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The Penfield mood organ is a fictional device in Philip K. Dick's 1968 science fiction novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? that is used to modify emotional states, controlled by the user entering a number on its keyboard. [1] [2] The device is described in the novel as using "Penfield artificial brain stimulation". A "Penfield wave transmitter" is also described in the book, as a weapon for inducing cataplexy. [3]
The name of the device is a reference to the neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield. [4] [3] Dick also references other similar devices in his novel We Can Build You , including the Hammerstein Mood Organ and Waldteufel Euphoria, explicitly referencing the work of Wilder Penfield.
Modern developments toward emotion-modifying devices have been compared to the Penfield mood organ. [5] [6]