'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' is one of my all-time favourite book titles an amazing work of science fiction that became source of 'Bladerunner' film. Talk of Big Brother and sci fi and dystopian novels made me think of it. It's by Phillip K Dick whose writing and ideas I admired, while being disturbed by certain aspects of his books.
In the novel, life is very wearisome and one can have one's mood enhanced by a machine or seek solace with an artificial animal if one cannot afford the real thing. There is also the distraction of a TV-type 'entertainment' where an old man is struggling to climb a mountain. The vicariousness explored at various levels came to mind in doscussions over CBB.
http://www.philipkdick.com/works_novels_androids.html
I like the way the book here is describes as 'inspiration' for film as novel has so many more layers, although film is excellent in its own way. Amazing to realise that it was written in 1968 when 2021 seemed so far off...
On a personal note, when I first encountered my Cariad in cyber he quoted PKD at me and I wondered how he'd react to me being both a PKD admirer and hater of what I saw as his misogyny - Luckily, he agreed!
