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 ]
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Crime writer A L Gaylin is publishing two novels with Orion Fiction, the first of which centres on a young woman who becomes the focus of a true crime podcast. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Orbit Books has won three Hugos since its U.S. branch launched in 2007—and its publisher thinks it's poised to dominate the sci-fi and fantasy publishing world by 2027. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Called 'a group of novels grown from tradition but also radical and contemporary,' the 2017 Man Booker Prize shortlist of six books is announced in London. The post The 2017 Man Booker Prize Fiction Shortlist Includes UK, UK-Pakistani, and US Authors appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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McFly band member turned children's author Tom Fletcher has launched a children's book club exclusively with WH Smith. The book club titles will get promotion in-store, online and on Fletcher's YouTube channel, which has over 625,000 subscribers. The new club follows that WH Smith already runs... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tom Hollander, who appeared in the BBC’s adaptation of The Night Manager and Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, is reading the audiobook for John le Carré's new novel A Legacy of Spies. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Wearing the stigma of the former communist regime,' says the FEP's Henrique Mota, a single state-owned publisher may control all of Romania's textbooks. The post Freedom to Publish: FEP’s Mota Warns Romania May Allow Only One State Textbook Publisher appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As our China Bestseller Lists for July go to press, OpenBook's conference in Beijing has put the 2016 value of the Chinese books market at US$21 billion. The post OpenBook’s China Bestseller Lists for July 2017: Fiction and Nonfiction appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Members of the Northern Fiction Alliance have said they have seen boosts in book and rights sales from being part of the coalition. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The magazine’s new single-topic per print issue format appears to be paying off. The post Redesigned Popular Science Sees Print and Digital Readership Surge appeared first on Folio:. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2017-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After just four months on the board of Clarivate Analytics, Annette Thomas has been appointed as chief executive officer of the company’s Scientific and Academic Research division. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trinity Mirror's publishing imprint Mirror Books has acquired three titles in a new crime series by author and playwright Lynn Brittney. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tickets to actor Tom Hanks' only event in the UK to promote his new collection of short stories, Uncommon Type (William Heinemann), have sold out in under two hours. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Silvertail has signed Ravenhill, a "stunning" debut novel from a "brilliant new voice in crime fiction", John Steele. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vintage hosted its upcoming authors at a breakfast preview to give media a taste of what fiction is to come from the publisher in 2018. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Historical novelist Philippa Gregory, whose affiliation with the Tudor period has made her a household name, tells Alice O’Keeffe about her fascination with the era - and what she plans to write next. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins has topped a public poll of the most inspiring science books of all time. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former energy chief Louise Boland is launching a new publisher focusing on contemporary literary fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Contract clauses giving publishers the right to drop authors who act "immorally" are becoming more common, The Bookseller has been told. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The attorney and author James Grippando, with more than a dozen Jack Swyteck novels published, is the seventh winner of the ‘ABA Journal’ and University of Alabama School of Law’s prize. By Dennis Abrams | @DennisAbrams2 ‘My Dual Career’ he University of Alabama School of Law and the ABA... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Absolute Press, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, has signed Tom Kerridge’s Lose Weight for Good, an "all-new" approach to low-calorie dieting. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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