The saga of sci-fi philosopher Philip K Dick’s robot head continues. The original head, which was lost in 2006, has been rebuilt by Hanson Robotics, maker of some creepily realistic robot faces. The new Dick head is just the latest chapter in a story which is as weird and twisted as any of the author’s own novels.
David Hanson, founder of Hanson Robotics, left the head in the overhead locker of a plane when traveling to Orange County (Dick’s own home for many years). The airline – America West – promised to send the head to SFO on the next flight, but it never arrived.
What happened next is unknown, but a fictional account of the head’s fate appeared on the Fiction Circus blog on April 1st. It’s clearly a joke, but good enough to share. According to writer Miracle Jones, the head was taken by a Russian pirate syndicate named “Little Bear”, and used to smuggle movies, videogames and other stolen data “between Russia and South America.” The head was – the story goes – recovered by Interpol in a sting operation in St.Petersberg.
No matter. The new v2.0 PKD head is a lot better than the original, and has some amazingly realistic expressions. In fact, this simulacrum manages to hop over the uncanny valley entirely: I could totally imagine hanging with this Dick head, dropping some Substance D and chewing the (Horselover) fat.
PKD head talking [YouTube via io9]
Hanson Robotics blog [Hanson Robotics]
Stolen Head of Philip K. Dick Android Discovered in Russian Pirate Bust [Fiction Circus]
See Also:
- Prequel to Philip K. Dick's Electric Sheep Hits iPad
- Wired 11.12: The Second Coming of Philip K. Dick
- Philip K. Dick Estate in Pursuit of Google's Nexus One
- Philip K. Dick's – Wired.com
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