mmyers3 – The Cyborg Apocalypse

Age of Environment

Tyra Wilson

Mykia Bessicks

Lexxiana Zollicoffer

Molly Myers

Intro & Purpose

Pollution issues are some of the most important environmental, social, and health issues in the world. The rapid growth of world population has been closely accompanied by the rapid increase in all forms of pollution, especially air and water pollution.

Our product, Age of Environment, explores three of the most polluted and destroyed environments in the world before and after they were ruined by human interactions. The three that we are focusing on are the Citarum River, Linfen, China, and Rondonia, Brazil. People need to be aware of our product because it will show how difficult it is to fix what has been destroyed and hopefully as a result, learn steps for the future that could avoid this from worsening or happening again.

Water pollution is the inclusion or inserted living things, elements, energy, and/or other components into the water by human activity so that the water quality decreases to a certain level, which causes the water to not function as intended (NSW Environment & Heritage, 2017). In Indonesia, the Citarum River plays an important role in the water supply for both the city of Bandung, which is home to 10 million people, and the greater Jakarta region, of 25 million people (Asian Development Bank, 2014). Its waters irrigate farms providing around 5% of the nation’s rice and feed more than 2,000 factories on its banks. Idyllic here in its upper reaches, downstream the story is very different (Asian Development Bank, 2014).

The Citarum River contains domestic and industrial waste. Industrial waste includes up to 80% of wastes from the national textile industries. Over the past 20 years, water quality in the Citarum River Basin has been decreasing rapidly as pollution takes over the river. In terms of air quality, it is the degree to which the ambient air is pollution-free, assessed by measuring a number of indicators of pollution.

The World Bank has stated that 16 out of 20 of the world’s worst polluted cities are in China while the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has branded Linfen as having the worst air quality in the country (Worst Polluted, 2007). The air quality is so bad that local clinics are seeing growing cases of bronchitis, pneumonia, and lung cancer. The children have high rates of lead poisoning. As the death rates continue to grow, it all has been linked to the pollution levels.

Lastly, Rondonia Brazil is one of the most deforested regions of the Amazon Rain Forest. Thousands of acres of forest have been slashed and burned there, mostly to make room for cattle ranching. Land development in the Amazon has gone through phases of rubber extraction, agricultural development, immigration, road expansion, and promotion of large enterprises in cattle ranching, timber extraction and mining (Watts, 2015).

Air pollution, for instance, leads to problems with lungs and respiratory diseases, and long-term exposure to air pollution can even lead to cancer (Worst Polluted, 2007). On the other hand, water pollution leads to different waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and can also lead to poisoning (NSW Environment & Heritage, 2007). The environmental damage caused by pollution can reach catastrophic proportions and destroy entire ecosystems leading to death of many species and a big biodiversity loss (Watts, 2015). Pollution issues are important because Earth is still our only home, and pollution is making this planet dirty and unhealthy to live in. Pollution creates many diseases and causes death of many people all across the globe.

Learning Outcomes

The goal of our product, Age of Environment, is to inform users on the harmful effects pollution has had on the planet by allowing them to view three of the world’s most polluted areas, explaining how it came to be, and how it can be fixed. Through this application, the user will not only learn about the dangers pollution has on the planet, humans, and animals but they will also learn how to become green and take initiative as an individual to ensure that no more areas on the world because as polluted as these areas are.

The users will learn about the deforestation in Rondonia, Brazil, the poor air quality in Linfen, China, and the extensive pollution in the Citarum River. The user will be able to interact with the animals in the Brazilian rainforest and learn facts about the animals like diet, lifespan, and how their population has changed since the pollution began. This will also factor into teaching the user to empathize with the animals because they will have first-hand experience interacting with them. The users will also observe the chemicals being emitted into the air from factories in Linfen, China. They will learn the harmful effects smog has on the denizens of Linfen and gain knowledge of what chemicals in the smog, specifically, are harming the environment and the citizens. The user will be able to physically pull apart the molecules of the smog and learn which of them is harmful. They will also sail on the Citarum and experience the harmful effects that amount of pollution has had on the aquatic life living in the river. They will also learn about the population of the aquatic life and how that has changed since the pollution began. Additionally, they will see through a time lapse how long it took to pollute these areas and learn how long it would take to completely restore these areas.

At the end of the simulation, we will test the user’s retention of the information they learned by quizzing them. They will be asked to identify certain species of animals and vegetation and how the pollution in the area has affected their population. They will be asked to identify which chemicals have been emitted into the air that are harmful to the environment and people. They will also be asked about how long it would take to restore each area after the devastating amount of pollution and what are some ways that they, as an individual, can protect the environment.

Rather than learning from a textbook, students will be able to physically interact with and see the things they have been learning about. This will not only help them to retain the information but it will also give the information value, which is important when trying to impact someone’s lifestyle as this virtually reality experience plans to do. “The immersion in made-to-measure environments allows students to face learning experiences that maximize the use of all their senses. This may seem insignificant but such experience becomes indispensable in the understanding of concepts unknown to the individual in question” (Huang, Rauch, & Liaw, 2010). Our targeted demographic is likely to have never physically seen the places that we are focusing on, which will make it hard for them to connect with and understand the information; however, putting them in these places gives them a reason to care, to understand.

Additionally, Age of Environment gives the user complete control of their environment by allowing them to use the time lapse function to see how the environment changes in each time period, giving them the ability to reach directly into a chemical molecular construction, and giving them complete control in making the environment new. Having the user in control will increase the amount of attention they put into the app and consequently the amount they learn. Our app will also aim to give the user clear goals during the game and help them understand how to navigate early in the game to better their learning outcomes. A study conducted by the University of Washington found that “students who had difficulty navigating in the virtual world or who lacked a clear understanding of the tasks they were to perform in it learned less and enjoyed the experience less” (Winn, 1995). This is why the user will get clear instructions on their goals and how to navigate in the beginning of the simulation.

User Experience

There are many other applications that have similarities to Age of Environment. There is a simulation on the NY Times VR application called Underneath a Cracked Sky that allows the viewer to follow divers underneath the frozen Pacific and watch as they explore the sea below. They have also worked with scientists to create a virtual reality experience that shows users how climate change has affected the ocean first hand. This is very similar to the way that AOE will implement environmental exploration (from the perspective of the viewer as if they are present in this environment). This is different because it is merely exploration of a destroyed environment. Age of Environment will aim to allow users to explore environments in two different ways; the real and true polluted state, and a simulated state that the environment was in before it was polluted. The user will see how an environment went from perfectly clean and natural, to completely ravaged by pollution in a time lapse. This will have a huge emotional effect on a user as they can see the severity of the before and after. The VHIL (Virtual Human Interaction Lab) ran by Stanford Professor Jeremy Bailenson has also developed a virtual reality experience that allows users to witness the effects of climate change first hand. This program allows users to explore the Great Barrier Reef and demonstrates what it looks like due to coral bleaching through pollution. In the VR you become a piece of coral and go through the process of being bleached and destroyed due to pollution. This is another VR that is very similar to the idea of AOE. Age of Environment will use these same strategies to evoke empathy and an understanding of how pollution has come to be in the user, but will also allow the user to take part in fixing the problem. For example, when visiting the Citarum River in the virtual reality program users will have a chance at moving around the river with a resident of the city attempting to clean-up the water.

The experience itself will be an immersive time lapse that the user will use to learn about the devastation of pollution. It will start out as a 360 view of one of the selected environments before it was ravaged by pollution. For example, the user will be standing alongside the Citarum River before it was filled with trash and chemicals. The images needed can be captured with the GoPro Omni, which will show the actual destination and will be digitally altered to remove pollution. A time lapse will occur around the user in the area as the environment is more and more polluted. Trash in the river will build up around the user as a voiceover describes how this happened. The user can look around and move. After the time lapse is over the user will then be instructed by a voiceover about how people have attempted to clean-up the mess. The user can then use the Oculus or HTC Vive handheld joysticks to reach into the trash and attempt to help clean up the environment.

Implementation Strategy

The virtual reality environment will be created using a combination of photographs taken of the areas targeted as subjects, and a projected environment. The VR includes user experiences in a few places around the world such as Indonesia, China, and Brazil. The images of these places can be captured by exploring them and recording with the GoPro Omni 360 camera. The virtual reality environment will ideally be viewable through the semi-immersive Oculus Rift, which is $400.00, or the HTC Vive, which is about $600.00 without a PC (Swider, 2017). With these systems, a user will be able to interact with the environment around them, which is the ultimate goal of the VR program Age of Environment. The program is meant to not only educate students by teaching them how pollution and human interaction has destroyed the selected environments, but also gives them a way to learn how to help fix what has been destroyed. The Vive and Oculus Rift will allow students to virtually touch and interact with the environment they are seeing. The Oculus and Vive are expensive systems that not every education system will have access too. As an option, the VR program can be available as a downloadable smartphone application, much like the experiences that the NY Times VR app offers. Age of Environment can be implemented similarly and viewed with or without a Google Cardboard as a non-immersive virtual experience as well, just as the NY Times VR app allows. This is a much more cost effective alternative than making the program only usable on platforms like the expensive Vive and Oculus that not every student will have access to.

The program is meant to target students in secondary or higher education studying subjects like environmental science. The ideal way to reach the targeted users of this program is to make this system available in school classrooms. Having an application similar to the NY Times app will make it easy for schools to show students the program in the classrooms, with or without a google cardboard to use. Private schools, public schools with a high budget, or universities may be able to afford to have a Vive or Oculus present to utilize a more interactive, complex experience. The ultimate goal will be to have Age of Environment viewable to students in high school or college science classes before they venture into independent adulthood and start leaving a serious carbon footprint.

Long-term Vision

Within our prototype, there will be a few limitations in order to keep it simple and manageable. We will start with only three locations that face high levels of pollution such as the Citarum River, Linfen, China, and Rondonia, Brazil. This will allow us to focus on the details of these specific areas in order to make the VR more realistic, interactive, and educational for the user.

Stressing the importance of virtual reality applications in the education system is also important. Since our VR application will be placed into classroom settings, we want it to be known as something that helps shape the learning of students and others. Using VR in the classroom contributes to the “understanding of abstract concepts, as well as in training in real environments and situations” (Fernandez, 2017). Since the idea behind our application is to create an environment that has been destroyed by pollution, it will allow there to be a training aspect for students in order to teach them and give them real experience in facing these major issues.

The next phase of development will include more locations to explore and a higher quality of content. Some locations that can be added to our application are Chernobyl in the Ukraine, La Oroya in Peru, and Norilsk in Russia. All of these areas face mass devastation related to and caused by pollution. Within these countries about 10 million people are at risk for cancer, respiratory disease, and even premature death due to high levels of pollution (West, 2017). To improve user experience with a higher quality of content, we can find a better quality 360 degree image or even find new ways to make the VR interactive. We can provide background information on how the area became polluted and we can also add more information to teach people about the everyday lifestyle that someone from these specific areas would have.

Our five year plan includes adding more locations to our application other than the ones mentioned above, more interaction, and a focus on educating people on the importance of cleaning up the Earth and the environment that we live in. It may be important to add locations from here in the United States in order to educate people on the fact that pollution isn’t just a problem in foreign countries and that we face high levels of pollution too. We want the interaction to be as realistic as possible. Over time, it would be interesting if the user could pick up trash to help with cleanup efforts or interact with other people in the area. The education could then be improved by using a voice over to teach prevention methods. Water pollution tends to start on land and makes its way to open waterways and soil pollution is caused by big industries and agriculture (Kinhal, n.d.). If we teach simples things like soil conservation and recycling, then that’s one step closer to helping the Earth be a healthy place, which will then allow our product to be more functional.

Works Cited

Bank, Asian Development. “Tackling Pollution in Indonesia’s Citarum River Basin.” Asian Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, 5 June 2017, www.adb.org/news/photo-essays/tackling-pollution-indonesias-citarum-river-basin.

Fernandez, Manuel. “Augmented Virtual Reality: How to Improve Education Systems.” Higher Learning Research Communications, vol. 7, no. 1, 01 June 2017, pp. 1-15. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.stevenson.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1150087&site=ehostlive.

Heritage, corporateName=Office of Environment and. “Water quality.” NSW Environment & Heritage, 12 May 2017, www.environment.nsw.gov.au/water/waterqual.htm.

Huang, Hsiu-Mei, et.al. “Investigating Learners’ Attitudes toward Virtual Reality Learning Environments: Based on a Constructivist Approach.” Computers & Education, vol. 55, no. 3, 01 Nov. 2010, pp. 1171-1182. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.stevenson.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ892516&site=ehost-live.

Kinhal, Vijayalaxmi. “Ways to Stop Pollution.” LoveToKnow, LoveToKnow Corp, greenliving.lovetoknow.com/ways-stop-pollution.

“Linfen, China.” :: WorstPolluted.Org : Projects Reports, 2007, www.worstpolluted.org/projects_reports/display/22.

Swider, Matt. “HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift: which VR headset is better?” TechRadar, TechRadar The source for Tech Buying Advice, 12 Oct. 2017, www.techradar.com/news/wearables/htc-vive-vs-oculus-rift-1301375/2.

Watts, Jonathan. “Amazon deforestation report is major setback for Brazil ahead of climate talks.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 27 Nov. 2015, www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/27/amazon-deforestation-report-brazil-paris-climate-talks.

West, Larry. “The 10 Worst Polluted Places on Earth.” ThoughtCo, 24 July 2017, www.thoughtco.com/worst-polluted-places-on-earth-1204101.

Winn, William. “THE VIRTUAL REALITY ROVING VEHICLE PROJECT .” T.H.E. Journal, vol. 23, no. 5, 1 Dec. 1995. ERIC, web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=11&sid=2b5e4549-1c6a-436d-a01f-f81e7167fb50%40sessionmgr120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=EJ516505&db=eric.

Storyboard Link:

virtual-reality

Presentation Link:

https://prezi.com/p/lshs_tje3lym/

Demo Link (Downloadable link):

IMG_3596

PTSD in Military Personnel (VR Pitch)

Pitch and Facts:

PTSD has become a growing issue among both active duty military members and veterans. About 11-20 (11-20%) out of 100 veterans who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom are diagnosed with PTSD each year. About 12% out of 100 veterans from the Gulf War are diagnosed with PTSD each year and about 30% out of 100 veterans from the Vietnam War are diagnosed with PTSD. While these might seem like small numbers, these are just the statistics for those that seek help and receive a diagnoses (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2016)

My concept for the VR world would be to place the user in a world that a military spouse or family member would be in. They would be fully immersed in the everyday struggles of trying to take care of/ help someone with PTSD. Personally, I feel as though military personnel are overlooked and seen as people that will get over any emotional/ physical stress; however, the VR world would bring light to them. It would make people realize that being in combat and being exposed to life-threatening situations adds more stress to an already stressful lifestyle. This world would not only allow non-military familes/ spouses to understand the issues of PTSD among military personnel but it would also allow military familes/ spouses to learn ways to help their loved one cope with their PTSD and ways to prevent certain actions from happening (ie. outbursts of anger, which has been proven to impair the cognitive control of behavior) (Novaco, 2012).

My Target Audience:

High School or College Psychology students

Military Spouses and Families

Military Personnel

Sources:

Novaco, Raymond W., et al. “Anger and Postcombat Mental Health: Validation of a Brief Anger Measure with U.S. Soldiers Postdeployed from Iraq and Afghanistan.” Psychological Assessment, vol. 24, no. 3, 01 Sept. 2012, pp. 661-675. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.stevenson.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ991868&site=ehost-live.

“PTSD: National Center for PTSD.” How Common Is PTSD? – PTSD: National Center for PTSD, 5 July 2007, www.ptsd.va.gov/public/ptsd-overview/basics/how-common-is-ptsd.asp.

Cybernetic Bodies: Gender & Labor Roles

Cybernetic bodies are forms of technology that are created to essentially replicate and replace human activity and humans in general. It can also be said that cybernetic bodies create a “perfect” society that makes one gender more dominant than before and allows for others to control them. Cyborgs that are created by other people tend to be autopoietic, meaning that humans can alter and replicate the composition of something or someone to make the cyborg any way that they want. This can be seen through various examples such as Stepford Wives, a movie, R.U.R., a play, and Black Mirror, a show.

Stepford Wives Movie Cover (photo by: Roger Ebert)

In Stepford Wives, the husbands wanted to create a perfect and submissive housewife. They ended up doing this by having a committee observe their wives and the house that they lived in to then replicate the appearance of their wife and create a cyborg version that bases their life around cleaning, cooking, and other house work. The creation of the cyborgs represented the reflexivity or thoughts and values of the husbands, which is usually a “condensed image of both imagination and material reality” (Haraway 292). It also represented the gender and labor roles that were seen as more ideal during this time period. At this time more women were becoming interested in having their own jobs in fields that once were dominated by men; however, the men wanted their wives to have more of a 1950’s mindset where they stayed at home and did stereotypical housework. The men gained more power and control over the wives by replacing them and making them do whatever they wanted, which relates back to the autopoietic mindset.

R.U.R. play cover (photo by: Asim Qureshi)

The domination of women continues to be seen in other works like R.U.R. In this play, Domin, a main character, is portrayed as condescending and is constantly interrupting Helena, another main character, and never seems to let her have her own thoughts. This play only has two women who live inside of the world, which can be viewed as a major problem. Both Helena and Nana face discrimination and are seen as less than everyone else on a regular basis. Helena was forced into a marriage and Nana gets overlooked. The male figures seem to be running the show and never want to listen to what the women have to say or tell them regarding the world they live in and the potential of a cyborg apocalypse, which ends up happening and kills off everyone but one person. The idea of dominating women and making them lesser beings seems to be a norm not only in the society portrayed in this play, but also as a norm between all of the works that we have read so far. Like Lennard J. Davis mentions in his article, “the idea of a norm is less a condition of human nature than it is a feature of a certain kind of society” (Davis 3). Davis poses the question on whether male dominance is just human nature or if it’s a part of society.

As far as Stepford Wives and R.U.R., it appears that dominance is a part of society and rules the way that people live. “Abstraction and illusion rule in knowledge, dominations rules in practice” (Haraway 298). Male dominance was being depicted in these shows, plays, and movies because of it being a norm in our actual society not just a fictional society. These two works are very similar. In both, men try to control the way that the women are viewed and the amount of power they have. Helena, Nana, and all of the Stepford Wives experience that same kind of discrimination and the same kind of power loss. Joanna, one of the wives in Stepford Wives, gets chased by her husband who claims that he just wants to take her to bed, but he’s actually trying to catch her in order to kill her off and replace her. She is also told several times that her passion for photography and art isn’t important. Helena and Nana also face similar situations because they both end up being overlooked and told that they would never have power in their society.

Black Mirror show logo (photo by: tvseriesfinale.com)

Black Mirror; however, is similar in some ways, but very different in others. The episode that we watched was about a husband and wife. The husband unfortunately dies in a car accident and the wife is left alone, but eventually has a cyborg version of her husband created. There aren’t many labor or gender roles that are portrayed in this episode, but there are a few. When Ash, the husband, arrives in cyborg form, the wife expects him to be exactly like the human version. When he ends up not being as emotional and reactive, the wife gets upset and demands that he acts a certain way. The wife wants cyborg Ash to still do the same things that he did before he died such as housework and being the dominant figure during sex. Since it is a cyborg version of a human, it will never be the same. The wife wanted cyborg Ash to fill an empty spot that she was left with, but wasn’t ready to handle the differences between the two.

“In the posthuman, there are no essential differences or absolute demarcations between bodily existence and computer simulation, cybernetic mechanism and biological organism, robot teleology and human goals” (Hayles 3). Cyborg Ash, in this sense has no difference from human Ash and is essentially doing his job, which is to fulfill a purpose for the wife. From what Hayles is saying, cyborgs are no different than humans. They all have a purpose and should be treated equally. While Black Mirror may not touch on many gender roles, it slightly touches on labor roles in the sense that Ash, both cyborg and human, are seen as a male figure whose sole purpose is to be a husband, help do major housework, make the women feel loved, and please her. However, like mentioned above, when the wife felt as though it was a bad idea to create a cyborg version of Ash since he wasn’t exactly the same, she became frustrated and upset because she wasn’t getting her way.

Even through cybernetic bodies there are gender and labor roles that are being portrayed. Whether it’s men that want to be known as the most dominant and powerful group, men trying to create the perfect woman, or a wife trying to recreate their husband, there are specific qualities that everyone is looking for. Being seen as less and having someone replace you with a cyborg can be scary, just like in Stepford Wives or even R.U.R.; however, if this were to happen, they shouldn’t be treated as anything less than human. Black Mirror, R.U.R., and Stepford Wives all delve into cybernetics and social issues that were seen during specific time periods. With all of these examples we can look deeper and learn more about us as a society while also questioning whether or not cybernetic bodies are going to be part of our future and whether or not they should be treated equally.

Does Empathy Make Us Human?

Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep poses many questions that relate to today’s society. The questions are formed mainly from the characters and their choices as the novel progresses. It poses questions about empathy and equality for women or the lack thereof. Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto” and the United Nations’ “Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” are articles that discuss the struggles that many women face and how society is attempting to change this issue.

These pieces, in some way, all connect back to the idea of empathy – the idea that we can put ourselves in another’s shoes and experience their problems as if they were our own without any judgement and without any form of bias. Society shapes the way we view those that are different than ourselves and how we view the world as a whole by using opinions via social media that manipulate our minds, which over time is making us less empathetic. The idea of empathy is something that society and more importantly college students have struggled with. According to “Empathizing 101,” college aged students are 40 percent less empathetic than those who were in college decades ago (Grasgreen 2010). This article also states that empathy is strongly believed to be an advocate for understanding and civility (Grasgreen 2010). This article then poses a question about society. Would the younger generation be less empathetic towards feminism issues than an older generation?

Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep delves into many of these social issues that we face in our own society. Chapter 16 of the novel goes into more detail about the inequality between man and woman or in this case man and android. Rick, a bounty hunter, and Rachael, an android, end up having sexual relations even though Rick is already married. Many argue that this is considered adultery and that it’s wrong; however, some also argue that Rachael is just an android and isn’t even real so it doesn’t matter if Rick uses her for sex. There was one quote in this chapter that stood out as being almost discriminatory. Rachael showed up at Rick’s hotel room and started to unpack and get undressed when Rick decided to observe her appearance. “The total impression was good, however. Although definitely that of a girl, not a woman. Except for the restless, shrewd eyes” (Dick 187). Describing her appearance as young or as a girl instead of a woman after observing the fact that Rachael was built with a smaller frame and bust, in a way is discriminating towards women who naturally have a small build. While that may seem far-fetched and a little strange to connect a novel to real life, we do see this happening in our society. Women are constantly being judged by men and even by other women just by the way that they are built and by the way that they look. We don’t have control over our appearances unless we alter ourselves, so why judge one another?

To go along with this thought, Rachel questions Rick about whether or not he would have sex with another android. Rick replied with “If it was a girl. If she resembled you” (Dick 197). The fact that Rick is a married man and can go out and have sex with another woman, android, or human, is disturbing in a way. He’s willing to cheat on his wife just to fulfill his own needs, which is a disgusting thing to do. However, many women in today’s society go through this every day. We all probably know someone that has been in a relationship with someone that has cheated on them just to get what they wanted.

Much has been written about women’s equality and feminism. Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto” argues that women face a lot of trials and tribulations and sometimes aren’t even accepted by other women. This often means that they face some form of discrimination within their own groups. Haraway talks about “oppositional consciousness,” which is the idea of an empowering mental state that prepares members of an oppressed group to undermine, reform, and overthrow a dominant system (Haraway 296). This idea was mentioned to explain how women should work together in order to prove their abilities and come together as one in order to go against the more dominant group, which in our society is men. However, she also mentions how women of color are being discriminated against by other women and are usually found being “left out of even the privileged oppressed authorial categories…” (Haraway 296). Not only are these women being discriminated against by men, they are also facing judgment from other women. This connects back to chapter 16 of Dick’s novel where Rick was judging Rachael by her appearance or body type; however, in this case these women are being judged because of their race and social class. Haraway also mentions how most feminists are “marginalized” mainly because of “epistemologies,” which is defined as being mainly opinions, which essentially means that women are seen as insignificant based off of opinions (Haraway 297).

Recently, I also read a short article published by the United Nations about women’s equality and why it matters. The article explains how women and girls make up “half of the world’s population and therefore also half of its potential” (“Gender Equality: Why It Matters,” n.d.). To relate this back to Dick’s novel, we could think about how the female androids were actually worth something. They all were living beings and they had lives of their own. If the world were different in that novel, would life for the female androids be different or would it be just like our society where women have to fight for their rights every single day of their lives?

This article also states how “gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world (“Gender Equality: Why It Matters,” n.d.). Unfortunately, I don’t think that we are there yet nor will we be there for a while. This meaning that our society is so stuck in its ways that achieving equality for everyone, regardless of gender, is going to be almost impossible. We have made a lot of advancements such as women being able to vote, work, and drive; however, there are still a lot of cases of discrimination towards women. A lot of women today face differences in pay, harassment, and inclusion. There are also a lot of cases in which men in relationships still want to be in control of almost everything. There is a great example of this in the beginning of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

Going back to the beginning of the novel, Rick and his wife, Iran, get into an argument over the Penfield mood organ, which is what controls their feelings for the day. Rick tells Iran that she set her Penfield too weak and that he’ll fix it for her so she can be more awake. After attempting to explain that, Rick then explains to Iran that if she sets it high enough she’ll be happier to be awake and that “at setting C it overcomes the threshold barring consciousness” as it does for him (Dick 3). Throughout that chapter, Rick tries to control Iran and her decisions, which relates back to feminism and women’s equality. Rick feels like he needs to make decisions for Iran and try to help her even though she is an independent person who is perfectly capable of making her own choices. Just like in today’s society, a lot of cultures such as modern day American cultures, Muslim cultures, and Indian cultures have a dominant male figure that make the decisions for the women and if the women don’t comply, they will most likely face some form of punishment. American culture is getting better, but there are still cases where the men want to be in control.

Like mentioned earlier, all of these articles relate back to one key theme of empathy. An article by The New York Times states that “One death is a tragedy. One million is a statistic” (Cameron, Inzlicht, Cunningham 2015). This can also be said for women and feminism. One woman being discriminated against is an awful thing; however, when millions of women face discrimination, nobody bats an eye. This quote also can be related back to Dick’s novel. When Rick and the other bounty hunters retire or kill an android, nobody seems to care because it’s the normal thing to do. The article also states “not only does empathy seem to fail when it is needed the most, but it also appears to play favorites” (Cameron, Inzlicht, Cunningham 2015). Like we see in Haraway’s articles, feminism and the empathy within it can play favorites. Haraway states that even “we,” meaning feminists, can’t claim any innocence from practicing dominations (Haraway 297). It’s sad to think that even women aren’t empathetic towards each other and can’t be innocent when it comes to cases of mistreating one another.

In the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, we see that empathy has favorites. Rick only seems to have empathy for Rachael. This might be because they had sex or it might be because he sees something in her, meaning that he sees the potential and good in her. Since Rick was probably socialized to think that androids were awful beings, it’s interesting to see how he only cares for Rachael, but is still willing to retire the other existing androids. We can also see this in today’s society with feminism. We, as a society, only seem to care when we can relate to it or when it impacts us.

This then raises the question of what makes us human? What differentiates men and women other than anatomy? So many people can empathize when a male goes through some sort of adversity, but when a female faces some sort of trouble it’s no big deal. Nobody is innocent to this, even other women ignore these troubles. To give an example, I’m no innocent one to being blind to these issues. I for one am not huge into the feminist movement; however, I do feel as though equal treatment is necessary so when I hear about the typical issues that women face I tend to be blind to them. By this I mean that I tend to ignore the issue because I feel like it doesn’t quite involve me yet, which is a problem considering that instead of ignoring the problems I should be looking at what’s going on and focus more on helping out or supporting other women.

The next question is does empathy actually make us human? According to The New York Times, “the ‘limits’ to our empathy are merely apparent, and can change, sometimes drastically, depending on what we want to feel” (Cameron, Inzlicht, Cunningham 2015). If we can truly choose what we empathize with, then is empathy actually something that we can look at to define ourselves as human? Just because someone doesn’t put themselves into another’s shoes, doesn’t mean that they aren’t human. We all are blind to something in today’s society whether it’s the shootings that constantly occur or if it’s the degrading of women.

Nobody can claim innocence to being blind to society’s ugly side: it’s what we are socialized to do. We see events like this on the news so often that we start to become numb to the fact that terrible things happen every day. When we hear about the protestors that come out to spread their opinions and sometimes hate towards something like the feminist movement, does anybody actually do anything to stop it? The bystander effect, which is when an individual is less likely to help someone due to the fact that they think someone else will help, occurs a lot in society and occurs a lot during various protests and means of spreading the word about feminism and other social issues. This effect will most likely never stop and will lead to more people becoming blind to empathy.

Overall, empathy isn’t the determining factor of whether someone is human or not since we all can be blind to major social issues like feminism. There really is nothing that determines us as being human other than basic biology. We see this through works like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and “A Cyborg Manifesto” and if those works do actually relate back to our everyday life, the problems we face are far beyond what we can change.

Works Cited:

Daryl Cameron, Michael Inzlicht and William A. Cunningham. “Opinion | Empathy Is Actually a Choice.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 July 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/opinion/sunday/empathy-is-actually-a-choice.html.

Dick, Phillip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Del Ray, 1968.

“Empathizing 101.” Inside Higher Ed, www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/24/empathy.

“Gender equality and women’s empowerment.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/.

Haraway, Donna. “A Cyborg Manifesto.” N.p. n.d.