![]() Rick Deckard is an android bounty hunter. As a matter of law and order, and also because they can behave unpredictably and violently, these escaped androids need to be tracked down. But a small number rebel against their masters and jump ferries back to earth where they try to hide. Mostly these are used as slaves on the off-world colonies. This is that in the future, despite the war and dying off of most animals etc, humanity still retains advanced technologies and in particular has been refining better and better androids – artificial humans, with human minds, intelligence and reflexes. So as always Dick has created a very dense and thick texture of themes and subsidiary ideas within which to embed the big central idea. The entire novel labours under a black cloud of radioactive dust, with people dying or being mutated by radiation, with most animals (all birds) having been killed off, with everyone depressed at not being able to emigrate off-world or at the general plight, with people using drugs to alter their mood or escaping altogether via Mercerian fusion (more on this in a moment). One such chickenhead is John Isidore, a mental defective who works for the Van Ness Animal Hospital owned by Hannibal Sloat, himself a man falling apart due to radiation poisoning. Those who have undergone significant mental damage are nicknamed ‘chickenheads’ or ‘antheads’. But a steady number are diagnosed with radioactive mutations, and categorised as ‘specials’. Those whose DNA is acceptable remain ‘regulars’. Those who remain undergo regular DNA tests. As many people as possible have migrated to colonies on the other planets of the solar system, Mars being particularly popular. The chatty TV weather forecast includes predictions for the levels of today’s fallout.Īfter the war a radioactive dust covered the world. ![]() Oh, and a few years back there was a nuclear war which devastated large parts of the country. What is ‘real’? What is ‘reality’? Another major Dick theme. Being a modern couple they have a Penfield Mood Organ on which they can dial any number of moods or feelings which the machine instantly stimulates the hypothalamus in their brains to make them experience.Īha. Within a few sentences they are discussing that central Dick topic, mental illness, depression and despair. On the first page we learn that it is January 1992, as we meet Rick Deckard, android hunter and his bad-tempered wife, Iran. This is the novel which director Ridley Scott made into the smash hit movie Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford at his charming, tough-guy best. The novel is a lot less glamorous, more puzzling and more worrying, than the movie. Round face and hairless, smooth features like a clerk in a bureaucratic office. It may not hold much appeal if you’re already knee deep in Arduino bits (though the Electric Sheep is compatible with most of them), but it’s a nifty all-in-one kit that could help take your DIY ambitions over the top.In the irregular light the bounty hunter seemed a medium man, not impressive. So why would aspiring accessory craftsmen use the Electric Sheep instead of a bog-standard Arduino? Well, aside from the snazzy red color scheme and cute logo, the Electric Sheep has built-in USB host functionality so users don’t have to shell out for an extra USB Host Shield. That may soon change though - the Electric Sheep’s recent release means that there isn’t much in the way of example projects or code yet, but SparkFun doesn’t think it’ll be long before their community starts to do some crazy things with it. Users should also be familiar with writing Android applications, so it’s appeal may be a bit limited right out of the gate. Of course, rigging together your own Android-powered window blind controller will take more than just IO know-how. Want to get ambitious and create a Rube Goldberg-esque monstrosity that will turn on your coffee machine when you tilt your phone? Have at it. Want to open your blinds in the morning without having to get out of bed? Rig up some motors and pulleys and make it happen. ![]() ![]() The Electric Sheep is a little Arduino-based breakout board that allows users to create their own homebrew accessories and hook them up to an Android device. The folks at SparkFun want to take all of those components and expose them to the outside world, and they intend to do it with a little something called the Electric Sheep. There’s a GPS chip in there, not to mention an accelerometer, and occasionally even (gasp!) a compass. If you think about it, your smartphone has some really nifty bits lodged inside of it.
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