A conapt is a bad place to live—unless you're the protagonist of a science fiction story

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Originally published at: A conapt is a bad place to live—unless you're the protagonist of a science fiction story | Boing Boing

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My understanding from at least a few of PKD’s works was that the conapt wasn’t great to live in. I recall one where the protagonist wasn’t allowed to the locks on his door, as he owed it money. The protagonist has an argument with the door, not a landlord, implying that any if not all of the features of his apartment both cost currency to use but also had agency and ability to hold his use of said features hostage if he didn’t pay. Sort of a micromanagement nightmare in one’s “personal” shelter.

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This—it seems it’s a particularly bad place to live if you’re a SF protagonist!

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If I recall correctly, “conapt” was lifted from print ads for “condominium apartments” that, because of per-word charges for ads, was shortened to “conapt”.

So technically I live in a conapt now. No arguments with the door, occasional ones with the (non-sentient) plumbing.

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