Tweet
The saga of sci-fi philosopher Philip K ****’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 **** 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 (****’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 **** 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. **** Android Discovered in Russian Pirate Bust [Fiction Circus]
See Also:
- Prequel to Philip K. ****'s Electric Sheep Hits iPad
- Wired 11.12: The Second Coming of Philip K. ****
- Philip K. **** Estate in Pursuit of Google's Nexus One
- Philip K. ****'s – Wired.com
Webmaster Forum | SEO Forum | Coding Forum | Graphics Forum</b>
