The political climate of Solar Lottery is reminiscient of The World Jones Made , a place where people are robbed of individuality and self-empowerment by their own perceptions of themselves, helpless and disconnected from the power structure. Imagining the situations and moral complications of the characters is a mind-bending task that makes sense in a twisted phildickian way. Like other novels we wrote, Dick's science fiction is not isolated from the cultural and political mood of the times. Even though one finds functional androids and telepathic characters, the main issues of Solar Lottery are based on real world fears and concerns. Solar Lottery was written in the early part of the 1950's.
Many cultural elements are apparent in the novel.
The genuine fear of foreign invasion following WWII provides a striking context for PKD's use of Minimax and military strategy in Solar Lottery . He also was playing on the fears of a country entering the Cold War in his depiction of a world ripe with distrust and a population helpless in the hands of corporations and huge government. The anticipation of space travel and the beginning of the space age influenced the John Preston subplot in Solar Lottery as well. What Solar Lottery seems to be missing is Phil's unmistakable use of philosophy and religion that separate his books from run of the mill science fiction from then and today. I found disappointing is the subplot involving the intergalactic search for John Preston.