ve heard this…The 7th Guest game

[@j.o.quantaman6994]

Questioning our socioeconomic reality is but the 1st-step. Further steps lead to a more empathetic, nature-friendly society. We need social engineers not mere philosophers.

[@customsongmaker]

You're already allowed to give as much as you want to other people. So what you want is slaves who have to work for you without you paying them.

[@pinit9186]

yes

[@btekwindsolar]

Not biblical, Yahusha said everyone will see Him not just selected few In this dimension..

[@LoMcc40]

Jamiroquai sang it best, virtual insanity

[@havefunbesafe]

He was out there …

[@SkullyTheHypnoSkull]

I like A Scanner Darkley because Alex Jones was in it. Say what you want about him but he's a true Philip K. Dick fan.

[@DamienWalter]

Which character is he?

[@rachelharrison556]

@@DamienWalter the street prophet with the bullhorn

[@neilbaesel3767]

That's hilarious, lol. PKD was an unstable mind, but AJ is just pure crazy.

[@trevor_mounts_music]

@@neilbaesel3767 Alex Jones hasn't been wrong about much he's said in the last 3-4 years....

[@neilbaesel3767]

@trevor_mounts_music you're testifying to the credibility of a loon that was forced to file bankruptcy after a court judgement of $ 1 BILLION against his claims that the Sandy Hook shootings were a "hoax?"

[@Emdee5632]

I'm not really a Philip K. Dick reader. I read some novels, some short story collections. Too bad I have to admit I prefer the movies over most of the novels or stories they are based on. He's just too depressive, too paranoid too dystopian for me and especially some of his early work doesn't age well. But he had no lack of ideas.

[@DamienWalter]

He is a particular taste.

[@yossarian1633]

Have you looked around lately? We're living in Dystopia.

[@senorstronk]

after ufos and seeing the hidden tech. we are living in a slave realm dude. wake up. we don't even get free water here unless you drill a well and even then we are stuck on metered electric. think total recall when they charge people for air on mars. just unhuman to charge for water but that;s me after taking a bunch of acid and knowin ghow bad corporate is and all the elites that run this realm. after seeing them in the ufos. Holy fuck I hate that we even have to share air with these evil demons.

[@KidFresh71]

@@yossarian1633 Exactly! *Too* depressive, paranoid and dystopian? Hello! more like: perfectly prescient.

[@thethree60five]

If he is prophetic, It was of _Synchronicity and the I Ching_ .

[@DEADGPK]

He was a Experiencer and it was all true. I read and understand

[@leogetz31ify]

And people say cocaine is bad .. he was on it heavy it was the cocaine not the medicine from the dentist. He lied because imagine telling people cocaine gave him those visions . He didn't want anyone to know

[@Blontified]

Is his "what is human" question less about having to work at acieving empathy than to realise that it is what you are made of?

[@JustinBrimhall-q8v]

This video is a hyper object.

[@AlienBigCat23]

Brother Kindred is a TechoProphet ✅ whose info\data is ubik Quantum entangled by Kenji Siratori..

[@Pieroeightx3]

❤

[@DannyWhittingham-yk9oq]

Number 9...

[@MariaElena51185]

2025 is a 9 year.

[@rickartdefoix1298]

Philip K Dick was a weirdo, but interesting man. Despite his drugs and pills mix and abuses. ➖Enjoyed the one about "the artist as an underdog" or whatever the title is. Instead, The Man in the Castle did not seem a great thing for me. Though it's readable and kept interest well enough. ➖He wrote too much and many were just for money. Cheap things carelessly written.

[@JustSwivel2]

Felix Rex

[@joesaintjames6221]

Happy King

[@sffortytwo]

Glad to see Half-Life’s G-Man has found work while he waits for HL3.

[@kludgedude]

Christianity as science fiction

[@thomaskeeler912]

Shall we question Man-made climate-change via CO2, Damien? No offense, I hope... I love your work... But it's pollution coming from unfettered mechanical capital that's the danger to life, not warming or climate chaos, which may happen independently of us: Climate is purely a cosmic phenomenon. Any changes here on Earth come from within or from above, and not from the film of life on the surface. I would add finally, Damien and friends, do you not think that there is some basic set of reliable phenomena that make the idealism which you propose an interpretable reality? I'm on board with minds as builders. But I think you oppose yourselves too much to rational scientific materialism and therefore cannot entertain that there may be ground under the waves.

[@JayAr709]

We can’t build you.

[@joemagkano8369]

I over dosed on acid and estacy and I saw a green light this was in 1998. I am sure I was clinicaly dead and revivied.

[@DaKloneLiving]

VALIS

[@kevindoom]

beyond lies the wub

[@kludgedude]

The USA didn’t have slavery for more than a century

[@jamesbueker11]

Note: Perky Pat as Barbie

[@DamienWalter]

Yes.

[@mandelbratwurst9087]

PKD is just another victim of self-inflicted delusions of grandeur.

[@zachvanslyke4341]

That is one thin layer of a large onion. A common symptom of many brilliant, deep thinkers is a hodgepodge of various labels of “psychosis.” To write off insights because of said “psychosis” is ad hominem.