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 ]
The legacy of science fiction author Octavia Butler is to be explored at the Barbican's New Suns feminist literary festival this month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-04 07:24:31 UTC ]
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The awards recognize outstanding literary achievements in 12 categories, including the Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, with winners to be announced April 16. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-03-02 15:00:14 UTC ]
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This new form of mobility will be very different from our current reality, which provides some unique design opportunities. The future of urban air mobility is often represented in utopian images. A wealth of fanciful renderings show flying vehicles taking off and landing vertically from... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2021-02-24 08:00:33 UTC ]
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Many of our favorite books are better as films. Other times, it’s better to stick with the book. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-23 17:17:00 UTC ]
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MANY HISTORIES OF CYBERPUNK emphasize its literary precursors — its borrowings from hard-boiled detective fiction, for example, or the proto-cyberpunk elements in the science fiction of writers such as Alfred Bester, John Brunner, Samuel R. Delany, Philip K. Dick, James Tiptree Jr., and others.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-20 16:00:16 UTC ]
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Science fiction has often had an inspirational and positive relationship with space endeavors. But the new US Space Force is struggling with a pop culture public relations problem. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2021-02-19 13:20:06 UTC ]
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In short stories like “The Immortals” and novels like “The Listeners,” Mr. Gunn helped prepare readers for the future. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-11 17:10:44 UTC ]
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Tevis wrote science fiction greats like “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and the overlooked “Mockingbird.” Also, “The Hustler.” Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-03 17:15:28 UTC ]
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Find some immersive, out-of-this-world stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters in these excellent queer science fiction books. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-02-02 11:32:00 UTC ]
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“The Absolute Book,” by Elizabeth Knox, takes on a number of genres, while “Winter’s Orbit,” by Everina Maxwell, stays true to one. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-29 10:00:04 UTC ]
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Do you love your science fiction with a heaping side of humor? You’ve come to the right place! Pick up these funny sci-fi books, including Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-28 11:38:00 UTC ]
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If you’re on the hunt for new literary rabbit holes, today is your lucky day. The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction, created by lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower (a former editor of both the OED and Random House Dictionaries) is “a comprehensive quotation-based dictionary of the language of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-27 16:14:09 UTC ]
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The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction turns a century of neologisms (and neosemes!) into a redefintion of the genre. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2021-01-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The new online Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction probes the speculative corners of the lexicographic universe. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-26 12:01:06 UTC ]
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At the London Review of Books, Colin Burrow reflects on how Ursula K. Le Guin‘s narrative prowess flourished within the constraints of science fiction and children’s literature. “Fiction needs the unruly energies of indeterminacy,” Burrow writes, “of being partly inside the mind of the reader,... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-01-20 21:30:12 UTC ]
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“Vellum” by Hal Duncan, “Mockingbird,” by Walter Tevis, the works of Tanith Lee and more. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-01-13 14:00:00 UTC ]
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Police in Shanghai say a suspect has been detained in the death by possible poisoning of the billionaire founder of a Chinese video game company that is producing films based on popular science fiction novel “The Three-Body Problem.” Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2020-12-28 14:47:02 UTC ]
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Del Rey, the SFF imprint of Cornerstone, has acquired A E Warren's four-book high-concept science fiction series, described as "Jurassic Park meets Sapiens, set within a bold new imaginative world". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-21 17:20:07 UTC ]
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From talking tigers to automaton dragons and UFOs, find some of the best 2020 under the radar SFF books you may have missed, including Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-12-21 11:37:00 UTC ]
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Need a new novel? Classic adventures, satire, and dystopian science fiction top this year's round-up of reader book recommendations for fiction. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-12-18 22:08:27 UTC ]
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