Agreed. At the company I work for we are constantly looking for new developers, and it's not because we don't get enough people applying. We get swamped in resumes. There are tons of unemployed software developers out there.

Sadly, once we interview them, we realize why they are unemployed. Most of them are basically incompetent. Finding a developer with *real* talent amidst the hordes of people claiming to be developers is very challenging.

I mean he deserves to be as well known as they are. Here's a simple test: Ask a random non-scifi fan who Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke are. I'm willing to bet they can tell you (at least to the tune of: "scifi writer"). If you asked them who PKD was, I highly doubt they would have a clue.

Simply producing a volume of brilliant work doesn't mean you're going to get the recognition you deserve for it.

Anecdotal

First, I said "almost unknown" not "unknown". Second, prove it.

I cannot find any references to sales figures for PKD's books, but in his own words (from this interview):

...there is also the very real possibility that if I tried to do the cheapo novelization I would actually fail to do it, literally could not write a commercial novel that would be something that would sell millions of copies

That interview was done in 1981 (a year before he died), "The Man in the High Castle" was published in 1962 and it's one of his most popular and known books. If it had sold "millions of copies ... worldwide", you think he might have known about it. Sure, there's a slim chance it has sold millions since then, but I can't find any evidence of that and we are talking about "while he was alive". It seems you are making things up.

Thus, I really think my "almost unknown" statement (adequately supported, I believe you will find, by PKD's wikipedia entry) and PKD's own words trump your anecdotes and made up figures.

Yes

False

2012 - 30 (three decades) = 1982

Release date of "Blade Runner" = 25 June 1982

Three decades ago (1982) is precisely when Blade Runner was released, it is most definitely NOT "long before Blade Runner was filmed"

For shame moderators, for shame. Modding me down for making a factual statement?

Seriously?

I can only surmise I was modded down for the sin of simply mentioning "communism", which the moderator obviously doesn't like.

The sad thing is, I never said I did either, but I'm guessing the moderator thought so and modded me down for it.

Ironically, I don't actually like communism, but it's a simple fact that communism is an economic system, whereas democracy is a system of government. They are not the same type of thing. And therefore not mutually exclusive.

It's sad to see the day when moderators down vote someone stating the truth for simply using a word they don't like.

I get mod points at least twice a week, and for this, I am going to dedicate my next 5 mod points to modding up any positive mention of communism I see, even though I don't like communism.

Ooh! Wish I could mod this up!

One of my pet peeves is people that claim communism and democracy are mutually exclusive. They're not, for the same reasons you just gave.

Under != Not

He was virtually unknown while alive, spent most of his life in poverty and even though Hollywood types have been making bank off his ideas since his death, the majority of non-scifi fans still don't know his name, where they do know the name of Asimov etc...

However, even if I did accept that he was wildly successful by your definition, it doesn't change the fact that he's not appreciated as much as he should be, given the quality of his writing.

Thus, he is still very much under-appreciated.

"Sentient" just means the ability to have sensations. Chickens are most definitely sentient. I believe you likely meant "self-aware".

He was almost unknown while he was alive, I'd never heard of him until I was an adult, and the only reason most people know about him is because Hollywood has been mining his mind-nuggets post-mortem for decades.

I'm sure the Slashdot crowd appreciates him, but I'd still say he's under-appreciated because he deserves to be up there with the likes of Asimov, Wells and Verne.

I've never understood why there isn't a larger push for geothermal power plants in Hawaii.

They have the same basic availability and access to it as Iceland and according to Wiki, Iceland gets 66% of its total energy, and 30% of its electricity supply from geothermal.

It doesn't make any sense (rational or economical) for Hawaii to get its energy from burning fossil fuels when they are literally sitting on an massive untapped energy source.