Ubik Around the World

There are hundreds of websites, based all over the world, related to Ubik, the book, the video game, the compan(ies). Tacky as it is, a number of the sites on the book, simply list Ubik, the book, with a link to amazon.com. Yet, tacky as this it, it is also very PKD-ish.
Websites holders should just should charge a nickle for the link(age).

Ubik commercials from the text

UBIK FACTS:

* Ubik spray is not pink;
* The Ubik can is not pink;
* The Ubik jar is not pink;
* The Ubique bottle is probably not pink;
* The Ubik tin is not pink.

 

Things named Ubik include a bookstore, a software solutions company, multimedia services, a radio station (part of the Ubik World Domination), a former record company [and former is why there are no links here--in the world of Ubik, what is today will not be tomorrow], a Linux replication protocol, video games, a web clan, and other things not discernable from the website information.

"A spraycan of Ubik (small graphic of the word)," the girl answered, "is a portable negative ionizer, with a self-contained, high-voltage, low-amp unit powered by a peak-gain helium battery of 25kv. The negative ions are given a counter-clockwise spin by a radically biased acceleration chamber, which creates a centripetal tendency to them so that they coherce rather than dissipate. A negative ion field diminished the velocity of anti-protophasons normally present in the atmosphere;as soon as their velocity falls they cease to be anti-protophasons and, under the principle of parity, no longer can unite with protophasons radiated from persons frozen in cold-pac; that is, those in half-life. The end result is that the proportion of protophasons not canceled by anti-protophasons increases, which means--for a specific time, anyhow--an increment in the net put-forth field of protophasonic activity... "

Just as the I Ching wrote The Man in the High Castle and The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, Ubik wrote Ubik (see the beginning of Chapter 17). This might lead one to wonder just how Philip K. Dick produced his books; who/what was guiding the hand that wrote?
There is at least one person with the name Ubik: Sven Ubik in the Czech Republic.
Ubik (small graphic of the word)--a completely self-referential contruct
Ubik is never safe when used as directed, except when used by Myra Laney.
Ubiqitin is a protein that marks other proteins for disassembly within cells--kind of a mini-advertisement saying "come destroy this one." The process is called ubiquitination. See "The Cellular Chamber of Doom," Scientific American, January 2001.
spray can of Ubik

UBIK Theory:

* No two Ubik objects look alike, not even the cans;
* No two Ubik sprays are alike: it is referred to as invisible, sparkling, magic, and metallic light;
* Ubik does not want to be known and it has no name (see the beginning of Chapter 17).

ubiquitous \yoo-BIK-wih-tuhs\, adjective: Existing or being everywhere, or in all places, at the same time. [Other forms: ubiquitously adv. ubiquitousness n.]
www.dictionary.com

Ubiquitous derives, via French, from Latin ubique, everywhere, from ubi, where. The state of being ubiquitous is ubiquity.
www.dictionary.com

Ubik lies:

* It's says it's "I shall always be," but it was invented by Ella Runciter and others.
* Ubik is the ultimate advertising tool, therefore it inherently lies about itself;
* Can you believe a liar that says it's not lying?

© 2002, Arleska Production