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 ]
News tagged with:
#best-case scenario
#science fiction
Jennifer Doyle, currently deputy marketing director at Cornerstone, will become fiction publishing director for Headline and Headline Review, marking an "exciting new phase in Headline’s evolution". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#headline review
When it comes to filling their worlds with characters positioned along the spectrum of good and evil, Veronica Roth, Melissa de la Cruz, Lauren Oliver, and relative newcomer Sabaa Tahir have it down. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ya fiction
#veronica roth
#lauren oliver
Marcia Clark wanted to write crime fiction since childhood, but lacked the confidence to go for a career as a writer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#marcia clark
#crime fiction
It might be a double-edged sword, Jennifer Close says, that her fourth novel, "The Hopefuls" (Knopf, July), is being published the same week that the Republicans in Cleveland, and the Democrats in Philadelphia the following week, are convening to select their presidential nominees. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
With nearly 4,000 biomedical research papers published every day, there is an information overload in the scientific research and knowledge world. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital solutions
#big data
#information overload
St Ives, the parent company of book printer Clays, has warned of lower profits for the final quarter of 2016 and the next financial year because of “global economic uncertainty”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#st ives
#lower profits
#final quarter
#financial year
Lately a number of licensing deals and renewals pair licensed characters with true nonfiction, helping children and families learn facts about science and history through the eyes of their favorite characters. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#licensing deals
#helping children
#favorite characters
Despite falling sales in fiction, Gilead Publishing is offering a traditional publishing model with advances, royalties, and a tight focus on Christian themes. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#falling sales
#gilead publishing
#christian themes
Steven Furtick’s latest, ‘(Un)Qualified,’ debuted at #4 on our Religion Nonfiction bestsellers list for the month of March, while five books with a presence in Hollywood ranked among the top 10 in Religion Fiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#religion fiction
We asked a few publishers which international titles they are especially excited to present to the publishing world at the London Book Fair this spring. The post Illustration to Thrillers, Fiction and Nonfiction: International Titles on Offer at London 2016 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#international titles
#publishing world
Piatkus, part of Little, Brown, has appointed Jillian Young as commissioning editor for non-fiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#non-fiction editor
British surveillance agency GCHQ intervened with the launch of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#harry potter
#sixth book
Sphere non-fiction has acquired a debut health and fitness book by Instagram sensation Faya Nilsson, a personal trainer and winner of Cosmopolitan’s Lifestyle Blogger of the Year for her blog, fitnessontoast.com. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sphere non-fiction
#fitness book
#personal trainer
Harriet Bourton, editorial director at Transworld, is joining Orion Fiction as publishing director. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
From football reports to clickbait, programs are changing the way the news is createdLook closely at what many journalists write about artificial intelligence – from AlphaGo’s triumph at the ancient Chinese board game Go to Microsoft’s accidentally racist Twitter bot – and you might detect some... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#artificial intelligence
#oxford university
Piccadilly Press has acquired world rights, excluding North America, to a children’s fiction series by actress Isla Fisher. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fiction series
#piccadilly press
Kelly Kerney, who spent a decade writing the historical novel "Hard Red Spring," talks about the impossible task of historical fiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#historical fiction
#impossible task
The book trade should not get complacent following a rise in print book sales, Anthony Forbes Watson, managing director of Pan Macmillan, warned delegates to Nielsen’s Book Insights Conference 2016. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book trade
#pan macmillan
Some cultures do not distinguish between fiction and nonfiction – and instead talk of ‘stories’. Is that a barrier to English-language writers and publishers? Or should they just learn to enjoy telling tales?There’s a mighty canyon that runs down the middle of the world of the word, carving... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#literary prizes
#build bridges
#geoff dyer
#sheila heti
#book jackets
#wrong side
#james frey
#julian barnes
Adult romance-turned-YA author Jody Hedlund explains the importance of writing books for young people and how she weaves a clean, faith-focused story together with relationships and adventure. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ya fiction
#writing books