Isidore is on his way back to the false animal vet to deliver a mechanical cat. On the way, he thinks about the way Mercerism helps spread empathy throughout the world; He believes that Buster Friendly could be jealous of that (Dick 75). Only Buster had a problem with Mercerism,everyone else was fine with it, even the U.N. secretary has said on numerous occasions, “Mankind needs more empathy” (Dick 75). He arrived at the vet and handed the cat over to his boss Mr. Sloat. It appears from Isidore and Sloat’s conversation that Buster Friendly and Mercerism are fighting for control over their “psychic souls” (Dick 76). They discussed that both sides are immortal, and that Buster must be some kind of superior life form.
From what I can tell Mercerism is a type of religion, which is based around empathy. If Buster Friendly is always talking badly about it, could that mean the TV show is hosted by Andriods since they are also immortal?
I believe that the show is hosted by androids. In the novel, Isidore finds it odd that Buster can host a show that is 23 hour of uninterrupted content and also have time to film his radio show. He also finds it odd that one of Busters’s guest Amanda Werner had time to be on his show every other day for year and still have things to talk about.
There is a chance Buster Friendly could be ran by androids. I was reading further in the chapter and there was a passage that caught my attention relating to the empathy capacity of androids. It takes place in chapter 4 when Rick is at the Rosen Association Building, he is comparing electric animals to androids, he described it as “Like androids, it had no ability to appreciate the existence of another (Dick 42). There also could be a possibility that live animals that are not androids could also be influenced by androids via the media, such as Buster Friendly.
I do believe that Buster Friendly is ran by androids. The moment Isidore mentioned that Buster works 23 hours of the day everyday and always has something new to say, I immediately began to question if Buster was human or not. Isidore also mentioned that the guests on Buster Friendly’s show were almost always there and were always happy to be there. The guests lived successful lives yet basically didn’t have the actual time to work based on the amount of time spent in the show. Again, they also always had something new to say and were as quick witted as Buster. The fact that they (Buster and his guests) are against Mercerism also speaks volumes. Empathy is not something androids feel (at least as far as I’ve read) except for the use of the empathy box, and Mercerism is all about empathy. Now humans in this story pick their own emotions so empathy escapes them; however, the androids have no way of feeling it unless a new model comes out. It wouldn’t make sense for a human to be against Mercerism, but it would make sense for an android to be against it.
I believe it makes sense that the tv show is ran by androids. If they are calling them immortals, they have to be robots, since of course, humans are not immortals. It also makes sense that Buster Friendly is against Mercerism if he is an android, because androids are not able to understand the “fusion which took lace routinely around the followers of Mercerism” (Dick 30).
I do believe that Buster Friendly is hosted by an android. For me the proof was in chapter 7 pg. 73 “Women like Amanda Werner never made movies, never appeared in plays; the lived out their queer, beautiful lives as guests on Buster’s.” This whole passage basically says that these characters on the show have never been seen anywhere else besides on Buster’s. Also the audience doesn’t even know where the women, or Buster is from or any general information about them outside the show. In addition this chapter does mention how the show is filmed 24 hours practically everyday, no human could stand that lifestyle. Even if the actors had a penfield device in which they could change their mood to proactive, their bodies could not withstand that work load.