Losing the Head of Philip K Dick - A Bizarre but True Tale of Androids, Kill Switches, and Left Luggage

Oneworld Publications, 2012. Good secondhand condition.

In 2005 a group of young robot designers and computer scientists dreamed up a fantastic, audacious idea: to build an android modelled on Philip K. Dick, the iconic sci-fi guru. After countless hours tinkering with fake flesh and animatronic motors and turning the writer's opus into a computer brain, the android was brought eerily to life. It would 'watch' people as they approached, 'recognize' their faces, answer their questions in Dick's own words. Then, things went horribly wrong. A roboticist on his way to Google HQ for a special presentation left the android's head on a flight to Las Vegas. The head of Philip K. Dick was lost. In a story that could have been lifted from one of Philip K. Dick's celebrated novels, which have been made into such films as Blade Runner, Total Recall, and The Adjustment Bureau, David Dufty brings to light the incredible but true events surrounding the android's creation and disappearance. Along the way, he explores how the science of robotic 'resurrection' will soon meet our very real future.