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"Service Call" by P.K. Dick
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Starting as a time travel story but it ended up darker than I thought. So a telephatic organic matter put in people's houses eliminate diversity, ideological factions, dissents and so on. And it could turn against you? Not really sure. And why does these repairmen kept coming back to Courtland's house? Is it because he and his buddies are destined to be the ones "invented" the swibbles? But according to the 'future history', it's another guy. Or will these strange occurings changed the timeline? Oh gosh, I felt timey wimey wibbly wobbly here.
I think the original story title was "The Trouble With Swibbles." Or maybe not. It's another story with the setup of some everyman who encounters a weird situation that baffles him. Watching everyone question the repairman to find out what a Swibble is without confessing their ignorance was hilarious.
Randy wrote: " It's another story with the setup of some everyman who encounters a weird situation that baffles him...."
Courtland is a man whose job is literally watching paint dry.
A repairman arrives at Courtland's front door to repair his swibble. Courtland tells the repairman he doesn't have a swibble (which seems to shock of the repairman, as if everyone should have one; like saying you don't have a TV today.) A business card left behind says the repairman was from post-1965 (which is the future for this 1955 story.)
Acting on that really, really thin evidence, Courtland assembles a collection of engineers (and a reel to reel tape recorder :) to subtly interrogate the repairman and figure out what a swibble is. (After all, if it's such a popular item in the future, why not get a head start on the industry?) I liked the whole concept that Courtland immediately saw this as a business opportunity, even though his only evidence is an "impossible" date on a scrap of paper.
Also amusing is the idea that in the future customer services quite punctual due to the use of time machines. Maybe you don't have to sit home all morning waiting for the repair tech to come between 8am and noon. :)
Courtland is a man whose job is literally watching paint dry.
A repairman arrives at Courtland's front door to repair his swibble. Courtland tells the repairman he doesn't have a swibble (which seems to shock of the repairman, as if everyone should have one; like saying you don't have a TV today.) A business card left behind says the repairman was from post-1965 (which is the future for this 1955 story.)
Acting on that really, really thin evidence, Courtland assembles a collection of engineers (and a reel to reel tape recorder :) to subtly interrogate the repairman and figure out what a swibble is. (After all, if it's such a popular item in the future, why not get a head start on the industry?) I liked the whole concept that Courtland immediately saw this as a business opportunity, even though his only evidence is an "impossible" date on a scrap of paper.
Also amusing is the idea that in the future customer services quite punctual due to the use of time machines. Maybe you don't have to sit home all morning waiting for the repair tech to come between 8am and noon. :)
Silvana wrote: "And why does these repairmen kept coming back to Courtland's house?..."
He only returned once, I presume because he came some distance to make a service call, and his work order says Courtland's address; so after failing one send presumably trying to determine if there's another Leavenworth Avenue or another apartment 3A in the complex, he stops back to double check.
No, I don't think Dick is going for one of those time travel causality loop tropes.
He only returned once, I presume because he came some distance to make a service call, and his work order says Courtland's address; so after failing one send presumably trying to determine if there's another Leavenworth Avenue or another apartment 3A in the complex, he stops back to double check.
No, I don't think Dick is going for one of those time travel causality loop tropes.
Silvana wrote: " So a telepathic organic matter put in people's houses eliminate diversity, ideological factions, dissents and so on. And it could turn against you? Not really sure. ..."
Dick is intentionally (perhaps frustratingly) vague as to exactly what a swibble is. It's invented, and can be "repaired" not "healed" or "cured", suggesting manufacture; but the repairman suggests an injection of nutrients might be appropriate, suggesting it's biological. It has an organic "component" in a sealed tank, but is otherwise manufactured.
You'll notice when asked bluntly, "What is a swibble?" the repairman has difficulty defining it, it's so fundamental to his world.
It apparently can detect whether people are sincerely in a "camp", or are insincere and likely to be a fifth columnist. So, a loyalty detector, like something that could decide if an immigrant wants to "share our values" or secretly hopes to impose sharia law on us. Dick says it's at least partly telepathic, but might also be technological (Technological techniques might be similar to the way Google and other Internet data aggregators learn all about us based on what we read, listen to, watch and/or buy.)
Interestingly, the future repairman mentions at one point, "It's ironic, isn't it? After the '61 war there was really only one contrary ideology: those who opposed the swibbles….. So the swibbles differentiated those who didn't want to be differentiated by swibbles." So, swibbles have become self-perpetuating: if you don't want a swibble, you're suspect. (Which strikes me as similar to the slightly modern argument that anyone who objects to government surveillance must have something to hide.)
Note 1955 was the tail end of the McCarthy era, which were Sen. Joseph McCarthy's effort to root out "disloyalty" in the US.
Your personal swibble makes sure your ideology conforms to the norm. (The repairman says they don't particularly care what the ideology is — capitalism, communism, fascism, doesn't matter as long as everyone else shares it.)
In the notes at the end of the book, Dick describes the idea of machines taking over, not from outside but from within, his own TV set and toaster. In the story, the swibble serves as a piece of controlling technology that nearly everyone willingly purchases for themselves, rather than having it imposed from outside like big brother.
Orwell imagined the government would impose Telescreens to dispense propaganda and keep an eye on citizens. In the modern world, we purchase our own Smart TVs, XBoxes, & Alexas to watch us with cameras and listen to what we say, the way Dick imagines in this story.
Dick is intentionally (perhaps frustratingly) vague as to exactly what a swibble is. It's invented, and can be "repaired" not "healed" or "cured", suggesting manufacture; but the repairman suggests an injection of nutrients might be appropriate, suggesting it's biological. It has an organic "component" in a sealed tank, but is otherwise manufactured.
You'll notice when asked bluntly, "What is a swibble?" the repairman has difficulty defining it, it's so fundamental to his world.
It apparently can detect whether people are sincerely in a "camp", or are insincere and likely to be a fifth columnist. So, a loyalty detector, like something that could decide if an immigrant wants to "share our values" or secretly hopes to impose sharia law on us. Dick says it's at least partly telepathic, but might also be technological (Technological techniques might be similar to the way Google and other Internet data aggregators learn all about us based on what we read, listen to, watch and/or buy.)
Interestingly, the future repairman mentions at one point, "It's ironic, isn't it? After the '61 war there was really only one contrary ideology: those who opposed the swibbles….. So the swibbles differentiated those who didn't want to be differentiated by swibbles." So, swibbles have become self-perpetuating: if you don't want a swibble, you're suspect. (Which strikes me as similar to the slightly modern argument that anyone who objects to government surveillance must have something to hide.)
Note 1955 was the tail end of the McCarthy era, which were Sen. Joseph McCarthy's effort to root out "disloyalty" in the US.
Your personal swibble makes sure your ideology conforms to the norm. (The repairman says they don't particularly care what the ideology is — capitalism, communism, fascism, doesn't matter as long as everyone else shares it.)
In the notes at the end of the book, Dick describes the idea of machines taking over, not from outside but from within, his own TV set and toaster. In the story, the swibble serves as a piece of controlling technology that nearly everyone willingly purchases for themselves, rather than having it imposed from outside like big brother.
Orwell imagined the government would impose Telescreens to dispense propaganda and keep an eye on citizens. In the modern world, we purchase our own Smart TVs, XBoxes, & Alexas to watch us with cameras and listen to what we say, the way Dick imagines in this story.
Randy wrote: "Watching everyone question the repairman to find out what a Swibble is without confessing their ignorance was hilarious...."
I thought there were strong parallels in this scene and the scene in "Autofac" where several people are arguing with the automated factory representative. Both feature a group interrogation, and in both cases different members of the group have different approaches to the conversation, some trying to be subtle in how they direct the conversation, and some just bluntly stating what they want, stepping on each other's toes as it were.
I thought there were strong parallels in this scene and the scene in "Autofac" where several people are arguing with the automated factory representative. Both feature a group interrogation, and in both cases different members of the group have different approaches to the conversation, some trying to be subtle in how they direct the conversation, and some just bluntly stating what they want, stepping on each other's toes as it were.
G33z3r wrote: "Silvana wrote: " So a telepathic organic matter put in people's houses eliminate diversity, ideological factions, dissents and so on. And it could turn against you? Not really sure. ..."Dick is i..."
There's a note? That's great, if you don't point it out I might skip it (along with the Tiptree intro - I am not used to reading intro)
Now I can see that that this swibble thing is like the internet. Voluntary surrender of freedom from being watched, like those apps that suggest that you add location and other details, yikes.
G33z3r wrote: "Note 1955 was the tail end of the McCarthy era, which were Sen. Joseph McCarthy's effort to root out "disloyalty" in the US."Good point. When I read classic SF I always like to think about the political environment of the time - I find that quite often it is reflected in the author's work.
G33z3r wrote: "I thought there were strong parallels in this scene and the scene in "Autofac" where several people are arguing with the automated factory representative. Both feature a group interrogation, and in both cases different members of the group have different approaches to the conversation, some trying to be subtle in how they direct the conversation, and some just bluntly stating what they want, stepping on each other's toes as it were."PKD uses similar situations in a lot of his books, with a confused person or group trying to figure out what's going on, usually to comic effect. There's a chapter in A Scanner Darkly where a group of druggies count only 7 gears on a 10-speed bike and assume the other 3 gears must have been stolen by their neighbors - it made me laugh so hard I fell out of my chair. Also catapulted ASD onto my top-10 all-time favorites list.
Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
A Scanner Darkly (other topics)The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories (other topics)
Service Call • (1955) • by P.K. Dick
From the anthology The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories by Philip K. Dick. See The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories discussion hub for more info on the anthology and pointers to discussion of its other stories.