Wa Can Build You

POSTED BY: Cybersnark
UPDATED: Sunday, July 2, 2006 04:28
VIEWED: 5101
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CYBERSNARK

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 4:47 PM

They're building a robot version of Philip K. Dick.

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/06/23/philip_k_dick_robot.html

Just let that sink in for a bit. They're building a robot of ruttin' PHILIP K. DICK!!!

I can't decide if this is the most awesome thing ever, or a sign of the end-times. Either way, it's appealingly ironic.

They do need a better name, though.

(Can Buffybots be far behind?)

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

DAVESHAYNE

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 5:02 PM

So we may finally get an answer to the question, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

KWICKO

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 11:45 PM

Ahhh! We can remember it for you wholesale!

That's awesome. Or scary. You pick.

A baby seal walks into a club...

NUCLEARDAY

Thursday, February 16, 2006 2:52 PM

Yeah, I remember coming across that a bit ago. Seems I saw them talking about it as an aside on some Discovery Channel show about cybernetics and the like.

Wierd, kooky, and kind of... disturbing. ;p So I guess it sorta fits Phillip K. Dick, actually. (Though it does of course beg the question of how he'd feel about the whole thing.)

_______________
You can take my hope when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 1:59 AM

Ladies and gentlemen, it has officially gotten wierder.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/author-android-goes-missing/2006/02/1
3/1139679514495.html

Phillip K. Dick is missing!!!

Possibly the robotics experts did their job a bit too well: "Phil" apparently went AWOL during or after a flight to California.

This was a few weeks ago, so he could be anywhere by now.

Quote:
In Blade Runner, set in a Los Angeles of 2019, Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckhard, a Blade Runner or policeman whose job is to track down and terminate escaped human clones known as "replicants."

The irony of the situation -- a missing replica of the very author who championed "replicant" freedom -- is not lost on Phil's creators.

What do we think, theft or escape? He's probably alive and well, living on the run in San Francisco or something.

Quote:
Top-of-the-line voice software loaded with data from Dick's vast body of writing allows the robot to carry on natural-sounding conversations, although it does come off as a bit doddering at times.

Biometric-identification software and advanced machine vision allows the robot to recognise people -- even in a crowd -- read their expressions and body language and talk to them sounding a lot like a normal, albeit slightly senile, author who likes to quote his own books when he gets confused.

Sounds like he'd fit right in. If this doesn't end up as a Dickian pastiche novel (or even just a short story in Asimov's), I will have officially lost my faith in the SF writing community.

Either way, I'd imagine the original Phillip would be proud.

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

DAVESHAYNE

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 2:06 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cybersnark:
What do we think, theft or escape? He's probably alive and well, living on the run in San Francisco or something.

I say escape. He's probably writing a new Valis novel as we speak. That or trying to track down royalties for Blade Runner and Total Recal.

David

"A lot of people are asking me, you know, what exactly is Firefly? It's a tv show you morons!" - Joss Whedon

MISSTRESSAHARA

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 4:59 AM

That's just downright unsettlin'.

On the other hand I thought they'd already made replicants and placed them in the Whitehouse?

If I'm a bitch, then life just got interesting

BLACKLILY

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 5:50 AM

Quote:
Ladies and gentlemen, it has officially gotten wierder.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/author-android-goes-missing/2006/02/1
3/1139679514495.html

Phillip K. Dick is missing!!!

Possibly the robotics experts did their job a bit too well: "Phil" apparently went AWOL during or after a flight to California.

This was a few weeks ago, so he could be anywhere by now.

Quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Blade Runner, set in a Los Angeles of 2019, Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckhard, a Blade Runner or policeman whose job is to track down and terminate escaped human clones known as "replicants."

The irony of the situation -- a missing replica of the very author who championed "replicant" freedom -- is not lost on Phil's creators.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What do we think, theft or escape? He's probably alive and well, living on the run in San Francisco or something.

* Snickers uncontrollably*

I always knew that android was cut out for greater things. He's finally decided to ditch his unfulfilling acting career and move on to more satisfying pursuits in life.
Or not.Maybe he's just bored.

By the way Cybersnark, will you be updating the Roswell Conspiracies section if you have more time?
* Keeps fingers crossed *
I've finished the first draft for the website...

Hoping for more fodder soon.

Peace to you.

------------
The truth will set you free.
But first it'll piss you off.

BLINKER

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 2:21 PM

Well, that about satisfies my irony requirements for the day.

_________
Sliders: Gate Haven - http://slidersweb.net/blinker

SIKKUKUT

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 3:29 PM

Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd think that Dick already wrote this one.

I mean, can't you see him writing a story about a robot modelled after him years after his death going on a cross-country trek to try and figure out who and what it is? It's bizarre, silly, hubristic, brilliant, and mind-bending, raising questions of self and identity.

In other words, it's a Phillip K. Dick story.

__________________
To err is human, but computers do it much faster.

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