The Penfield Mood Organ - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

If you are a fan of Blade Runner but have never read Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? you won’t know what this post is about. Named after a real-life neurosurgeon, Wilder Penfield (1891-1976), the Penfield Mood Organ is a fictional machine that regulates one’s mood via electrical impulses sent directly to the brain. And it appears only in the book.

Don’t worry, this is not a spoiler. In reality, the Mood Organ is featured only in the first scene of the novel, and never again. Yet, it left a strong impression on me.

The opening scene is, in my opinion, the best scene in the book because of the discussion surrounding the Mood Organ. So, I wanted to put Sci-fi in Perspective and analyse this overlooked device.

The brain as a Mood Organ.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

In this bleak world, humans dream of having a live sheep. But do androids dream of electric sheep? 

With a title that encapsulates the novel’s main theme, DADOES explores the question of what it means to be human. And it does so with a plot about android persecution, in which our main character is a bounty hunter paid to “retire” these andys (who, in the film, become replicants).

Do they dream, like we do? Do they have wants, like we do? Do they feel a sense of attachment to their kin, like we do?

In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick presents philosophical questions that explore the contrast between natural and artificial in a world where they cannot be distinguished. Humans and androids look alike, and so do electric sheep and real ones.

One emotion is central to differentiate a human from an andy: empathy. It is said to be the one feeling that androids cannot grasp. And it is within this context that I wish to analyse the very first scene of the book.

It all started with Rick Deckard waking…

The first scene: introducing the Mood Organ

In summary, he jumped out of bed ready to face another day, thanks to a preprogrammed Mood Organ that regulates his emotions. His wife, Iran, on the other hand, wakes up groggy and unmerry. Deckard suggests she should tune into a better mood, to which she replies, “Keep your hands off my settings. I don’t want to be awake.”

A couple’s fight ensues in a masterfully crafted scene.

Iran wants to be moody and explore feelings of despair; feelings compatible with the reality they experience but never react to. While Deckard doesn’t see value in it. On the contrary, he sees danger in experimenting with self-perpetuating, harmful thoughts.

It is best to cultivate a positive attitude, to live a good and practical life regardless of external circumstances. And the Penfield Mood Organ is there to help you with achieving this goal.

Cultivating virtues and rejecting spiraling thoughts align with the philosophical doctrine of Stoicism. Today, the word “stoic” is used as a synonym for emotionless. But the philosophical term doesn’t advocate for the suppression of all emotions. It is all about mastering them, particularly the negative and irrational ones.

However, the mood organ distorts the philosophical school of Stoicism by abdicating one of its core principles: the dichotomy of control. There are things in life you can control, and others that you cannot. Your thoughts, judgments, and actions are within your control. Everything else, like the weather, others’ opinions, and any other external event, is not. The key to a fulfilling life, according to Stoicism, is to focus your energy on what you can control and accept what is beyond your reach.

The Mood Organ is a device that gives you control of your emotions in the most straightforward way and lets you suppress the negative, irrational feelings. But it removes a crucial step of the dichotomy of control: mastering your emotions.

In order to master an emotion, you must first and foremost feel it. That’s how you build desired virtues, such as wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance. An easy way out, like the Mood Organ provides, is equivalent to a castration of sentiments.

It reminds me of a quote from Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness that never left my mind:

“Prisoners who had been there for several years were psychologically and I believe to some extent physically adapted to this chemical castration. They were as sexless as steers. They were without shame and without desire, like the angels. But it is not human to be without shame and without desire.(...) This was the first case I had seen of the social purpose running counter to the sexual drive. Being a suppression, not merely a repression, it produced not frustration, but something more ominous, perhaps, in the long run: passivity.” (p.144)

This first scene sets up the passivity ingrained in this society through the widespread use of the Penfield Mood Organ. Paraphrasing Le Guin, it is not human to be without shame and despair. And the bounty hunter whose job is to retire non humans is without them.

Emotional Range

What drew me to this scene was how relatable Iran is. The vexing caricature of “women being emotional” equating to “women being irrational” plays into the scene, with Deckard acting as if his wife had gone crazy, while he remained rational in dealing with her.

In reality, Iran was tired of feeling numb when confronted with a situation that should cause a reaction. Her stance is against suppression; an acknowledgement that empathy comes from dealing with a range of emotions. It’s what makes her human. 

As a person with a monthly hormonal cycle, the range of emotions that I go through in an approximately 30-day window is kinda amazing. Admittedly, going from euphoria to sadness in two weeks can be a bit disorienting. But I learned the value of this emotional range only when I suppressed it. For medical reasons, I started taking birth-control pills continuously (to treat the symptoms of endometriosis), and I became numb, perpetually trapped in a mute mood. I didn’t feel like myself. 

I often use the Mood Organ as an analogy to describe this period of my life—this is how much I relate to Iran’s feelings in this scene.

In terms of emotional range in fiction, The Egg, a short story by Andy Weir, explores the depth of experiencing every possible feeling there is. But I promised not to include any spoilers in this post, so I’ll keep it as a recommendation. It’s super short, go read it. ;)

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That’s it for today, folks. 

Other regulatory drugs have been compared to the Mood Organ device, opening up a discussion about their misuse. It’s a complicated topic, especially since psychiatric drugs are currently one of the main treatments for the widespread mental health issue that plagues our society. 

It’s a pity the Penfield Moody Organ device is not further explored in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that PKD could establish the tone and philosophical themes of the entire story already in the opening scene.

What about you? Would you use a Mood Organ yourself? Should I do a post about The Egg? Let me know in the comments.

See you next post,

Ra.

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Carla Ra is a scientist by day, sci-fi writer by night.

You can check out her anthology ARTIFICIAL REBELLION here.