The penultimate truth about Philip K. Dick

[@jamesp4521]

They all rolled their eyes, laughed, and felt embarrassed for him at that convention in France. 40 years later, now the greatest theoretical physicist are holding that same conversation about this probably being a simulated reality. Horselover Fat wasn't so nuts afterall

[@djm5141]

I couldn't believe some of them say he was losing his creativity towards the end of his career. For me The Divine Invasion is one of the greatest visions put on paper. Beautiful, redeeming, and completely insane.

[@sallyjenko2315]

I’m totally shocked by Joan Simpson’s opinion of his talk in France. I love that talk.

[@chynamoon193]

People always say your crazy when you are ahead of your time ..This man was ahead of his time.

[@thechaz83]

Anybody is free to express their opinion-actually I’d enjoy reading what you have to say. I’m a published weird fiction poet in the Lovecraftian vein. Well last night I was sitting in a chair at my local Barnes & Noble reading and enjoying my first ever Phillips K. Dick novel. At the moment I forget the title but chapter 1 discussed the idea of a holiday called Resurrection Day. After I finished reading about this I noticed a guy walking toward me who resembled a former friend. I mean the resemblance was frighteningly uncanny. His height, body shape, hair color and length, the black glasses, that studious facial expression mixed with humor. Now I put the book down and followed him with a casual side glance. Then after he disappeared I got up and followed him. We both ended up in the science fiction section by Phillips K. Dick. He said, “I noticed you were staring at me. Do you know me?” I mentioned, sounding like Stewie Griffin, that he resembled an ex friend of mine. How the similarities were uncanny..:dress, everything. He said, “your friend must have good taste.” I laughed, we discussed Phillip K. Dick along with other authors, then I shook his hand and apologized if I freaked him out. It was a bizarre experience overall.

[@extantia]

I like the format of this documentary- special agents going through photos, letters, and notes interposed with commentaries from the people who knew him.

[@timweatherill3738]

Excellent. Very well done. I've been studying Dick intensively since the early 1980s and I could hardly ask for a more interesting series of interviews.

[@airbornepizza]

If you've come across any info we would benefit by your sharing, please let us know!

[@brainsareus]

I do so feel for him... Such a beautiful painful life...

[@seanstrygg]

I love how he was just willing to go for it no matter what everyone else thought.

[@robertsmith2557]

Phillip K Dick's theory or 'belief' that we are living in a programmed reality is actually now referred to as simulation theory and now that people have a greater understanding of virtual simulations , augmented and holographic reality it is actually a valid branch of study. In the 70's it must have been mind blowing to people who never had any experience with computers or any technology beyond TVs and toasters.

[@465marko]

yeah, a toaster can't be 'god', what a nut case, lets go to the disco

[@hansschmalberger2922]

465marko to the man who thinks he knows the mind of god knows as much as a stone.

[@465marko]

Hans Schmalberger Very true. Ada the man who saw god was probably stoned?

[@specialsnowfake6744]

Hans Schmalberger which god?

[@wtrdawnlord]

Robert Smith It is true that simulation theory is now an active branch of quantum mechanics, but that bears no actual relationship to PKD's delusions.

[@jcampo4]

He was definitely in touch with the substrate of reality. Simulation theory is all the rage now.

[@rahvavaenlane]

His Metz speech is inspirational, groundbreaking. It might have not had apparent instant direct impact but when you think what came decades later... Just to mention the movie Matrix, which I presume is pretty much based this speech, and how huge impact it had on our culture.

[@freeurmind5790]

The people around him were fascinated by his mind, by the depth of his philosophical musings, by the audacity and originality of his ideas. And yet when he reveals the 'source code' they suddenly think he's nuts. Newsflash, all brilliant people are "nuts" in the minds of ordinary, mundane, ground scratching people. The guy was waaaaaaay ahead of his time. He was probably the very FIRST person to suggest we live in a computer simulation 30+ goddamn years before the any astrophysicist. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[@snacklepussPSN]

The SIM idea has been around or Centuries: Its been referred to before as the Grand Game Hypothesis where the Solar System itself is part of a computer; given that its a time maker and keeper at the same "time" Platos [Allegory of the Cave] in 400BC gives light to this:

[@Infamous41]

@@snacklepussPSN yup

[@rosenamdensuden]

A man who loves cats is always a friend of mine...Mark Twain

[@sheilahunter8807]

absolutely! When I met my husband, an adorable OBGYN, and he loved my cats I knew I would marry him! LOL I always trust a man who loves cats :-)

[@NewMessage]

a pussy doctor who loves pussies? who'd a thunk it! **ducks the rotten vegetables**

[@geminisundone]

Loved this doc about a guy I've never heard of before. I'm a mam with three cats...four if you include myself. I agree...I loved the photos of himself with a ginger like my rudi pictured and a black cat like my boy ninja. Cats love creative people :)

[@bipolatelly9806]

Louis Clark code for "swinging both ways".....

[@user-iy9mx4pm5z]

12 founders of universe invite cats/birds from other univere for new universal game(+/-) : 45 cats(+) aliens == create humans 45 birds(-) aliens == create reptiles

[@daledheyalef]

They act like he's a total "loony" toward the end, but nowadays there are plenty of public intellectuals who entertain the possibility that we live in some sort of computer simulation.

[@danielh7678]

There are yes. I used to be one of them. In the end I decided it wasn't worth it. I believe it's impossible to know or define reality. We can describe small (and even large) parts of it with a limited degree of accuracy through the sciences, but to define the whole thing is something else entirely. I think a quest to "know" reality would throw any person off the rails as it would mean that you are sacrificing the external, because you could only ever know reality from your own perspective, if you could know it at all. If one goes down that path, I'd imagine that the closer one gets to their own "version of reality", the further away they become to everyone else's. I feel bad for such a person, it must be lonely. I still find his work intriguing and enjoyable but I would never incorporate these themes into my world view.

[@shirasnowflake1767]

Yes, it's only okay once a proper expert...that is someone ordained and tapped by the right people to address the public regardless of their real intellectual accomplishments, which seem to be in short supply as the mediocre mind and technocratic i.e. technological bureaucrat, is in ascendancy in concombinance with their sponsors who often are multi-generational high net wealth families with deep and far reaching connections. We badly need more independent public intellectuals, even if by more I just mean to a greater degree, as with the artist these individuals need patrons but patrons who understand the importance allowing free discourse not just feeding policy papers to smart and ambitious but otherwise obedient apparatchiks whose job it is to make big ideas and social shifts into slogans, causes and movements for the greater masses to follow. In short, we are in an intellectual and artistic dark age which is only growing worse rapidly. Enter the technicians of art and culture.

[@danielpascuas6519]

His story in many ways matches Beethoven's, brilliant yet troubled. The thin line between madness and genius

[@anasmith5834]

My theory about Phillip k Dick is that he exercised his mind a lot. Probably it became his obsession. I say this because when I was a Christian I became obsessed with watching people talking about heaven or hell experiences. I ended up visiting an angelic realm and had visions of dragons. I thought that I was going insane. I think it has to do with the law of attraction. You attract what you believe. Everything is vibrations so you attract where you put your energy at. It doesn't mean that is not true. The book of kybalion says Everything is mental. A mental image tends to change forms. It all have to do with your own interpretations or perceptions.

[@cdnelson62978]

01:14:35 He begins to explain the multiverse. BRILLIANT!

[@DrXaOs]

Plato's Allegory of the Cave concept 400 BC!!!! Philip is still a legend

[@YOUCANTDOTHATONTELEVISION]

Thank you very much for sharing. An interesting man, fantastic talent for stories and a fascinating life. R.I.P. Phillip

[@simonbean3774]

The most important writer of the second half of the 20th century.

[@pupilofreality]

The double slit experiments show us that reality depends on observation. That is real. Quantum mechanics tell us laws of nature break down at lower levels. The holographic/simulated universe encompasses all the things that confound physics. This man saw something we all have missed. Call him crazy about other things, He was enlightened on this one.

[@zazugee]

And even more, latest experiments confirm that macro-realism is dead.

[@philipsong4246]

God is the first self aware waveform to turn itself tubular to get a good look at his image and you are the spitting image so stop spitting on your image love your perfection we are in the kingdom.

[@TagCavello]

The Electric Ant The Pre-Persons We Can Remember It For You... A Present For Pat The Short Happy Life Of The Brown Oxford Fasrad (Sales Pitch) I could go on and on about favorite PKD stories. Thank you for posting this fascinating program.

[@porkyswelding]

elvis also had a twin that died and johnny cash had a brother who died young, perhaps some sort of soul absorption be it real or imagined

[@shirasnowflake1767]

I think there is something to it, the idea of an identical or fraternal twin dying with one surviving. Early in gestation this may go unnoticed and parts of the other embryo or fetus and been known to be absorbed. We also know that dna for say a first child may end up found oddly enough in a later child, something left the umbilical cord or placenta can likewise be absorbed. Of course, I've also come to accept the more spiritual side of life as vitally important regardless of final conclusion. I would wonder if the adsorbed twin and the conjoined twin have any kind of neurological differentiation from "normal" humans.

[@jotun.616]

Gee i wonder why he went after mentally broken women. That 5th wife gives me the creeps

[@kellycharles1292]

this really makes me think a lot thank you for upload this

[@realfakenews9681]

KW Jeter is just a professional hack. He has written novels set in the Star Trek and Star Wars universes, and has written three sequels to Blade Runner.

[@rahvavaenlane]

Yep, not a single original, innovative idea in his head, so worried of not being "crazy"..

[@obsidian00]

To be great is to be misunderstood...

[@JimAllder11]

This was amazing. Thanks for posting.

[@philipsong4246]

The entire book of valis happened to me before I knew that it existed. I even began writing a book about the experience with 2 of me one was a 6 toed festival going fish and one was me in my logical and grounded state. I was born in 83 and everything in my life started getting very strange around the time I made my fb profile Philip's dick at this point I didn't even know who Pkd was. My birth name is Philip Richard sang. If you ever get the feeling that you are stuck in a loop, it's because you are.

[@NVRMR08]

This was so badly trying to portrait him as just a problematic crazy man. Did he lose touch with reality or got closer to the truth?

[@NVRMR08]

Good answer that!

[@Petey0707]

Well his house was searched so I'd say he got close to the truth.

[@lordreyna6924]

Right like how will u find out unless u challenge ur mind, whatever method u use is only helpful for historical study as contribution to society.

[@sewme7861]

wtf do you think happened? obv nuts, lmfao

[@TheSpasticAvenger]

@@Petey0707 He was known to have abundant drugs in his home, one of his junky friends tried to find his cask stash that he never had.

[@gobisGalaxy_star]

The true genius of science fiction.

[@airbornepizza]

The genre can barely claim him; he is in a league all his own.

[@rayryeridge3313]

As Heinlein,Asimov and others slowly fade into irrelevance Philip K Dick and J G Ballard grows in importance .Dick with his philosophical and existential insight and completely unique ideas and concepts,Ballard with his sharp focus on what our presence time is about,using the near future as an alibi to dissect the presence.Much as I enjoyed the sweet escapism of other Sci Fi Writers in my youth,they all totally missed the polenta,the development of technology and its impact on society and the individual. Space traveling,fascinating as it is,doesn’t impact people’s life even a tiny bit. Dick and Ballard were geniuses as it should be defined,and their influence goes far beyond Science Fiction,

[@alexcarter8807]

Why would anyone use explosives to open file cabinets? They'd some in a maintenance truck and cut in with a Sawzall or something, or just cart the whole cabinets out and take 'em away. Nobody questions you when you've got a hard hat and a clip board and a van etc.

[@MrDrmillgram]

The lady who said she was embarrassed by his speeech simply couldn't comprehend the concepts. Probably a groupie and added little except the pedestrian viewpoint.

[@465marko]

That "friend" K W Jeter is also more of a "dick" than phillip k ever was

[@tessd2578]

I so agree. I was shocked she was walking of his speech this way, of being ashamed of his sudden craziness. I never read any of his book and only now discover him (which I find incredible as I am a big fan of "other worlds" sci fi and philosophies) but this documentary tells me that no he was not deluded. He was fragile, broken, paranoid but these go hand in hand with the gift to perceive the real reality, the one behind our everyday world. Like Tessa Dick said "you can be paranoid and have real enemies". Well he was unstable but he knew deeper stuff which stable well-fitting people could never comprehend until they die.

[@MrDrmillgram]

I didn't know Tessa Dick coined that term.

[@thelegendofner0]

She didn't, she said that PKD once said that "maybe I'm paranoid, but that doesn't mean they're not after me"

[@snacklepussPSN]

You know PKD was correct and they were playing mind games with him at that time and his Lawyer confirmed it after his place of writing was burgled, wrecked and files stolen, and also certain "High ranking cops" who called him a crusader had said if he didnt leave "town" now he would shot in the back if he leave it to another time. His influence over crowds must've been a threat akin to Religious Cults to the control system or other Cult Leaders who had Cops in their following. Which is what he meant by SciFi was not popular in California where he lived. It was not appreciated by those who saw its influence over their own. I like that paranoia quote though...Its funny.

[@rebeccaevans3531]

Hi - does anyone happen to know where I can access the full video of Philip at the speaking engagement? Seen periodically throughout, starting at 01:28

[@gwenelbro3719]

Excuse me, the Depression started after the first world war and continued past the 20's into the thirties. I am old enough to remember, how bad is still was in the 30's in the UK>

[@bbbbavkf]

very good docu, thanks for uploading!

[@freewilliam93]

The biography Divine Invasions is an amazing book!

[@denster7715]

This is a well-made documentary.

[@Enkarashaddam]

The funny thing about Dick is I could call him crazy and he'd probably agree with me. I could call him sane and he'd probably still agree with that as well.

[@REDGOATcomicbooks.13]

I love his.but his life was so sad.to me it is hard to here,man who had a powful mind.

[@2bitvideogames259]

Blade Runner 2049 is released today =] October 6, 2017

[@jotun.616]

Am i the only person who has witnessed an over iced incident? That is EXACTLY what happened to this dude.

[@empathbooks1697]

I heard he was abducted, and that started his thinking about switching time around, as in "Total Recall."

[@VictoriaWonders]

i hate how people take their moment but tell he went crazy while it's just too young too early still 2016 for his matter.

[@sallyjenko2315]

The framing device in this doc is so distracting and annoying. I had to stop watching during those parts and just listen to the text. I got much more out of listening to the people who knew him.

[@antonnym214]

Does Filmman understand that "penultimate" means second-to-last?

[@inesolujic2534]

I listened to the audio book version of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and this video came on after the book. I stopped listening and knew this documentary was complete crap roughly 2 minutes in when they said he was born in 1928 during the great depression. Here is a VERY basic US history fact... The great depression started after the stock market crash of October 1929....If a so called documentary can't even get something this basic correct only a few minutes in, imagine what trash the rest of it is.

[@37latitude]

I agree that you should not watch.

[@OlliGarch]

Ines Olujic Mandela effect maybe?

[@puritysolutions1069]

god bless you

[@Zardoz4441]

Not in the Alternate Reality of the PKD-Universe...

[@snacklepussPSN]

How do you know the real DOB of PKD? Maybe the Audio Book is incorrect?

[@UberPlaysGames]

Kinda weird that I ate lunch in that library everyday in highschool

[@jasonnellis16]

Wow, some great views in this and it's great that they feel he "died on a high note" but wow... his friends and those closest to him, at least as this doc portrayed, apparently didn't "get it"... he clearly was ahead of his time, even ahead of the time of this doc, and what a cynical look most of them had... Sure he lost control a few times and it's sad how much his relationships and connections to loved ones suffered, but his genius is immortal and the friend who said God leaned over and talked to him seemed to actually be the one to give him credit. I've talked to one of his loved ones who did seem to have that "he was just crazy" view of him (albeit with respect for his talent at least), and I see how that can happen with loved ones of tortured souls, as they may get tortured in turn and take his brilliance for granted... but at least some appreciation and recognition that their beloved crazy Phil was a mad genius, and had a true connection with the divine. But that speech was NOT awful...maybe sad if viewing human mortal life as the extent of all (sure, hard to grasp back then). Well this doc does deepen my appreciation of his life and mystery. At least the ending is "open ended"...

[@TheThavius]

Anybody that's read Confessions of a Crap Artist has to wonder how much of what Anne Dick says is true. It's clear from that book that PKD saw her as a sociopath and gaslighter. What a hell it must have been getting himself tied up in such a situation.

[@drazzle6267]

What would be the ultimate truth abt thid man i wonder!?

[@mttopemex]

What's the deal with the cats in the pictures, and on the tumbstone?

[@geminisundone]

carlos gcia He loved them. As do I. They adore the most creative among us. Get one and find out.

[@465marko]

I think those film noir style investigator guys are the same ones from aircrash investigations

[@mojavebrennan1375]

Do you realize that penultimate means next to last?

[@klapklap]

the almost-last truth about Philip k Dick or do you mean the next to last truth? either way... what does that even mean? I'm confused...

[@legislatedanarchy1380]

Jeez, these people are acting like the 60 was scary regarding big brother. Seriously? Compared to the surveillance state we live in today!?

[@tonymirabal8832]

The word penultimate means second from last, or 99 of 100

[@geneeverett33]

It's called an acid trip

[@deathtone1614]

The speech he gave talking about we’re in a system and when a déjà vu happens that’s the system making a change. First thing that popped into my head was The Matrix. Well guess that movie is even less original than I thought.

[@airbornepizza]

The Matrix is heavily based on the ideas of gnosticism, which PKD also intensely studied.

[@KozmicKarmaKoala]

@ 11:22......1126 Francisco Street....His sister died on 1/26. Interesting.

[@wtrdawnlord]

I enjoyed the interviews and such, but the pretense of this being the result of some agency investigating PKD is just silly, pointless and distracts from the focus on the life of a very creative and interesting individual.

[@public.public]

Having experienced something I would be more settled to consider a psychotic delusion I can't because I wasn't the only one to perceive it.

[@lisulove]

yes, a chosen one. targeted for influences. but by who?

[@markusdaxamouli5196]

I dont think PKD was definable by any one theory or description...that is what makes him so different. Typically Acid Dropping Writers who are paranoid and Medicated more than most...dont create the plethora of stories and ideas he went on to drop on us. To me, it matters less why he was able to write these awesome and unique stories..but just to enjoy that he did.

[@jotun.616]

Ya know i can understand ppl following these ideas if they themselves have also spent too much time on brain blistering trips. Its the sober, conspiracy types that concern me. Evolving beyond darwinian concepts was such a mistake.

[@37latitude]

1:12:13 She said never twice. I take it that she is lying.

[@geminisundone]

This is the Zodiac speaking She's a pure psychic vampire. Hideous woman. I believe her. She would have teased him just to syphon any drips of his tremendous mind into her dried up empty husk.

[@rahvavaenlane]

Some sort of groupie, superficial, flirty

[@byondi13]

The real question you should ask is: how many of those people being interviewed are going to write something prophetic and everlasting?

[@shirasnowflake1767]

Exactly. Into the intellectual dark age we go, with the critics, hack journalists and lazy "biographers." They seek to titillate not educate.

[@ezeargen]

check out that orb at 1:12:00

[@timshine6495]

i think he aint the first person to think like dat only he wasnt put in an asylum and labotomised and why did the end almost turn into them chatting bare shit about him making him look bad

[@LoneCloudHopper]

Phil knew about the Mandela Effect before we did.

[@brainsareus]

He looked a bit like Vincent Van Gogh

[@carloswollard3597]

You keep using that word, penultimate, I do not think it means what you think it means.

[@MaNuLaToRVaDeR]

Princess Bride funny

[@jamesp4521]

It's the name of a book he wrote, that's why they used it

[@wormsali]

He thought the Nazis and the Black Panthers were after him?

[@ezeargen]

another orb at 1:12:28

[@kauseofficial]

... And the Matrix Trilogy. How dare you disregard!!!

[@staceyjohnson9185]

"...he'd draw a picture of her and the picture looked a lot like him". Uh, they were twins?

[@struttingbirdlofi]

What is the point of the cutaways to the 2 dudes seemingly listening in/spying on the people talking? I don't understand...

[@teeniebeenie8774]

quite clever thx

[@AsteroidJesus]

This video seems to make the assumption that PKD was wrong...WTF?

[@psilocybin3819]

psilocybin

[@bladerunner_559]

What off shoots of Christianity believe in a false god and the one true god is trying to save us?

[@jotun.616]

25:25 "an hallucination?"? That bugs me more than any of that crazy bastards ramblings.

[@paullangton-rogers2390]

Fascinating guy. So we have him to thank for all the conspiracy nuts on here!!

[@Resenbrink]

So he had several weeks of contact with God. Yeah right.

[@ElSmusso]

I believe PKD was right, and today's science has a strong logic argument for us living in a simulation

[@karencontestabile6064]

Interesting...but the crash was 1929...

[@kenhutley971]

18:89 - Nothing new about left-wing demonstrations and Marxism at Berkeley, then?

[@klbgay9161]

32:43 = irony

[@sweetp6640]

Oh please, trying to paint a picture, that creative brilliance is a form of insanity...he was sane, he was targeted and ke knew ...our reality is being manipulated...Mandela ?

[@madProgenitorDeity]

Soooooo then what's the *ultimate* truth...? You realize penultimate doesn't mean ultimate, right....

[@madProgenitorDeity]

well played

[@adammc9176]

One of Dick's books was called The Penultimate Truth.

[@madProgenitorDeity]

oh wow. now I feel dumb

[@brianchristopher3816]

That's the point.Yet to be determined

[@user-iy9mx4pm5z]

dualisum (+) = good god (-) = evil god

[@MaNuLaToRVaDeR]

17:27 how is that funny?

[@warmecanic]

41:23 Take one, sir. Take it and you will see no God but Palmer Eldritch

[@arzoo82]

Valis

[@editorjuno]

pen•ul•ti•mate \pi-"nel-te-met\ adj : next to the last (c)2000 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights reserved

[@jotun.616]

It resembled plasmic energy? Is he aware that he writes science FICTION, and isnt an actual scientist? It had colors bahaha! As opposed to all the things in life that dont have colors?

[@janes8664]

The title of this documentary is so annoying, the second to last truth about Philip K Dick?