DICK, Philip K.
How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later

Against the surreal backdrop of Disneyland in 1978, visionary science fiction author Philip K. Dick delivers a mind-bending lecture on the fragile nature of reality, the power of fiction, and the quest for authentic human experience in an increasingly mediated world.

How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later is at once a lecture on the aims of writing science fiction, an essay on Pre-Socratic philosophers, and a reflection on similarities between the author's life and the Book of Acts. Dick's distrust of mass media information systems and those who operated them circa 1978 is so prescient that it seems the author may have uploaded himself into one of the androids in his fiction, so as to continue observing the world. Beside most aspects that define our modernity—AI, social media, increasingly sophisticated propaganda—can be heard the voice of Philip K. Dick, exclaiming with both amusement and concern: “I told you so.” [publishers’ note]

Published by ISOLARII, 2024
Essays / Science/Fiction / Media Studies