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The Essential Philip K. Dick

nytimes.com

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Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#31

Post by 2Gkashmiri »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #27

There's a bit in Ubik that stays in my mind. Joe Chip gets into an argument with his apartment door that refuses to open for him because he owes it money. I kinda got that the door was an autonomous money-making agent that held him hostage - a conversation reminiscent of that between Doolittle and the Bomb in Dark Star. It made me see the ridiculous side and ultimate absurdity of micropayments leading to world where…

Years ago I read about cloud computing as getting a free vacation but being charged for each sand particle you touch, small on its own but it gets too ridiculous after some time

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#32

Post by Jtsummers »

utopcell wrote: post #29
Jtsummers wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://web.archive.org/web/20221029011427/https://www.nytim... - I also posted this here in the discussion over an hour ago. Problem solved.

Thank you posting the archive link, but the problem is that if the article is not accessible, this becomes an ad posting for the site.

Check the HN FAQ. Paywalled sites are fine for submissions as long as there's a workaround (and there is here), and whining about it (as the person I responded to did) is considered off-topic. It takes about 10 seconds to pull up an archive link and maybe 5-10 seconds more to submit it, only slightly longer than it takes to write and submit a useless comment about how it is paywalled.

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#34

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #27

There's a bit in Ubik that stays in my mind. Joe Chip gets into an argument with his apartment door that refuses to open for him because he owes it money. I kinda got that the door was an autonomous money-making agent that held him hostage - a conversation reminiscent of that between Doolittle and the Bomb in Dark Star. It made me see the ridiculous side and ultimate absurdity of micropayments leading to world where…

He tries to bypass the thing by unscrewing the fixture and it says, "I'll sue you."

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#35

Post by Trasmatta »

Schiphol wrote: post #33

Has any of you read/skimmed the Exegesis? Is it any good?

I don't know if it's the type of thing that can be classified as "good" or "bad". It's a stream of consciousness from a brilliant man suffering from immense personal pain and some form of undiagnosed mental illness, that I'm sure he never intended anyone to read. It's bizarre and fascinating, especially if you've read VALIS. It shows how his internal world was becoming molded with his own books, his life becoming one of his own stories, struggling with the flimsy nature of reality.

It's so long that it feels kind of futile to read it end to end, but I jump to a random page sometimes and read for awhile. There's a lot of repetition, but is fascinating.

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#37

Post by Trasmatta »

VALIS is the most bizarre but fascinating book I've ever read. I recommend going into it only after reading a number of his other books, and then reading a synopsis of his own life. It's fiction but also psuedo-autobiographical, and a deeply personal story to PKD.

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#38

Post by Barrin92 »

moris_borris wrote: post #11
x86x87 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PKD is my favorite writer of all times. I believe that even for his greatest works the writing could have been more polished, way better. The thing is PKD does not get you with the form of the writing but with the ideas that he captures. Truly visionary.

That last bit could be said of any of my favorite sci fi thinkers. I love Asimov and Frank Herbert but not because I think they were great writers.

it's funny because for me the prose of a lot of science fiction writers was always what turned me away from the genre. I could barely make it through Dune and gave the Foundation up. A lot of science fiction authors which I came to love a lot like Gibson or Le Guin I think I mostly got into because of their sense of style.

Stephenson for me is probably the worst offender for this. I've met so many people both online and offline, particularly other programmers who always told me to read his stuff but he's straight up pasting pages of Wikipedia into his books, I felt like I was being trolled.

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#39

Post by x86x87 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #38
moris_borris wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That last bit could be said of any of my favorite sci fi thinkers. I love Asimov and Frank Herbert but not because I think they were great writers.

it's funny because for me the prose of a lot of science fiction writers was always what turned me away from the genre. I could barely make it through Dune and gave the Foundation up. A lot of science fiction authors which I came to love a lot like Gibson or Le Guin I think I mostly got into because of their sense of style. Stephenson for me is probably the worst offender for this. I've met so many people both online…

Stephenson is a bit more polished than PKD but your point still stands.

Re: The Essential Philip K. Dick

#40

Post by anothermoron »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #34
nonrandomstring wrote: post #27

There's a bit in Ubik that stays in my mind. Joe Chip gets into an argument with his apartment door that refuses to open for him because he owes it money. I kinda got that the door was an autonomous money-making agent that held him hostage - a conversation reminiscent of that between Doolittle and the Bomb in Dark Star. It made me see the ridiculous side and ultimate absurdity of micropayments leading to world where…

He tries to bypass the thing by unscrewing the fixture and it says, "I'll sue you."

I love that line:

“I’ll sue you,” the door said as the first screw fell out. Joe Chip said, “I’ve never been sued by a door. But I guess I can live through it.”

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