Ideas for a Research Paper

In my Liberal Arts class, we’re nearing the point of narrowing down and choosing our topics for the big research paper. At the moment I am torn between two ideas for the paper, the first one being an in depth reading of Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and the other focusing on the promise of the Internet being an excellent tool for communication but also holding the negative effects of reducing attention span, and promoting mental/physical health issues.

Philip K Dick is an engaging author. His imagination was incredible, though he was known to be a troubled person (there is strong speculation he had some form of mental illness). I’d like to analyze his work on “Do Androids…” and see if I can get to the core of the message he was trying to convey. I see this as a challenge because I so easily lose myself in science fiction novels. I tend to jump into the world and explore the fantasy within; the ingenious ideas for new tech, the way humans have changed their way of living and interacting, even the clothing (is it futuristic or old fashioned?). Sitting down and assessing the philosophical message will be an interesting and rewarding experience for me.

On the other hand, the Internet is something most of us use (heck you are probably reading this off the Internet right now) as it has completely infiltrated our lives. I am of the breed that remembers a time before every household had a computer, when the quintessential form of communication was the phone (not text message). At least then, the sounds coming out of your mouth was converted into electrical signals and reassembled on the other phone to produce your voice. Now communication has almost regressed to simple text (which as many of us know is extremely difficult to convey emotions through, hence the emoticon). I’d like to see the physical and psychological effects this important piece of technology has on our culture. Can we consider the benefits an agreeable price to pay for the potential detriments? Is this simply the ‘new’ way of things, and good or bad it simply will be what it is (our future)?

Both these topics interest me greatly as they each speak to different parts of who I am, the sci-fi/tech geek who loves reading about utopia/dystopian futures, and the Psychology student who is always searching for meaningful concepts relevant to our culture.

Edit 4/12

After some consideration I have decided to focus on Philip K. Dick and his novel. There is something compelling about his work that draws me in and I would like to explore the world he has created in “Do Anroids…”. I think there are a number of relevant to our time messages in this book (and other writings) and the fact that it was written in 1968 makes Mr. Dick that much more of an interesting topic to study.