Emigrate or degenerate! The choice is yours!

The slogan "Emigrate or degenerate! The choice is yours!" is the official mantra of the United Nations colonization program in the world of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, a post-World War Terminus Earth blanketed by radioactive dust. It is not merely an advertisement but a coercive ultimatum that frames the decision to leave Earth as a matter of biological and social survival. The phrase appears on posters, television advertisements, and government junk mail, saturating the daily life of those who remain, and it operates as a constant reminder that staying on Earth carries the risk of being classified as a "special" — a person whose genetic or mental deterioration places them outside the protected category of "regular" humanity. The slogan thus transforms a government policy into a personal, existential crisis for every citizen.

Origins and Ideological Function

The slogan emerges from the historical context of World War Terminus, a conflict that left the planet's surface contaminated with radioactive fallout. As the novel explains, the dust caused the death of most animal species and began to erode human genetic and mental health. In response, the U.N. launched a massive colonization program for Mars and other planets. The slogan "Emigrate or degenerate! The choice is yours!" was the central propaganda tool of this program, designed to make emigration seem not just desirable but necessary. The underlying logic is that those who remain on Earth will inevitably "degenerate" — physically, mentally, or both — and will be reclassified as "specials," a category that strips them of full human status and the right to reproduce. The slogan thus creates a binary choice that is, in practice, no choice at all for those who cannot or will not leave.

The Android Incentive and Colonial Labor

The slogan is inextricably linked to the U.N.'s use of androids as an incentive for emigration. Under U.N. law, each emigrant automatically receives possession of an android subtype of their choice, a humanoid robot designed to serve as a "loyal, trouble-free companion" and a "mobile donkey engine" for the colonization effort. The slogan promises a better life on a new world, but the reality, as revealed by characters like Pris Stratton, is that Mars is a lonely, inhospitable place where androids themselves are "lonely, too." The slogan thus masks a system of exploitative labor: the androids are produced by corporations like the Rosen Association to serve the colonists, while the colonists themselves are expected to toil on a barren planet. The slogan's promise of a fresh start is undercut by the novel's depiction of Mars as a place of "terrible old age" and isolation, where even the androids yearn for something more.

Impact on Characters and Society

The slogan's coercive power is felt most acutely by those who cannot emigrate. Rick Deckard, the bounty hunter, reflects on the slogan as he tends to his electric sheep, acknowledging its truth but recognizing that his job prevents him from leaving. John Isidore, a "chickenhead" or mentally diminished special, is bombarded by the slogan on the government TV channel he is forced to watch, and it fills him with a sense of worthlessness and exclusion. The slogan's constant repetition creates a social hierarchy in which those who remain on Earth are implicitly judged as failures or degenerates. It also fuels the fear of being classified as a "special," a fear that drives characters like Mrs. Klugman, a recent emigrant to Mars, who tells an interviewer that before emigrating, she and her husband "worried ourselves nearly to death" about being classified as specials. The slogan thus functions as a tool of social control, using the threat of degeneration to enforce compliance with the colonization program.

The Slogan's Irony and Thematic Significance

The slogan's apparent clarity — "Emigrate or degenerate" — is deeply ironic in the context of the novel's themes. The androids who escape from Mars to Earth are often more intelligent, more vital, and more capable of appreciating art and music than the humans they encounter. Luba Luft, an android opera singer, possesses a voice that rivals the greats of the past, and her death at the hands of bounty hunters is a tragic waste of talent. The slogan's promise of a better life on Mars is also undercut by the novel's depiction of the colony as a place of loneliness and despair, where even the androids are "lonely, too." The slogan thus becomes a symbol of the novel's central critique: that the human capacity for empathy, which is supposed to distinguish humans from androids, is often absent in the very systems that claim to protect humanity. The choice it presents is a false one, and the degeneration it warns against is not merely biological but moral and spiritual.