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
Four poetry collections have made the shortlist for the fiction category of the Portico Prize for Literature in a "surprise outcome." The prize is biennially awarded to the highest quality books set wholly or mainly in the North of England. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#portico prize
#poetry collections
#fiction category
Education publisher, which is in the process of selling off the Financial Times, blames ‘challenging’ market as it suffers biggest share price fall since 1987Pearson suffered its biggest share slump in decades on Wednesday as the education publisher’s stock price crashed almost 16% after issuing... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#education publisher
Dynamic, radical, often female … Irish fiction is flourishing. Gone is the conservative writing – all nostalgia and sexual repression – of the Celtic Tiger years. The writers of the new wave are original and bold“Money kills the imagination,” says the narrator of Claire Kilroy’s 2012 novel The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#make money
#large proportion
Memoirs by the musician and the artist were among the forthcoming books causing excitement at the industry’s international trade eventA memoir from Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, a “devastating” critique of austerity from former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and a “warts and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#largest gathering
#bodley head
#hundred years
#life story
Sam Edenborough, president of the Association of Authors’ Agents, talks about the next big thing in fiction and more. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#big thing
Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist and noted free speech activist, is writing his memoirs that will be published in 2017 by Crown, the publisher announced this week. The book will be published in multiple countries in print, audio and digital formats and is expected to cover the artist's life,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ai weiwei
#publish memoir
#publisher announced
#digital formats
The Bodley Head is to publish a “sweeping memoir” by artist and political activist Ai Weiwei. As yet untitled, the book will be simultaneously published in the UK and in the US by Crown in spring 2017. Stuart Williams, publishing director at The Bodley Head, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#acquired uk
#bodley head
#simultaneously published
#stuart williams
#ai weiwei
#life story
Held in the South for the first time, crime and mystery fiction's annual convention mixed literary prizes and barbecue with programming focused on everything from traditional hardboiled crime novels to short fiction and international mysteries. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#crime fiction
#literary awards
#mystery fiction
#short fiction
The British Library has appointed Tom Holland as chair of the Public Lending Right (PLR) Advisory Committee for the next three years. Holland said: “I am hugely honoured to be taking on the role of chair of the PLR Advisory Committee, which does such excellent work in promoting the interests of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#british library
#public lending
#authors -
#public libraries
Deputy leader of the Labour Party, Tom Watson will address United, We Publish, an evening of workshops hosted by Unite and BookMachine. Watson will discuss his role in exposing the phone-hacking scandal at News International and his book Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and the Corruption... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#tom watson
#labour party
#phone-hacking scandal
#news international
#news corporation
Jesuit priest Martin, well known for his role on the Colbert Report and from his media work during the pope's recent visit, discusses his first novel 'The Abbey.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#colbert report
#recent visit
"I’d be unable to distinguish between what is me and what is Lizzie in the book; Lizzie’s memories appear in my mind as vaguely and as vividly as my own." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Sarah Weinman, the editor of new Library of America anthology, spotlights the no-nonsense work of female crime writers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#crime fiction
#america anthology
The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books has crowned its first ever female solo winner in Gaia Vince for her close-up look at pressing ecological issues facing the planet. Vince’s Adventures in the Anthropocene (Chatto & Windus) was given the £25,000 science prize at a ceremony... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#gaia vince
#science books
#ceremony hosted
#shortlisted titles
Bestselling author Francine Rivers was among those honored during the 2015 American Christian Fiction Writers Awards, taking home the top Lifetime Achievement Award. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#annual conference
#taking home
In a recent radio interview, New England Patriors quarterback Tom Brady mentioned a transformative self-help book that serves as a 'mantra' for his life. Brady says he's been reading the book every year since 2002. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Alane Adams worked for years as an accountant at her family’s business, but she always believed that one day she’d get back to her first two loves: reading and writing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fantasy fiction
#lure readers
If we add an alert to one review, what about the others? Readers have different sensitivities; who is to say which details may spoil a book for any one of them?Readers hate spoilers, and one of the sacred duties of the literary editor is to make sure they don’t happen – or if they do, that... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#literary editor
#terry pratchett
‘There’s a lot about sex in literature,’ novelist tells Edinburgh international book festival. ‘There’s precious little about rearing children’Literature should be more about parenting and less about sex, award-winning writer Janice Galloway has said.Speaking at the Edinburgh international book... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Since ebook sales exploded in 2009–2010, the adult fiction category has seen the steepest drop in print units of all the major book segments as readers migrated to digital formats, particularly in such fiction genres as romance, mystery, and science fiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#steepest drop
#print units
#digital formats
#fiction genres
#science fiction