RE: Notes #29 - Paranoid Android
Yeah haha People often wonder why I don't write as much sci-fi as I should. Really though, I feel like I'm already living most of it, so I don't feel I have the right to write about that stuff sometimes.
I do get the motivation for writing about them, and I fully agree with your sentiment, mate. There is only so much machines can do. At their core, everything is just coded in. Sure, people are making headway infusing them with intelligence, but we're still a long way away from making them truly autonomous. With that being said, once quantum computing develops, there's no telling how fast advancements would be enacted. I do mean that literally. Quantum computing is so unpredictable, the only kill-switch for that is to disconnect the power source haha!
Ultimately it's the human condition that intrigues me the most. The way Philip K Dick communicates this interest is what drew me to writing more than any other author. Through a psychological style of SciFi. But one could explore this through other genres too. Or not at all. The utilisation of robots, simulacra , and future worlds creates a juxtaposition of ideas that fuels that exploration, in my view. PKD mastered it. I've read most of his material, but am rereading it all once more. The first time I read it as a reader. Now as a writer also.
I'm a huge fan of PKD as well. In fact, I regard him as the preeminent science fiction author. I often think why there are even more sci-fi being put out when he already covered the majority of it, but then I read work like yours and realize, "Ah that's why!"