Philip Dick

Page 357, "Is an extra-factual memory that convincing?" Quail asked. "More than the real thing, sir. Had you really gone to Mars as an Interplan agent, you would by now have forgotten a great deal; our analysis of true-mem-systems--authentic recollections of major events in a person's life--shows that a variety of details are very quickly lost to the person. Forever."

For me, this brought to mind the debate over things like stem cell research or using prosthetic parts. Or even robotic workers over human workers. Philip Dick brings up a really modern topic for our day--he is way ahead of his time. Mr. McClane is trying to convince Mr. Quail that the real thing is not as good as the simulation or made up version. I don't know why, but I just thought this was a big deal! It was kind of outrageous to me. To think that a fake memory could be better than the real thing, but maybe it's true. That's scary. It is scary how far we have come with technology and I think it's amazing that Philip Dick wrote this in 1966!