Boy Blue answers “I never really got what the empathy box...”

Maxwell Ferris asked this question about Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?:

I never really got what the empathy box was or what it did?

Boy Blue Think of current religion. In Christianity, Christ died for everyone and suffered on the cross. The religion talks about him dying for their sin and t…moreThink of current religion. In Christianity, Christ died for everyone and suffered on the cross. The religion talks about him dying for their sin and thanks him for it every Sunday but none of them feel the pain or empathise with it. It's a symbolic death, a metaphor. Think of the myth of Sisyphus who rolls a stone up a hill just for it to roll down again and again. Think also of the phrase "walk a mile in their shoes". The empathy box allows you to experience the pain as your own. That way you can understand Mercer completely not just sympathise with him.

However, this is a synthetic form of empathy, is Mercer really walking up the hill? You can also feel everyone else using it, so collectively you can suffer/strive for enlightenment together. It's basically a hyper charged religion using virtual reality and the usual social coercion to control the masses.

Lastly, we know that androids don't have empathy, and it is the only thing that separates them from humans. The fact that a lack of empathy doesn't stop androids from easily integrating with society is supposed to be worrying. Rick is starts to empathise with the plight of the androids but finds the Empathy box pointless. By contrast the other bounty hunter he meets who is a human has little empathy and certainly none towards androids, further calling into question if humans are that different. Buster Friendly who is supposedly an android debunks Mercerism, which includes the empathy box.

But while disposing of the final androids, Rick meets Mercer or has a vision of him. After killing them he then flies to the desert and has an epiphany where he finally feels real empathy for Mercer by living Mercer's experience and getting a rock thrown at him. So the empathy box is fake but perhaps Mercerism is real. Or the whole lot is fake and maybe Rick is an android.(less)

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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

by Philip K. Dick

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