Philip K. Dick’s dystopian AI novel “Vulcan’s Hammer” headed to the big screen

Surrealist science fiction author Philip K. Dick’s 1960 novel Vulcan’s Hammer will go Hollywood in a forthcoming film by director Francis Lawrence (Hunger Games and I Am Legend) with New Republic Pictures producers Brian Oliver and Bradley Fischer. From the Hollywood Reporter:

Hammer is set after a devastating world war, when the nations of Earth form the Unity party and cede global governance to the Vulcan AI system, which algorithmically dictates policies for Unity to carry out. However, after Vulcan is attacked and a special agent is murdered, Unity director William Barris is called to unravel the mystery to figure out who, or what, wants to destroy the system he has dedicated his life to.

Dick’s novel tackled ideas of artificial intelligence and society being controlled by computer technology, notions that have come to the fore in modern times.

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