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 ]
Goodreads has released a list of its most anticipated science fiction and fantasy releases for 2023. Get your TBRs ready! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-01-11 18:35:26 UTC ]
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Remote-desktop software may still seem like science fiction to the family member or customer trying to overcome a computer issue, but real heads know it’s been a useful reality for a while now. Using the remote-desktop software allows you to diagnose, operate, and fix another computer over... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-01-09 15:30:00 UTC ]
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The best science fiction and fantasy book deals of the day, curated by Book Riot. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-01-09 15:14:08 UTC ]
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Meet mechanical dragons, security units, and wild robots in these incredible science fiction books all about robots. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-01-09 11:32:00 UTC ]
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It was truly difficult to narrow down 2023’s science fiction and fantasy offerings, and even this list feels like an overabundance. But how could I not highlight alien abduction road trip comedies, time travel nostalgia trips, shadowy secret societies, and surprise standalones from some of my... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-01-04 14:41:06 UTC ]
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US science fiction writer whose novels combined a wide-ranging view of future technical developments with political speculationThe American science fiction writer Greg Bear, who has died aged 71 following heart surgery, was, as he put it “all over the map” as far as interests and subjects were... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-12-29 17:19:10 UTC ]
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Here are eight science fiction and fantasy new releases I am particularly excited to check out, and I think you should be too! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-29 11:38:00 UTC ]
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This past summer, an auntie of mine dusted off an old cardboard box of books from a cluttered storage unit, and handed me a slim blue and gold paperback with soft, slightly frayed corners and a creased spine by Octavia E. Butler. I had never read science fiction that featured a Black girl being... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-12-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The best science fiction and fantasy book deals of the day, curated by Book Riot. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-19 14:53:09 UTC ]
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The best works of science fiction and fantasy in 2022, featuring book eaters and trans archivists, near-future dystopias, and dark worlds, including Babel by R.F. Kuang and The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-12 11:32:00 UTC ]
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Pandemics, witchcraft, terrifying A.I.: speculative fiction that stood out in 2022. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-12-05 10:00:33 UTC ]
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A new interactive article in The Times immerses readers in significant locations and moments from the life of the pioneering science fiction writer. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-11-27 08:00:10 UTC ]
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Take a look at 9 of the classic types of science fiction plots, including dystopia, space travel, alien invaders, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-11-22 11:32:00 UTC ]
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‘The Locusts’ is a short chapter or tale within The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury’s 1950 science fiction novel which describes human exploration of, and settlement on, the planet Mars at the turn of the century after Earth becomes uninhabitable in the wake of nuclear war. In ‘The Locusts’,... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-11-14 15:00:51 UTC ]
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According to the publisher, the imprint will “champion feminist and empowered perspectives” in romantic fantasy and science fiction books. It plans to publish seven new books next year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The state is home to an unusually high concentration of science fiction writers and a strong mix of science and superstition. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2022-11-04 16:00:00 UTC ]
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The world’s richest man promises more than he has delivered. His social network purchase is likely to go the same wayElon Musk is a fan of the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. When his spacecraft company SpaceX successfully sent its Falcon Heavy rocket payload into orbit around the sun in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-11-01 18:50:19 UTC ]
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Kensington Publishing has acquired Erewhon Books, an independent publisher dedicated to literary speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, for an undisclosed price. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-11-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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On May 13, I finally got to read my wayward science fiction story “It Is the Voice That Unnerves Me” in The Dread Machine. I had been submitting the story since the spring of 2019, and had thought many times about consigning it to the “retired” list. I knew every word, sentence and section break... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-10-20 11:05:00 UTC ]
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that there are as many definitions of “feminism” and “science fiction” as there are people who identify as feminists and science fiction enthusiasts—in fact, that is part of what makes both of these communities attractive to many people. However, by 1981,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-11 08:53:20 UTC ]
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