Science Fiction and Philosophy From Time Travel to Superintelligence

by Schneider, Susan

• ISBN13: 9781405149068
• ISBN10: 140514906X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-05-26
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

A timely volume that uses science fiction as a springboard to meaningful philosophical discussions, especially at points of contact between science fiction and new scientific developments. Raises questions and examines timely themes concerning the nature of the mind, time travel, artificial intelligence, neural enhancement, free will, the nature of persons, transhumanism, virtual reality, and neuroethics Draws on a broad range of books, films and television series, including The Matrix, Star Trek, Blade Runner, Frankenstein, Brave New World, The Time Machine, and Back to the Future Considers the classic philosophical puzzles that appeal to the general reader, while also exploring new topics of interest to the more seasoned academic

Author Biography

Susan Schneider is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania, and a faculty member in Penn’s Neuroethics program, its Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, and its Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. She is also a fellow with the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. She is the author of numerous pieces in philosophy of mind, neuroethics, and metaphysics, and has co-edited The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007) with Max Velmans.

Table of Contents

Sources and Acknowledgments

Introduction

Thought Experiments: Science Fiction as a Window into Philosophical Puzzles

Could I be in a ôMatrixö or Computer Simulation? Related Works: The Matrix; Permutation City; The 13th Floor; Vanilla Sky; Total Recall; Animatrix

Brain in a Vat

Are You In a Computer Simulation

Excerpt from The Republic Plato

Excerpt from The Meditations on First Philosophy

The Matrix as Metaphysics

What Am I? Free Will and the Nature of Persons Related Works: Software; Star Trek, The Next Generation: Second Chances; Mindscan; The Matrix; Minority Report

Where Am I

Personal Identity

Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons

Who Am I? What Am I

Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report

Excerpt from ôThe Book of Life: A Thought Experimentö

Mind: Natural, Artificial, Hybrid, and ôSuperö Related Works: 2001; Blade Runner; AI; Frankenstein; Terminator; I, Robot

Robot Dreams

A Brain Speaks

The Mind as the Software of the Brain

Cyborgs Unplugged

Consciousness in Human and Robot Minds

Superintelligence and Singularity

Ethical and Political Issues Related Works: Brave New World; Gattaca; Terminator; White Plague

The Man on the Moon

Mindscan: Transcending and Enhancing the Human

The Doomsday Argument

AsimovÆs ôThree Laws of Roboticsö and Machine Metaethics

Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence

Space and Time Related Works: Twelve Monkeys; Slaughterhouse Five; The Time Machine; Back to the Future; Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions

A Sound of Thunder

Time

The Paradoxes of Time Travel

The Quantum Physics of Time Travel

Miracles and Wonders: Science Fiction as Epistemology

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.