Post-postmodern Foresight from the Philosophy of Philip K. Dick:
Warning to Our Technology-centered Society
140322 Yoshinori SAWADA

Introduction
Technology since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century has changed the lifeof human beings dramatically. After the innovative event started in the UK, technology
started to prevail in other continents gradually, being developed at a tremendous speed.
Nowadays, human beings cannot live without technology at all because we all areconnected to it and we generally regard technology as something convenient to assist
our lives. Even though technology has supported human activities, it does not always
function for the better. At the same time, technology possesses the aspect of danger; themore convenient technology becomes, the more outstanding the danger of modern
technology becomes.
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what possible risks of advanced
technology would threaten humanity in our modern world even though modern
technology is considered a vehicle for making human life more and more convenient. In
order to accomplish my goal in this thesis, I will utilize both traditional ideas ontechnology advocated after the middle of the 19th century and modern ideas, which
encompasses postmodern ones. In addition, as seen in the current worldwide fashion of
the genre, science fiction (SF), it is effective to analyze a field of SF as a clue to acquire
wisdom for clarifying our future situation with highly developed technology. In thisthesis, I will analyze works of one of the most representative American SF writers
Philip K. Dick.
It is important to make clear the difference of semantic usage between technology
and modern technology in order to distinguish the nuance of technology in this thesis.
Therefore, I use “technology” when I refer to the general meaning, "machinery andequipment developed from scientific knowledge" based on the definition by Oxford
Dictionary of English (2005). On the other hand, I mean “modern technology” when I
refer to advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (A.I.), robot, and virtual
reality, which are based on Internet activity.
As I was a child, everyone utilized mobile phones as a means of communication
with others. The more technology has spread to areas from developed countries todeveloping ones in the world, the more the technology has evolved in terms of not only
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speed, but also convenience. Technology continues to advance and be transformed into
innovative devices or systems such as smartphone, virtual reality, Wi-Fi system and soon. Considering these situations above, there is no telling how much modern technology
will have the capability to assist human beings for right or wrong in the future.
Despite the very high speed development of technology and its making the world
more and more convenient, there is an attention to its possible risk brought about bytechnology itself. The world holds some massive problems such as global warming,
terrorism, cyber-attack, and worldwide regional inequality caused by global capitalism.
These issues are strongly related to the misuse of technology. One of the examples ofthe biggest incidents in Japan, which happened due to the misuse of technology, was in
WWII that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The U.S firstly developed an atomic
bomb and so did other dominant countries such as Germany and Russia successively.
Nobody knew how much impact the atomic bomb would actually have.
A few philosophers and researchers started to realize the possible risk of technology,
which might cause a catastrophic situation to the world after that horrific event. Some
writers and scientists such as the English writers George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, andan American theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, and an American SF writer Dick
showed their ideas on dystopia through their novels and research papers and people andeven society paid attention to these ideas. As the rise of awareness of the concept,
dystopia, spreads amongst people, the genre dystopia also became a contributing factor
of making people realize the negative aspects of technology. A scholar of history, Claeys(2010) defined the term, dystopia, stating that it is often used “to describe a fictional
portrayal of a society in which evil, or negative social and political developments, havethe upper hand, or as a satire of utopian aspirations which attempts to show up theirfallacies” (107). In other words, the definition of Claeys clarifies that there is no utopian
society, which possesses a perfect social mechanism from the viewpoint of dystopia. In
addition, the genre dystopia criticizes the fallacies rooted in the society, which blinds
people to the negative aspects of the society. One of the most dystopian novels,
Nineteen Eighty-Four, written by George Orwell depicted a world controlled by Big
Brother who exercises total control through his totalitarian government. The novel
implies that governments in our modern world could be the same as one in Nineteen
Eighty-Four, leading to a world where people have no rights, government owns property,
and all of possible risks depicted in the novel might occur.
In the actual world where human beings live, there is forthcoming danger causedby modern technology. One is the coming of 'Surveillance Society,' as seen in thesituation that people are watched under the surveillance of security cameras. A
36sociologist, Garrett (2004) described, “London has the highest density of CCTV
cameras anywhere in the world” (58). In addition, an American journalist, Draper(2018) explained “the number of surveillance cameras in London rose up to 72% from2012-2015, which occupies one-third of the UK”. These facts obviously show thatpeople are seen anywhere and whatever they do. This paper will analyze the possible
dangers of a dystopian society brought about by the advancement of modern technology
to make people aware of and consider these issues, which might happen in the future
and prevent these from actually occurring some day in modern world.
This thesis is not a place for discussing whether human beings should stop using
technology or not. Judging from the human activities of their constantly developing
technology all the time, it is inferred that human beings will have no choice but tocontinue to depend on more and more advanced technology. Since we are living throughthe era that we can make technology function as we wish, which is a false notion thatpeople believe in, it is significant that people understand the ambivalence of technology
because technology might threaten humanism as menaces to people in society as
dystopian novels represents these awful situation. It is appropriate that we analyze SF
novels, which criticize the negative aspects of over-advanced technology in order tograsp the ambivalence of technology. Therefore, I will try to examine the writing ofPhilip K. Dick and his philosophy to clarify what are human beings’ attitudes towards
technology.
In this thesis, Chapter One will focus on the world situation brought by technology
more vividly. There are notable incidents caused by technology in the history and I will
introduce these influences on the world to describe how much technology has affectedwith these negative aspects. As mentioned, technology also has contributed to humanbeings for right or wrong, which means it has not only merits, but also demerits. I will
pick up a few debates on technology. Chapter Two will analyze one of the greatest SF
writers in the U.S, Philip K. Dick, and his philosophy, introducing his representative
works, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Minority Report. These works weremade into movies and had a large impact on people, the era and the world in those days
and they do still now. By introducing his ideas, I aim to gain a deeper understanding of
the theme: How human beings coexist with technology. Chapter Three will refer to howhuman beings should regard the negative aspects of technology for living in the world,which fully has been depending on technology.
After I analyze Dick's common philosophy, I will consider the post-postmodern
insights on our technology-centered society in order to discover the relationshipbetween human beings and technology. It is important to consider this theme in terms of37

time axis (tense) such as past, present, and future. I would like to underscore the futuretense because time always keeps going forward. I believe that analyzing Philip K.
Dick’s view of postmodern world will contribute to considering how modern people
should be attentive to modern technology.

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Chapter 1: What is Happening in Our Modern World?
Chapter One concentrates on describing the situation of our world in atechnology-centered society and examine current issues caused by modern technology.
By inspecting these issues based on an understanding of the current situation, I aim to
explore factors of causing these negative issues. Firstly, I will review the history oftechnology and its influences on human society, focusing on merits and demerits thattechnology has given to humans. Secondly, I will investigate two modern issues causedby modern technology in order to examine how people and society have reacted to theseissues and discover what acts are needed for human beings to coexist with modern
technology.
Chapter 1-1 Examples of Negative Issues Caused by Modern Technology
As mentioned in the introduction, technology has had an important role in making
the world industrialized ever since the Industrial Revolution. It has contributed to eachof the fields in different forms. In the field of medicine, technology has given people thepossibility of living longer, curing cancer through new innovative medical equipment
and serving effective medicines. Utilizing A.I. makes the process of diagnosis smootherand more accurate. In the field of chemistry, there have been some breakthroughs. For
instance, researchers from the University of Edinburgh succeeded in producing the firstcloned sheep named Dolly in 1996. Cloning technology was considered impossible until
they succeeded. That experiment changed the world and people's idea: It is possible forhuman beings to produce creatures artificially. Besides these technological leaps, humanbeings have made their lives better through technology: for example, cars, video games,
virtual reality, Global Positioning System (GPS), Social Networking System (SNS) andso on.
A 20th Century German philosopher, Martin Heidegger (1977), demonstrated histhoughts on technology. He advocated the skepticism of technology and its
instrumentality through his ideas, explaining, “everywhere we remain unfree andchained to technology, whether we passionately affirm or deny it (3)”. In his era, the20th Century, technology was already connected to and necessary for people's lives inthose days. He also argued, “we ask the question concerning technology when we ask
what it is. Everyone knows the two statements that answer our question. One says:
Technology is a means to an end. The other says: Technology is a human activity. The
two definitions of technology belong together (3)”. In other words it could beinterpreted as a lesson that technology should not be prior to our means of revealing
facts. In terms of the lesson, he built up the theory: instrumentality of technology. As he
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explained that technology is one form of human activity, people have utilized
technology as a means of improving their lives. In this sense, technology is not a means
to an end. Due to the over-development of technology, it could be said that modern
technology has negatively come to become a means to an end. In other words, modern
technology has started causing the destruction of our world, as I will explain in thefollowing paragraph. Thus, people have misunderstood Heidegger's philosophy about
the instrumentality of technology due to an extravagant use of technology.
While we enjoy our enriched life through technology, however, there are somemassive problems in the world at the same time. Because of producing waste fromindustry by manufacturing products for ourselves, we make our planet Earth morepolluted. According to the United Nations Environment Assembly (2017), we are
emitting harmful gases such as carbon dioxides from burning coals, and waste materials
such as plastics for supporting our industrialized world (15). As a result of the pollution
in the air, they indicated “some 6.5 million people across the world die prematurely
every year from exposure to outdoor and indoor air pollution” (14). In fact, some big
corporations construct their factories in uncivilized and natural lands to conduct mass
production, utilizing the modern technology such as robots and automation system. At
the same time, they cause the devastation of natural environment, destroying forests andpromoting the air pollution, with lack of a sense of responsibility. Some philosophersand scientists insist that the mechanism of Global Capitalism is attributable to thecreation of profit-first principle in the world. Global Capitalism is strongly connected tomodern technology because we make use of machines, complicated network systems to
run business globally. Thus, modern technology is certainly one of the causes formaking our world possibly devastated someday in the future.
What in the world are the specific difference between technology and modern
technology? A specialist of information system, Ramey (2012) argued the meaning ofmodern technology, explaining “we use technology on a daily basis to accomplish
specific tasks or interests. Modern technology or evolved technology at times may
replace previously used technology due to its increased benefits or newfoundpopularity”. In this sense, modern technology in the field of information andcommunication technology (ICT) should be newer than older communication tools suchas telegram or fixed-line phone. In addition, the invention of the developed processing
system using A.I. made human activities smoother, faster and more convenient. It is also
one of the modern technologies. Thus, I define modern technology as the newtechnology developed as a substitute for the older technology in order to enhance thecapacity of human activity.
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There is another serious issue that technology will bring or already has brought tohuman beings. It is the arrival of a “Surveillance Society”. In the famous dystopiannovel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) written by George Orwell, surveillance society isdelineated. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, there is a massive surveillance system with ahighly developed screen called telescreen. This surveillance system controls people andleads to a dehumanized, autocratic regime society. Getting the subject back to our actual
world, the threat of surveillance society, which is similar with the world of Nineteen
Eighty-Four, is in controversy. There are thousands and thousands of security cameras
dotted in cities, inside buildings, and wherever people live and especially in the UK, as
Garrett pointed out, it has “the highest density of CCTV cameras”(58). What is more,
BBC (2013) stated “There are up to 5.9 million CCTV cameras in Britain, according toa report by The British Security Industry Association.”Contrary to the frightening number of cameras in the world, there are plausible
reasons for this surveillance situation. First is the rise of “Terrorism” all around theworld. One of the biggest terrorist incidents, which lies in people's mind strongly, is the
September 11th attacks which occurred in the U.S. in 2001. The unprecedented terror
killed about 3,000 people and shocked the entire humanity all around the world. With
this as its beginning, there are a series of terrorism having been happening in some areas
one after another with the use of bombs, guns and any other arms. For preventing thesefrom occurring, security cameras are necessary. Second is for the profit of corporations,organizations or even governments. For example, glossary stores set up cameras in thebuilding in order to watch customers and prevent them from stealing foods. This is theaccepted range in terms of humanitarian act. On the other hand, we see some news
about political fraud misusing technology such as wiretapping by politicians to get some
information for the sake of their political victory. These facts make technology, which
originally intended to be used for good sake, notorious. As seen in the examples of
misuses of technology, our world might have fallacies related to the use of technology,
which is the characteristic of dystopia as mentioned earlier.
This section described the situation of technology by tracing back to its history andbackground. In spite of its great contribution to human beings, it is unavoidable for us toconsider the ambivalence of technology; otherwise it is obvious that the world humancreated will be totally controlled by technology in near future as the world of Nineteen
Eighty-Four does. Therefore, the next section will examine two modern issues causedby modern technology to comprehend its ambivalence.

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Chapter 1-2 Surveillance Society
The previous section briefly explained the situations happening in the world. To
describe these situations in more detail, I choose two negative social issues, which havebeen brought about by the influence of the modern technology: Surveillance Society
and Identity Crisis. Both this section and the next will consider these two issues foranalyzing technology's negative impacts on human beings. In this section, I will focus
on “Surveillance Society” to examine the ambivalence of technology and the possibility
that surveillance society would lead to the world degradation and even the world ofdystopia.
After the horrific terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, people were forced toreckon with the fact that they may face the danger of an attack at any time. In regard to
the timing of the beginning of surveillance system, Lyon (2007) explained “in recent
years, government-led surveillance has been intensified significantly since 9/11” (1).
Thus, government in each country started to realize the significance and necessity of
introducing the use of surveillance cameras to prevent unexpected incidents fromhappening since the 9/11 attacks.
Reacting to this, surveillance cameras are equipped in cities, buildings, and manyother places in rich countries and even developing ones. The number of surveillancecameras has been increasing from year to year. Recently, concerning the number in
London, Draper stated that “from 2012 to 2015 the city saw a 72 percent increase incameras, making up one-third of the U.K.’s cameras overall”. Moreover, according to
the statistics by the BBC (2009), London has 7431 CCTV cameras, which areapproximately seven times more than that of San Francisco. These two facts in regard to
the U.K. indicate how much the government depends on cameras for inspecting citizens.
Because of the enormous number of cameras dotted throughout the city, London isconsidered as one of the most surveilled cities in the world. It could be assumed that thesituation that people are inspected through cameras from everywhere at any time might
create a psychological stress for citizens even though surveillance cameras are effective
for improving the security. This is one component of the ambivalence, which
technology creates.
In another example, China is one of the fastest developing countries, and in recent
years has been following – or perhaps even exceeding – the UK's example. A journalistof The New York Times Paul (2018) reported “China has an estimated 200 million
surveillance cameras, which is four times as many as the United States”. China even has
a facial recognition system, which can monitor a portion of the 1.4 billion people at all
times. This A.I. monitoring helps police officers in China find suspects during events.
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Although this countermeasure against the threats of terrorism and crimes are firmly
developed in the form of “surveillance” through technology, there are issues that havearisen due to the introduction of mass surveillance systems. I select two situations
happening in our actual world to analyze which part of surveillance system would be
harmful to everyday people.
The first issue to be discussed is the rise of the electronic eyes, for example:
cameras, satellites, face-scanning devices, and so on. As mentioned earlier, somecountries realized the necessity of depending on surveillance systems against terrorism,
unpredicted crimes, and any other threats towards citizens. In the field of literature, theBritish writer George Orwell published the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four,which envisions a society controlled by the totalitarian government. The novel shocked
people on its release, with its famous sentence: “Big Brother is watching you.” After the
publication of this frightening novel, some companies and other organizations were
influenced by the fictional surveillance society and started to realize the significance ofwatching people as if they had followed Big Brother 's world in Nineteen Eighty-Four,which monitors citizens by “telescreen” so that the government can watch what thecitizens are doing at any time. According to Draper, for example, an American company
released the first commercially available Closed Circuit TV system (CCTV) in 1949.
Two years later, in 1951, Kodak introduced its Brownie portable movie camera to an
awestruck public. It could be said that this is the turning point of how people werewatched: from face-to-face, to electronic devices. Additionally, companies such as
Kodak, YouTube and Amazon exploited a burgeoning surveillance camera market andobtained a profit by manufacturing electronic devices. Therefore, the intention ofcompanies’ yielding profit contributed to creation of surveillance society. This is how
the surveillance society in our actual world has been created.
There seems to be a lot of merits to make use of cameras to strengthen the security
and public safety to prevent disasters from happening. From the viewpoint of citizens,
however, how should this matter be considered? According to Draper, today more than
2.5 trillion images are shared or stored on the Internet annually, to say nothing of thebillions more photographs and videos people keep to themselves. Due to that, somecompanies have failed with the use of Social Network Service (SNS). Bgr media (2018)
reported that “the personal data of nearly 50 millions” Facebook users was left exposed
online for anyone to access. This failure scared users of Facebook with the possibility
that their personal information or images could be shared or misused by unknown
people. Thus, the electronic eyes – cameras and SNS – produce both beneficial andpotentially horrific situations for citizens.
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The second issue is the digitization of managing people. When we start working at
a company, we are generally asked to submit our information such as name, e-mail,home address, phone number, family information, etc. The personal information is thenkept on an employer’s database. People think that this is usual way of managing
workers with no doubt. How is the matter considered if the case was in the following?
As the number of crimes by children in the UK rose, as Garrett pointed out, information
technologies system, which manages “children and young people who are at risk ofoffending,” were introduced: The Connexions Service (62-64). He additionallyexplained, from August 2001, children between the age of 13 and 19 were issued with aConnexions Card. This is an identity card issued for 2.4 million young British people.
The card can be used to monitor and check attendance on courses, pay foreducation-related expenses and earn ‘points’ following the completion of training,education or voluntary work. It could be said that this method of managing children
using a chip embedded in a card, reminds us of the perfectly controlled society ofOrwell's in Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four, people who
conspire against their autocratic state disappeared suddenly. The digitization ofmanaging people would be one attribute of our actual world changing into a world
where people are scared of being watched.
This chapter analyzed two modern issues related to surveillance. Originally,surveillance systems were made for protecting people from threats to society. At thesame time, however, it is certain that people are afraid of over-advanced technology.
Governments or even companies should not lose sight of the negative facets caused bytechnology for the sake of their benefits, or with a simplistic and short-term idea. We
ought to consider these issues with a long-term view. The next chapter will explore
another serious issue, which is considered as one big component of the negative resultsof technology: Identity Crisis.
Chapter 1-3: Identity Crisis
The section explores another social issue: Identity Crisis of humanity. I will
examine this particular issue as pertaining to the Internet. I will briefly refer to thehistory of the Internet and how it became indispensable for supporting human activities.
Then, I will examine characteristics of Social Network Sites (SNSs), which allowed
people to communicate online even though they are remote from each other in order toconsider reasons why SNSs attract people and how it changed the form ofcommunication. Lastly, I will investigate Identity Crisis, which is supposedly caused by
the Internet with the example of Twitter and the propaganda by the media in order to44

understand how people are taken themselves over by the Internet.
I will briefly describe the history of the Internet. According to a D.C.-based politics
writer, Fitzpatrick (2017), the Internet traces its roots back to 1962. A scientist from
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) suggested the creation of the Internet system (later referred to as
ARPAnet) that connected computers in order to have computing and science powersuperior to that of the Soviet Union. After that, scientists and engineers in the U.S.
successively developed Internet systems, which made it possible for people tocommunicate with each other, deal with business matters, as well as many other humanactivities. In addition, the advent of smart phones that could connect to the Internet hascontributed to human activities. People are able to deal with their activities with just one
small device. Two of the most notable mobile phone companies are Samsung and Apple.
As soon as both companies announced smart phones, people immediately started toutilize them. It is commonly assumed that smart phones led to human activities being
more effective than before it was developed. The development of applications is also
closely related to successes of smart phones. It allowed people to install applications
designed for many purposes through smart phones. Thus, the Internet entirely haschanged human's lives.
One of the most remarkable achievements of the Internet is the creation of Social
Network Sites (SNSs). People formed their identity through websites in order to informtheir existence, discuss issues with others online, and even make friends with people
they had never previously known. As for the definition of SNSs, scholars of social
media Boyd & Ellison (2007) explained “web-based services that allow individuals toconstruct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list ofother users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list ofconnections and those made by others within the system”(211). As they explain, SNSs
are the place for people interacting with others, communicating online and doing theiractivities through the sites. For specific people who rely on SNSs, online
communication with others might be an easier and more effective way than face-to-facecommunication. Thus, the Internet has provided people with innovative systems andcontinues to develop constantly. Despite its convenience and contributions, the Internet
has also had negative influences on people.
SNSs often have negative effects on people if misused. Despite being invented byintelligent, well-meaning people, smart sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been
involved in their fair share of misuse. Recently, we have seen news stories about teen
cyber bullying, the miscegenation of fake political news, and data leaks putting the45

personal information of these sties' users at risk. According to a scholar of science,technology and innovation studies Ingram (2018), in the case of Facebook, mostrecently it was reported that the company inadvertently was responsible for data leaks of
up to 87 million of the site's suers. Such leaks often lead to information being exploitedby anonymous online criminals. The news frightened many users of SNSs and became ahighly controversial incident. The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg had to answer
questions from the press for nearly an hour after it happened. Before analyzing theidentity crisis deeply, it is necessary to understand how technology affects identity ofpeople in cultural, social and political contexts. As mentioned, new technology such asSNSs are intimately related to different fields of human activities in both beneficial anddetrimental ways. I will examine the relationship between people’s identity and SNSs in
the era of information technology.
I shall confirm the meaning of 'identity' to be clear when I analyze identity crisis.
According to a Turkish businessman Mustafa (2006), 'identity' is defined as “aconstitution based on the recognition of familiar and shared derivations” (37). In otherwords, it could be said that identity is a sense of belonging to one group with ideas
shared and created by each person in the group. In a globalized world with ICT, themethod of people's forming and feeling their identity has been transformed by ICT. To
be more precise, there are many people, who discover their identity in SNSs. Twitter is
one of the representative SNSs and it is a clear example to explain why people find theiridentity with technology. When we utilize Twitter, we are required to register our own
account with User ID, which identifies the person on Twitter. One of the remarkableadvantages of SNSs, as symbolized by Twitter, is that users can gain information,deliver their views, and communicate with friends through online chat anonymously. Its
anonymity makes users feel their identity: a sense of belonging to one group without aspecific personal information: name, age and information. Users do not have to expose
their real name. They can pretend to be totally different personality online. The situationis contradictory in that it is possible for users to hide who they are when using SNSs.
However, they create online communities through group chats on Twitter, which would
lead to creation of identity for users. For instance, in terms of making friends, perhaps,
one might reckon that online chat is easier and more effective than meeting people,
chatting only for a few hours, and then making a promise of contacting next time. The
latter way requires more time to make friends. Thus, the convenience of SNSs in termsof making and interacting with friends causes the identity crisis.
Another symbol of identity crisis is the propaganda of media. People witness agreat amount of news through SNSs, and they are apt to trust them, not doubting its
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credibility. The propaganda by media may be crucial to international events. Brexit is
one example. A researcher on social media Drainville (2016) explained that the UK
Independence Party (UKIP), one of the two major players, which became involved in
the leave campaign, has been reportedly criticized for their deceptive movement to leadpeople's decision on Brexit to Leave. They reportedly created fake billboards depicting
long queues of brown-skinned migrants, as if to imply that these immigrants had
crowded into the UK. However, it was not completely the truth. Drainville reported thatthey actually had moved from one border to another in Slovenia. UKIP created the fakebillboard to agitate people and to frighten them of the immigration issue. In regard to
the actual case about Brexit, it must be noted that being skeptical about the information
or images from media is essential. As seen in the Brexit case, propaganda in the media
has the power to make people change their thoughts. Accordingly, I discovered
characteristics or SNSs' negative effects on people: in brief, SNSs often function to both
restrict people's ideas, and discourage them from forming their own ideas. Instead,people would come to follow the propaganda disseminated by the media. The restrictionof people's idea symbolizes identity crisis.
This section explored the negative aspects of the Internet, focusing on Identity
Crisis. Some people find their identity in not real world, but SNSs, which might cause
them to lose their real identity. Then I discovered another serious issue, the propagandaof media towards people. People gain and trust information through SNSs, even though
the information lacks credibility. These two issues restrict people's feeling. If
propaganda spread more seriously, our world might turn into the world where people areforced to feel no more than single idea as the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four indicated.
This chapter explored the negative affects inherent in a worldwide,
technology-centered society. As mentioned, two modern issues, Surveillance Society
and Identity Crisis, represent world degradation caused by modern technology and they
are issues severe enough to make us consider technological ambivalence seriously. Now
that I examined how massively modern technology has created negative issues in ourpresent society, we need a comprehensive provision towards the possible risk of modern
technology. In other words, it is necessary to examine our postmodern world in atechnology-centered society. Examining Philip K. Dick’s works will absolutely reveals
clues to consider our postmodern world. Dick is a postmodernist American SF writer
who often criticized societies with over-advanced technology. Therefore, the next
chapter explores Dick's philosophy, investigating his two works, Minority Report and
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

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Chapter 2 Philosophy of Philip K. Dick
Chapter Two focuses on the analysis of the philosophy of American SF writer
Philip K. Dick in order to consider the post-postmodern ideas in a technology-centeredsociety from the 21st Century's view. I will clarify the meaning of 'post-postmodernism'
before beginning the analysis. After clarifying it, Dick's brief profile and backgroundwill be introduced. Then, I will closely examine two works of Philip K. Dick: Minority
Report (1956) and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) in order to acquire abetter understanding of Dick's philosophy on postmodernism and apply his futuristic
ideas to the post-postmodernism.
Chapter2-1 Post-postmodernism and Philip K. Dick
It was observed in the preceding chapter that a new type of disastrous incidents
caused by the modern technology have been occurring in our actual world in the 21st
century. It is entirely fair to say that these facts should not be discussed along with
postmodernism because the idea, postmodernism, is incapable of describing thesehigh-technological disasters any more. In other words, our world shifted to the next
period: post-postmodernism as modern technology has appeared. Therefore, it isnecessary to verify and examine the ongoing idea: post-postmodernism.
Firstly, I investigate postmodernism in the thesis so as to make clear possible
factors of post-postmodernism’s reaction against postmodernism and discover adefinition of our post-postmodern era. When it comes to treating the temporal concepts
such as modernism and postmodernism, we need to understand ‘paradigm shift,’ which
is transition from one period to the next. Oxford Dictionary of English (2005) defined
the term, paradigm shift as “a fundamental change in approach or underlying
assumptions.” More concretely, postmodern theorists Best & Kellner argued (1997) “weare currently between the modern and the postmodern, in an interregnum between
paradigms, experiencing the breakdown of modern theory, culture, and society and theemergence of new postmodern forms” (52). To be more precise, there are many
reactions, in the fields of culture, politics, economics, and many other social aspects,
towards modernism from postmodernism, and the modern theory should be shifted to
the new postmodern forms. Thus, it seems reasonable to suppose that there are factors ina postmodern world, which create reactions. These reactions argue that the postmodern
world should be shifted to the post-postmodern world in the 21st century in the same
method as the modernism was shifted to the postmodernism. We have to keep thisunderstanding of paradigm shift in mind to understand the background of transition
between periods.
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With regard to historical aspect of the term postmodernism, according to Brooker's
A Glossary of Cultural Theory (1999), 'postmodernism' was first used in an individual
context in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The term has included
elusive meaning in its range of reference. The term, postmodernism, is meant todescribe the difficulties of definitions, which can be exaggerated, and which are seen asa symptom of the mood or condition of indeterminacy (202-204). In addition, a Marxist
political theorist Fredric Jameson (1991) argued, “It is essential to grasp‘postmodernism’ not as a style, but rather as a cultural dominant: a conception whichallows for the presence and coexistence of a range of very different” (56). As indicatedin the previous chapter, moreover, nowadays each culture all over the world has beentransformed at a tremendous speed by the advent of modern technology. It could beassumed that the variety of modern technology is one of the crucial components, which
accelerates cultural mutation.
Bearing these ideas on postmodernism in mind, it is significant to understand theindeterminacy of the definition of postmodernism and take it into account from theviewpoint of cultural mutation. For that reason, it is possible to define
post-postmodernism as any circumstances in the 21st century world, which mighttransform its form depending on bustling cultural mutation through modern technology.
Therefore, it is significant to have awareness that our world has entered a new era called
post-postmodern era, which continues to change all the time because of the
fast-developing modern technology.
Philip K. Dick is one of the postmodernists, who inspired my ideas of
post-postmodernism as mentioned above. Therefore, it is certainly worth examining his
postmodern philosophy. I will briefly describe his profile and background as a writer inorder to grasp his intention to write postmodern SF works. Oxford Dictionary of English(2005) defined the term ‘science fiction’ as “fiction based on imagined future scientificor technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently
portraying space or time travel and life on other planets”. Dick is a visionary SF writerrenowned as award winning author of more than thirty novels. Some of representative
SF films such as Minority Report, Total Recall and Blade Runner were adapted from
Dick's works. These films affected or still have affected people with sophisticated visual
effects and above all with Dick's creative way of plot development.
With regard to his method of novel writing, Dick had an eccentric approach. In aninterview with DePerez (1976) in Science Fiction Review, Dick explained his reasonsfor his creative writing, when asked about LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide):49

I’m very optimistic about it. I think it’s gonna be a really exciting thing. And
although I put down drugs, and I certainly don't recommend that anybody take them,
I think that some of the people who took LSD experienced a little of this. And I
think that there was certain validity in what, like, Huxley said about the doorwaysof perception....There is another reality very close, that’s impinging on our reality,
and will probably very soon break through to our reality. Either we will breakthrough to it, or it will break through to us.
Although Dick experienced some delusions due to the use of drugs, it seemed that heregarded the use of LSD as a tool to enhance the creativity and make up his original
world. Considering his ideas on the drugs, Dick has a distinct method of perceiving
world values among other writers, and it could be said that his strange background andmind strongly affects his novels. In addition, it seems that Dick believed the plurality ofreality, which precisely means a single reality does not exist. Therefore it could beassumed that he created his works based on these notions.
As seen through his novels, the targets of Dick's criticism are intended forphilosophical, social, and political themes, with stories dominated by monopolistic
corporations, alternative universes, authoritarian governments, and altered states ofconsciousness. One more characteristic of Dick that could be inferred from his remarks
is that Aldous Huxley might influence Dick and his thought as he referred to Huxley. In
Huxley's book, Brave New World, which was published in 1932, there is a drug called
Soma. It makes people feel happy in an autocratic regime. People in the world canescape from reality if they took the drug. Consequently, it could be assumed that Dick
perceived the world differently with the power of drug, having been influenced by
Huxley's philosophy. Even though I mentioned Dick used drugs as a tool to enhance hiscreativity, the use of drug does not underlie the notable discovery in this section. It is
more significant to concentrate on Dick's perspectives on how the world should beobserved. That is to say, it could be assumed that he believed there is no determinate
world and perceived the world from the perspective of pluralism.
In this section, I analyzed one theory, paradigm shift, and postmodernism in orderto uncover the insight on post-postmodernism. I demonstrated that postmodernism is nolonger capable of describing our technology-centered society because of cultural
mutation influenced by modern technology. Thus, we are required to regard our world
according to the new periodical notion, post-postmodernism. Next, I analyzed Dick’s
philosophy and his unique recognition of the world. It seems that he was aware of thenotion that reality exists in plural. Accordingly, it is obvious that his works represent the50philosophy of Dick. Therefore, the next section will explore Dick's criticism through his
two works, Minority Report and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and his
creative insight through his works to examine our post-postmodern world, taking Dick's
eccentric approach into account.
Chapter2-2 Minority Report
This section explores, one of the short stories by Dick and especially focuses on theanalysis of the surveillance society in the novel in order to compare the surveillancesystem in the near future in the novel with our current surveillance society as I
discussed earlier. By comparing these two, it will provide clues about how we should
face the technology-centered society and its post-postmodern world.
Firstly, I will describe the historical background of the middle 20th century in order
to infer Dick's background of writing Minority Report. The era, in the middle of the20th century, when the novel was published was a transitional period to the postwar
period filled with the aftermath of prevalence of despotism. In Germany, the Nazis led
by Hitler oppressed citizens, controlling people for realizing the dictatorship until theend of WWII in 1945. Even after the WWII, the Soviet Union exercised authority overcitizens in the form of authoritarian socialism until its collapse in 1991. Considering
these historical facts, it could be assumed that the existence of autocratic regimes in thereal world, as seen in the examples of the Nazis and Soviet Union, is closely related to
one of the backgrounds of Dick's intention to write Minority Report.
Next, I will briefly describe the plot of the 1956 short-novel, Minority Report.
Crime is virtually eliminated thanks to the predictive system “Precrime.” Society uses
three gifted humans (called “Pre-Cogs”) with special powers to see into the future andpredict crimes beforehand. The Protagonist, John Anderton, heads Precrime andbelieves in the system's flawlessness steadfastly. One day, however, Anderton sees theprediction that he will commit a murder himself. To make matters worse, Anderton does
not even know the victim that he is supposed to murder. He decides to investigate themystery's core by finding out the 'minority report', which could be made by one pre-cog
out of three. In analyzing this novel, I concentrate on two themes: authority's
exploitation of people and the social mechanism in surveillance society.
Before examining the two themes it is necessary to explain the Precrime system. In
the novel, there is a unique surveillance system, which prevents major crimes fromoccurring in the society. The protagonist, John Anderton, is the inventor of theseemingly flawless system. The three pre-cogs, which possess special ability, see a quite
limited span into the future, one or two week ahead at the very most. Much data would51

be discarded but the remainder would be essential materials for the system. It is passed
on to the appropriate agencies and they in turn trade data. The data of the suspects arecollected automatically, chosen by the machinery. Most of the remainder record petty
crimes: thefts, and income tax evasion. In addition, actual murder or treason seldom
happens. After all, culprits know they would be sent to the detention camp a week
before they have a chance to commit the crime. We can see how society is being kept
safe thanks to the system as the conversation between Anderton and his assistant,
Witwer, indicates:“When was the last time an actual murder was committed?” Witwer asked. “Fiveyears ago,” Anderton said, pride in his voice....”One murder in five years.”
Witwer's confidence was returning. “Quite an impressive record... something to be
proud of.” Quietly Anderton said: “I am proud.... ” (74)As seen in the conversation above, the last time that a crime in the society occurred wasfive years ago. If it existed in our actual world in 2001, the system could prevent theterrorism incident, 9.11, from happening and, in general, reduce number of crimes insociety. However, in fact, police or other organizations did not have such an innovative
surveillance system in our actual world, and they could not prevent people fromscheming to commit a crime in those days. Even if our world had an innovative system,
which detects weapons or something harmful on human beings to prevent terrorism
from happening beforehand, we have not achieved the development of the Precrime
system yet. Although it seems a splendid system, it looks weird that the suspect who isarrested by the system would be sent to camp, without actually committing a crime.
They are called “would-be criminals.' This is the very opposite feature to the principalof law in our actual world: presumed innocence. Considering the Precrime system froma perspective of presumed innocence, it is obvious that the system completely ignores
human rights, for the sake of aiming to reduce the number of crimes.
I examine the first theme: exploitation of the Precrime system for power authority.
To tell the denouement of the story, Leopold Kaplan, General of the Army of theFederated West Bloc Alliance, manipulated the system in order to get his power back.
As told in the summary of story previously, the Precrime system expects that Anderton
would murder Leopold Kaplan, who he did not know at the time. Then, Anderton
doubts the system is flawed. Thanks to the system, there was no need for the army toexercise control over society. Kaplan lost power due to the invention of the Precrime
system.
52

As for someone losing power, I discover Dick's inclination to depict downfalls
psychologically and physically when he criticizes a power holder or an authority that
exploits highly developed technology system. It is clear that the Precrime system is asource for Kaplan to regain his power. It could be assumed that the psychologicaltendency of Kaplan depending on manipulation of the system is possibly connected to
the notion of instrumentalism advocated by Heidegger. Heidegger said that
Instrumentality is regarded as “the fundamental characteristic of technology” (12). He
also insisted that we utilize technology for revealing reality, not as a means (12). In thecase of Kaplan, he utilizes modern technology in order to escape from reality, whichmeans Kaplan manipulated the Precrime system to regain his power (escaping from thePrecrime system), and bend it to his benefit. It is totally different from the meaning oftechnology's existence, which was beyond Heidegger's meaning.
Another factor of causing exploitation of technology is the difference between
pre-modern technology and modern technology. Technology such as making a fire andfishing handled by ancient people could only be used for simplistic purposes. On theother hand, the modern technology such as computer and Internet could be used forseveral purposes and they have capabilities to change situations dramatically for good orbad. Therefore the capability of modern technology might become the inducement forpeople to exploit modern technology that could be used for several purposes.
The next theme that I argue is social ideology resulted from propaganda insurveillance society. In the society in Minority Report, it could be assumed that citizens
in the society are unconsciously obliged to trust the Precrime system in the form ofideology. Here is one scene at the end of the story: “Anderton listened idly, only
half-hearing the words. The crowd, however, listened with great interest. General
Kaplan was now gathering up a summary made from the minority report. He explained
what it was and how it had come into existence” (99, italic use my emphasis). This
scene indicates that citizens are interested in the result of the minority report announced
by Kaplan, getting relieved that they are safe because of the Precrime system. People do
not doubt the meaning of the existence of the Precrime system and enjoy as if theywould bet on who is going to be arrested by the Precrime system. Consequently, thesituation that people completely depend on and even enjoy the existing technology
system could be a result of the situation that citizens are steeped in ideology.
What are possible factors of the creation of ideology? Assuming that there are twoorganizations depicted in Minority Report, the army and police, which are in charge of
securing the society, it could be inferred that social dominant classes such as
government and police are strongly related to the factor of ideology. Kaplan wanted to53get his power back after losing his power. As a result of his arrogance, he manipulated
the system so that he could regain his power by proving the flaw of the Precrime system.
On the other hand, policing organization is also involved in the creation of ideology
even though they did not engage in fraud. The Precrime system was considered aflawless system. However, authorized person or group could have an access to thesystem. This privilege of access by people in a high position is the symbol of thetotalitarian society, which diffuses the dogmatic ideology by forcing citizens to trust the
Precrime system. Therefore, the stereotype that the Precrime system is the only methodof protecting citizens in the society is misled ideas prevailed in the society. In otherwords, the absolute one-way mechanism by authoritative organizations as seen in thestory such as the existence of the Precrime system without an enough understanding of
citizens could be one of the factors of creating ideology.
Considering these analyses of ideology in Minority Report, Dick meant to warn
people of the danger of the situation that people are propagated, which would lead to thecreation of ideology, and the established regime, of which people are not skeptical, andthe situation that propaganda (i.e., the Precrime system itself) turns into ideology (i.e.,the situation people depend on the system) would transform the mechanism of society
into dystopia, where people are controlled under an autocratic government.
I have examined two themes: exploitation of people for authority and social
ideology in surveillance society so as to probe Dick's philosophy towards the use ofmodern technology and people's mindset to modern technology. The novel, Minority
Report, is worthwhile in that it not only prompts us to consider the unique technology
system, the Precrime system, as an entertainment, but also cautions that it might bring adisaster if citizens in the society were relieved of the existing system, without
skepticism. I will examine the relationship between Dick's philosophy and our world's
situation more closely in the Chapter Three. The next section explores another work Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? with the theme: identity crisis in order to examine
Dick's ideas on identity and its influence on our actual world.
Chapter 2-3 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The purpose of this section is to investigate another one of the most influential
works of Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in order to examine two themes
discussed in the novel: utilization of the machines, the Empathy Box, and the loss of
individual identity. Before analyzing each theme, I will introduce the story of the workin brief and infer Dick's intention of creating the story by researching the background of
the time when the work was created. After gaining enough understanding of the work, I
54

will begin in-depth analysis of these themes in order to consider the lessons of identity
issues in the society, which possesses highly developed robots with a human appearance,
namely androids and apply my analysis to our post-postmodern world.
I will introduce the brief outline of the story: In post-apocalyptic world in 1992,
after “World War Terminus,” the Earth's dirty atmosphere leads the United Nations toencourage mass emigrations to colonies in other planets to preserve humanity's genetic
integrity, with the incentive of free personal androids, which is a robot servant identicalto humans. On the Earth, owning real live animals is a status symbol, because of mass
extinctions and the cultural push for greater empathy that has motivated atechnology-based religion called Mercerism. The poor can only afford realistic-looking
electric animals. Mercerism uses the Empathy Box, which links users simultaneously toa collective virtual reality of communal suffering. The protagonist, Rick Deckard, is abounty hunter whose job is responsible for killing androids that escaped from colonies
on the other planet. He meets Rachael Rosen, who is one of the Androids. Deckard
becomes confused about his true identity, and humanity's identity, especially between
humans and androids.
I infer Dick's incentive to create the novel, with the example, The Black Power
Movement, analyzing the Black people's action to discover their racial identity. The
analysis will provide me with the validity of examining the themes in the novel.
According to a scholar of study of race Joseph (2009), in 1960s there was social andpolitical movement called The Black Power Movement, which emphasized racial pride,
self-sufficiency, and equality for all Black and African people. The movement existed
alongside civil rights struggles of the 1950s and early 1960s. (752-755) Black people
who joined the movement attempted to prevail civil rights and, it radically altered thestructure of American democracy in the postwar era. It is commonly assumed that the
movement was a watershed in the history of America in that people sought their identity
in the period of postwar by taking actions. At the same time, it is certain that the
movement created a sensation of what identity is. Consequently, the period of the
postwar with the movement of seeking identity in the U.S possibly inspired Dick towrite the novel in 1968. Next, I will explore two themes: utilization of the machine, theEmpathy Box, and the loss of true identity in order to consider Dick's viewpoint towards
identity and apply his idea to my analysis of identity issue which could occur in our
post-postmodern world.
The first theme that I examine is utilization of the machine, the Empathy Box. The
purpose of the analysis is to investigate how the use of a technological device affects
human identities in both positive and negative ways. One of the main characters in the55work, J.R. Isidore, who is called “special” (lowest class in the society), laments thedevastated situation in the world with the story of “kipple,” which is explained as“useless objects, like junk mail or match folders after you use the last match or
gumwrappers or yesterday's homeopape”(52). He continues to explain, “No one can win
against kipple,” and then says, “the entire universe is moving toward a final state of
total, absolute kippleization”(52). These remarks by Isidore exactly symbolizes that theremaining people on the deteriorated Earth believe firmly that kippleization will lead theworld to the end of humanity. Contrary to the terrible situation, Dick depicts a religion
called Mercerism, which saves people on the Earth by the technological device, theEmpathy Box. The followers of Mercerism make use of the Empathy Box in order totransport their spirits into a spiritual domain, which allows them to fuse their feelings,
with Wibur Mercer, and the other users. Moreover, as an American economist, Sims(2009) pointed out, Mercerism is “the remedy that humanity has created for itself tomanage the destruction of its most sophisticated and powerful attempt at civilizationand the dispersal of the remaining human population”(79). On the other hand, Buster
Friendly, who runs a TV show called “Buster Friendly and his Friendly Friends,”
ridicules the Empathy Box and Wilbur Mercer itself through his show. In the end, he
exposes that Mercerism is a completely fake and Wilbur Mercer does not even exist.
The fact that the whole system of Mercerism was a fraud disturbed and provoked theviewer. Was the Mercerism essential for the remaining people even though it wascompletely a fabrication?
It is necessary to examine the justice of the system, which appears paradoxical, but
still attempts to save human life: through the example of Mercerism, I will analyze theeffects of technology systems in general. With regards to the significance of theexistence of the Mercerism, Sims explained, “though Mercerism is exposed as
fraudulent in the novel, it still works, and Dick seems to be saying that this is because interms of the human experience the perception of reality is more important to the
production of reality than reality itself”(85). In other words, Sims advocated that
Mercerism and the Empathy Box became a medium in a sense where they created thevirtual reality, which could be perceived by people, allowing people to experience thedelusional ideal. One cannot readily believe, however, that the system of the Mercerism
still works although the whole system collapsed because of the disclosure by Buster
Friendly. It is essential that we take the Mercerism into account including its
ambivalence, especially negative facets. To be more precise, we should confront or
notice the fact: once the system on which people fully depend collapsed, the society or
country would become devastated unless they possess alternative solutions. Besides, the56

world in the novel is such a situation as described. Consequently, it is imperative that
we should be aware of the existing system we are engaged with a skeptical attitude.
The second theme that I examine is the loss of individual identity. Through the useof the Empathy Box, people are able to connect their spirit with Mercer and other users
as mentioned earlier. As for the fusion through the device, this is what a researcher oncommunication technology Galvan (1997) explained the matter: “Technology thus
drastically compromises an insulated human community in two ways: it separates theindividual from human contact; but more significantly, it makes her dependent
upon-addicted to the life of the machine” (418). In the case of the Empathy Box, thedevice dispossessed the individual identity of people by urging them to connect withothers collectively. Moreover, highly developed technology such as the Empathy Box
could be one of the factors that allow people to be complacent about the current
situation. Hence, it could be assumed that Dick criticized the society addicted withmodern technology. In addition, it is inferred that he demonstrated the risk ofideological system such as Mercerism. Therefore, it is essential that people be skepticalof the current situation in which we might be satisfied, with a solid individual identity.
This section analyzed two themes: utilization of the machine “Empathy Box” andthe loss of individual identity. It revealed that both themes insisted it is necessary for us
to be aware of the existing system skeptically, which might already affect us in the formof ideology. In addition, I criticized the ambivalence of technology in my analysis.
Technology works for good or bad as seen in the example of Mercerism. This section
analyzed the situation that people are satisfied with the existing system, and thepossibility of the system turning into an ideology, which could be used to control
people.
This chapter explored Dick's philosophy towards postmodernism through hisworks: Minority Report and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Throughout theseworks, the analysis revealed the ideological mechanism of the technology systems.
Ideology, especially closely tied with modern technology, carries the risk of blinding
people to the flaws of systems. Now that I examined Dick's works, the next chapter
investigates Dick's philosophy more closely, focusing on common themes or Dick's
consistent ideas throughout his life and books in order to predict the future of the
post-postmodern world and analyze the relationship between human and technology.

57

Chapter 3 Relationship between Humans and Modern Technology in Our
Post-postmodern World
Chapter Three examines our post-postmodern world in a technology-centeredsociety by examining Dick's philosophy. Now that I examined two works of Dick in theprevious chapter, it is necessary to demonstrate significant insights on our
post-postmodern world from his philosophy. It is essential, moreover, to reveal how
people should coexist with modern technology in the post-postmodern world in the 21st
century. Firstly, I will examine common themes through Dick's works in order to probe
consistent ideas of Dick himself. Secondly, I will apply Dick's philosophy to ourimagined post-postmodern world. Lastly, I will demonstrate a relationship between
humans and technology.
Chapter 3-1 Common Themes and Consistent Ideas from Dick's Works
In this section I examine common themes and coherent ideas that Dick implied
through two of his works: Minority Report and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
As the previous chapter provided a deep understanding of the background of Dick andhis works, it is significant to infer what Dick coherently criticized through his works.
The analysis will bring lessons or indication from Dick's view to our post-postmodern
world and offer constructive relationships between humans and technology. Firstly, I
will analyze common themes through which Dick implied in his works in order to grasp
his overall ideas. After the analysis, I will begin investigating each theme closely.
The first common theme is the ambiguity of the ending in the story. A scholar of
postmodern literature Vest (2009) argued, “Dick's unresolved resolutions andambivalent narratives repeatedly demonstrate that his characters cannot successfully
embrace or enact the humanist values of individuality, self determination, and personal
freedom for which they strive” (197). As Vest indicated, Dick offered readers theopportunity to imagine the story after his unresolved ending. Thus it is worth
investigating Dick's style of writing, especially method of writing the ending, in order todiscover themes and his postmodern ideas with his imaginative insight into the future.
As for Minority Report, the story ends with a conversation between the protagonist,
Anderton and his subordinate, Witwer:
Anxiously, Witwer trotted along beside the truck, his smooth, blond face creased
with worry. “Will it happen again? Should we overhaul the set-up?” “It can happen
only in one circumstance,” Anderton said. “My case was unique, since I had accessto the data. It could happen again — but only to the next Police Commissioner. So
58

watch your step.” Briefly, he grinned, deriving no inconsiderable comfort from
Witwer’s strained expression. Beside him, Lisa's red lips twitched and her handreached out and closed over his. Better keep your eyes open,” he informed young
Witwer. (101)
After Anderton shot Kaplan in order to keep the Precrime system, the incident ceased.
In the ending as seen above, Witwer is curious about the possibility that the incident
schemed by Kaplan, namely the fraud of technology system, would recur. In addition,
Anderton ambiguously replies to Witwer, “It might happen to you at any time.” If thestory would have a clear ending, it could be assumed as following: the Precrime system
collapsed or was transformed after the fraud. However, the ending in the story indicatespeople in the society still believe that the system would continue to exist, without
mentioning the justice of whether the system should disappear or keep existing. It is oneof the remarkable characteristics of Dick's writing that he ended the story with
ambiguity.
How does the other work Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? end? It also ends
with unclearness. It ends with chatting between Deckard and his wife, Iran. Deckard
settled his mission to kill androids and he was acclaimed as the best bounty hunter on
the earth. Then, he experienced delusions regarding Mercerism as the following
conversation between Deckard and Mrs. Marsten, a secretary of Deckard's boss, shows:“I had the absolute, utter, completely real delusion that I had become Mercer andpeople were lobbing rocks at me. But not the way you experience it when you holdthe handles of an empathy box. When you use an empathy box you feel you're with
Mercer. The difference is I wasn't with anyone; I was alone.” “They're saying now
that Mercer is a fake.” “Mercer isn't a fake,” he said. “Unless reality is a fake.”(185-186)
Deckard experienced a peculiar illusion and insisted Wilbur Mercer was not a fake eventhough Mercerism was fraud. Deckard advocates abstract idea in the conversation:“Unless reality is a fake” contrary to the fact that Mercerism was a fake. Moreover,there is a difference of perception of the reality between Deckard and Mrs. Marsten.
Unlike Deckard, Mrs. Marsten sincerely accepts the fact that Mercerism was a fraud. On
the other hand, Deckard supposes that there is another reality even though it was a fakesystem. Thus, Dick argued the possibility of plural realities and indicated it is up toreaders which reality to take. The unclearness of the story ending makes readers59consider more actively and critically.
As seen in both works, Dick ended each story with an ambiguous and abstract
story plot. Regarding the ending of Minority Report, the fraud would have happened if
the system still continued to exist. Or it could be considered the Precrime system would
manipulate people in society, with its autocratic method of arresting people and securing
the society. Dick provided readers with the opportunity to deeply consider themes heimplied with not passive, but positive and skeptical attitude. Therefore, it is obvious thatthe ambiguity of the story ending is one of the rhetoric that Dick utilized. Besides, it iscertain that the positive and skeptical attitude that Dick offered could be applied to themethod of our considering the state of our post-postmodern world.
Secondly, I argue the next theme: The ideological technology system, in order toexamine the factors of these technology systems, which drive society to transform itself
into uniformity. Generally speaking, it is obvious that human society in the 21st century
fully depends on modern technology. The more sophisticated technology develops, themore society relies on modern technology. Dick is one of the postmodern writers who
criticized the negative effects of the development of society, concentrating on thepossible risks caused by ideological technology systems. Hence, ourtechnology-centered world could acquire the perception of risks in the long run inutilizing technology by investigating the relationship between technology and ideology
with Dick's postmodern insight. Therefore, I will analyze the characteristics ofideological technology systems from his works.
In Minority Report, there is a unique system with highly developed andsophisticated technology called Precrime System as mentioned in the previous chapter. I
analyzed the situation in which people are relieved of the technology system anddemonstrated the risk of creation of ideology derived from propaganda. Reviewing theoriginal meaning of ideology, as Brooker defined, the term means “both as a fixed set ofideas and as a process whereby the partial views of a ruling class come to hold swayover the whole of a society”(133). Although the meaning of ideology could be definedfrom the perspective of various fields, Brooker's definition in terms of class, isappropriate for applying to my analysis, for the existence of hierarchy is possibly one of
the themes that Dick argued. Keeping the definition of ideology by Brooker in mind, it
is natural to regard the Precrime system as an ideological system created with theintention of dominating and controlling society by the dominant class, namely officialorganizations such as police and government in the novel. The social ruling classmanipulates people in the society, blinding them to the risk of the ideological system on
the pretext of protecting people from the fear of crimes beforehand.
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The analysis in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in Chapter 2-3, revealed
that the utilization of the machine, the Empathy Box, facilitates the loss of individual
identity. I argued that with regard to the use of the machine, the religious system,
Mercerism, which promotes collective spirit through the machine, is one factor of
creating the ideology. Sociologists Gareth & Hughie (1992) discussed the matter on
ideology and appropriation of technology. They illuminated the possibility oftechnology to form the users' individual identity with the example of personal computer(PC), which is one of the modern technologies. (PC provides users with multiple
purposes unlike another technology, railroad. Railroad is a medium for transporting
people between places. On the other hand), PC has much more complicated system,
which enables people to utilize it for multiple purposes. They insisted that the use of PC
allowed users to project their individual identity on the world they experienced throughthe PC (705-708).
This assertion of Gareth & Hughie could be an antithesis if the PC is replaced with
the Empathy Box, which is more highly developed technology. While PC allows users
to create their own identity in a way they wish, the Empathy Box forces users to join thespirit with Mercer collectively in virtual reality in order to share feelings with others. As
for sharing feelings with others, the crucial difference between PC and the Empathy
Box is how free they share with others. As mentioned, PC users can create theiridentities in a way they prefer as opposed to the way of the Empathy Box. On the other
hand, it is possible to argue that the Empathy Box is intended to confuse and replaceusers' identity by providing them with the collective connection of spirit with Mercer's
attempt to control citizens in an ideological method in order to maintain the decadentworld. These examples of ideological high-technology systems in these two works are
symbols of what Dick envisioned and foresaw towards the unpredictable future. It is
obvious that he was well aware of threats that technology might cause and cautioned
people to consider the social mechanism and surroundings of technology with askeptical attitude.
This section examined two themes: the ambiguity of the ending in the story andideological technology system in order to demonstrate Dick's common messages andphilosophy for applying his ideas to the post-postmodern theory that I will illuminate in
Chapter 3-2 and 3-3. The analysis impressed upon us the necessity to consider the futurewith skeptical foresight. The next section will investigate more closely ourpost-postmodern world with Dick's philosophy.

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Chapter3-2 Insight on Our Post-postmodern World
The purpose of this section is to probe our post-postmodern world by applying
Dick's postmodern ideas when I investigate our future society, which might be
developed into more highly advanced technology-centered society. I will utilize Dick's
consistent ideas through his novels and his postmodern ideas and compare them withthe situation in our present world in order to acquire insight on post-postmodern world.
In addition, I will analyze social reactions to the period after Dick created his novels
between 1950s and 1960s: when he envisioned the upcoming transitional period frommodernism to postmodernism through his sci-fi stories, focusing on the relationshipbetween modern technology and ideology. Lastly, I will demonstrate insight on ongoingpost-postmodern society by investigating factors, which inspire society to transform
social mechanisms with development of technology.
The last chapter clarified Dick's coherent ideas through his novels. By analyzing
Dick's philosophy I demonstrated that it is essential to consider our current society witha skeptical attitude. Moreover, I infer from my analysis that he criticized the ideological
technology system, concentrating on depicting the characters' dilemma caused by highly
developed technological society and its ambivalence. What ideas of Dick can we apply
to the theory of post-postmodernism? As a key to grasp the point of the question, it isindispensable to clarify our world's reactions to the future periods. After making clear
the reactions, I will consider the post-postmodern world with the philosophy of Dick.
With regard to one of the modern breakthroughs in the field of modern technology,
current A.I. has contributed to the worldwide prosperity, especially taking place in awide range of scenes from official occasions (i.e. politics, business, and economics) todaily lives (i.e. People's use of Internet and integrated circuit card). A.I. made humanactivities dramatically more efficient with an automatic process by the computer system.
As seen in the term itself, A.I. is artificial computer system that allows people toaccomplish their purposes more easily. While the innovative system has prevailed in theworld and assist people's lives, there is an argument on the relationship between A.I. andits ideology these days. By investigating this representative of highly developed
technology, I will clarify reactions of the current society towards the post-postmodern
world.
A scholar in Economic History, Anton Howes (2015) argued the matter of A.I.
related to ideology. He exemplified “deep learning,” one of the component skills of A.I.,
as a means to discuss the distinction between human activities and A.I. related toideology. Howes discussed the feature of deep leaning: it learns like humans do. Whenpeople perceive new experiences, they learn through the process of trial and error.
62

Howes insisted that people receive a vast amount of data and filter it based on their
hypotheses and conjectures. In the case of deep leaning, on the other hand, people are
required to encode the filtering system on A.I. to deal with enormous data. He claimed
that even if we could encode it, the encoding would “lead to certain hypotheses orconjectures” as he called them as ideologies. In other words, the hypotheses of the datafiltered by A.I. could be only one answer for people in a way of forcing people to trust.
This one-way method of dispatching information would root its credibility in people's
mind: ideology. Moreover, he argued that while people are intuitively tossing out theirconjectures, they spend energy to refute them. On the other hand, A.I. simultaneously
discards a vast amount of data with its superior processing ability. Unlike A.I., people
extrapolate from what they perceived. Assuming that A.I. processes automatically as
Howes indicated, our world would be filled with ideologies provided by A.I. if people
would keep trusting and depending on the computer systems, without realizing its
possible risks. In addition, it might cause the uniform society, wheremodern-technological ideologies control people and constrain their mind. Considering
these analyses of Howes' thoughts on A.I. and ideology, what reactions should be taken
to the future? In order to prevent the uniform society from occurring, it is necessary thatpeople have awareness of coexisting with modern technology. Otherwise, as indicatedabove, it would insidiously result in creating a mentally constrained society caused bymodern-technology.
Next, I will compare technology systems of our actual world with Dick's highly
developed technology system in order to extrapolate the post-postmodern social
situation of our technology-centered world from these differences. As analyzed in theprevious chapter, Dick depicted fictional technology society with highly advanced
technology systems such as Precrime system and the Empathy Box. I discovered afeature of these systems: Dick focused on depicting a highly developed system as a
stimulus to the creation of ideological society, where people are unconsciously forced torely on the system. I reckon that the psychological movement, namely unconscious
condition when people utilize technology systems, is one of the strongest factors, which
would lead to the surveillance society in Minority Report or the identity crisis via fakevirtual reality experience in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
I have reviewed Dick's viewpoints towards the postmodern situations withtechnology-centered society. How could the situation in our post-postmodern world beconsidered if modern technology continued to be developed? A British journalist
Cornwell is one of the advocators who criticize the entire humanism crisis from a
post-postmodern perspective. Cornwell (2018) discussed the ambivalence of modern
63technology; ambivalence “between enthusiasm and skepticism, utopian dreams anddystopian nightmares”. Cornwell adopted the theory of Marten Rees, a British
cosmologist, in order to strengthen his theory. According to Cornwell, Rees argued thecharacteristics of contemporary capitalism tendency, exemplifying the story about A.I.'s
takeover in place of humans. He especially concentrated on the A.I.'s marvelous
function calling “machine imagination,” which means “capacity to envisage future
events, or moves, and their consequences at prodigious speeds and quantities of data” ascited in Cornwell. With regard to the function, Cornwell stated that “the future ofself-learning systems, scaled up and applied to problem-solving in the real world, will
lead, Rees warns, to the delegation, and ultimately takeover, of crucial decision-making
to machines”. In other words, Cornwell predicted the threats of machines such as A.I.
would control people's minds in considering and determining decisions.
In addition to the A.I.'s takeover of human determinism, Cornwell criticized thesocial and political tendency, namely “Corporate and government short-termism andself-interest,” blaming companies and government for the misleading society to creating
uniformed, constrained, and controlled people by A.I. for the sake of their immediate
benefit. As Cornwell predicted the risks of our future society, it is obvious that we mustreconsider and question what our attitudes towards the use of modern technology shouldbe. Moreover, it is imperative that we should consider our situation not just in the
short-term, but also in the long-term. Consequently, our actual world should realizerisks of high technology such as AI, which would cause a catastrophic situation; being
taken over by A.I., otherwise machines would determine our future world.
I have analyzed the risks, regarding the use of modern technology, that the modern
world would affect the future. I discovered the interrelation between Dick's ideas andthe situation of modern world in terms of technological hegemony: modern technology
would control people and society in both direct (i.e. surveillance system) and indirect(i.e. technological ideology) ways. Dick's ideas and his stories reflect the situation after
technology would already have controlled people and society. These ideas warn us toconsider the unpredicted future, doubting the current technology systems. On the other
hand, the situation of our actual world is located at the transitional period. Hence, we
are facing the imminent moment to seriously consider what our post-postmodern world
is. Assuming that interrelation between Dick's ideas and the situation of modern world
would be the clues in envisioning our post-postmodern world, it is apparent that weshould understand the danger: we should realize the technological ideologies in utilizing
modern technology with a skeptical mind.
This section examined the insight on post-postmodern technological world,64

exemplifying A.I., representative modern technology in our world and compared Dick's
ideas with the situation of our world. These examinations hypothesized that we are justin the middle of transitional period and interrelation between Dick's ideas and thesituation of modern world in terms of technological hegemony provided the significant
danger on our post-postmodern world: we should realize the technological ideologies inutilizing modern technology with a skeptical mind.
Chapter 3-3 Future Humanism in a Technology-centered World
The purpose of this section is to examine our future humanism, which means how
humans should identify themselves in a technology-centered world in order to probe
desirable relationships between humans and modern technology in the post-postmodern
world. The last section revealed possible dangers in the post-postmodern world, basedon Dick's philosophy. Now that it is established that we people should be warily awareof the existing technology system and its aspect of ideology, it is essential to investigate
the ideal form of world where people would coexist with modern technology without
their being controlled by the ideological technology. In the beginning, I will clarify theoriginal meaning and its background of humanism in order to discover the crises orrisks of future humanism. Then, after the analysis, I will examine the crisis ofhumanism making use of insights on post-postmodern world, which I mentioned in theprevious chapter. Lastly, I will demonstrate a desirable attitude towards technology in atechnology-centered world for the prosperity of our future humanity.
The term, humanism, is used as interdisciplinary term. The term also can beinterpreted in different contexts. What does the term humanism stand for in terms ofphilosophical aspects? It is therefore necessary to clarify the meaning of humanism
along with the realm of my study. Brooker defined humanism as “the term for a generalphilosophical view that places the human at the centre of the world; or, more
specifically, sees inner being or the individual mind as the determinate source of
meaning and action”(125). When it comes to the meaning of humanism, as mentioned
earlier, it could be considered complicated term and used for wide-ranging fields ofstudy. Pivoting around the facts that humanism possesses risks of crises, people have
faced difficulties so far concerning humanism.
There is a view on a crisis of humanism from the perspective of different field ofstudy. A scholar of geography, Andrew Baldwin (2017) dissented from the definition ofhumanism by Brooker. He described humanism from the perspective of environment
stating, “Man possessed the capacity to control Nature. This belief figures centrally
within genres of humanist thought in which the human is said to be unique amongst all65other living and nonliving entities” (2). Baldwin regarded humanism as existences,which possess power over nature. What is more, he described the crisis of humanism as,“nature is not simply available to human manipulation without consequence, but
contains the ever-present capacity to overwhelm humans” (2). As Baldwin explained thecrisis of humanism, people gradually possess less power over nature as people make useof them. For example, people have faced serious environmental issues such as the risein the sea level due to the global warming and, drought and acid rain caused by theclimate change. Bearing Baldwins' opinion in mind, humans have faced crisis since they
have misused technology only with the intention to gain their benefits, sacrificing nature
instead. Therefore, it could be said that Baldwin is criticizing selfish, arrogant andignorant misuse of technology. Although people have confronted and dealt with these
serious issues, is it actually true that environmental issues are main factors that threaten
humanism in our post-postmodern world? In addition to the traditional opinion onhuman crisis, it is necessary to consider factors of the crisis of humanism from theperspective of modern technological context in order to examine future humanism alongwith the tide of technology-centered world.
In fact, modern technology such as the Internet, virtual reality and A.I., isbecoming another major factor of the crisis of humanism as the world becomes digitizedand cybernetic. Information technology such as media is one of the modern
technologies, which has contributed to the development of human activities. At thesame time, it is said that media technology is one of the possible factors that threaten thehumanism. A scholar of sociology, Nicholas Gane (2005) argued the post-humanism,associating it with the theory of the media theorist, Friedrich Kittler, who advocated theprimacy of technology. Gane cast doubt on the post-humanism, which has existed in theera of media technology. In the era called “new digital technology” (34) since 1990s,
Gane offered the theme related to the cybernetic theory in terms of control. He
mentioned Kittler's two grounds for his radical insistence: “there can be no fundamental
division between technology and communication” (34) and “embedded within media
technologies are power structures that elude the control of the user and configure thebasis of communication from within” (34). In other words, the power structure thatconceals the feelings of utilizing the technology from users confuses the division
between technology and communication.
Moreover, Gane articulated that the physical minimization of media tools andpre-programmed machine (software) “plays a vital role here by hiding the underlying
processes of the machine from immediate view, while at the same time giving theimpression of openness”(36). This idea is plausible in that people do not understand the66mechanism of the process by sophisticatedly programmed machine or software and do
not even realize its possible risks to themselves. For example, as mentioned earlier, thedata leak of Facebook user’s information could be possibly one of the most notablecases of the negative effects of programmed machine. Users do not realize that theirinformation was exposed to unknown people due to the error of the system orcyber-attack from hackers. They even do not know how to prevent the case fromrecurring. This would result in the vicious circle of use of modern technology. In thissense, it could be assumed that people are controlled by technology in that invisibility of
information and media technology (i.e. Internet) conceal the risks of new digitaltechnology from people, as seen in the theory of information technology by Kittler.
Now that the analysis of media technology revealed the risks of humanism bytechnology, it is essential to ponder the relationship between human and modern
technology. Gane insisted “some might object to the strong technological determinismof this position, but in an age in which decisions increasingly are made for us by media
systems we have little choice but to use”(40). This remark concedes itself as the oaththat people would align themselves with the tendency of technological determinism. I
partially agree with the idea of Gane in that people should continue to utilize technology
for the sake of development of our world, since it has achieved many breakthroughs.
Nevertheless, it is obvious that people should possess solid humanistic identity in atechnology-centered world. In other words, people must have critical realization on how
people establish the sustainable relationship with technology.
These critical realizations are strongly connected to the insights on
post-postmodern world. In this sense, it is effective to articulate Dick's ideas on SF. As
mentioned above, SF is the creation of imagined world with the development oftechnology. In other words, the genre, SF, deserves to be examined in our
post-postmodern world, which places technology on the center of human activities.
Dick asserted in his interview with DePerez from Science Fiction Review about SF and
its value when asked about massive sales of his SF books in foreign countries:
Perhaps it’s the general attitude towards science fiction in European countries,
accepting it as a legitimate form of literature, instead of relegating it to the ghetto,
with the genre, and regarding it as sub-standard.... And I think also one of thereasons — especially in France — is that they’re aware that it’s a field of ideas. The
science fiction novel is a novel of ideas, and they’re interested in the ideas. There’s
an intelligentsia in Europe among the students that appreciates the ideas. You don’t
have the equivalent intelligentsia here. We just don’t have that interest in books of67

ideas that they have there. They appreciate the philosophical and other types ofideas in science fiction, and look forward to science fiction novels. They have avoracious appetite for them.
With regard to the value of SF, as we can see from the above, Dick regarded it as theplace of creating ideas. In addition, he referred to the distinction between standard andsub-standard. Assuming that Dick had an eccentric way of creating stories, he was wellaware of the border on “standard”: what is standard, and what is not standard. Besides,
the ideological technology, as examined in the previous chapters, has relationship to
standard in that ideology is a fixed and forced idea, which could be also explained:
ideology might become the standard for people. Thus, Dick's ideas on SF provided us
with one solid caution for humanism: people should cast doubt on standards with askeptical attitude, otherwise we would lose humanism, which would lead to the worldcontrolled by modern technology.
This section examined the desirable attitudes towards modern technology in order
to consider the ideal relationship between human and technology. I demonstrated themeaning of humanism in order to acquire an understanding of what possible risks might
threaten humanism in our technology-centered world. The example of information andmedia technology revealed that people have confronted possible risks of being
controlled by modern technology. Finally, I demonstrated the desirable attitudes towards
technology, utilizing Dick's ideas on SF. It clarified one caution for humanism: people
should cast doubt on standards with a skeptical attitude.
This chapter explored insights on our post-postmodern world in atechnology-centered society by examining Dick's philosophy. In addition, it clarified thehumanism crisis as the technology become more sophisticated. Dick's philosophy ontechnology from the perspective of postmodernism provided us with the caution
towards our post-postmodern world: people should be wary of negative aspects ofmodern technology and its possible risks that control people in the form of ideology.

68

Conclusion
On the whole, this thesis explored our post-postmodern world in atechnology-centered society by examining Dick's postmodern ideas through hisremarkable works. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the possible dangers of ourtechnology-centered society brought about by modern technology with the purpose of
making people realize and consider these issues.
Chapter One introduced the current situation of our world with the examples ofnegative issues caused by modern technology. I exemplified two issues, surveillancesociety and identity crisis in order to gain a deeper understanding of the state of affairs
and its essential causes. The analysis of these two issues revealed the necessity ofconsidering the ambivalence of technology and comprehensive provision towards
possible risks of modern technology with a post-postmodern idea.
Chapter Two analyzed Dick's works in order to apply his ideas to the examinationof the insights on our post-postmodern world in a technology-centered society. Before
getting into the analysis of his works, I organized periodical stream and analyzed thetheory of paradigm shift, namely reactions to the future by clarifying the meaning of
postmodernism in order to verify the necessity of post-postmodernism. As a result ofinvestigation, I defined post-postmodernism as any circumstances in the world, whichmight transform the social mechanism depending on cultural mutation, through modern
technology. Subsequently, I investigated Minority Report and Do Androids Dream ofElectric Sheep?, focusing on survey of Dick's coherent ideas on highly developed
technology and postmodernism. The analysis revealed that Dick's works indicated two
common themes: the ambiguity of the ending in the story and the ideological
technology system. The first theme demonstrated that Dick provided readers with theopportunity to deeply consider themes with not passive, but positive and skeptical
attitude. The second theme indicated the risk of the existing technology system, which
controls people in the form of ideology. The theme implied great wariness that human
could be ruled by ideology resulting from over-advanced technology. Accordingly, it isessential that we people be attentive to the existing technology system with a skeptical
attitude.
Chapter Three concentrated on examining insights on post-postmodern world in atechnology-centered society, applying Dick's ideas on postmodernism. It revealed thedanger in a post-postmodern world, exemplifying the possible risk of A.I.,
representative modern technology in our world and compared Dick's ideas with thecurrent situation in our world. Finally, I examined desirable attitudes towards modern
technology in order to consider the ideal relationship between humans and modern
69technology. The example of information and media technology revealed that people
have faced possible risks of being controlled by technology, especially modern andhighly developed technology. The analysis clarified one warning for humanity: people
should cast doubt on standards.
My series of analysis suggests one question: Could it be possible that humans
create the ideal relationship with modern technology without causing any negative
effects? People have enjoyed technology, which has been constantly developed, in an
attempt to make their lives meaningful and improve the entire human species. On theother hand, as indicated in Chapter One, humans have failed in utilizing technology inmany circumstances. They have sacrificed animals, nature in an environmental context,
and the innocent lives of a large number of people because of terrorism and so on. The
misuse of technology, as seen in the example that the North Korea with its autocratic
leader conducts a nuclear bombing test as a deterrent, might lead to the creation of
totalitarian society. Even though none of the causes of these recent disasters arenecessarily attributable to modern technology, it could be responsible for harming
people.
Considering these facts, it might be difficult for humans to establish a perfectly
balanced relationship with technology and especially modern technology. Instead, it ispossible that we have a common awareness in solidarity when we interact with modern
technology. Humans crucially possess an arrogant awareness in utilizing technology as
Sims (2013) adopted the idea of a polish poet Rojcewicz and explained, “humans would
then pose as 'masters of the earth,' and yet their self-blindness would make themslaves”(41). We are no longer “masters of the earth” due to modern technology. We
should discard such a superior mind because technology, as it becomes advanced, isalready invading humanity. What we can do is think creatively and act positively, notbeing taken over by modern technology.
Although these actions might seem ordinary, it is obviously true that modern
technology blinds people to the negative effects of itself. It could be said that it is worth
appreciating Dick's ideas in that he re-suggested the significance of considering
skeptically. In addition, Dick prophesied the importance of creative thinking, with
foresighted view in his interview with DePerez, stating, “SF is a field of ideas”.
Consequently, we are required not only to reconsider our consciousness of utilizing
technology, but also to have a solid sense or attitude to consider creatively anddetermine responsibly for fear that we court a decadent era where technology would
determine our fate.
Throughout this entire thesis, I put a value on analyzing Dick's philosophy in our70era than practicing creative thinking and positive action since these ideas might bealready common and required ideas as mentioned earlier. Dick's works were nothing but
fictional story for those who lived in postmodern era. However, the situation of ourpost-postmodern world surrounded by modern technology is no longer fiction that Dickportrayed. We are just experiencing a cycle of technological leaps and disasters, which
is an ambivalence that Dick wrote in his works. In other words, we are facing thetransitional period that modern technology might take over human beings and become acenter of our world, which threatens humanity.
As we can see the growing popularity of Dick's works these days, his foreseen
philosophy is directed to our unawareness of imminent dangers caused by modern
technology. All things considered, Dick could be one of the pioneers who warn ourworld of possessing dangers. In conclusion, it is essential that we should take Dick's
warnings seriously and understand our world's situation which could be eroded bycurrent modern technology. The significance of this thesis is that I suggested a
post-postmodern viewpoint of humans' attitude towards modern technology byexamining Dick who conveyed the wariness to our world.

71

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