2049 and the dreams of Philip K. Dick | Hacker News Reader

2049 and the dreams of Philip K. Dick

strangehorizons.com

113 pointsxk327 comments

The article has interesting things to say about Nabakov's "Pale Fire", but perhaps does not stress sufficiently that, like Dick's novels, it is very, very funny (and tragic); if you haven't read it (and others like "Lolita" and "Pnin" and his autobiographical work, "Speak Memory"), you owe it to yourself to do so! At the least, you will have some laughs.

That... was far better than I was expecting and somewhat redemptive of BR'49. Worth the long read.

having had a recent spiritual experience I have a new found respect for the man who showed me what the mind can do

He was a full blown functional amphetamine addict. Some artists really are something else on drugs, can’t really take away all the stuff he made on it.

Someone else can go vet this, but found this with quick googling:

Afterward, according to Kyle Arnold’s biography, he was taking speed by the handful. “He stuffed his refrigerator with thousand-pill jars of amphetamines” and “told his mother he consumed a thousand-pill jar per week.”

There’s a fine line with all of this, and he is lucky he didn’t enter full paranoid breakdown (that we know of). Zappos CEO pretty much operated in the same way and it got his life.

YMMV, for real.

PKD himself wrote a semi-autobiographical story (“A Scanner Darkly”) about mental breakdown due to drug use. It’s a haunting book and the feeling it evokes has stuck with me since I read it about ten years ago.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Scanner_Darkly

As with many PKD stories, it was turned into a film, which although I have not seen it, is technically notable for being entirely rotoscoped.

The rotoscoping in the film makes the film feel so surreal, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. Absolutely worth watching if you get the chance.

Second that, the movie is brilliant. The cast is brilliant, too. Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and I'm certain I'm forgetting a few more.

second that, it's a piece of art soaked in tragedy, stay for the credits, they stayed with me...

It’s also notable for being nearly the only film to stay pretty faithful to the original story. Blade Runner being the other.

Same here. I have bipolar disorder and am a former alcohol and drug addict, so I am aware to watch out for natural and drug induced manic states, but I had my spiritual experience completely sober and medicated for bipolar. I really tuned into PKD afterwards because he was open to "The Great Beyond" as R.E.M. called it. Not just PKD, but others as well.

“A coincidence is a small miracle when God chooses to remain anonymous”

― Albert Einstein

“We often dream about people from whom we receive a letter by the next post. I have ascertained on several occasions that at the moment when the dream occurred the letter was already lying in the post-office of the addressee.”

― C.G. Jung, Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious

“My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.”

― Nikola Tesla

“All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.”

― Max Planck

VALIS is where PKD gets really trippy. I wonder if his Exegesis will ever be published in full.

I was fortunate enough at uni to have a professor who edited Dick’ Exegesis and had a wonderful talk on it. During the process, which took many, many years, he said it would often become a task not to get so wrapped up in it all. At moments biting and prescient; others unreadable, schizophrenic runoff. I imagine if he struggled through it perhaps some of it is simply unreadable. I know he mentioned having to work with PKDs estate and of the excerpts I have read it does have a much different feel then his other works. The professor was brilliant, turning me on to other treasures like William Gibson. Just thought I’d share, cheers!

Super long, but seriously love it so far. Best 2049 analysis Ive come across :^)

Must it be 2049? Can't we go with 2048?

Makes me uncomfortable. like this {

}

someone had to do it, thank you. ;

)

That makes me uncomfortable.

( doesn't even fix it

;

You monster.

Super good read, thanks for sharing. Very thought provoking.

Well, Philip K. Dick was mentally ill commie. Thus not really "dreams" but rather ravings. Also talented narrator at the rare occasions, can't deny that.

The happening is projected on the year of 2042, not 2049.

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