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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Orion’s Rebecca Gray has been promoted to the company's head of fiction publicity. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HQ is to publish an "accessible and effective" nutrition, fitness and lifestyle book by diver Tom Daley, who will be representing Team GB in the Rio Olympics this August. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Edition M, a new imprint for crime fiction, is the latest addition to Amazon Publishing in Germany. It plans to publish 60 titles by the end of 2016. The post Amazon Starts New Crime Fiction Imprint in Germany appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thomson Reuters has agreed to sell its Intellectual Property & Science division to Onex Corp and Baring Private Equity Asia for $3.55bn (£2.73bn). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Malorie Blackman’s latest novel is among those longlisted for the Guardian children’s fiction prize, alongside titles from Alex Wheatle and Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At first glance, the new memoir I'm Your Biggest Fan: Awkward Encounters and Assorted Misadventures in Celebrity Journalism just looks like a breezy collection of stories about Hollywood stars from People magazine executive editor Kate Coyne. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2016-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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MIRA Books, the fiction imprint of Harlequin Books, has announced the launch of a new literary fiction line, Park Row Books. Inaugural titles are slated to publish in summer 2017. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Enders Analysis has downgraded its forecasts for the audiovisual sector following the referendum result that will likely see the United Kingdom exit the European Union. The analysts said the result offered “no clear benefits to the audiovisual sector” while a climate of uncertainty promised to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Declaring that 'the current copyright framework is unfit for the digital age,' the chief of the Europe's research libraries organization speaks out against "neighboring rights,' related rights, for publishers. The post European Research Libraries Say ‘Neighboring Rights’ Oppose Open Science... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Creative duo CO.LAB have joined Arts & Sciences. Justin Tyler Close comes from a background of art photography. Jeremy Power Regimbal has experience in post-production and cinematography. The Canadian pair formed CO.LAB over a year ago, after their first initial meeting a decade ago. They... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2016-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones boss James Daunt has sent a stark email to employees warning that if the UK leaves Europe, the “brutal reality" is that the retailer would be forced to axe jobs. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Holtzbrinck-owned technology software company Digital Science has made an investment in US start-up TetraScience. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sunday Times literary editor Andrew Holgate has said it is "worth thinking about" introducing a Young Adult bestseller chart into the paper, after taking the decision to make vlogger Oli White's Generation Next (Hodder & Stoughton) number one on the upcoming Sunday Times adult fiction... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lisa McInerney has won the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction for her debut The Glorious Heresies (John Murray). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new TV One drama Lucifer is a fresh take on the story of the original fallen angel, based on DC Entertainment's comic book imprint of the same name. But this version takes everything we think we know about the world's greatest villain and flips it. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2016-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tom Jones tells the Hay Festival that his wife, who died last month, was the "most important thing" in his life. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2016-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan has signed science writer Steven Johnson to its non-fiction list, after acquiring Wonderland: How Play and Delight Made the Modern World, due to publish November 2016. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan has acquired two "major" neuroscience titles to build its non-fiction list in the area of pop-science. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan non-fiction is expanding its business and pop-science list with two "major" acquisitions. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pricing pressure and the shifting genre tastes of readers are two big issues for publishers of Christian fiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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