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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Haruki Murakami has warned against excluding outsiders in an acceptance speech for 2016's Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in Odense, Denmark. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Non-fiction had a strong month in the Audio Download Chart, as the Harry Potter canon is displaced from Audible’s epper echelons in September by a slew of newcomers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three new independent publishers are to join the Northern Fiction Alliance which intends to position the north of England as a "centre of publishing excellence". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With over 7.8 million copies sold in the Baxter Family series alone and a new collection on the way, Christian fiction star Karen Kingsbury reflects on her writing career. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cecilia Ekbäck has won the 2016 Historical Writers' Association's Goldsboro Debut Crown for her Nordic noir thriller, Wolf Winter (Hodder). Meanwhile, the Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction Award was presented to Philippa Gregory. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Folio Prize is planned to return in 2017, with its remit extended to include non-fiction for the first time. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Current education policies threaten the UK's standing as a global creative power, a problem which will be exacerbated by Brexit, the Creative Industries Federation has claimed. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Industry’s lack of diversity ‘is a real issue, and we have been slow’, says Tom Welson, launching a new scheme to attract under-represented communitiesThe chief executive of the UK’s largest publisher has warned that the books industry will “become irrelevant” if it continues to fail to reflect... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fiction and picture books are likely to take the lion’s share of sales over the Christmas period, although this year’s YA and teen offering is not as strong, according to a number of children’s booksellers. Florentyna Martin, children’s buyer at Waterstones, said younger fiction is particularly... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A brass band and pop stars were present for the launch of Tom Fletcher’s first novel, The Christmasaurus (Penguin Random House Children’s), at the Natural History Museum last night. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic UK has acquired more Tom Gates titles from author and illustrator Liz Pichon. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new imprint will publish "commercial women’s fiction with a relationship element woven through,” Harelquin said. First titles are due out in September 2017. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An impressive array of fiction and nonfiction is on offer this year at Frankfurt Book Fair, as Canadian publishers' rights directors talk up their new books. The post Canadian Publishers’ Offers: New Fiction and Nonfiction at Frankfurt appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Best known for publishing nonfiction books in such areas as alternative medicine, the indie publisher is trying its hand at fiction after acquiring the rights to five novels by James Misko. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As writers learn that tech giant has processed their work without permission, the Authors Guild condemns ‘blatantly commercial use of expressive authorship’When the writer Rebecca Forster first heard how Google was using her work, it felt like she was trapped in a science fiction novel. “Is this... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House is publishing British astronaut Tim Peake's non-fiction debut, Hello, is this planet Earth? in November. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A panel of Turkish authors speaking about censorship in the troubled country have warned that the UK faces "common problems" with Turkey, where right-wing anti-intellectualism has led to a state crackdown on freedom of expression following the failed coup on 15th July. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Andrea Wulf has been named the 29th winner of the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize for her biography of Alexander von Humboldt, The Invention of Nature (John Murray), about an explorer, naturalist and foreign member of the Royal Society. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Clare Hey, editorial director at Simon & Schuster UK, is joining Orion Fiction as publishing director. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kensington Publishing Corp. will begin publishing science fiction and fantasy ebooks this fall with the launch of Rebel Base Books, a digital-only imprint to be overseen by editor Martin Biro. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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