Science Fiction and Philosophy : From Time Travel to Superintelligence

by Schneider, Susan

• ISBN13: 9781405149075
• ISBN10: 1405149078
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-18
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

A timely volume that uses the science fiction genre to provoke reflection and discussion on a variety of philosophical issues -from time travel and artificial intelligence to trans-humanism, virtual reality, and neuro-ethics.

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	p. viii
Introduction Thought Experiments: Science Fiction as a Window into Philosophical Puzzles	p. 1
Could I be in a "Matrix" or Computer Simulation? Related Works: The Matrix; Permutation City; The 13th Floor; Vanilla Sky; Total Recall; Animatrix	p. 15
Brain in a Vat	p. 17
Are You In a Computer Simulation?	p. 20
Excerpt from The Republic	p. 24
Excerpt from The Meditations on First Philosophy	p. 28
The Matrix as Metaphysics	p. 33
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	p. 53
Where Am I?	p. 55
Personal Identity	p. 67
Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons	p. 91
Who Am I? What Am I?	p. 99
Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report	p. 103
Excerpt from "The Book of Life: A Thought Experiment"	p. 113
Mind: Natural, Artificial, Hybrid, and "Super" Related Works: 2001; Blade Runner; AI; Frankenstein; Terminator; I, Robot	p. 115
Robot Dreams	p. 117
A Brain Speaks	p. 122
The Mind as the Software of the Brain	p. 126
Cyborgs Unplugged	p. 170
Consciousness in Human and Robot Minds	p. 186
Superintelligence and Singularity	p. 201
Ethical and Political Issues Related Works: Brave New World; Gattaca; Terminator; White Plague	p. 225
The Man on the Moon	p. 227
Mindscan: Transcending and Enhancing the Human Brain	p. 241
The Doomsday Argument	p. 257
Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" and Machine Metaethics	p. 259
Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence	p. 277
Space and Time Related Works: Twelve Monkeys; Slaughterhouse Five; The Time Machine; Back to the Future; Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions	p. 285
A Sound of Thunder	p. 287
Time	p. 297
The Paradoxes of Time Travel	p. 310
The Quantum Physics of Time Travel	p. 322
Miracles and Wonders: Science Fiction as Epistemology	p. 335
Index	p. 343
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