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 ]
Good morning, Boston. Happy National Root Beer Float Day. Here are the five things you need to know in local business news to start your Tuesday, before you go get that Black Cow. The biggest business news of the day — unless you include the continuing Wall Street meltdown — is the finding by... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2024-08-06 10:16:18 UTC ]
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A business out of science fiction — a robotics repair workshop — is now in Houston, aiming to provide automated workers to local businesses. Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2024-08-02 19:28:12 UTC ]
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Travel into this week's new science fiction and fantasy books, as well as two compelling portal fantasy reads. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-08-02 15:00:00 UTC ]
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In “The Future Was Now,” former Entertainment Weekly film critic Chris Nashawaty explores the significance of the summer of 1982, which featured the release of eight groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy films Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2024-08-01 22:54:26 UTC ]
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This week's new science fiction and fantasy reads include two that explore fantastical worlds about literature. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-07-19 16:00:00 UTC ]
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Dive into this double dose of new science fiction and fantasy releases out this week. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-07-12 16:15:00 UTC ]
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By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Science fiction has reinvented the Robinsonade – a narrative based on the scenario described in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe – on numerous occasions and in a variety of ways. We’ve had individuals stranded on a whole planet rather than a mere... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2024-07-10 14:00:26 UTC ]
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An epic fantasy inspired by Nigerian mythology, a found family wuxia fantasy, a historical fantasy set in the 1920s, and more of today's best science fiction and fantasy deals. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-07-01 14:30:00 UTC ]
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Science fiction and technological innovation feed off each other in an ongoing back-and-forth that can play out over decades. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2024-06-28 12:18:28 UTC ]
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What are your favorite science fiction novels that have yet to see a film adaptation? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-06-27 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Get to know the Nebula Awards for science fiction and fantasy writing, with outstanding, must-read examples to pick up right now. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-06-21 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Photo by Arturo Villarrubia Science fiction writer Ted Chiang has won the 2024 PEN/Bernard and Ann Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. The award is given each year to a writer who has “demonstrated exceptional achievement in the short story form.” Ted Chiang has published two... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-06-12 14:52:48 UTC ]
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In which Robin Sloan writes Moonbound—a science fiction book about science fiction—and our writer writes his way into total insanity. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2024-06-11 11:00:00 UTC ]
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An elaborate water trap, three generations of empathetic witches, a space thriller, and more of today's best science fiction and fantasy book deals. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-06-10 13:30:00 UTC ]
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The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of American (SFWA) has announced the winners of the 2023 Nebula Awards, one of SFF’s most prestigious honors, “given to the writers of the most outstanding speculative fiction works released in 2023.” Here are the winners: NOVEL Vajra Chandrasekera, The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-06-10 12:14:36 UTC ]
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In a new book, the journalist and science fiction writer Annalee Newitz shows how we have used narrative to manipulate and coerce. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-06-05 09:05:03 UTC ]
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Four years after two Minneapolis specialty bookstores were destroyed amid unrest following George Floyd's murder, Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore and Uncle Edgar’s Mystery Bookstore are thriving in their new locations. Their owner, Don Blyly, is also celebrating his 50th anniversary as a... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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"This list is a pretty balanced blend of science fiction and fantasy, spanning cultures and space, past and future, authors familiar and under-the-radar." Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-05-29 10:30:00 UTC ]
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AI is being shoved into everything now, from laptops to kitchen appliances to celebrity gossip news. (No, none of that is an exaggeration.) The term is so ubiquitous that it’s fast becoming meaningless, just like “performative” or “green.” So, I’d like to thank Cooler Master for taking... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2024-05-22 14:28:16 UTC ]
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Out of this world deals on some of the best science fiction and fantasy–grab these excellent reads for under $3. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-05-20 13:30:00 UTC ]
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