Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

by Philip K. Dick

Empathy, evidently, existed only within the human community, whereas intelligence to some degree could be found throughout every phylum and order including the arachnida.

emphatic faculty probably required an unimpaired group instinct; a solitary organism, such as a spider, would have no use for it;

Empathy, he once had decided, must be limited to herbivores or anyhow omnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because, ultimately, the emphatic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.

‘You androids,’ Rick said, ‘don’t exactly cover for each other in times of stress.’ Garland snapped, ‘I think you’re right; it would seem we lack a specific talent you humans possess. I believe it’s called empathy.’