Even by science fiction standards it’s uncanny how Dick depicted future worlds that seem to be coming to pass. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1964) predicted the effects of global warming and the escape into immersive role-playing games. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) — filmed in 1982 as Blade Runner — foresaw mass animal extinctions and the difficulty in distinguishing between humans and artificial intelligence. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974) is set in an America where democracy has been replaced by a racist police state.
But my favourite was Ubik (1969), which might be considered quintessential Dick in its evocation of the sort of red-pill realities and rug-pulling narratives now so beloved of conspiracy theorists and twist-laden Hollywood thrillers. While the space travel and colonised moon pay lip service to hard-science SF, the novel is set in an all-too-recognisable oligarchy ruled by mega-corporations. The capitalism here is so late-stage that a front door can demand “five cents, please” before it will permit a flat-dweller to leave his own apartment (or “conapt”). Sentient coffee pots, showers and fridges all require payment by coin before they agree to function. (A development that Dick didn’t foresee, it seems, is cash being replaced by credit cards.)