View source for Philip K. Dick

{{Short description|American science fiction author (1928–1982)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| birth_name = Philip Kindred Dick
| image = <!-- Per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Images#Image quality, the high resolution one should be the one to use rather than the low-res one. --> Philip K Dick in early 1960s Arthur Knight (3x4 cropped).jpg
| caption = Dick in the 1960s

|alt = A black-and-white photo of Dick seated
| pseudonym = {{plainlist| <!-- There are open questions; see TALK#Pen Names -->
* Richard Phillipps
* Jack Dowland
}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|12|16|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Chicago]], Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1982|03|02|1928|12|16|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Santa Ana, California]], U.S.
| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Jeanette Marlin|May 1948|November 1948|end=div}}|{{marriage|Kleo Apostolides|June 14, 1950|1959|end=div}}|{{marriage|Anne Williams Rubinstein|April 1, 1959|October 1965|end=div}}|{{marriage|Nancy Hackett|July 6, 1966|1972|end=div}}|{{marriage|Leslie "Tessa" Busby|April 18, 1973|1977|end=div}}}}
| children = 3, including [[Isa Dick Hackett|Isa]]
| occupation = Novelist, short story writer, essayist
| period = 1951–1982
| genre = [[Science fiction]], [[paranoid fiction]], [[philosophical fiction]]
| movement = [[Postmodernism]]
| notableworks = {{plainlist|
* ''[[Ubik]]''
* ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]''
* ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]''
* ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]''
* ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]''
* [[VALIS trilogy|''VALIS'' trilogy]]
* "[[Second Variety]]"
* ''[[We Can Remember It For You Wholesale]]''
}} <!-- Infobox writer no longer supports the fields "influences" and "influenced". See TALK -->
| signature = Philip K Dick signature.svg
}}

'''Philip Kindred Dick''' (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American [[science fiction]] short story writer and novelist.<ref name="NYT-20221026">{{cite news |last=Young |first=Molly |title=The Essential Philip K. Dick - A nuclear-strength imagination powered his stupendous output. Here's where to start. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/books/best-philip-k-dick-novels.html |date=October 26, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=October 26, 2022 |archive-date=October 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221026091010/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/books/best-philip-k-dick-novels.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He wrote 45 novels<ref>Philip K. Dick wrote 36 [https://www.pkdickbooks.com/sfnovels.php science fiction novels] and 9 [https://www.pkdickbooks.com/mainstream.php mainstream novels] - see [https://www.pkdickbooks.com The Philip K. Dick Bookshelf] (retrieved November 10, 2025).</ref> and about 121 [[short stories]], most of which appeared in [[science fiction magazines]].<ref>{{cite web | last = Kimbell | first = Keith | title = Ranked: Movies Based on Philip K. Dick Stories | publisher = Metacritic | url = https://www.metacritic.com/feature/movies-based-on-philip-k-dick-stories | access-date = November 20, 2013 | archive-date = March 8, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130308055427/http://www.metacritic.com/feature/movies-based-on-philip-k-dick-stories | url-status = dead }}</ref> His fiction explored varied philosophical and social questions such as the [[ontology|nature of reality]], [[perception]], [[human nature]], and [[Personal identity|identity]], and commonly featured characters struggling against [[Parallel universe (fiction)|alternate realities]], illusory environments, monopolistic corporations, drug abuse, [[authoritarian]] governments, and [[Altered state of consciousness|altered states of consciousness]].<ref name="irishtimes.com">{{cite news |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Seamus |title=Just because you're paranoid ... Philip K Dick's troubled life |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/just-because-you-re-paranoid-philip-k-dick-s-troubled-life-1.3243976 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=October 7, 2017|access-date=January 24, 2020 |archive-date=August 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809124138/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/just-because-you-re-paranoid-philip-k-dick-s-troubled-life-1.3243976 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="SLN-20220723">{{cite news |last=Dancey-Downs |first=Katie |title=8 facts about Philip K. Dick |url=https://www.salon.com/2022/07/23/8-facts-about-philip-k-dick_partner/ |date=July 23, 2022 |work=[[Salon.com]] |accessdate=July 23, 2022 |archive-date=July 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723170702/https://www.salon.com/2022/07/23/8-facts-about-philip-k-dick_partner/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He is considered one of the most important figures in 20th-century science fiction.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip K. Dick |url=https://www.mopop.org/resources/archive/landing-pages/science-fiction-and-fantasy-hall-of-fame/sffhof-members/philip-k-dick/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714094612/https://www.mopop.org/resources/archive/landing-pages/science-fiction-and-fantasy-hall-of-fame/sffhof-members/philip-k-dick/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 14, 2023 |access-date=October 31, 2023 |website=Museum of Pop Culture |language=en }}</ref>

Born in [[Chicago]], Dick moved to the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] with his family at a young age. He began publishing science fiction stories in 1952, at age 23. He found little commercial success<ref name="Poverty">{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/pkdick.htm |title=Philip K. Dick |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi)|first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070425103235/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/pkdick.htm |archive-date=April 25, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> until his [[alternative history]] novel ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]'' (1962) earned him acclaim, including a [[Hugo Award for Best Novel]], when he was 33.<ref name="WWE-1963">{{cite web| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1963| title = 1963 Award Winners & Nominees| work = Worlds Without End| access-date = June 26, 2009| archive-date = July 30, 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120730134452/https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1963| url-status = live}}</ref> He followed with science fiction novels such as ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'' (1968) and ''[[Ubik]]'' (1969). His 1974 novel ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]'' won the [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel]].<ref name="WWE-1975">{{cite web| url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1975| title=1975 Award Winners & Nominees| work=Worlds Without End| access-date=June 26, 2009| archive-date=April 18, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418233801/https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1975| url-status=live}}</ref>

Following years of drug use and a series of [[mystical experience]]s in 1974, Dick's work engaged more explicitly with issues of [[theology]], [[metaphysics]], and the nature of reality, as in the novels ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'' (1977), ''[[VALIS]]'' (1981), and ''[[The Transmigration of Timothy Archer]]'' (1982).<ref>{{cite web| last = Behrens| first = Richard| author2 = Allen B. Ruch| title = Philip K. Dick| work = The Scriptorium| publisher = The Modern Word| date = March 21, 2003| url = http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/dick.html| access-date = April 14, 2008| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080412044539/http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/dick.html| archive-date = April 12, 2008| df = mdy-all}}</ref> A collection of his speculative nonfiction writing on these themes was published posthumously as ''[[The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick]]'' (2011). He died in 1982 at the age of 53 due to complications of a stroke.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Boucher|first=Geoff|date=September 15, 2007|title=The future keepers|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-sep-15-et-dick15-story.html|access-date=October 15, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|archive-date=October 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029171446/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-sep-15-et-dick15-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Following his death, he became "widely regarded as a master of imaginative, [[paranoid fiction]] in the vein of [[Franz Kafka]] and [[Thomas Pynchon]]".<ref name="brit">{{cite web |last1= |title=Philip K. Dick - Biography, Books, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philip-K-Dick |website=[[Britannica]] |access-date=November 14, 2021 |archive-date=April 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429092158/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philip-K-Dick |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dick's posthumous influence has been widespread, extending beyond literary circles into [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] filmmaking.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chi Hyun Park |first1=Jane |title=Yellow Future: Oriental Style in Hollywood Cinema |date=2010 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |page=54}}</ref> Popular films based on his works include<!--This list is representative, not exhaustive--> ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982) and ''[[Blade Runner 2049]]'' (2017), ''Total Recall'' (adapted twice: [[Total Recall (1990 film)|in 1990]] and [[Total Recall (2012 film)|in 2012]]), ''[[Screamers (1995 film)|Screamers]]'' (1995), ''[[Minority Report (film)|Minority Report]]'' (2002), ''[[A Scanner Darkly (film)|A Scanner Darkly]]'' (2006), ''[[The Adjustment Bureau]]'' (2011), and ''[[Radio Free Albemuth (film)|Radio Free Albemuth]]'' (2010). Beginning in 2015, [[Amazon Prime Video]] produced the multi-season television adaptation ''[[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|The Man in the High Castle]]'', based on Dick's 1962 novel; and in 2017 [[Channel 4]] produced the anthology series ''[[Electric Dreams (2017 TV series)|Electric Dreams]]'', based on various Dick stories.

In 2005, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine named ''[[Ubik]]'' (1969) one of the hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine| last =Grossman| first =Lev| title =ALL-TIME 100 Novels| magazine =[[Time (magazine)|Time]]| url =https://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/all/| access-date =April 14, 2008| date =October 16, 2005| archive-date =April 6, 2020| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20200406074522/https://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/all/| url-status =live}}</ref> In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer included in [[Library of America#The Library of America series|The Library of America series]].<ref>Stoffman, Judy [https://www.thestar.com/printArticle/179650 "A milestone in literary heritage"] ''[[Toronto Star]]'' (February 10, 2007)  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006024703/http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/179650 |date=October 6, 2012 }}</ref><ref>Library of America [http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=252 Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415101343/http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=252 |date=April 15, 2008 }}</ref><ref>Associated Press [https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-11-28-philipk-dick_x.htm "Library of America to issue volume of Philip K. Dick"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113090258/http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-11-28-philipk-dick_x.htm |date=January 13, 2012 }} ''[[USA Today]]'' (November 28, 2006)</ref>

==Early life==
{{stack|[[File:PKD5302.jpg|thumb|175px|Philip K. Dick (c. 1953, age 24)]]}}
Philip Kindred Dick and his twin sister, Jane Charlotte Dick, were [[Preterm birth|born six weeks prematurely]] on December 16, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, to Dorothy (née Kindred; 1900–1978) and Joseph Edgar Dick (1899–1985), who worked for the [[United States Department of Agriculture]].<ref name=PKDCanon>{{Cite book| last = Kucukalic| first = Lejla| title = Philip K. Dick: canonical writer of the digital age| page = 27| publisher=Taylor and Francis| year = 2008| isbn  = 978-0-415-96242-1}}</ref><ref name="Biography">{{cite web|last=Sutin |first=Lawrence |title=Philip K. Dick |work=Author – Official Biography |publisher=Philip K. Dick Trust |year=2003 |url=http://www.philipkdick.com/aa_biography.html |access-date=April 14, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410161534/http://www.philipkdick.com/aa_biography.html |archive-date=April 10, 2008 }}</ref> His paternal grandparents were Irish.<ref>The Search for Philip K Dick by Anne R Dick, Tachyon Publications 2010</ref> Jane's death on January 26, 1929, six weeks after their birth, profoundly affected Philip's life, leading to the recurrent [[Motif (narrative)|motif]] of the "[[Twinless twin|phantom twin]]" in his books.<ref name="PKDCanon" />

Dick's family later moved to the [[San Francisco Bay Area]]. When he was five, his father was transferred to [[Reno, Nevada]], and when Dorothy refused to move, she and Joseph divorced. Both fought for custody of Philip, which was awarded to Dorothy. Determined to raise Philip alone, she took a job in [[Washington, D.C.]], and moved there with her son. Philip was enrolled at John Eaton Elementary School (1936–1938), completing the second through fourth grades. His lowest grade was a "C" in Written Composition, although a teacher said he "shows interest and ability in [[Storytelling|story telling]]". He was educated in [[Quakers|Quaker]] schools.<ref name=interview>{{cite web|last=Vitale |first=Joe |title=Interview with Philip K. Dick |work=Philip K. Dick – Official Site |access-date=May 6, 2012 |url=http://www.philipkdick.com/media_aquarian.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120408231834/http://www.philipkdick.com/media_aquarian.html |archive-date=April 8, 2012 }}</ref> In June 1938, Dorothy and Philip returned to California, and it was around this time that he became interested in science fiction.<ref name=sutin3 /> Dick stated that he read his first science fiction magazine, ''Stirring Science Stories,'' in 1940.<ref name=sutin3>Sutin p.3</ref>

Dick attended [[Berkeley High School (California)|Berkeley High School]] in [[Berkeley, California]]. He and fellow science fiction author [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] were members of the class of 1947 but did not know each other at the time. He claimed to have hosted a classical music program on [[KEAR (AM)|KSMO]] Radio in 1947.<ref name=sutin1>Sutin, p. 53</ref> From 1948 to 1952, he worked at Art Music Company, a record store on [[Telegraph Avenue]].

He attended the [[University of California, Berkeley]], from September 1949 to November 11, 1949, ultimately receiving an honorable dismissal dated January 1, 1950. He did not declare a major and took classes in history, psychology, philosophy, and zoology. Dick dropped out because of ongoing [[anxiety]] problems, according to his third wife Anne's memoir. She also says he disliked the mandatory [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps|ROTC]] training. At Berkeley, he befriended poet [[Robert Duncan (poet)|Robert Duncan]] and poet and [[Linguistics|linguist]] [[Jack Spicer]], who gave Dick ideas for a Martian language.

Through his studies in philosophy, he believed that existence is based on internal human perception, which does not necessarily correspond to external reality. He described himself as "an acosmic [[Panentheism|panentheist]]", which he explained as meaning that "I don't believe that the universe exists. I believe that the only thing that exists is God and he is more than the universe. The universe is an extension of God into space and time. That's the premise I start from in my work, that so-called 'reality' is a mass delusion that we've all been required to believe for reasons totally obscure".<ref name="Dick, Philip K 2011">Dick, Philip K. "An Interview With America's Most Brilliant Science-Fiction Writer" Interview by Joe Vitale. Interview With Philip K Dick. Print Interviews. Web. October 22, 2011.</ref> After reading the works of [[Plato]] and pondering the possibilities of [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] realms, he came to the conclusion that, in a certain sense, the world is not entirely real and there is no way to confirm whether it is truly there. That question was a theme in many of his novels.

{{Clear}}

==Career==
===Early writing===
{{stack|
[[File:Galaxy 195301.jpg|thumb|Dick's novelette "The Defenders" was the cover story for the January 1953 issue of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'', illustrated by [[Ed Emshwiller]].]]
[[File:Science fiction quarterly 195305.jpg|thumb|Dick's short story "The World She Wanted" took the cover of the May 1953 issue of ''[[Science Fiction Quarterly]]''.]]
[[File:Satellite science fiction 195612.jpg|thumb|Dick's novel ''[[The Cosmic Puppets]]'' originally appeared in the December 1956 issue of ''[[Satellite Science Fiction]]'' as "A Glass of Darkness".]]
}}
Dick sold his first story, "[[Roog (story)|Roog]]"—about "a dog who imagined that the garbagemen who came every Friday morning were stealing valuable food which the family had carefully stored away in a safe metal container"<ref>{{Citation |author= Philip K. Dick |year= 1978 |title= How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later |publisher= urbigenous |url= https://urbigenous.net/library/how_to_build.html |access-date= February 10, 2019 |archive-date= January 14, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200114001353/https://urbigenous.net/library/how_to_build.html |url-status= live }}</ref>—in 1951, when he was 22. From then on he wrote full-time. During 1952, his first speculative fiction publications appeared in July and September numbers of ''[[Planet Stories]]'', edited by Jack O'Sullivan, and in ''[[If (magazine)|If]]'' and ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction]]'' (''F&SF'') that year.<ref name=isfdb /> By 1953, ''F&SF'' described Dick as "one of the most prolific new professionals in the field", joking that "the editors of ''Whizzing Star Patrol'' and of the ''Quaint Quality Publication'' are in complete agreement upon Mr. Dick as a singularly satisfactory contributor".<ref name="dick195306">{{Cite magazine |last=Dick |first=Philip K. |date=June 1953 |title=The Preserving Machine |url=https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v004n06_1953-06/page/n73/mode/2up?view=theater |magazine=The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction |page=73 |volume=4 |issue=6}}</ref> His debut novel, ''[[Solar Lottery]]'', was published in 1955 as half of [[Ace Double]] #D-103 alongside ''The Big Jump'' by [[Leigh Brackett]].<ref name=isfdb /> The 1950s were a difficult and impoverished time for Dick, who once lamented, "We couldn't even pay the late fees on a library book." He published almost exclusively within the science fiction genre but dreamed of a career in mainstream fiction.<ref name="empireonline.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/philip-k-dick-man-movies/|title=Philip K. Dick: The Man And His Movies|first=HELEN|last=O'HARA|website=Empire|date=March 3, 2011 |access-date=April 17, 2020|archive-date=June 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622062558/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/philip-k-dick-man-movies/|url-status=live}}</ref> During the 1950s, he produced a series of non-genre, relatively conventional novels.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bp8mCgAAQBAJ&q=Philip+k+dick+last+girlfriend&pg=PT7|title=Philip K. Dick: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations|first=Philip K.|last=Dick|date=December 15, 2015|publisher=Melville House|isbn=9781612195278|via=Google Books|access-date=October 28, 2020|archive-date=April 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417045621/https://books.google.com/books?id=bp8mCgAAQBAJ&q=Philip+k+dick+last+girlfriend&pg=PT7|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1960, Dick wrote that he was willing to "take twenty to thirty years to succeed as a literary writer". The dream of mainstream success formally died in January 1963 when the Scott Meredith Literary Agency returned all of his unsold mainstream novels. Only one of them, ''[[Confessions of a Crap Artist]]'', was published during Dick's lifetime,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dick |first1=Philip K. |title=Philip K. Dick: The Last Interview and Other Conversations |date=2015 |publisher=Melville House |isbn=978-1-61219-526-1 |page=68}}</ref> in 1975 by [[Paul Williams (Crawdaddy)|Paul Williams]]' [[Entwhistle Books]].

In 1963, Dick won the Hugo Award for ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]''.<ref name="WWE-1963" /> Although he was hailed as a genius in the science fiction world, the mainstream literary world was unappreciative, and he could publish books only through low-paying science fiction publishers such as [[Ace Books|Ace]]. He said in a 1977 interview that were it not for the interest of a French publishing company in the mid-1960s, which decided to publish all of his catalog to date, he would not have been able to continue as a writer.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Breau |first1=Yves |title=INTERVIEW PHILIP K. DICK (6:45 min)|url=https://ubu.com/film/dick_interview.html |website=UbWeb |access-date=January 24, 2024}}</ref> But even in his later years, he continued to have financial troubles. In the introduction to the 1980 short story collection, ''The Golden Man'', he wrote:
{{cquote|"Several years ago, when I was ill, [[Robert A. Heinlein|Heinlein]] offered his help, anything he could do, and we had never met; he would phone me to cheer me up and see how I was doing. He wanted to buy me an electric [[typewriter]], God bless him—one of the few true gentlemen in this world. I don't agree with any ideas he puts forth in his writing, but that is neither here nor there. One time when I owed the [[IRS]] a lot of money and couldn't raise it, Heinlein loaned the money to me. I think a great deal of him and his wife; I dedicated a book to them in appreciation. Robert Heinlein is a fine-looking man, very impressive and very military in stance; you can tell he has a military background, even to the haircut. He knows I'm a flipped-out freak and still he helped me and my wife when we were in trouble. That is the best in humanity, there; that is who and what I love."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dick |first1=Philip K |title=The Golden Man |date=1980 |publisher=Berkley Books |isbn=0-425-04288-X}}</ref>}}

===Flight to Canada, mental health and suicide attempt===
In 1971, Dick's marriage to Nancy Hackett broke down, and she moved out of their house in [[Santa Venetia, California]]. He had abused [[amphetamine]] for much of the previous decade, stemming in part from his need to maintain a prolific writing regimen due to the financial exigencies of the science fiction field. He allowed other drug users to move into the house. Following the release of 21 novels between 1960 and 1970, these developments were exacerbated by unprecedented periods of [[writer's block]], with Dick ultimately failing to publish new fiction until 1974.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E1Te3BhJh9sC|title=The Pocket Essential Philip K. Dick|first=Andrew M.|last=Butler|publisher=Oldcastle Books|date=May 24, 2012|access-date=June 26, 2015|isbn=9781842439197|archive-date=April 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417050735/https://books.google.com/books?id=E1Te3BhJh9sC|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Note: there are much better references than this possible. -->

One day, in November 1971, Dick returned to his home to discover it had been burglarized, with his safe blown open and personal papers missing. The police could not determine the culprit, and even suspected Dick of having done it himself.<ref name="flight">{{cite journal|url=http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2014/06/mad-flight-manic-phoenix-philip-k-dick-vancouver-1972/|title=Mad Flight of a Manic Phoenix, or: Philip K. Dick in Vancouver (1972)|last=Cameron|first=R. Graeme|journal=[[Amazing Stories]]|date=June 20, 2014|access-date=June 26, 2015|archive-date=June 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627042033/http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2014/06/mad-flight-manic-phoenix-philip-k-dick-vancouver-1972/|url-status=live}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, he was invited to be the guest of honor at the [[Vancouver Science Fiction Convention]] in February 1972. Within a day of arriving at the conference and giving his speech, ''[[The Android and the Human]]'', he informed people that he had fallen in love with a woman named Janis whom he had met there and announced that he would be remaining in Vancouver.<ref name="flight" /> A conference attendee, [[Michael Walsh (film critic)|Michael Walsh]], movie critic for the local newspaper ''[[The Province]]'', invited Dick to stay in his home, but asked him to leave two weeks later due to his erratic behavior. Janis then ended their relationship and moved away. On March 23, 1972, Dick attempted suicide by taking an overdose of the sedative [[potassium bromide]].<ref name="flight" /> Subsequently, after deciding to seek help, Dick became a participant in X-Kalay (a Canadian [[Synanon]]-type recovery program), and was well enough by April to return to California.<ref name="flight" /> In October 1972, Dick wrote a letter to the FBI about science fiction writer [[Thomas M. Disch|Thomas Disch]]. Dick said he had been approached by a covert Anti-American organization which attempted to recruit him. Dick said he recognized their ideology in a book Disch wrote.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Heer |first=Jeet |date=May 2001 |title=Marxist Literary Critics Are Following Me!: How Philip K. Dick betrayed his academic admirers to the FBI. |url=http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/print/0105/cover.html |access-date=March 16, 2022 |website=Lingua Franca |archive-date=March 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316202012/http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/print/0105/cover.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=When Philip K. Dick Reports You to the FBI: Thomas M. Disch's Camp Concentration – Black Gate|url=https://www.blackgate.com/2018/09/18/vintage-treasures-camp-concentration-by-thomas-m-disch/|first=John|last=O'Neill|date=September 18, 2018|access-date=March 16, 2022|language=en-US|archive-date=March 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316202006/https://www.blackgate.com/2018/09/18/vintage-treasures-camp-concentration-by-thomas-m-disch/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On relocating to [[Orange County, California]] at the behest of [[California State University, Fullerton]] professor Willis McNelly (who initiated a correspondence with Dick during his X-Kalay stint), he donated [[Manuscript format|manuscripts]], papers and other materials to the university's Special Collections Library, where they are in the Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Collection in the Pollak Library. During this period, Dick befriended a circle of Fullerton State students that included several aspiring science fiction writers, including [[K. W. Jeter]], [[James Blaylock]] and [[Tim Powers]]. Jeter would later continue Dick's Bladerunner series with three sequels.<ref>[[Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human]]</ref><ref>[[Blade Runner 3: Replicant Night]]</ref><ref>[[Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon]]</ref>

Dick returned to the events of these months while writing his novel ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'' (1977),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/aug/12/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.philipkdick|title=The drugs did work|first=Philip|last=Purser-Hallard|date=August 11, 2006|work=The Guardian|access-date=December 14, 2016|archive-date=December 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221101636/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/aug/12/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.philipkdick|url-status=live}}</ref> which contains fictionalized depictions of the burglary of his home, his time using amphetamines and living with addicts, and his experiences of X-Kalay (portrayed in the novel as "New-Path"). A factual account of his recovery program participation was portrayed in his posthumously released book ''[[The Dark Haired Girl]]'', a collection of letters and journals from the period.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

===Paranormal experiences===
On February 20, 1974, while recovering from the effects of [[sodium thiopental|sodium pentothal]] administered for the extraction of an impacted [[wisdom tooth]], Dick received a home delivery of [[Dextropropoxyphene|Darvon]] from a young woman. When he opened the door, he was struck by the dark-haired girl's beauty, and was especially drawn to her golden necklace. He asked her about its curious fish-shaped design. As she was leaving, she replied: "This is a sign used by the early Christians." Dick called the symbol the "vesicle pisces". This name seems to have been based on his conflation of two related symbols, the Christian [[ichthys]] symbol (two intersecting arcs delineating a fish in profile), which the woman was wearing, and the [[vesica piscis]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Admin |first=System |url=http://mindscapemagazine.com/2012/03/philip-k-dick-and-the-vesica-piscis/ |title=Philip K Dick and the Vesica Piscis " From Around The Web " Mindscape magazine |publisher=Mindscapemagazine.com |date=March 30, 2012 |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112112258/http://mindscapemagazine.com/2012/03/philip-k-dick-and-the-vesica-piscis/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dick recounted that as the sun glinted off the gold pendant, the reflection caused the generation of a "pink beam" of light that mesmerized him. He came to believe the beam imparted wisdom and clairvoyance, and also believed it to be intelligent. On one occasion, he was startled by a separate recurrence of the pink beam, which imparted the information that his infant son was ill. The Dicks rushed the child to the hospital, where the illness was confirmed by professional diagnosis.<ref>"Prophets of Science Fiction: Philip K. Dick". The Science Channel. Aired Wednesday, November 17, 2011.</ref>{{Verify source|date=March 2017}}

After the woman's departure, Dick began experiencing strange hallucinations. Although initially attributing them to side effects from medication, he considered this explanation implausible after weeks of continued hallucination. He told [[Charles Platt (author)|Charles Platt]]: <blockquote>"I experienced an invasion of my mind by a transcendentally rational mind, as if I had been insane all my life and suddenly I had become sane."<ref name=Platt /></blockquote>

Throughout February and March 1974, Dick experienced a series of hallucinations which he referred to as "2-3-74",<ref name="empireonline.com"/><ref>Green, Ronald S. "The Gnosis of 2-3-74" Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Do Androids Have Kindred Spirits?, edited by D. E. Wittkower, Chicago: Open Court, (2011) p. 183–192. {{ISBN|9780812697346}}</ref> shorthand for February–March 1974. Aside from the "pink beam", he described the initial hallucinations as [[geometry|geometric]] patterns, and, occasionally, brief pictures of Jesus and [[ancient Rome]]. As the hallucinations increased in duration and frequency, Dick claimed he began to live two parallel lives—one as himself, "Philip K. Dick", and one as "Thomas",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/paranoid-android|title=Mike Jay - Paranoid Android|website=Literary Review|access-date=April 6, 2020|archive-date=April 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406192105/https://literaryreview.co.uk/paranoid-android|url-status=live}}</ref> a Christian persecuted by Romans in the first century AD. He referred to the "transcendentally rational mind" as "Zebra", "God" and "[[VALIS]]" (an acronym for ''Vast Active Living Intelligence System''). He wrote about the experiences, first in the semi-autobiographical novel ''[[Radio Free Albemuth]]'', then in ''[[Valis (novel)|VALIS]]'', ''[[The Divine Invasion]]'', ''[[The Transmigration of Timothy Archer]]'' and the unfinished ''[[The Owl in Daylight]]'' (the [[VALIS trilogy]]).{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In 1974, Dick wrote a letter to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], accusing various people, including [[University of California, San Diego]] professor [[Fredric Jameson]], of being foreign agents of [[Warsaw Pact]] powers.<ref>Dick, Philip K.  'The Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick: 1974', Underwood-Miller, 1991, p. 235</ref> He also wrote that [[Stanisław Lem]] was probably a false name used by a composite committee operating on orders of the [[Communist party]] to gain control over public opinion.<ref name=mdavies>[http://culture.pl/en/article/philip-k-dick-stanislaw-lem-is-a-communist-committee "Philip K. Dick: Stanisław Lem is a Communist Committee"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921182200/http://culture.pl/en/article/philip-k-dick-stanislaw-lem-is-a-communist-committee |date=September 21, 2017 }}, Matt Davies, April 29, 2015</ref>

At one point, Dick felt he had been taken over by the spirit of the prophet [[Elijah]]. He believed that an episode in his novel ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]'' was a detailed retelling of a biblical story from the [[Book of Acts]], which he had never read.<ref name="Adherents">{{cite web| title = The Religious Affiliation of Science Fiction Writer Philip K. Dick| work = Famous Science Fiction Writers / Famous Episcopalians| publisher = Adherents.com| date = July 25, 2005| url = http://www.adherents.com/people/pd/Philip_K_Dick.html| access-date = April 14, 2008| archive-date = March 30, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080330231324/http://www.adherents.com/people/pd/Philip_K_Dick.html| url-status = usurped}}</ref> He documented and discussed his experiences and faith in a private journal he called his "exegesis", portions of which were later published as ''[[The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick]]''. The last novel he wrote was ''[[The Transmigration of Timothy Archer]]''; it was published shortly after his death in 1982.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tritel |first=Barbara |date=December 1, 1985 |title=IN SHORT: FICTION |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/01/books/in-short-fiction-193885.html |access-date=April 13, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413094256/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/01/books/in-short-fiction-193885.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Dick was married five times:
* Jeanette Marlin<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/columns/phil-and-jack/|title = Phil and Jack|date = March 23, 2009|access-date = August 25, 2021|archive-date = April 9, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220409072026/http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/columns/phil-and-jack/|url-status = live}}</ref> (May to November 1948)
* Kleo Apostolides<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dickien.fr/dossiers/annemini/interview_anne_mini_dick.html|title=Interview Anne Mini|access-date=September 30, 2021|archive-date=October 18, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018175137/http://www.dickien.fr/dossiers/annemini/interview_anne_mini_dick.html|url-status=live}}</ref> (June 14, 1950, to 1959)
* Anne Williams Rubinstein (April 1, 1959, to October 1965)
* Nancy Hackett (July 6, 1966, to 1972)
* Leslie "Tessa" Busby (April 18, 1973, to 1977)

Dick had three children, Laura Archer Dick<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.courthousenews.com/philip-k-dicks-estate-sues-moviemakers/|title=Philip K. Dick's Estate Sues Moviemakers|date=October 31, 2011|access-date=April 6, 2020|archive-date=April 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406203916/https://www.courthousenews.com/philip-k-dicks-estate-sues-moviemakers/|url-status=live}}</ref> (born February 25, 1960, to Dick and his third wife, Anne Williams Rubenstein), Isolde Freya Dick<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5lHDAAAQBAJ&q=Isolde+freya+dick&pg=PT59|title=The Divine Madness of Philip K. Dick|first=Kyle|last=Arnold|date=May 2, 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190498313|via=Google Books|access-date=October 28, 2020|archive-date=April 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417045623/https://books.google.com/books?id=R5lHDAAAQBAJ&q=Isolde+freya+dick&pg=PT59|url-status=live}}</ref> (now [[Isa Dick Hackett]]) (born March 15, 1967, to Dick and his fourth wife, Nancy Hackett), and Christopher Kenneth Dick (born July 25, 1973, to Dick and his fifth wife, Leslie "Tessa" Busby).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Karina |title=Philip K. Dick's Ex Battles Stepdaughters Over Rights |url=https://www.courthousenews.com/philip-k-dicks-ex-battles-stepdaughters-over-rights/ |access-date=January 27, 2022 |work=Courthouse News Service |date=April 16, 2009 |archive-date=January 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127171841/https://www.courthousenews.com/philip-k-dicks-ex-battles-stepdaughters-over-rights/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1955, Dick and his second wife, Kleo Apostolides, received a visit from the [[FBI]], which they believed to be the result of Kleo's [[Socialism|socialist]] views and [[Left-wing politics|left-wing activities]].<ref name=sutin2>Sutin, pp. 83–84</ref>

He physically fought with Anne Williams Rubinstein, his third wife. Dick wrote to a friend that he and Anne had "dreadful violent fights...slamming each other around, smashing every object in the house." In 1963, Dick told his neighbors that his wife was attempting to kill him and had her involuntarily committed to a psychiatric institution for two weeks.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/books/23philip.html|title=Philip K. Dick's Masterpiece Years|first=Scott|last=Timberg|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 22, 2010|access-date=April 6, 2020|archive-date=April 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406191457/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/books/23philip.html|url-status=live}}</ref> After filing for divorce in 1964, Dick moved to Oakland to live with a fan, author and editor [[Grania Davis]]. Shortly after, he attempted suicide by driving off the road while she was a passenger.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5lHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT53 |pages=53–56 |title=The Divine Madness of Philip K. Dick |last=Arnold |first=Kyle |date=May 2, 2016 |isbn=978-0190498313 |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=June 16, 2018 |archive-date=May 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524030951/https://books.google.com/books?id=R5lHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT53 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Politics===
{{More citations needed|section|date=May 2023}}
Early in life, Dick attended [[Communist Party USA]] meetings but later shifted more towards [[anti-communism]] and [[Libertarianism in the United States|libertarianism]] as time passed. In an interview, Dick once described himself as a "[[Anarchism and religion|religious anarchist]]".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Dick |first1=Philip K. |last2=Panter |first2=Gary |author-link2=Gary Panter |last3=Panter |first3=Nicole |last4=Jeter |first4=KW |date=May 1980 |title=The Philip K. Dick / Punk Rock Connection |url=https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_philip_k._dick_punk_rock_connection |magazine=[[Slash (fanzine)|Slash]] |access-date=May 30, 2023 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Dick generally tried to stay out of the political scene because of high societal turmoil from the [[Vietnam War]]. Still, he showed some [[anti-Vietnam War]] and anti-governmental sentiments. In 1968, he joined the "[[Writers and Editors War Tax Protest]]",<ref name="Dick, Philip K 2011" /><ref>"Writers and Editors War Tax Protest". ''[[New York Post]]''. January 30, 1968.</ref> an anti-war pledge to pay no U.S. [[federal income tax]], which resulted in the [[confiscation]] of his car by the [[IRS]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 1, 2015 |title=IRS Property Seizures Against War Tax Resisters - National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee |url=https://nwtrcc.org/resist/consequences/irs-property-seizures-war-tax-resisters/,%20https://nwtrcc.org/resist/consequences/irs-property-seizures-war-tax-resisters/ |access-date=April 13, 2023 |website=nwtrcc.org |language=en-US |archive-date=April 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230428155009/https://nwtrcc.org/resist/consequences/irs-property-seizures-war-tax-resisters/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dick was a critic of the U.S. federal government, regarding it to be just as "bad as the [[Soviet Union]]", and cheered on "a great decentralization of the government". Dick's politics occasionally influenced his literature. Dick's 1967 short story "[[Faith of Our Fathers (short story)|Faith of Our Fathers]]" is critical of [[Communist state|communism]]. Dick's 1968 novel ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'' condemns the [[eugenics]] movement.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pottle|first=Adam|title=Segregating the Chickenheads: Philip Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and the Post/humanism of the American Eugenics Movement|url=https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/3229/3262|journal=Disability Studies Quarterly|volume=33|number=3|date=2013|doi=10.18061/dsq.v33i3.3229|access-date=January 11, 2023|archive-date=January 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111235223/https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/3229/3262|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1974, as a response to the ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' decision, Dick published "[[The Pre-persons]]", a satirical [[anti-abortion]] and anti-[[Malthusianism]] short story. Following the story's publication, Dick stated that he received death threats from feminists.<ref>{{cite news|last=Salyer|first=Jerry|title=Philip K. Dick's "The Pre-Persons": Abortion & Dystopia|url=https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/07/philip-k-dick-pre-persons-abortion-dystopia-jerry-salyer.html|work=[[The Imaginative Conservative]]|date=July 20, 2019|access-date=January 11, 2023|archive-date=January 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111232709/https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/07/philip-k-dick-pre-persons-abortion-dystopia-jerry-salyer.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Death==
On February&nbsp;17, 1982, after completing an interview, Dick contacted his therapist, complaining of failing eyesight, and was advised to go to a hospital immediately, but did not. The following day, he was found unconscious on the floor of his [[Santa Ana, California]], home, having suffered a stroke. On February&nbsp;25, 1982, Dick suffered another stroke in the hospital, which led to [[brain death]]. Five days later, on March&nbsp;2, 1982, he was disconnected from [[life support]].

After his death, Dick's father, Joseph, took his son's ashes to Riverside Cemetery in [[Fort Morgan, Colorado]] (section&nbsp;K, block&nbsp;1, lot&nbsp;56), where they were buried next to his twin sister Jane, who died in infancy. Her tombstone had been inscribed with both of their names at the time of her death, 53&nbsp;years earlier.<ref name="carrere" /><ref>Sutin, pg. 289</ref> Philip died four months before the release of ''[[Blade Runner]]'', the film based on his novel ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theringer.com/movies/2017/10/5/16428092/blade-runner-philip-k-dick-adaptation|title='Blade Runner' Is Still the Truest Philip K. Dick Adaptation|date=October 5, 2017|access-date=June 2, 2021|website=[[The Ringer (website)|The Ringer]]|last=Harvilla|first=Rob|url-status=live|archive-date=June 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215645/https://www.theringer.com/movies/2017/10/5/16428092/blade-runner-philip-k-dick-adaptation}}</ref>

==Style and works==

===Themes===
Dick's stories typically focus on the fragile nature of what is real and the construction of [[personal identity]]. His stories often become surreal fantasies, as the main characters slowly discover that their everyday world is actually an illusion assembled by powerful external entities, such as the suspended animation in ''Ubik'',<ref name="Ursula" /> vast political conspiracies or the vicissitudes of an [[unreliable narrator]]. "All of his work starts with the basic assumption that there cannot be one, single, objective reality", writes science fiction author [[Charles Platt (science-fiction author)|Charles Platt]]. "Everything is a matter of perception. The ground is liable to shift under your feet. A protagonist may find himself living out another person's dream, or he may enter a drug-induced state that actually makes better sense than the real world, or he may cross into a different universe completely."<ref name=Platt>{{Cite book| last = Platt| first = Charles| author-link = Charles Platt (science-fiction author)| title = Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction| publisher = Berkley Publishing| year = 1980| isbn = 0-425-04668-0| url = https://archive.org/details/dreammakers00char}}</ref>

[[Parallel universe (fiction)|Alternate universes]] and [[simulacrum|simulacra]] are common [[plot devices]], with fictional worlds inhabited by common, working people, rather than galactic elites. "There are no heroes in Dick's books", [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] wrote, "but there are heroics. One is reminded of [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]]: what counts is the honesty, constancy, kindness and patience of ordinary people."<ref name="Ursula">{{cite web| title = Criticism and analysis| publisher = Gale Research| year = 1996| url = http://www.stud.hum.ku.dk/rydahl/pkd/PKDcritic1.htm| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070307193543/http://www.stud.hum.ku.dk/rydahl/pkd/PKDcritic1.htm| archive-date = March 7, 2007| access-date = April 20, 2007| url-status = dead}}</ref> Dick made no secret that much of his thinking and work was heavily influenced by the writings of [[Carl Jung]].<ref name=carrere>{{Cite book|title=I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey Into the Mind of Philp K. Dick |last=Carrère |first=Emmanuel |year=2004 |publisher=Metropolitan Books |location=New York |isbn=0-8050-5464-2 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.philipkdick.com/media_sfeye87.html A Conversation With Philip K. Dick]  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511082635/http://www.philipkdick.com/media_sfeye87.html |date=May 11, 2012 }}</ref> The Jungian constructs and models that most concerned Dick seem to be the archetypes of the [[collective unconscious]], group projection/hallucination, [[synchronicity|synchronicities]], and personality theory.<ref name=carrere /> Many of Dick's protagonists overtly analyze reality and their perceptions in Jungian terms (see ''[[The Unteleported Man|Lies, Inc.]]'').{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Dick identified one major theme of his work as the question, "What constitutes the authentic human being?"<ref>{{cite book|last=Dick|first=Philip K.|title=I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon|year=1985|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]|isbn=0-385-19567-2|page=2}}</ref> In works such as ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'', beings can appear totally human in every respect while lacking soul or compassion, while completely alien beings such as Glimmung in ''[[Galactic Pot-Healer]]'' may be more humane and complex than their human peers. Understood correctly, said Dick, the term "human being" applies "not to origin or to any ontology but to a way of being in the world."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dick |first=Philip K. |title=The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings |publisher=Vintage |year=1995 |editor-last=Sutin |editor-first=Lawrence |pages=212}}</ref> This authentic way of being manifests itself in compassion that recognizes the oneness of all life. "In Dick's vision, the moral imperative calls on us to care for all sentient beings, human or nonhuman, natural or artificial, regardless of their place in the order of things. And Dick makes clear that this imperative is grounded in empathy, not reason, whatever subsequent role reason may play."<ref>Taylor, Angus (2008). "Electric Sheep and the New Argument from Nature", in Jodey Castricano (ed.), ''Animal Subjects: An Ethical Reader in a Posthuman World''. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 188.</ref> The figure of the android depicts those who are deficient in empathy, who are alienated from others and are becoming more mechanical (emotionless) in their behaviour. "In general, then, it can be said that for Dick robots represent machines that are becoming more like humans, while androids represent humans that are becoming more like machines."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Angus |date=1975 |title=Philip K. Dick and the Umbrella of Light |url=https://philipdick.com/mirror/essays/umbrellaoflight.pdf |access-date=June 4, 2022 |website=Philip K. Dick |page=33 |archive-date=June 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616051030/https://philipdick.com/mirror/essays/umbrellaoflight.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{quote box
|quote= Dick's third major theme is his fascination with war and his fear and hatred of it. One hardly sees critical mention of it, yet it is as integral to his body of work as oxygen is to water.<ref>The Collected Stories Of Philip K. Dick, Volume 1, ''[[The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford (collection)|The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford]]'', (1990), Citadel Twilight, p. xvi, {{ISBN|0-8065-1153-2}}</ref>
|source= —Steven Owen Godersky
| align = right
| width = 20%
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}}

Mental illness was a constant interest of Dick's, and themes of mental illness permeate his work. The character Jack Bohlen in the 1964 novel ''[[Martian Time-Slip]]'' is an "ex-schizophrenic". The novel ''[[Clans of the Alphane Moon]]'' centers on an entire society made up of descendants of lunatic asylum inmates. In 1965, he wrote the essay titled "Schizophrenia and the Book of Changes".<ref name=sutin>Sutin, npg</ref>

Drug use (including [[Entheogenic|religious]], [[Recreational drug use|recreational]], and [[Drug abuse|abuse]]) was also a theme in many of Dick's works, such as ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'' and ''[[The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n13/stephanie-burt/kick-over-the-scenery|title = Kick over the Scenery|journal = London Review of Books|date = July 3, 2008|volume = 30|issue = 13|last1 = Burt|first1 = Stephanie|access-date = August 25, 2021|archive-date = August 25, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210825225641/https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n13/stephanie-burt/kick-over-the-scenery|url-status = live}}</ref> Dick himself was a drug user for much of his life. According to a 1975 interview in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'',<ref name="rollingstone">{{cite magazine| last = Williams| first = Paul| title = The Most Brilliant Sci-Fi Mind on Any Planet: Philip K. Dick| magazine = Rolling Stone| date = November 6, 1975| url = http://www.philipkdickfans.com/mirror/articles/1974_Rolling_Stone.pdf| access-date = November 10, 2014| archive-date = June 26, 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140626113849/http://www.philipkdickfans.com/mirror/articles/1974_Rolling_Stone.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> Dick wrote all of his books published before 1970 while on [[amphetamine]]s. "''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'' (1977){{efn|Completed, but not yet published, by the time of the November 1975 interview.}} was the first complete novel I had written without speed", said Dick in the interview. He also experimented briefly with [[psychedelics]], but wrote ''[[The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch]]'' (1965), which ''Rolling Stone'' dubs "the classic [[LSD]] novel of all time", before he had ever tried them. Despite his heavy amphetamine use, however, Dick later said that doctors told him the amphetamines never actually affected him, that his liver had processed them before they reached his brain.<ref name="rollingstone" />

Summing up all these themes in ''Understanding Philip K. Dick'', Eric Carl Link discussed eight themes or "ideas and motifs":<ref name="Eric Carl Link">{{Cite book |last=Link |first=Eric Carl |title=Understanding Philip K. Dick |publisher=[[University of South Carolina Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-57003-855-6}}</ref>{{rp|48}} Epistemology and the Nature of Reality, Know Thyself, The Android and the Human, Entropy and Pot Healing, The [[Theodicy]] Problem, Warfare and Power Politics, The Evolved Human, and "Technology, Media, Drugs and Madness".<ref name="Eric Carl Link" />{{rp|48–101}}

===Pen names===
Dick had two professional stories published under the [[Pen name#Western literature|pen names]] Richard Phillipps and Jack Dowland. "Some Kinds of Life" was published in October 1953 in ''[[Fantastic Universe]]'' under byline Richard Phillipps, apparently because the magazine had a policy against publishing multiple stories by the same author in the same issue; "Planet for Transients" was published in the same issue under his own name.<ref>Levack, Daniel (1981). ''PKD: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography'', [[Underwood/Miller]], pp. 116, 126 {{ISBN|0-934438-33-1}}</ref>

The short story "[[Orpheus with Clay Feet]]" was published under the pen name Jack Dowland. The protagonist desires to be the [[muse]] for fictional author Jack Dowland, considered the greatest science fiction author of the 20th century. In the story, Dowland publishes a short story titled "Orpheus with Clay Feet" under the pen name Philip K. Dick.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

The surname Dowland refers to [[Renaissance]] composer [[John Dowland]], who is featured in several works. The title ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]'' directly refers to Dowland's best-known composition, "[[Flow, my tears]]". In the novel ''[[The Divine Invasion]]'', the character Linda Fox, created specifically with [[Linda Ronstadt]] in mind, is an intergalactically famous singer whose entire body of work consists of recordings of John Dowland compositions.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

===Selected works===
{{For|a complete bibliography|Philip K. Dick bibliography}}
''[[The Man in the High Castle]]'' (1962) is set in an [[alternate history|alternative history]] in which the United States is ruled by the victorious [[Axis powers]]. It is the only Dick novel to win a [[Hugo Award]]. In 2015 this was adapted into a television series by [[Amazon Studios]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://observer.com/2015/11/isa-hackett-daughter-of-philip-k-dick-discusses-amazons-man-in-the-high-castle/|title=Isa Hackett, Daughter of Philip K. Dick, Discusses Amazon's 'Man in the High Castle'|website=[[The New York Observer]]|date=November 19, 2015|access-date=August 26, 2021|archive-date=August 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826221331/https://observer.com/2015/11/isa-hackett-daughter-of-philip-k-dick-discusses-amazons-man-in-the-high-castle/|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch]]'' (1965) utilizes an array of science fiction concepts and features several layers of reality and unreality. It is also one of Dick's first works to explore religious themes. The novel takes place in the 21st century, when, under UN authority, mankind has colonized the [[Solar System]]'s every [[habitability|habitable]] [[planet]] and [[moon]]. Life is physically daunting and psychologically monotonous for most colonists, so the UN must draft people to go to the colonies. Most entertain themselves using "Perky Pat" [[doll]]s and accessories manufactured by Earth-based "P.P. Layouts". The company also secretly creates "Can-D", an illegal but widely available hallucinogenic drug allowing the user to "translate" into Perky Pat (if the drug user is a woman) or Pat's boyfriend, Walt (if the drug user is a man). This recreational use of Can-D allows colonists to experience a few minutes of an idealized life on Earth by participating in a collective hallucination.<ref name="NYT-20221026" />

''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'' (1968) is the story of a bounty hunter policing the local android population. It occurs on a dying, poisoned Earth de-populated of almost all animals and all "successful" humans; the only remaining inhabitants of the planet are people with no prospects off-world. The 1968 novel is the literary source of the film ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982).<ref name="Sammon">^ Sammon, Paul M. (1996). Future Noir: the Making of Blade Runner. London: Orion Media. p. 49. {{ISBN|0-06-105314-7}}.</ref> It is both a conflation and an intensification of the pivotally Dickian question: "What is real, what is fake? What crucial factor defines humanity as distinctly 'alive', versus those merely alive only in their outward appearance?"{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

''[[Ubik]]'' (1969) employs extensive psychic telepathy and a suspended state after death in creating a state of eroding reality. A group of psychics is sent to investigate a rival organisation, but several of them are apparently killed by a saboteur's bomb. Much of the following novel flicks between different equally plausible realities and the "real" reality, a state of half-life and psychically manipulated realities. In 2005, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine listed it among the "All-TIME 100 Greatest Novels" published since 1923.<ref name="Time"/>

''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]'' (1974) concerns Jason Taverner, a television star living in a dystopian near-future [[police state]]. After being attacked by an angry ex-girlfriend, Taverner awakens in a dingy Los Angeles hotel room. He still has his money in his wallet, but his identification cards are missing. This is no minor inconvenience, as security checkpoints (staffed by "pols" and "nats", the police and National Guard) are set up throughout the city to stop and arrest anyone without valid ID. Jason at first thinks that he was robbed, but soon discovers that his entire identity has been erased. There is no record of him in any official database, and even his closest associates do not recognize or remember him. For the first time in many years, Jason has no fame or reputation to rely on. He has only his innate charm and social graces to help him as he tries to find out what happened to his past while avoiding the attention of the pols. The novel was Dick's first published novel after years of silence, during which time his critical reputation had grown, and this novel was awarded the [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel]].<ref name="WWE-1975"/> It is the only Philip K. Dick novel nominated for both a Hugo and a [[Nebula Award]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In an essay written two years before his death, Dick described how he learned from his Episcopal priest that an important scene in ''Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said'' – involving its other main character, the eponymous Police General Felix Buckman, was very similar to a scene in ''[[Acts of the Apostles]]'',<ref name="Adherents"/> a book of the [[New Testament]]. Film director Richard Linklater discusses this novel in his film ''[[Waking Life]]'', which begins with a scene reminiscent of another Dick novel, ''[[Time Out of Joint]]''.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

''[[A Scanner Darkly]]'' (1977) is a bleak mixture of science fiction and [[police procedural]] novels; in its story, an undercover narcotics police detective begins to lose touch with reality after falling victim to Substance D, the same permanently mind-altering drug he was enlisted to help fight. Substance D is instantly addictive, beginning with a pleasant euphoria which is quickly replaced with increasing confusion, hallucinations and eventually total psychosis. In this novel, as with all Dick novels, there is an underlying thread of paranoia and dissociation with multiple realities perceived simultaneously. It was adapted to [[A Scanner Darkly (film)|film]] by [[Richard Linklater]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/3284|title=A Scanner Darkly. 2006. Directed by Richard Linklater &#124; MoMA|access-date=August 25, 2021|archive-date=April 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420150627/https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/3284|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[The Philip K. Dick Reader]]''<ref>{{cite book|last=Dick|first=Philip K.|title=Philip K. Dick Reader, The|year=1997|publisher=Citadel Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-8065-1856-1|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780806518565}}</ref> is an introduction to the variety of Dick's short fiction.

''[[VALIS]]'' (1980) is perhaps Dick's most [[postmodernism|postmodern]] and autobiographical novel, examining his own unexplained experiences. It may also be his most academically studied work, and was adapted as an opera by [[Tod Machover]].<ref>{{cite web| last = Machover| first = Tod| author-link = Tod Machover| title = Valis CD| publisher = [[MIT Media Lab]]| url = http://web.media.mit.edu/~tod/Tod/valiscd.html| access-date = April 14, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080312210723/http://web.media.mit.edu/~tod/Tod/valiscd.html| archive-date = March 12, 2008| url-status = dead}}</ref> Later works like the [[VALIS trilogy]] were heavily autobiographical, many with "two-three-seventy-four" (2-3-74) references and influences. The word [[VALIS]] is the acronym for ''Vast Active Living Intelligence System''. Later, Dick theorized that VALIS was both a "reality generator" and a means of extraterrestrial communication. A fourth VALIS manuscript, ''Radio Free Albemuth'', although composed in 1976, was posthumously published in 1985. This work is described by the publisher (Arbor House) as "an introduction and key to his magnificent VALIS trilogy".<ref>{{cite book |last=Dick |first=Philip K. |author-link=Philip K. Dick |date=1985 |title=Radio Free Albemuth |url=https://archive.org/details/radiofreealbemu000dick/page/n229/mode/2up |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Arbor House |at=Rear dust jacket |isbn=0877957622}}</ref>

Regardless of the feeling that he was somehow experiencing a divine communication, Dick was never fully able to rationalize the events. For the rest of his life, he struggled to comprehend what was occurring, questioning his own sanity and perception of reality. He transcribed what thoughts he could into an eight-thousand-page, one-million-word [[diary|journal]] dubbed the ''[[Exegesis (book)|Exegesis]]''. From 1974 until his death in 1982, Dick spent many nights writing in this journal. A recurring theme in ''Exegesis'' is Dick's hypothesis that history had been stopped in the first century AD, and that "the [[Roman Empire|Empire]] never ended". He saw Rome as the pinnacle of [[materialism]] and [[despotism]], which, after forcing the [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]] underground, had kept the population of Earth enslaved to worldly possessions. Dick believed that VALIS had communicated with him, and anonymously others, to induce the [[Federal impeachment in the United States|impeachment]] of U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]], whom Dick believed to be the current Emperor of Rome incarnate.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cptHDAAAQBAJ&q=Nixon+emperor+of+rome+philip+k+dick&pg=PA139|title = The Divine Madness of Philip K. Dick|isbn = 978-0-19-049830-6|last1 = Arnold|first1 = Kyle|date = May 2, 2016| publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date = September 20, 2021|archive-date = April 28, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230428155005/https://books.google.com/books?id=cptHDAAAQBAJ&q=Nixon+emperor+of+rome+philip+k+dick&pg=PA139|url-status = live}}</ref>

In a 1968 essay titled "Self Portrait", collected in the 1995 book ''The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick'', Dick reflects on his work and lists which books he feels "might escape World War Three": ''[[Eye in the Sky (novel)|Eye in the Sky]]'', ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]'', ''[[Martian Time-Slip]]'', ''[[Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb]]'', ''[[The Zap Gun]]'', ''[[The Penultimate Truth]]'', ''[[The Simulacra]]'', ''[[The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch]]'' (which he refers to as "the most vital of them all"), ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'', and ''[[Ubik]]''.<ref>Philip K. Dick, "Self Portrait", 1968, (''The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick'', 1995)</ref> In a 1976 interview, Dick cited ''A Scanner Darkly'' as his best work, feeling that he "had finally written a true masterpiece, after 25 years of writing".<ref>[http://philipkdick.com/media_sfreview.html AN INTERVIEW WITH PHILIP K. DICK] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511085817/http://philipkdick.com/media_sfreview.html |date=May 11, 2012 }} Daniel DePerez, September 10, 1976, Science Fiction Review, No. 19, Vol. 5, no. 3, August 1976</ref>

===Adaptations===
{{Main|List of adaptations of works by Philip K. Dick}}

====Films====
Several of Dick's stories have been made into films. Dick himself wrote a screenplay for an intended film adaptation of ''[[Ubik]]'' in 1974, but the film was never made. Many film adaptations have not used Dick's original titles. When asked why this was, Dick's ex-wife Tessa said, "Actually, the books rarely carry Phil's original titles, as the editors usually wrote new titles after reading his manuscripts. Phil often commented that he couldn't write good titles. If he could, he would have been an advertising writer instead of a novelist."<ref>{{cite web| last = Knight| first = Annie| author2 = John T Cullen| author3 = the staff of Deep Outside SFFH| title = About Philip K. Dick: An interview with Tessa, Chris, and Ranea Dick| work = Deep Outside SFFH| publisher = Far Sector SFFH| date = November 2002| url = http://www.farsector.com/hot_content1.htm| access-date = April 14, 2008| archive-date = February 19, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080219195229/http://www.farsector.com/hot_content1.htm| url-status = live}}</ref> Films based on Dick's writing had accumulated a total revenue of over US$1&nbsp;billion by 2009.<ref>{{cite web|title=Philip K. Dick Films |publisher=Philip K. Dick Trust |date=August 11, 2009 |url=http://www.philipkdick.com/films_intro.html |access-date=September 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822135308/http://www.philipkdick.com/films_intro.html |archive-date=August 22, 2010 }}</ref>
*''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982), based on Dick's 1968 novel ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'', directed by [[Ridley Scott]] and starring [[Harrison Ford]], [[Sean Young]] and [[Rutger Hauer]]. A screenplay had been in the works for years before Scott took the helm, with Dick being extremely critical of all versions. Dick was still apprehensive about how his story would be adapted for the film when the project was finally put into motion. Among other things, he refused to do a novelization of the film. But when Dick was given an opportunity to watch a few sequences portraying the film's imagined Los Angeles of 2019, he was amazed that the environment was "exactly as how I'd imagined it!"—even though Ridley Scott has mentioned he had never even read the source material.<ref>{{Cite AV media | people = Kermode, Mark| title = On the Edge of Bladerunner| medium = TV documentary|publisher=Channel 4 |location=UK | date = July 15, 2000}}</ref> Following the screening, Dick and Scott had a frank but cordial discussion of ''Blade Runner''{{'}}s themes and characters, and although they had wildly differing views, Dick fully backed the film from then on, stating that his "life and creative work are justified and completed by ''Blade Runner''".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-laddcompany.html | title=Letter to Jeff Walker regarding 'Blade Runner' | access-date=May 31, 2016 | last=Dick | first=Philip K. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031213103657/http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-laddcompany.html | archive-date=December 13, 2003}}</ref> Dick died from a stroke less than four months before the release of the film. The 2017 film ''[[Blade Runner 2049]]'' was a sequel to the 1982 movie.
*''[[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]'' (1990), based on the short story "[[We Can Remember It for You Wholesale]]", directed by [[Paul Verhoeven]] and starring [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2010/10/7-past-and-future-philip-k-dick-adaptations/|title=7 Past and Future Philip K. Dick Adaptations|first=Robert|last=Capps|magazine=Wired|date=October 7, 2010|via=www.wired.com|access-date=April 5, 2020|archive-date=September 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922214306/https://www.wired.com/2010/10/7-past-and-future-philip-k-dick-adaptations/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''[[Confessions d'un Barjo]]'' (1992), titled ''Barjo'' in its English-language release, a French film based on the non-science-fiction novel ''[[Confessions of a Crap Artist]]''.
* ''[[Screamers (1995 film)|Screamers]]'' (1995), based on the short story "[[Second Variety]]",<ref name="irishtimes.com" /> directed by [[Christian Duguay (director)|Christian Duguay]] and starring [[Peter Weller]]. The location was altered from a war-devastated Earth to a distant planet. A sequel, titled ''[[Screamers: The Hunting]]'', was released [[direct-to-video|straight to DVD]] in 2009.
* ''[[Minority Report (film)|Minority Report]]'' (2002), based on the short story "[[The Minority Report]]", directed by [[Steven Spielberg]] and starring [[Tom Cruise]].
* ''[[Impostor (2002 film)|Impostor]]'' (2002), based on the 1953 story "[[Impostor (short story)|Impostor]]", directed by [[Gary Fleder]] and starring [[Gary Sinise]], [[Vincent D'Onofrio]] and [[Madeleine Stowe]]. The story was also adapted in 1962 for the British television anthology series ''[[Out of This World (UK TV series)|Out of This World]]''.
* ''[[Paycheck (film)|Paycheck]]'' (2003), directed by [[John Woo]] and starring [[Ben Affleck]], based on Dick's [[Paycheck (short story)|short story of the same name]].<ref name="irishtimes.com"/>
* ''[[A Scanner Darkly (film)|A Scanner Darkly]]'' (2006), directed by [[Richard Linklater]] and starring [[Keanu Reeves]], [[Winona Ryder]], and [[Robert Downey Jr.]], based on Dick's [[A Scanner Darkly|novel of the same name]]. The film was produced using the process of [[rotoscoping]]: it was first shot in live-action and then the live footage was animated over.<ref name="auto"/>
* ''[[Next (2007 film)|Next]]'' (2007), directed by [[Lee Tamahori]] and starring [[Nicolas Cage]], loosely based on the short story "[[The Golden Man]]".<ref name="auto"/>
* ''[[Radio Free Albemuth (film)|Radio Free Albemuth]]'' (2010), directed by John Alan Simon loosely based on the novel ''[[Radio Free Albemuth]]''.
* ''[[The Adjustment Bureau]]'' (2011), directed by [[George Nolfi]] and starring [[Matt Damon]], loosely based on the short story "[[Adjustment Team]]".
* ''[[Total Recall (2012 film)|Total Recall]]'' (2012), directed by [[Len Wiseman]] and starring [[Colin Farrell]], second film adaptation of the short story "[[We Can Remember It for You Wholesale]]".

Future films based on Dick's writing include a film adaptation of ''Ubik'' which, according to Dick's daughter, Isa Dick Hackett, is in advanced negotiation.<ref>{{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Randall |url=http://www.calendarlive.com/books/cl-et-dick15sep15,0,5604716.story?coll=cl-books-features |title=calendarlive.com |publisher=calendarlive.com |access-date=November 12, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211064053/http://www.calendarlive.com/books/cl-et-dick15sep15%2C0%2C5604716.story?coll=cl-books-features |archive-date=December 11, 2007 }}</ref> Ubik was set to be made into a film by [[Michel Gondry]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/ubik.html |title=Ubik (2010) – Preview |publisher=Sci-Fi Movie Page |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-date=July 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728225907/http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/ubik.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2014, however, Gondry told French outlet Telerama (via Jeux Actu), that he was no longer working on the project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/michel-gondry-abandons-ubik/|title=Michel Gondry Abandons Ubik|website=Empire|first=Owen|last=Williams|date=May 6, 2014|access-date=August 25, 2021|archive-date=August 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825221206/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/michel-gondry-abandons-ubik/|url-status=live}}</ref> In November 2021, it was announced that [[Francis Lawrence]] will direct a film adaptation of ''[[Vulcan's Hammer]]'', with Lawrence's about:blank production company, alongside [[New Republic Pictures]] and [[Electric Shepherd Productions]], producing.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Pedersen |first1=Erik |date=November 8, 2021 |title='Vulcan's Hammer': Francis Lawrence Directs Film Version Of Philip K. Dick Novel In Works From New Republic |url=https://deadline.com/2021/11/vulcans-hammer-film-philip-k-dick-novel-francis-lawrence-new-republic-1234869982/ |access-date=April 4, 2022 |website=Deadline |language=en-US |archive-date=December 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208161554/https://deadline.com/2021/11/vulcans-hammer-film-philip-k-dick-novel-francis-lawrence-new-republic-1234869982/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

An animated adaptation of ''[[The King of the Elves]]'' from [[Walt Disney Animation Studios]] was in production and was set to be released in the spring of 2016 but it was cancelled following multiple creative problems.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 28, 2022 |title=What happened to Disney's King of the Elves? |url=https://collider.com/king-of-the-elves-what-happened-disney/ |access-date=April 4, 2022 |first=Douglas |last=Laman |website=Collider |language=en-US |archive-date=April 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404061815/https://collider.com/king-of-the-elves-what-happened-disney/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The ''[[Terminator (franchise)|Terminator]]'' series prominently features the theme of humanoid assassination machines first portrayed in ''Second Variety''. [[The Halcyon Company]], known for developing the ''[[Terminator (franchise)|Terminator]]'' franchise, acquired [[right of first refusal]] to film adaptations of the works of Philip K. Dick in 2007. In May 2009, they announced plans for an adaptation of ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]''.<ref>[http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/05/12/philip-k-dicks-flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said-being-adapted/ Philip K. Dick's 'Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said' Being Adapted] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515020745/http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/05/12/philip-k-dicks-flow-my-tears-the-policeman-said-being-adapted/ |date=May 15, 2009 }} Alex Billington, FirstShowing.net, May 12, 2009</ref>

====Television====
It was reported in 2010 that Ridley Scott would produce an [[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|adaptation]] of ''The Man in the High Castle'' for the BBC, in the form of a miniseries.<ref name=Guardian2010 >{{cite news |title=Ridley Scott to return to work of sci-fi icon for BBC mini-series: Blade Runner director to executive produce four-part BBC1 adaptation of Philip K Dick's The Man in the High Castle |last=Sweney |first=Mark |date=October 7, 2010 |newspaper=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/07/ridley-scott-sci-fi-philip-k-dick-bbc-drama |access-date=December 12, 2016 |archive-date=December 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202023815/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/07/ridley-scott-sci-fi-philip-k-dick-bbc-drama |url-status=live }}</ref> A pilot episode was released on [[Amazon Prime Video]] in January 2015 and season 1 was fully released in ten episodes of about 60 minutes each on November 20, 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/The-New-World/dp/B00RSGFRY8/|title=Watch The Man in the High Castle - Season 1 &#124; Prime Video|website=www.amazon.com|access-date=September 8, 2017|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305164620/http://www.amazon.com/The-New-World/dp/B00RSGFRY8/|url-status=live}}</ref> Premiering in January 2015, the pilot was Amazon's "most-watched since the original series development program began." The next month Amazon ordered episodes to fill out a ten-episode season, which was released in November, to positive reviews. A second season of ten episodes premiered in December 2016, and a third season was released on October 5, 2018. The fourth and final season premiered on November 15, 2019.<ref>{{cite web|title=Amazon Prime for November 2019: More 'Jack Ryan,' 'The Report,' 'Man in the High Castle'|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2019/10/30/amazon-prime-november-more-jack-ryan-man-high-castle/4001064002/|website=USA Today|date=October 30, 2019|access-date=November 16, 2019}}</ref>

In late 2015, [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] aired ''[[Minority Report (TV series)|Minority Report]]'', a television series sequel adaptation to the [[Minority Report (film)|2002 film of the same name]] based on Dick's short story "[[The Minority Report]]" (1956).  The show was cancelled after one 10-episode season.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Palmer |first1=Katie |date=November 3, 2020 |title=Minority Report season 2 release date: Will there be another series of Minority Report? |url=https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1354231/minority-report-season-2-release-date-another-series-minority-report-fox-evg |website=express.co.uk |publisher=Express |access-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-date=September 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911225946/https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1354231/minority-report-season-2-release-date-another-series-minority-report-fox-evg |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In May 2016, it was announced that a 10-part [[anthology series]] was in the works. Titled ''[[Electric Dreams (2017 TV series)|Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams]]'', the series was distributed by [[Sony Pictures Television]] and premiered on [[Channel 4]] in the United Kingdom and Amazon Prime Video in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/philip-k-dick-bryan-cranston-electric-dreams-anthology-series-1201987470/|title=Amazon Grabs U.S. Rights to Bryan Cranston's 'Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams' Anthology Series|author=Cynthia Littleton|work=Variety|date=February 14, 2017|access-date=December 12, 2017|archive-date=April 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424234338/http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/philip-k-dick-bryan-cranston-electric-dreams-anthology-series-1201987470/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was written by executive producers [[Ronald D. Moore]] and [[Michael Dinner]], with executive input from Dick's daughter [[Isa Dick Hackett]], and stars [[Bryan Cranston]], also an executive producer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/2016/tv/news/bryan-cranston-boards-electric-dreams-for-sony-and-channel-4-1201770073/|title=Bryan Cranston to Star in Philip K. Dick Series From 'Outlander's' Ron Moore|last=Lodderhose|first=Diana|date=May 10, 2016|website=Variety|access-date=May 11, 2016|archive-date=May 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510202606/http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/bryan-cranston-boards-electric-dreams-for-sony-and-channel-4-1201770073/|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Stage and radio====
Four of Dick's works have been adapted for the stage.

One was the opera ''VALIS'', composed and with [[libretto]] by [[Tod Machover]], which premiered at the [[Pompidou Center]] in Paris<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.openculture.com/2016/08/hear-valis-an-opera-based-on-philip-k-dicks-metaphysical-novel.html|title=Hear VALIS, an Opera Based on Philip K. Dick's Metaphysical Novel &#124; Open Culture|access-date=August 25, 2021|archive-date=August 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825221840/https://www.openculture.com/2016/08/hear-valis-an-opera-based-on-philip-k-dicks-metaphysical-novel.html|url-status=live}}</ref> on December 1, 1987, with a French libretto. It was subsequently revised and readapted into English, and was recorded and released on CD (Bridge Records BCD9007) in 1988.<ref>{{cite web | title=Machover's VALIS This Way Comes | website=The Boston Musical Intelligencer | date=August 30, 2023 | url=https://www.classical-scene.com/2023/08/30/valis-comes/ | access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref>

Another was ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]'', adapted by Linda Hartinian and produced by the New York-based avant-garde company [[Mabou Mines]]. It premiered in Boston at the Boston Shakespeare Theatre (June 18–30, 1985) and was subsequently staged in New York and Chicago. Productions of ''Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said'' were also staged by the Evidence Room<ref>{{cite web|url=http://evidenceroomtheater.com/past.html|title=evidEnce room – past productions|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207094749/http://www.evidenceroomtheater.com/past.html|archive-date=February 7, 2012|access-date=May 28, 2012}}</ref> in Los Angeles in 1999<ref>{{cite news|last=Foley|first=Kathleen|title='Flow My Tears' Has Hallucinatory Style|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-apr-22-ca-29736-story.html|access-date=May 28, 2012|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 22, 1999|archive-date=October 15, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015154138/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/apr/22/entertainment/ca-29736|url-status=live}}</ref> and by the Fifth Column Theatre Company at the [[Ovalhouse|Oval House Theatre]] in London in the same year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ntk.net/1999/06/11/ |title=Archived NTK email newsletter from 11 June 1999 |date=June 11, 1999 |publisher=Ntk.net |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-date=January 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120164444/http://www.ntk.net/1999/06/11/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

A play based on ''[[Radio Free Albemuth]]'' also had a brief run in the 1980s.{{clarify|date=April 2021}}{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In November 2010, a production of ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'', adapted by [[Edward Einhorn]], premiered at the 3LD Art and Technology Center in Manhattan.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jason |last=Zinoman |title=A Test for Humanity in a Post-Apocalyptic World |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 3, 2010 |url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/theater/04android.html |access-date=December 28, 2010 |archive-date=March 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325122204/http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/theater/04android.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

A radio drama adaptation of Dick's short story "Mr. Spaceship" was aired by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yleisradio) in 1996 under the name ''Menolippu Paratiisiin''. Radio dramatizations of Dick's short stories ''Colony'' and ''The Defenders''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28767|title=The Defenders|via=Project Gutenberg|access-date=August 28, 2020|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809021825/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28767|url-status=live}}</ref> were aired by [[NBC]] in 1956 as part of the series ''[[X Minus One]]''.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In January 2006, a theatre adaptation of ''The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch'' (English for {{lang|pl|Trzy stygmaty Palmera Eldritcha}}) premiered in Stary Teatr in [[Kraków]], with an extensive use of lights and laser choreography.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyklopediateatru.pl/przedstawienie/38116/trzy-stygmaty-palmera-eldritcha|title=Przedstawienie Trzy stygmaty Palmera Eldritcha|publisher=encyklopediateatru.pl|access-date=October 10, 2016|archive-date=October 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011060953/http://www.encyklopediateatru.pl/przedstawienie/38116/trzy-stygmaty-palmera-eldritcha|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://krakow.wyborcza.pl/krakow/1,35796,3115115.html?disableRedirects=true|title=Trzy stygmaty Palmera Eldritcha – Stary Teatr|work=Gazeta Wyborcza|access-date=October 10, 2016|archive-date=September 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914041134/http://krakow.wyborcza.pl/krakow/1,35796,3115115.html?disableRedirects=true|url-status=live}}</ref>

In June 2014, the BBC broadcast a two-part adaptation of ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' on [[BBC Radio 4]], starring [[James Purefoy]] as Rick Deckard.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046j873|title=Episode 1, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Dangerous Visions – BBC Radio 4|access-date=September 20, 2018|archive-date=October 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013235553/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046j873|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Comics====
[[Marvel Comics]] adapted Dick's short story "[[The Electric Ant]]" as a [[Limited series (comics)|limited series]] which was released in 2009. The comic was produced by writer [[David W. Mack|David Mack]] (''[[Daredevil (Marvel Comics series)|Daredevil]]'') and artist Pascal Alixe (''[[Ultimate X-Men]]''), with covers provided by artist [[Paul Pope]].<ref>{{cite web|title=MARVEL BRINGS PHILIP K DICK'S ELECTRIC ANT TO LIFE IN NEW SERIES |publisher=philipkdick.com |date=July 24, 2008 |url=http://www.philipkdick.com/media_pr-072408.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812121407/http://philipkdick.com/media_pr-072408.html |archive-date=August 12, 2012 }}</ref> "[[The Electric Ant]]" had earlier been loosely adapted by Frank Miller and Geof Darrow in their 3-issue mini-series ''[[Hard Boiled (comics)|Hard Boiled]]'' published by [[Dark Horse Comics]] in 1990–1992.<ref>[https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/07/25/sdcc-08-philip-k-dick-comes-to-marvel SDCC 08: PHILIP K. DICK COMES TO MARVEL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015131904/https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/07/25/sdcc-08-philip-k-dick-comes-to-marvel |date=October 15, 2020 }} www.ign.com</ref>

In 2009, BOOM! Studios started publishing a 24-issue miniseries comic book adaptation of ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]''<ref>[http://philipkdick.com/media_pr-040709.html Philip K. Dick Press Release – BOOM! ANNOUNCES DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920112820/http://philipkdick.com/media_pr-040709.html |date=September 20, 2012 }}</ref> ''[[Blade Runner]]'', the 1982 film adapted from ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'', had previously been adapted to comics as ''[[A Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner]]''.<ref>{{cite web|first= Alex|last= Carnevale|title= Blade Runner Started, And Ended, As A Comic Book|url=http://io9.gizmodo.com/5059235/blade-runner-started-and-ended-as-a-comic-book|publisher=[[io9]]|date=October 6, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160613235526/https://io9.gizmodo.com/5059235/blade-runner-started-and-ended-as-a-comic-book|archive-date= June 13, 2016|url-status= live|df= mdy-all|access-date=July 15, 2017}}</ref>

In 2011, Dynamite Entertainment published a four-issue miniseries ''Total Recall'', a sequel to the 1990 film ''[[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]'', inspired by Philip K. Dick's short story "[[We Can Remember It for You Wholesale]]".<ref>[http://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C725130167316 TOTAL RECALL #1 (OF 4)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912052916/http://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C725130167316 |date=September 12, 2014 }} www.dynamite.com</ref> In 1990, [[DC Comics]] published the official adaptation of the original film as a ''DC Movie Special: Total Recall''.<ref>[http://www.comicvine.com/total-recall-1/4000-271271/ Total Recall #1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904011036/http://www.comicvine.com/total-recall-1/4000-271271/ |date=September 4, 2015 }} www.comicvine.com</ref>

===Alternative formats===
In response to a 1975 request from the [[National Library for the Blind]] for permission to make use of ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]'', Dick responded, "I also grant you a general permission to transcribe any of my former, present or future work, so indeed you can add my name to your 'general permission' list."<ref>The Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick, 1975–1976. Novato, California : Underwood-Miller, 1993 (Trade edition) {{ISBN|0-88733-111-4}} p. 240</ref> Some of his books and stories are available in [[braille]] and other specialized formats through the NLS.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/nls/index.html |title=Home Page of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) |publisher=Loc.gov |date=October 28, 2013 |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-date=October 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020185103/http://www.loc.gov/nls/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

As of December 2012, thirteen of Philip K. Dick's early works in the [[public domain]] in the United States are available in ebook form from [[Project Gutenberg]]. As of December 2019, [[Wikisource]] has three of Philip K. Dick's early works in the public domain in the United States available in ebook form which is not from Project Gutenberg.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

==Influence and legacy==
{{in popular culture|date=October 2019}}

[[Lawrence Sutin]] wrote a 1989 biography of Dick, titled ''Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick''.<ref name=sutin />

In 1993, French writer [[Emmanuel Carrère]] published ''[[I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey into the Mind of Philip K. Dick]]'' ({{langx|fr|Je suis vivant et vous êtes morts}}), which the author describes in his preface in this way:<blockquote>The book you hold in your hands is a very peculiar book. I have tried to depict the life of Philip K. Dick from the inside, in other words, with the same freedom and empathy – indeed with the same truth – with which he depicted his own characters.<ref name=carrere /></blockquote> The book omits fact checking, sourcing, notes and index.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Sean |last=O'Hagen |title=What a clever Dick |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jun/12/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.philipkdick |work=The Observer |location=UK |date=June 12, 2005 |access-date=April 15, 2008 |archive-date=May 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522183832/http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/sciencefiction/0,6121,1504386,00.html#article_continue |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Charles |last=Taylor |title=Just Imagine Philip K. Dick |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7DC1430F933A15755C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 20, 2004 |access-date=April 15, 2008 |archive-date=May 24, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524031010/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7DC1430F933A15755C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first=Michael |last=Berry |title=The dead no longer lie in grave silence |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/07/04/RVGBG7BT361.DTL |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=July 4, 2004 |access-date=April 15, 2008 |archive-date=May 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522072854/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2004%2F07%2F04%2FRVGBG7BT361.DTL |url-status=live }}</ref> It can be considered a [[non-fiction novel]] about his life.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Dick has influenced many writers, including [[Jonathan Lethem]]<ref>You Don't Know Dick by Jonathan Lethem, Bookforum {{Cite web |url=http://www.bookforum.com/archive/sum_02/lethem.html |title=Bookforum &#124; summer 2002 |access-date=August 23, 2023 |archive-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116101347/http://www.bookforum.com/archive/sum_02/lethem.html |url-status=dead }} (Summer 2002)</ref> and [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. The prominent literary critic [[Fredric Jameson]] proclaimed Dick the "[[Shakespeare]] of Science Fiction", and praised his work as "one of the most powerful expressions of the society of [[Spectacle (critical theory)|spectacle]] and pseudo-event".<ref>Fredric Jameson, ''Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions'', London and New York: Verso, 2005, p. 345; p. 347.</ref> The author [[Roberto Bolaño]] also praised Dick, describing him as "[[Thoreau]] plus the death of the [[American dream]]".<ref>{{cite news |author=Biography and Memoir Reviews |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/9160698/Between-Parentheses-by-Roberto-Bolano-review.html |title=Between Parentheses by Roberto Bolaño: review |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=November 12, 2013 |archive-date=December 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230124331/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/9160698/Between-Parentheses-by-Roberto-Bolano-review.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Dick has also influenced filmmakers, his work being compared to films such as [[the Wachowskis]]' ''[[The Matrix]]'',<ref name="modwor">{{cite web |url=http://www.themodernword.com/SCRIPTorium/dick.html |title=Scriptorium – Philip K. Dick |publisher=Themodernword.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412044539/http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/dick.html |archive-date=April 12, 2008 |access-date=July 28, 2008 }}</ref> [[David Cronenberg]]'s ''[[Videodrome]]'',<ref name="dailytele">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/07/14/bfdick14.xml&page=4 How Hollywood woke up to a dark genius]{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, [[The Daily Telegraph]]   {{Cite web |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=%2Farts%2F2006%2F07%2F14%2Fbfdick14.xml&page=4 |title=Culture, Arts and Entertainment - Telegraph |access-date=July 26, 2017 |archive-date=November 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111011806/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=%2Farts%2F2006%2F07%2F14%2Fbfdick14.xml&page=4 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''[[eXistenZ]]'',<ref name="modwor" /> and ''[[Spider (2002 film)|Spider]]'',<ref name="dailytele" /> [[Spike Jonze]]'s ''[[Being John Malkovich]]'',<ref name="dailytele" /> ''[[Adaptation (film)|Adaptation]]'',<ref name="dailytele" /> [[Michel Gondry]]'s ''[[Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind|title=Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind|author=Sal Cinquemani|date=September 25, 2004|work=Slant Magazine|access-date=April 17, 2020|archive-date=July 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704202513/https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/apr/30/dvdreviews.shopping4|title=Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind|author=Peter Bradshaw|work=The Guardian|date=April 30, 2004|access-date=December 12, 2016|archive-date=March 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301141851/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/apr/30/dvdreviews.shopping4|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Alex Proyas]]'s ''[[Dark City (1998 film)|Dark City]]'',<ref name="modwor" /> [[Peter Weir]]'s ''[[The Truman Show]]'',<ref name="modwor" /> [[Andrew Niccol]]'s ''[[Gattaca]]'',<ref name="dailytele" /> ''[[In Time (film)|In Time]]'',<ref>{{cite web|title=SDCC TRAILER: Timberlake and Seyfried on the run in IN TIME|url=http://veryaware.com/2011/07/sdcc-trailer-timberlake-and-seyfried-on-the-run-in-in-time/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405183037/http://veryaware.com/2011/07/sdcc-trailer-timberlake-and-seyfried-on-the-run-in-in-time/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 5, 2012|access-date=July 22, 2011}}</ref> [[Terry Gilliam]]'s ''[[12 Monkeys (film)|12 Monkeys]]'',<ref name="dailytele" /> [[Alejandro Amenábar]]'s ''[[Open Your Eyes (1997 film)|Open Your Eyes]]'',<ref>{{cite web|title=Alejandro Amenábar Fernando Cantos|url=http://screenwritersforhire.com/tag/alejandro-amenabar-fernando-cantos/|access-date=January 9, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306171318/http://screenwritersforhire.com/tag/alejandro-amenabar-fernando-cantos/|archive-date=March 6, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[David Fincher]]'s ''[[Fight Club]]'',<ref name="dailytele" /> [[Cameron Crowe]]'s ''[[Vanilla Sky]]'',<ref name="modwor" /> [[Darren Aronofsky]]'s ''[[Pi (film)|Pi]]'',<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080830032847/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn//A6396-2002Jul26 Philip K. Dick's Future Is Now], ''[[The Washington Post]]''</ref> [[Richard Kelly (director)|Richard Kelly]]'s ''[[Donnie Darko]]''<ref>[http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2001/10/30/donnie_darko/ Donnie Darko], ''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]''  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703001655/http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2001/10/30/donnie_darko/ |date=July 3, 2009 }}</ref> and ''[[Southland Tales]]'',<ref>[http://www.cinema-scope.com/cs27/int_peranson_kelly.html Richard Kelly's Revelations: Defending Southland Tales.], Cinema Scope  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910033224/http://www.cinema-scope.com/cs27/int_peranson_kelly.html |date=September 10, 2011 }}</ref> [[Rian Johnson]]'s [[Looper (film)|''Looper'']],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/8/30/3245174/rian-johnson-interview-looper-brick-future-of-film|title=Noir to near-future: 'Looper' director Rian Johnson talks sci-fi, Twitter, and the fate of film|author=Bryan Bishop|date=August 30, 2012|work=The Verge|access-date=September 8, 2017|archive-date=July 31, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731032126/https://www.theverge.com/2012/8/30/3245174/rian-johnson-interview-looper-brick-future-of-film|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Duncan Jones]]' ''[[Source Code (film)|Source Code]]'', [[Christopher Nolan]]'s ''[[Memento (film)|Memento]]''<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.12/philip_pr.html|title=The Second Coming of Philip K. Dick|author=Frank Rose|date=December 1, 2003|magazine=WIRED|access-date=March 11, 2017|archive-date=March 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317004142/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.12/philip_pr.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and ''[[Inception]],''<ref>[https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/540040/could_inception_trigger_a_new_wave_of_scifi_cinema.html Could Inception trigger a new wave of sci-fi cinema?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504220513/http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/540040/could_inception_trigger_a_new_wave_of_scifi_cinema.html |date=May 4, 2012 }}, Den of Geek</ref> and [[Infinity Train|Owen Dennis]]' ''[[Infinity Train]]''.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

The Philip K. Dick Society was an organization dedicated to promoting the literary works of Dick and was led by Dick's longtime friend and music journalist [[Paul Williams (Crawdaddy! creator)|Paul Williams]]. Williams also served as Dick's [[literary executor]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/r-i-p-paul-williams-pioneering-music-journalist-and-p-461838276|title=R.I.P. Paul Williams, pioneering music journalist and Philip K. Dick's literary executor|website=io9|date=March 28, 2013 |access-date=April 6, 2020|archive-date=April 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406205822/https://io9.gizmodo.com/r-i-p-paul-williams-pioneering-music-journalist-and-p-461838276|url-status=live}}</ref> for several years after Dick's death and wrote one of the first biographies of Dick, entitled ''[[Only Apparently Real: The World of Philip K. Dick]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wallace Harris|first=James|date=April 15, 2016|title=The Biographies of Philip K. Dick|url=https://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2016/04/biographies-philip-k-dick/|url-status=live|access-date=May 6, 2021|archive-date=May 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506153433/https://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2016/04/biographies-philip-k-dick/}}</ref>

The Philip K. Dick estate owns and operates the production company Electric Shepherd Productions,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/67404-boom-to-collect-do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep.html |title=Boom! to Collect 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' |date=July 7, 2015 |work=Publishers Weekly |access-date=November 28, 2015 |archive-date=November 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127030843/http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/67404-boom-to-collect-do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep.html |url-status=live }}</ref> which has produced the film ''[[The Adjustment Bureau]]'' (2011), the TV series ''[[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|The Man in the High Castle]]''<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-man-in-the-high-castle-tv-series-philip-k-dick-book-2015-11 |title=Amazon's 'Man in the High Castle' TV series has made Philip K. Dick's original book a bestseller |date=November 20, 2015 |work=Business Insider |access-date=November 28, 2015 |archive-date=November 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123170405/http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-man-in-the-high-castle-tv-series-philip-k-dick-book-2015-11 |url-status=live }}</ref> and also a [[Marvel Comics]] 5-issue adaptation of ''Electric Ant''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://deadline.com/2013/10/dee-rees-philip-k-dick-martian-time-slip-613431/ |title=Dee Rees To Adapt Philip K. Dick's 'Martian Time-Slip' |date=October 17, 2013 |publisher=Deadline Hollywood |access-date=November 28, 2015 |archive-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208143409/http://deadline.com/2013/10/dee-rees-philip-k-dick-martian-time-slip-613431/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:2019 - Press conferences - Day 2 061119SMcC0008 (49024444378).jpg|thumb|The [[Hanson Robotics]] Philip K. Dick Android, at the 2019 [[Web Summit]] event]]
Dick was recreated by his fans in the form of a [[Simulacrum#Philip K. Dick|simulacrum]] or remote-controlled [[android (robot)|android]] designed in his likeness.<ref>{{cite press release| title = About The Philip K. Dick Android Project: A Note from Laura and Isa| publisher=Philip K. Dick Trust| date = June 24, 2005| url = http://www.philipkdick.com/media_android-062405.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120812121725/http://philipkdick.com/media_android-062405.html| archive-date = August 12, 2012| access-date =April 14, 2008}}</ref><ref>''[[Nova ScienceNow]]'', [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIWWLg4wLEY "Next Big Thing"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610195114/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIWWLg4wLEY |date=June 10, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pkdandroid.org/|title=PKD Android|access-date=June 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001204846/http://www.pkdandroid.org/|archive-date=October 1, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> Such simulacra had been themes of many of Dick's works. The Philip K. Dick simulacrum was included on a discussion panel in a [[San Diego Comic Con]] presentation about the film adaptation of the novel, ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]''. In February 2006, an [[America West Airlines]] employee misplaced the android's head, and it has not yet been found.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Waxman| first = Sharon| title = A Strange Loss of Face, More Than Embarrassing| work = [[The New York Times]]| date = June 24, 2006| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/movies/24andr.html| access-date = April 14, 2008| archive-date = June 5, 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120605044634/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/movies/24andr.html| url-status = live}}</ref> In January 2011, it was announced that Hanson Robotics had built a replacement.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Lamar| first = Cyriaque| title = The Lost Robotic Head of Philip K Dick Has Been Rebuilt| work = [[io9]]| date = January 12, 2011| url = http://io9.com/5731075/the-lost-robotic-head-of-philip-k-dick-has-been-rebuilt| access-date = January 12, 2011| archive-date = January 14, 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110114022527/http://io9.com/5731075/the-lost-robotic-head-of-philip-k-dick-has-been-rebuilt| url-status = live}}</ref>

===Film===
* [[BBC2]] released in 1994 a biographical documentary as part of its ''[[Arena (UK TV series)|Arena]]'' arts series called ''Philip K. Dick: A Day in the Afterlife''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1056525/|title="Arena" Philip K Dick: A Day in the Afterlife (TV Episode 1994)|author=timotheyido|date=April 9, 1994|publisher=IMDb|access-date=July 21, 2018|archive-date=February 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210205942/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1056525/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick'' was a documentary film produced in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273244/ |title=The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick |publisher=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>
* ''The Penultimate Truth About Philip K. Dick'' was another biographical documentary film produced in 2007.<ref name="penultimate">{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1461696/ |title=The Penultimate Truth About Philip K. Dick |publisher=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>
* The 1987 film ''The Trouble with Dick'', in which [[Tom Villard]] plays a character named "Dick Kendred" (cf. Philip Kindred Dick), who is a science fiction author<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094187/ |title=The Trouble With Dick |publisher=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>
* The dialogue of [[Nikos Nikolaidis]]' 1987 film ''[[Morning Patrol]]'' contains excerpts taken from published works authored by Philip K. Dick.
* The [[Cinema of Spain|Spanish]] feature film ''Proxima'' (2007) by [[Carlos Atanes]], where the character ''Felix Cadecq'' is based on Dick<ref>{{Citation|title=Próxima (2007) |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970187/trivia|access-date=April 6, 2021|archive-date=June 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605005533/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970187/trivia|url-status=live}}</ref>
* A 2008 film titled ''[[Your Name Here]]'', by [[Matthew Wilder]], features [[Bill Pullman]] as science fiction author William J. Frick, a character based on Dick<ref name=V1>{{cite news|last=Koehler|first=Robert|title=Review: 'Your Name Here'|url=https://variety.com/2008/film/reviews/your-name-here-2-1200508531/|access-date=April 3, 2014|newspaper=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=July 7, 2008|archive-date=April 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407151545/http://variety.com/2008/film/reviews/your-name-here-2-1200508531/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=M3>{{cite news|last=Fischer|first=Martha|title=Another Dick Biopic!|url=http://news.moviefone.com/2006/08/08/another-dick-biopic/|access-date=April 3, 2014|newspaper=[[Moviefone]]|date=August 8, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407071902/http://news.moviefone.com/2006/08/08/another-dick-biopic/|archive-date=April 7, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=AMG>{{cite news|last=Buchanan|first=Jason|title=Your Name Here (2008)|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/your-name-here-v468284/|access-date=April 2, 2014|newspaper=[[AllMovie]]|archive-date=May 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507082320/http://www.allmovie.com/movie/your-name-here-v468284/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=C1>{{cite news|last=Kemp|first=Cal|title=CineVegas X: Matthew Wilder Interview – 'Your Name Here'|url=https://collider.com/entertainment/interviews/article.asp/aid/8239/tcid/1|access-date=April 2, 2014|newspaper=Collider|date=June 17, 2008|archive-date=April 1, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401014210/http://collider.com/entertainment/interviews/article.asp/aid/8239/tcid/1|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* The 2010 science fiction film ''[[15 Till Midnight]]'' cites Dick's influence with an "acknowledgment to the works of" credit.<ref>IMDb [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568798/fullcredits "Full credits"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101095959/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568798/fullcredits |date=January 1, 2016 }}</ref>
* The ''[[Prophets of Science Fiction]]'' episode, Philip K Dick. 2011 Documentary<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2092743/|title="Prophets of Science Fiction" Philip K. Dick (TV Episode 2011)|date=November 23, 2011|publisher=IMDb|access-date=July 21, 2018|archive-date=February 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211234242/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2092743/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===In fiction===
* [[Michael Bishop (author)|Michael Bishop]]'s [[Michael Bishop (author)#Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas|''The Secret Ascension'']] (1987; published as ''Philip K. Dick Is Dead, Alas''), which is set in an alternative universe where his non-genre work is published but his science fiction is banned by a totalitarian United States in thrall to a demonically possessed [[Richard Nixon]].
* The short story "The Transmigration of Philip K" (1984) by [[Michael Swanwick]] (in the 1991 collection ''[[Gravity's Angels]]'')
* In [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]'s 1971 novel ''[[The Lathe of Heaven]]'', whose characters alter reality through their dreams.  Two made-for-TV films based on the novel have been made: ''[[The Lathe of Heaven (film)|The Lathe of Heaven]]'' (1980) and ''[[Lathe of Heaven (film)|Lathe of Heaven]]'' (2002)
* In [[Thomas M. Disch]]'s ''The Word of God'' (2008)<ref>Disch, Thomas M. ''The Word of God''. San Francisco:Tachyon, 2008</ref>
* The comics magazine ''[[Weirdo (comics)|Weirdo]]'' published "The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick" by cartoonist [[Robert Crumb]] in 1986.<ref>Crumb, Robert. "The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick," ''Weirdo'' #17 ([[Last Gasp (publisher)|Last Gasp]], Summer 1986).</ref>  Though this is not an adaptation of a specific book or story by Dick, it incorporates elements of Dick's experience which he related in short stories, novels, essays, and the ''[[Exegesis (book)|Exegesis]]''. The story parodies the form of a [[Chick tract]], a type of [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] comic, many of which relate the story of an epiphany leading to a conversion to [[fundamentalist Christianity]].
* In the 1976 alternate history novel ''[[The Alteration]]'' by [[Kingsley Amis]], one of the novels-within-a-novel depicted is ''The Man in the High Castle'' (mirroring ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'' in the real-life novel), still written by Philip K. Dick.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/10/alternative-history-butterfly-moments-reach-take-off-amazon-man-in-high-castle|title=What if? Alternative history's butterfly moments reach lift-off|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=September 13, 2017|archive-date=September 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914035101/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/10/alternative-history-butterfly-moments-reach-take-off-amazon-man-in-high-castle|url-status=live}}</ref> Instead of the novel being set in 1962 in an alternate universe where the [[Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II|Axis Powers won the Second World War]] and named for Hawthorne Abendsen, the author of its novel-within-a-novel, it depicts an alternate universe where the [[Protestant Reformation]] occurred (events including the continuation of Henry VIII's Schismatic policies by his son, Henry IX, and the creation of an independent North America in 1848), with one character speculating that the titular character was a wizard.
* The short film trilogy ''Code 7'' written and directed by [[Nacho Vigalondo]] starts with the line "Philip K. Dick presents". The story also contains some other references to Philip K. Dick's body of work.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5579182/|title=Código 7|date=February 8, 2018|publisher=IMDb|access-date=July 21, 2018|archive-date=March 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312061943/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5579182/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In the 2022 web anime ''[[Cyberpunk: Edgerunners]]'', the character, Rebecca, has the words "PK DICK" tattooed on her right thigh.

===Music===
* "Flow My Tears" is the name of an instrumental by bassist [[Stuart Hamm]], inspired by Dick's novel of the same name. The track is found on his album ''[[Radio Free Albemuth (album)|Radio Free Albemuth]]'', also named after a Dick novel.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.guitar9.com/column/stuart-hamm-radio-free-albemuth|title=Stuart Hamm "Radio Free Albemuth" &#124; Guitar Nine|website=www.guitar9.com|access-date=April 10, 2020|archive-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125090713/https://www.guitar9.com/column/stuart-hamm-radio-free-albemuth|url-status=live}}</ref>
* "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said" and other seminal Ph. K. Dick novels inspired the electronic music concept album "''The Dowland Shores of Philip K. Dick's Universe''"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://leventeth.wix.com/thedowlandshores|title=The Dowland Shores of Philip K. Dick's Universe|work=CD and digital download album release|access-date=July 23, 2016|archive-date=July 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708194713/http://leventeth.wix.com/thedowlandshores|url-status=live}}</ref> by Levent
* American rapper and producer [[El-P]] is a fan of Dick and other science fiction. Many of Dick's themes, such as [[paranoia]] and questions about the nature of reality, feature in El-P's work.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/5866-el-p/|title=Interviews|work=Pitchfork|date=August 2002|access-date=April 17, 2020|archive-date=December 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222131314/http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/5866-el-p/|url-status=dead}}</ref> A song on the 2002 album ''[[Fantastic Damage]]'' is titled "T.O.J." and the chorus makes reference to the Dick work ''[[Time Out of Joint]]''.
* English singer [[Hugh Cornwell]] included an instrumental called "Philip K. Ridiculous" on his 2008 album "Hooverdam".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/magsitepages/Article/4743/Hugh-Cornwell-Interview|title=Hugh Cornwell – Interview|work=pennyblackmusic.co.uk|access-date=April 25, 2015|archive-date=September 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904011037/http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/magsitepages/Article/4743/Hugh-Cornwell-Interview|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Sister (Sonic Youth album)|Sister]], a [[Sonic Youth]] album, "was in part inspired by the life and works of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Confusion Is Next: The Sonic Youth Story|last=Foege|first=Alec|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|year=1994|page=163}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first1=Rebecca |last=Bengal |title=Albums Sister Sonic Youth 1987 |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sonic-youth-sister/ |website=Pitchfork |publisher=Condé Nast |access-date=February 24, 2023 |quote=Reviewed: May 9, 2019 The band was also reading the cultishly metaphysical science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, whose mordant, visionary works and traumatic life experiences were very much in the air during Sister's creation. |archive-date=January 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113044322/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sonic-youth-sister/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Blind Guardian]]'s song "Time What is Time" from the 1992 album "Somewhere Far Beyond" is loosely based on the book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blindguardian.fisek.com.tr/interviews/iv7.html|title=Blind Guardian Interview|website=blindguardian.fisek.com.tr|access-date=October 6, 2017|archive-date=August 12, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812133948/http://blindguardian.fisek.com.tr/interviews/iv7.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
*American band Clutch's song, "X-Ray Visions" features images of Dick in their official music video. Additionally, Neil Fallon said "[Dick's] general philosophy and questions have always crept into my lyrics, because I share an interest in it. On Earth Rocker, 'Crucial Velocity' was definitely a Philip K. Dick song for me. On this record, 'X-Ray Visions' certainly is."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.songfacts.com/facts/clutch/x-ray-visions |title=X-Ray Visions by Clutch |website=Songfacts |access-date=January 22, 2025}}</ref>

===Radio===
* In June 2014, [[BBC Radio 4]] broadcast ''The Two Georges'' by Stephen Keyworth, inspired by the FBI's investigation of Phil and his wife Kleo in 1955, and the subsequent friendship that developed between Phil and FBI Agent Scruggs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046p07q|title=Stephen Keyworth – The Two Georges – BBC Radio 4 Extra|publisher=BBC|access-date=September 20, 2018|archive-date=December 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223064800/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046p07q|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Theater===
* A 2005 play, ''800 Words: the Transmigration of Philip K. Dick'' by Victoria Stewart, which re-imagines Dick's final days.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pwcenter.org/profile.asp?userid=93 |title=Core Member Profile Victoria Stewart |date=May 20, 2008 |publisher=The Playwrights' Center |access-date=March 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080520090036/http://www.pwcenter.org/profile.asp?userid=93 |archive-date=May 20, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Contemporary philosophy===
[[Postmodernism|Postmodernists]] such as [[Jean Baudrillard]] and [[Laurence Rickels]] have commented on Dick's writing's foreshadowing of postmodernity.<ref name=Matrix>{{Cite book| last = Myriam Díaz-Diocaretz, Stefan Herbrechter| title = The Matrix in theory| page = 136 |publisher=Rodopi |year=2006 |isbn=978-90-420-1639-2 <!--|ISBN=90-420-1639-6 -->}}</ref> Jean Baudrillard offers this interpretation:

<blockquote>"It is hyperreal. It is a universe of simulation, which is something altogether different. And this is so not because Dick speaks specifically of simulacra. SF has always done so, but it has always played upon the double, on artificial replication or imaginary duplication, whereas here the double has disappeared. There is no more double; one is always already in the other world, an other world which is not another, without mirrors or projection or utopias as means for reflection. The simulation is impassable, unsurpassable, checkmated, without exteriority. We can no longer move 'through the mirror' to the other side, as we could during the golden age of transcendence."<ref>{{cite journal | url = http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/55/baudrillard55art.htm | title = Simulacra and Science Fiction | first = Jean | last = Baudrillard | journal = Science Fiction Studies | access-date = May 26, 2007 | archive-date = June 8, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070608060844/http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/55/baudrillard55art.htm | url-status = live }}</ref>
</blockquote>

Dick's anti-government skepticism was referred to in ''Mythmakers and Lawbreakers'', a collection of interviews about fiction by anarchist authors. Noting his early authorship of ''[[The Last of the Masters]]'', an anarchist-themed novelette, author [[Margaret Killjoy]] expressed that while Dick never fully sided with [[anarchism]], his opposition to government [[centralization]] and [[organized religion]] has influenced [[Anarcho-Gnosticism|anarchist interpretations of gnosticism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Killjoy|first=Margaret|title=Mythmakers and Lawbreakers|publisher=[[AK Press]]|location=Stirling|year=2009|isbn=978-1-84935-002-0|oclc=318877243|page=209}}</ref>

=== Video games ===
* The 3.0 update for the grand strategy video game ''[[Stellaris (video game)|Stellaris]]'' is named the "Dick" update, following the game's trend of naming updates after science fiction authors.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stellaris' upcoming espionage systems are changing ahead of the 3.0 'Dick' patch|url=https://www.pcgamesn.com/stellaris/3-0-dick|access-date=March 28, 2021|website=PCGamesN|date=March 18, 2021 |language=en-GB|archive-date=March 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320194954/https://www.pcgamesn.com/stellaris/3-0-dick|url-status=live}}</ref>
*The 2016 video game ''[[Californium (video game)|Californium]]'' was developed as a tribute to Philip K. Dick and his writings to coincide with an [[Arte]]'s documentary series.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/californium-the-many-surrealities-of-philip-k-dick/ | title = Californium: A game about the many (sur)realities of Philip K. Dick | first = Cassandra | last = Kraw | date = November 13, 2015 | access-date = May 12, 2016 | work = [[Ars Technica]] | archive-date = April 26, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160426230010/http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/californium-the-many-surrealities-of-philip-k-dick/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
The [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame|Science Fiction Hall of Fame]] inducted Dick in 2005.<ref name=sfhof2005 />

During his lifetime he received numerous annual literary awards and nominations for particular works.<ref name=SFAwards />
* [[Hugo Award]]s
** Best Novel
*** 1963 – '''winner''': ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]''<ref name="WWE-1963" />
*** 1975 – nominee: ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]''<ref name="WWE-1975" />
** Best Novelette
*** 1968 – nominee: ''[[Faith of Our Fathers (short story)|Faith of Our Fathers]]''
* [[Nebula Award]]s
** Best Novel
*** 1965 – nominee: ''[[Dr. Bloodmoney]]''<ref name="WWE-1965">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1965
| title = 1965 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date = June 26, 2009
| archive-date = May 16, 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120516041637/https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1965
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
*** 1965 – nominee: ''[[The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch]]''<ref name="WWE-1965" />
*** 1968 – nominee: ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]''<ref name="WWE-1968">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1968
| title = 1968 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date = June 26, 2009
| archive-date = March 16, 2009
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090316125857/http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1968
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
*** 1974 – nominee: ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]''<ref name="WWE-1974">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1974
| title = 1974 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date = June 26, 2009
| archive-date = March 12, 2019
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190312195551/https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1974
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
*** 1982 – nominee: ''[[The Transmigration of Timothy Archer]]''<ref name="WWE-1982">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1982
| title = 1982 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date = June 26, 2009
| archive-date = April 4, 2016
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160404161525/https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?Year=1982
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
* [[Campbell award (best novel)|John W. Campbell Memorial Award]]
** Best Novel
*** 1975 – '''winner''': ''[[Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said]]''<ref name="WWE-1975" />
* [[British Science Fiction Association Award]]
** Best Novel
*** 1978 – '''winner''': ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]''<ref name="WWE-1978">{{cite web
| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978
| title = 1978 Award Winners & Nominees
| work = Worlds Without End
| access-date = June 26, 2009
| archive-date = July 9, 2009
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090709212409/http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1978
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
* Graoully d'Or (Festival de Metz, France)
** 1979 – '''winner''': ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]''
* [[Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis]]
** 1985 – '''winner''' ''[[VALIS]]''

==Philip K. Dick Award==
{{Main|Philip K. Dick Award}}
The Philip K. Dick Award is a [[List of science fiction awards|science fiction award]] that annually recognizes the previous year's best SF [[paperback original]] published in the U.S.<ref name=SFAwards-pkd /> It is conferred at [[Norwescon]], sponsored by the [[Philadelphia Science Fiction Society]], and since 2005 supported by the Philip K. Dick Trust. Winning works are identified on their covers as ''Best Original SF Paperback''. It is currently administered by, John Silbersack, and [[Gordon Van Gelder]].<ref name=SFAwards-pkd>{{cite web |url=http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Pkd.html |title=Philip K. Dick Award |work=The Locus Index to SF Awards: About the Awards |publisher=Locus Publications |access-date=March 22, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412205849/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Pkd.html |archive-date=April 12, 2009 }}</ref>

The award was inaugurated in 1983, the year after Dick's death. It was founded by [[Thomas Disch]] with assistance from [[David G. Hartwell]], [[Paul Williams (Crawdaddy)|Paul S. Williams]], and [[Charles N. Brown]]. Past administrators include Algis J. Budrys.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hartwell |first1=David G. |title=The Origin of the Philip K. Dick Award |url=https://www.philipkdickaward.org/2003/03/the_origin_of_t.html |website=Philip K. Dick Award |access-date=14 August 2025 |date=March 6, 2003}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{For|a bibliography of Dick's works|Philip K. Dick bibliography}}
* ''Precious Artifacts: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography, United States of America and United Kingdom Editions, 1955 – 2012''. Compiled by Henri Wintz and David Hyde. (Wide Books 2012). www.wide-books.com
* ''Precious Artifacts 2: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography, The Short Stories, United States, United Kingdom and Oceania, 1952 – 2014''. Compiled by Henri Wintz and David Hyde (Wide Books 2014). www.wide-books.com
* ''Precious Artifacts 3: Precieuses Reliques: A Philip K. Dick Bibliography, The French Editions, 1959–2018'' (bi-lingual). Compiled by Henri Wintz and David Hyde. (Wide Books 2019). www.wide-books.com

==See also==
{{Portal|Speculative fiction|Literature}}
* [[Consensus reality]]
* [[Cyberpunk]]
* [[Paranoid fiction]]
* [[Transcendental idealism]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|35em|refs=
<ref name=isfdb>
{{ISFDB name |23}} (ISFDB). Retrieved April 23, 2013.</ref>

<!-- some awards refs -->
<ref name=sfhof2005>
{{cite web |url=http://www.sfhomeworld.org/make_contact/article.asp?articleID=206 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050326222649/http://www.sfhomeworld.org/make_contact/article.asp?articleID=206 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 26, 2005 |title=It's Official! Inductees Named for 2005 Hall of Fame Class |access-date=August 19, 2016}}. Press release March 24, 2005. Science Fiction Museum (''sfhomeworld.org''). Archived March 26, 2005. Retrieved March 22, 2013.</ref>
<ref name=SFAwards>
[http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit38.html#1337 "Philip K. Dick"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327043746/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit38.html |date=March 27, 2015 }}. ''The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index of Literary Nominees''. [[Locus Publications]]. Retrieved March 22, 2013.</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
{{For|secondary bibliography|Philip K. Dick bibliography#Book-length critical studies}}
* {{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Kim Stanley |title=The Novels of Philip K. Dick |date=1989 |publisher=UMI Research Press |isbn=9780835720144 |edition=Reprint |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vq9iAAAACAAJ |access-date=November 14, 2020 |format=Dissertation}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|d=Q171091|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|wikt=no|s=Author:Philip Kindred Dick|m=no|mw=no|c=Category:Philip K. Dick}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/philip-k-dick}}
* {{Gutenberg author |name=Philip K. Dick}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Philip Kindred Dick}}
* {{Librivox author}}
* {{OL author}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{ISFDB name}}
* {{IBList|type=author|id=95|name=Philip K. Dick}}
* {{sfhof |930 |Philip K. Dick}}
* {{discogs artist|Philip K. Dick}}
* {{Find a Grave}}
* [https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/philip-k-dick Ebooks by Philip K. Dick - Standard Ebooks]
* [http://www.scifi.darkroastedblend.com/2005/10/philip-k-dick_04.html Dark Roasted Blend: Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Experience: Philip K. Dick]
* {{LCAuth|id={{wikidata|property|P244}}|name=Philip K. Dick|count=164}}
*{{YouTube|DQbYiXyRZjM|1977 interview with Philip K. Dick}}

{{Philip K. Dick|state=expanded}}
{{The Minority Report}}
{{Blade Runner}}
{{Authority control}}

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