Comments on We Are Living in Philip K. Dick's Virtual World & That's OKTypePad2014-09-04T02:22:51ZSLHamlethttps://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/tag:typepad.com,2003:https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2014/09/philip-k-dick-virtual-world/comments/atom.xml/Iggy commented on 'We Are Living in Philip K. Dick's Virtual World & That's OK'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01a73e102886970d2014-09-05T18:54:23Z2014-09-05T18:54:23ZIggyTrying again, since the Typepad Gremlin ate my earlier attempt: The human mind is very complex, and I suspect PKD...<p>Trying again, since the Typepad Gremlin ate my earlier attempt:</p>
<p>The human mind is very complex, and I suspect PKD was simply dredging up half-recalled dreams and waking fears into the waking world. Out of it came his final Valis novels.</p>
<p>Does this mean any of his imagined worlds have an objective reality? I doubt it. For years I've had consistent, and memorable dreams about a parallel version of my home town, Richmond VA, with subtle changes and a few big ones. This parallel city is consistent from dream to dream and sometimes, in the midst of a dream, I know I'm dreaming and can even alter the dream a little. Choose to walk down a particular street, eat at a favorite old restaurant, and so on. Sometimes when I wake up, I feel that I've visited a parallel universe.</p>
<p>Where do these ideas come from? In my case, I put it down to wishing for a better version of the vanished city I recall from the 1960s and early 70s, before suburban sprawl began to wreck the place. For PKD, my reading about him indicates that the idea of something being "only apparently real" (the title of one of the biographies of him) came from his deep-seated paranoia.</p>
<p>PKD had his Berkeley apartment broken into, and his personal papers searched (his file cabinet was broken into). Before the event, he was fearful of FBI surveillance. Afterward, he was certain of it. No wonder his fiction is full of strange shadow-governments, even shadow-worlds.</p>
<p>Who was the woman who visited PKD? Maybe a fan who wanted to play a very cruel trick on him.</p>Pussycat Catnap commented on 'We Are Living in Philip K. Dick's Virtual World & That's OK'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01b8d06398db970c2014-09-04T22:50:22Z2014-09-04T22:50:23ZPussycat Catnaphttp://profile.typepad.com/catnapkittywordpresscomYeah that is a bit peculiar...<p>Yeah that is a bit peculiar...<br />
</p>Hamlet Au commented on 'We Are Living in Philip K. Dick's Virtual World & That's OK'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01b7c6d98253970b2014-09-04T18:38:09Z2014-09-04T18:38:09ZHamlet AuHe literally believed it though, at least he said so in an essay. A girl delivered him painkillers after a...<p>He literally believed it though, at least he said so in an essay. A girl delivered him painkillers after a dental operation, he noticed she was wearing a Christian fish necklace, and suddenly had a vision that they were still living in the Roman Empire. (Think I'm remembering that right without Googling.)</p>Pussycat Catnap commented on 'We Are Living in Philip K. Dick's Virtual World & That's OK'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01b7c6d97bfe970b2014-09-04T18:13:06Z2014-09-04T18:13:07ZPussycat Catnaphttp://profile.typepad.com/catnapkittywordpresscom"reality is the Roman Empire which the Devil is covering up" Sounds like PKD was a Rastafari without knowing it......<p>"reality is the Roman Empire which the Devil is covering up"</p>
<p>Sounds like PKD was a Rastafari without knowing it... :)</p>
<p>If you take that statement literally it sounds crazy. If you take it as a parable - its in line with a lot of different philosophies out there about how we're duped over the real nature of what is going on in order to make us complicit in our own downpression.</p>
<p>Interesting to me that he said that.<br />
</p>Metacam Oh commented on 'We Are Living in Philip K. Dick's Virtual World & That's OK'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01a73e0f5d4c970d2014-09-04T17:22:46Z2014-09-04T17:22:46ZMetacam OhDeja vu is a glitch of the brain where what your seeing gets stored in your memory before the neurons...<p>Deja vu is a glitch of the brain where what your seeing gets stored in your memory before the neurons of what you are seeing in live time are processed. Or something like that.</p>melponeme_k commented on 'We Are Living in Philip K. Dick's Virtual World & That's OK'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01b8d0634564970c2014-09-04T15:14:21Z2014-09-04T15:14:21Zmelponeme_kPhilip K. Dick was just repeating Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan had these arguments (TV reality) years before Dick and he was...<p>Philip K. Dick was just repeating Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan had these arguments (TV reality) years before Dick and he was much smarter in explaining them.</p>Adeon Writer commented on 'We Are Living in Philip K. Dick's Virtual World & That's OK'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf74053ef01a73e0f318c970d2014-09-04T13:12:11Z2014-09-04T13:12:11ZAdeon WriterMy typing makes no sound. I disabled it. You'll never see me coming. Text ninja. I love the idea of...<p>My typing makes no sound. I disabled it. You'll never see me coming. Text ninja.</p>
<p>I love the idea of the universe being a simulation - it's fun fiction to me. But I'm not clear on to what degree science agrees.</p>
<p>There are biological explanations for Déjà Vu, though.</p>