"He can look ahead. See what's coming. He can — prethink. Let's call it that. He can see into the future. Probably he doesn't perceive it as the future." "No," Anita said thoughtfully. "It would seem like the present. He has a broader present. But his present lies ahead, not back. Our present is related to the past. Only the past is certain, to us. To him, the future is certain. And he probably doesn't remember the past, any more than any animal remembers what happened." "As he develops," Baines said, "as his race evolves, it'll probably expand its ability to prethink. Instead of ten minutes, thirty minutes. Then an hour. A day. A year. Eventually they'll be able to keep ahead a whole lifetime. Each one of them will live in a solid, unchanging world. There'll be no variables, no uncertainty. No motion! They won't have anything to fear. Their world will be perfectly static, a solid block of matter." "And when death comes," Anita said, "they'll accept it. There won't be any struggle; to them, it'll already have happened."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Science fiction authors from the United StatesNovelists from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesShort story writers from the United StatesHumanists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick (16 December 1928 – 2 March 1982) was an American writer, whose published works mainly belong to the genre of science fiction. Dick explored philosophical, sociological and political themes in novels with plots dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states of consciousness. In his later works, Dick's thematic focus tended to reflect his personal interest in metaphysics and theology.
241 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Philip K. Dick →
Related Quotes
"The time, then, had come for him to poison himself so that an economic monopoly could be kept alive, a sprawling, int…"
"He glared at her. Women can get a man to do anything, he realized. Mother, wife, even employee; they twist us like ho…"
"“We all make mistakes,” the cab said piously. “But some of us,” Barney said, “make fatal ones.” First about our loved…"
"Isn’t a miserable reality better than the most interesting illusion? Or is it illusion, Barney? I don’t know anything…"
"But an artist, he realized. Or rather so-called artist. Bohemian. That’s closer to it. The artistic life without the …"
"“Isn’t there any way—” He broke off. Can’t the past be altered? he asked himself. Evidently not. Cause and effect wor…"
"When two people dream the same dream, it ceases to be an illusion."
"It takes a certain amount of courage, he thought, to face yourself and say with candor, I’m rotten. I’ve done evil an…"
"It’s not religious fervor; it’s just a mean, very cruel streak."
"That’s who I ought to call: Verne Engel. You know what I’d say to him? “You stupid bastard, does what you’re fighting…"