The Golden Man by Philip K. Dick episode #237

Philip K. Dick | July 13, 2024

The Golden Man by Philip K. Dick episode #237
Philip K. Dick

THE GOLDEN MAN

Episode #237 · Written by Philip K. Dick · Narrated by Scott Miller

A golden-skinned mutant with the power to see the future is humanity’s most dangerous threat—because no weapon, no trap, and no plan can touch him. When the government finally captures him, the real question isn’t whether he can escape… but whether mankind can survive what comes next.

The Golden Man is one of Philip K. Dick’s most provocative examinations of evolution, fear, and the future of the human race. In a world still scarred by nuclear war and obsessed with rooting out genetic mutations, government agents hunt down a new kind of deviant: a beautiful, silent, golden-skinned young man who doesn’t think like a human—because he doesn’t have to. His reflexes are beyond anything the agency has ever encountered, but that isn’t what makes him terrifying. He can see the future, not in probabilities or guesses, but with total certainty—and every attempt to contain him is something he has already watched unfold. To the humans hunting him, he is a threat to the species. To evolution, he may be the next step.

Dick takes the classic “mutant vs. mankind” storyline and flips it: what if the superior being doesn’t want domination, power, or revenge—just survival? And what if the true end of humanity doesn’t come from violence, but from becoming obsolete? The result is a tense, unsettling story that forces us to ask whether intelligence, language, and civilization really matter… if nature has already chosen a better tool.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Philip K. Dick, one of the most influential science fiction authors of the 20th century, was a master at exploring alternate realities, shifting identities, and the fragile nature of what we call “normal.” Born in 1928, he produced more than 120 short stories and 44 novels—many of which later inspired film and television, including Blade Runner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, Total Recall, and The Man in the High Castle. His fiction often blends paranoia, philosophy, and the question of what it means to be human in a world shaped by technology, government power, and shifting realities.

While most sci-fi of the era imagined bold human futures, Dick imagined futures where humanity itself might not be the center anymore—and The Golden Man is one of his most chilling early warnings. First published in 1954, it shows a writer already pushing science fiction beyond space rockets and robot sidekicks into something stranger, smarter, and far more unsettling: the idea that evolution may not favor us.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to The Golden Man by Philip K. Dick — a classic sci-fi story of a future-seeing mutant who may replace humanity. A chilling vintage science fiction tale.