The future isn’t what it used to be

I’ve just found a very odd news clip about an Australian project to create a disembodied virtual head that reminds people with dementia to take their medication.

The clip is from 2009 and is a little strange not least because the project is actually much more ambitious than described.

‘The Thinking Head Project’ (warning: rubbish website) is run by a heavyweight Australian research team that aims to design an artificially intelligent virtual head that you can communicate with just as you would with another human.

Unexpectedly, the team contains tech-artist Stelarc, known for creating work so astonishing you have to check to see if you haven’t shit yourself with surprise.

Stelarc is interviewed about the project on ABC Radio National’s Future Tense programme where you can hear a bit more about where the project is at the current time.

The disembodied virtual head also turns out to be an image of Stelarc himself, and it looks like they’ve now put it on the end of a fully mobile robot arm.

Philip K Dick didn’t come here to predict the future, he came here to change it.

Link to news clip.
Link to Stelarc interview on the project.