Science Fiction Tried to Warn Us about AI. Or Did It?, by Tom Gammarino Essay [email protected] Wed, 03/01/2023 - 03:46 Photo by NASA / Unsplash “All our AI Frankenstein stories,” the author writes, “warn us that AI will destroy us, but far louder than that, they promise that the future is going to be mind-blowing and epic.” Will we heed the warnings? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the literary work that most clearly established the conventions of science fiction as we know it. Not only did the 1818 novel pioneer the archetype of the mad scientist, it also established one of the genre’s most important cultural roles: to warn us about ways humans, through our hubris, might create the very beings that eventually undo us. In subtitling the novel The Modern Prometheus, Shelley harked back to the Titan who stole fire from the gods and was punished by having his regenerating liver devoured every day by an eagle (since the liver was the seat of the emotions for the Greeks, we might as well translate it as “heart”). Inspired by the experiments of Luigi Galvani, who used electric current to stimulate the leg of a dissected frog, and his nephew Giovanni Aldini, who ran a similar experiment on a hanged criminal, Shelley had her mad scientist play God by endowing a patchwork of human remains with the spark of life. Two centuries later, the resulting monstrosity serves as a stand-in for any of our runaway technologies — the internal... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2023-03-01 09:46:57 UTC ]
Efforts raise questions about the far right’s place in the broader culture wars waged by the Trump administration The far right US publisher Passage Press is now part of Foundation Publishing Group and it is connected via a Foundation director, Daniel Lisi, to Network Press, whose only title to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-06-03 10:00:33 UTC ]
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These six creepy science fiction recommendations are perfect for when you're in the mood to be deeply unsettled. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-05-21 10:30:00 UTC ]
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The science fiction legend’s dystopian masterwork has been adapted into a timely graphic novel by Damian Duffy and John Jennings. A nine-page excerpt. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-05-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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AI is changing how we work, live, and create, and marketers are defaulting to the familiar visual codes of science fiction to capture it. Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2025-05-13 06:00:00 UTC ]
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These elements of ‘Star Wars’ stories might seem like science fiction but are actually real. Just 48 short years ago, movie director George Lucas used the phrase “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” as the opening to the first Star Wars movie, later labeled Episode IV: A New Hope. But at... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-05-04 08:30:00 UTC ]
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Now we’re seeing cozy science fiction and fantasy, and even cozy horror. So what exactly does "cozy" mean? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-04-30 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Sam Weller on Ray Bradbury’s underappreciated classic: “The Martian Chronicles is a serious book about serious human themes. It is science fiction as a reflection of modernity.” | Lit Hub Criticism Milo Todd on tracing and preserving trans history while writing historical fiction. | Lit Hub... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-04-28 10:30:04 UTC ]
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A new take on Lady Macbeth, anonymous fantasies, a science fiction thriller on a space ship, and more of today's best book deals Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-04-07 15:37:09 UTC ]
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Elon Musk said he borrowed the name from a 1960s science fiction novel, but another AI startup applied to trademark it before xAI launched its chatbot. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2025-03-31 09:30:00 UTC ]
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Here are the finalists for this year's Nebula Awards, honoring the best in science fiction and fantasy. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-03-13 14:16:15 UTC ]
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J.D. Beresford’s The Hampdenshire Wonder is generally considered to be the first fictional treatment of superhuman intelligence, or “superintelligence.” This is a familiar trope for readers of science fiction today, but when the novel was originally published in 1911 it was anything but. What... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-06 09:59:31 UTC ]
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My friend and former work colleague Simon Welfare, who has died aged 78, was a writer and pioneering TV producer whose programmes aimed to make science accessible to all.Together with the science fiction author Arthur C Clarke and a fellow producer, John Fairley, in 1980 he cooked up the format... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-02-24 11:07:52 UTC ]
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Science fiction has been obsessed with perfect female robot companions but never considered what makes a good male human companion, till now. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2025-02-05 17:21:10 UTC ]
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The subgenre helped increase the market share by 41.3% last year aided by bestseller Fourth Wing from Rebecca Yarros while food and drink topped nonfiction salesSales of science fiction and fantasy books rocketed last year, with their value increasing by 41.3% between 2023 and 2024.The booming... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-02-03 17:00:52 UTC ]
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Mysterious tarot + a missing person, an action-packed science fiction thriller, an ancient guide to modern life, and more of today's best book deals Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-01-21 16:18:42 UTC ]
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Unfortunately, there are two crucial flaws with the idea that the show’s severance procedure could involve a simple snip to the hippocampus. Severance, which imagines a world where a person’s work and personal lives are surgically separated, will soon return to Apple TV+ for a second season.... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-01-20 17:00:00 UTC ]
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