Mark Zuckerberg changed Facebook’s name to Meta last week – and launched a vision for his company that he claims will transform the way we interact with the internet and each other. So what exactly is the metaverse? And will it ever leave the realm of science fiction?When Facebook scheduled a major announcement for last week, news quickly got out that Mark Zuckerberg was planning to change the company’s name – and that he would explain how Facebook would move towards its next incarnation, the “metaverse”. But few expected he would set out a vision with such far-off ambitions – and show so little evidence of what it is doing today to get there. Zuckerberg’s presentation was derided in some quarters as wooden, narcissistic, dystopian, and unintentionally hilarious. But it was also a vastly ambitious and risky pitch for how the company will leave its present-day brand and focus behind to re-emerge as the leading player in a version of the internet that doesn’t exist today.So what exactly is the metaverse? What is the business case for Facebook’s pivot to such an undeveloped and complex technology? And how much was the decision to rebrand as Meta driven by the toxification of Facebook’s brand by months of damaging leaks from the US whistleblower Frances Haugen? In this episode, Nosheen Iqbal is joined by the Guardian’s UK technology editor, Alex Hern, who explains what we already know about the metaverse, its origins in science fiction stories, and its likely real-world... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-11-04 03:00:23 UTC ]
The 1890s saw pioneering works of science fiction, detective fiction, and Gothic horror all published, by some of the greatest English, Scottish, and Irish writers of the age. In the United States, too, novelists addressed social issues, sometimes in comic ways, while social realism continued to... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2019-12-31 15:00:10 UTC ]
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In a moment where the future seems impossibly turbulent, leaving us feeling powerless, science fiction can help us get our heads around the complexity. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2019-12-31 14:00:05 UTC ]
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Science fiction writers, gazing into the future, envision space-based cargo movers and robots that may eliminate the need for humans to work. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-12-31 13:53:59 UTC ]
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Science fiction writers, gazing into the future, envision space-based cargo movers and robots that may eliminate the need for humans to work. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-12-31 13:53:59 UTC ]
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Science fiction writers, gazing into the future, envision space-based cargo movers and robots that may eliminate the need for humans to work. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-12-31 13:53:59 UTC ]
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Futurist and artist Syd Mead has passed away at 86 due to complications from lymphoma. Even if you don't know his name, you've probably felt his impact on Hollywood, especially on the science fiction genre. Mead designed Blade Runner's world and tech... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2019-12-31 13:01:00 UTC ]
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We're visiting Book Riot's Swords & Spaceships newsletter to get recommendations of 2019 standalone science fiction and fantasy novels. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-12-30 11:31:11 UTC ]
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Two related events shaped the last 10 years in science fiction and fantasy—the most transformative we've seen in the history of the genres. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2019-12-29 14:00:00 UTC ]
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Test your knowledge of women writers with a fun pop quiz. First Round Name the title and author of the first-ever science fiction novel. This Pulitzer-prize winner and Italian translator declared in 2015 that she is now only writing in Italian. Name this author. The 2018 Nobel laureate for... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
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From The New Yorker’s archive, pieces about science fiction and fantasy, by John Seabrook, Julie Phillips, Colson Whitehead, Margaret Atwood, and Joyce Carol Oates. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2019-12-15 11:00:00 UTC ]
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How William Gibson keeps his science fiction real Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker While a lot of sci-fi is obsessed with the distant future, one of the best authors of the genre takes a different approach. The New Yorker explains how William Gibson... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2019-12-14 17:30:00 UTC ]
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I spent most of the year living in a small town in Oregon where I read a lot of student work and finished my MFA thesis. There I read my first but not last book by Octavia E. Butler, Kindred. I borrowed Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, from a graduate... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2019-12-14 16:00:42 UTC ]
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News and Events Michelle Johnson In 2019 WLT continued publishing fiction, poems, interviews, and essays in translation—publishing more than 50 pieces from languages ranging from Albanian to Zoque—along with pieces by translators about their work. In... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-12-10 14:32:34 UTC ]
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The Science Fiction Writers Association does not tell him much, only that he will be taken in the dead of night to shoot down to Los Angeles in a high-speed train. There will be two men, they tell him, who will ride with him and deliver him to his final destination. As she books his […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-10 09:48:15 UTC ]
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End-of-year titles, from wild science fiction to road-tripping memoirs, make promising presents. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-12-03 18:10:36 UTC ]
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The Massachusetts-based translator has done more than anyone to bridge the gap between Chinese science fiction and American readers. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-12-03 10:00:21 UTC ]
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Chinese science fiction is a rich world of diverse, engaging stories that expand one's mind. But with all that is out there, where should you start? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-11-27 11:39:41 UTC ]
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There were too many to choose from. Our reviewers explain their picks, from “The Hanging Artist” to “The Night Tiger” Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-11-21 14:12:00 UTC ]
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In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle reads the first novel in Isaac Asimov’s juvenile science fiction series Science fiction set in our own solar system arguably began with Lucian, the classical author whose short satirical piece True History paved the way for... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2019-11-15 15:00:55 UTC ]
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The dense, interconnected network charts decades of collaboration and research. Nature, the multidisciplinary scientific journal founded in London in 1869, celebrates its 150th anniversary this week. Known for its innovative approach to publishing original research across all sorts of scientific... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2019-11-11 08:00:45 UTC ]
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