The first comprehensive critical study of hard science fiction, this book reveals how the term hard science fiction originated, and how arguments about its range and nature have unfolded. Westfahl shows that hard science fiction is generally characterized by the author's extreme concern for scientific accuracy and logic. Identifying two characteristic forms of hard science fiction, Westfahl closely examines several representative works: Arthur C. Clarke's A Fall of Moondust, Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity, and Charles Sheffield's Between the Strokes of Midnight. This book offers new insights into hard science fiction and provides a wealth of information about what members of the science fiction community have said about this relatively recent genre.
Millions of users have taken up residence in virtual worlds, and in those worlds they find opportunities to revisit and rewrite their religious lives. Robert M. Geraci argues that virtual worlds and video games have become a locus for the satisfaction of religious needs, providing many users with devoted communities, opportunities for ethical reflection, a meaningful experience of history and human activity, and a sense of transcendence. Using interviews, surveys, and his own first-hand experience within the virtual worlds, Geraci shows how World of Warcraft and Second Life provide participants with the opportunity to rethink what it means to be religious in the contemporary world. Not all participants use virtual worlds for religious purposes, but many online residents use them to rearrange or replace religious practice as designers and users collaborate in the production of a new spiritual marketplace. Using World of Warcraft and Second Life as case studies, this book shows that many residents now use virtual worlds to re-imagine their traditions and work to restore them to "authentic" sanctity, or else replace religious institutions with virtual communities that provide meaning and purpose to human life. For some online residents, virtual worlds are even keys to a post-human future where technology can help us transcend mortal life. Geraci argues that World of Warcraft and Second Life are "virtually sacred" because they do religious work. They often do such work without regard for-and frequently in conflict with-traditional religious institutions and practices; ultimately they participate in our sacred landscape as outsiders, competitors, and collaborators.
Apocalyptic AI, the hope that we might one day upload our minds into machines and live forever in cyberspace, is a surprisingly wide-spread and influential idea. Robert Geraci points out that the rhetoric of 'Apocalyptic AI' is strikingly similar to that of the apocalyptic traditions of Judaism and Christianity.
Apocalyptic AI, the hope that we might one day upload our minds into machines or cyberspace and live forever, is a surprisingly wide-spread and influential idea, affecting everything from the world view of online gamers to government research funding and philosophical thought. In Apocalyptic AI, Robert Geraci offers the first serious account of this "cyber-theology" and the people who promote it. Drawing on interviews with roboticists and AI researchers and with devotees of the online game Second Life, among others, Geraci illuminates the ideas of such advocates of Apocalyptic AI as Hans Moravec and Ray Kurzweil. He reveals that the rhetoric of Apocalyptic AI is strikingly similar to that of the apocalyptic traditions of Judaism and Christianity. In both systems, the believer is trapped in a dualistic universe and expects a resolution in which he or she will be translated to a transcendent new world and live forever in a glorified new body. Equally important, Geraci shows how this worldview shapes our culture. Apocalyptic AI has become a powerful force in modern culture. In this superb volume, he shines a light on this belief system, revealing what it is and how it is changing society.
Dawkin's militant atheism is well known; his profound faith less well known In this book, atheist philosopher Eric Steinhart explores the spiritual dimensions of Richard Dawkins’ books, which are shown to encompass: · the meaning and purpose of life · an appreciation of Platonic beauty and truth · a deep belief in the rationality of the universe · an aversion to both scientism and nihilism As an atheist, Dawkins strives to develop a scientific alternative to theism, and while he declares that science is not a religion, he also proclaims it to be a spiritual enterprise. His books are filled with fragmentary sketches of this ‘spiritual atheism’, resembling a great unfinished cathedral. This book systematises and completes Dawkins’ arguments and reveals their deep roots in Stoicism and Platonism. Expanding on Dawkins’ ideas, Steinhart shows how atheists can develop powerful ethical principles, compelling systems of symbols and images, and meaningful personal and social practices. Believing in Dawkins is a rigorous and potent entreaty for the use of science and reason to support spiritually rich and optimistic ways of thinking and living.
This book explores the universe and its subsystems from the three lenses of evolutionary (contingent), developmental (predictable), and complex (adaptive) processes at all scales. It draws from prolific experts within the academic disciplines of complexity science, physical science, information and computer science, theoretical and evo-devo biology, cosmology, astrobiology, evolutionary theory, developmental theory, and philosophy. The chapters come from a Satellite Meeting, "Evolution, Development and Complexity" (EDC) hosted at the Conference on Complex Systems, in Cancun, 2017. The contributions have been peer-reviewed and contributors from outside the conference were invited to submit chapters to ensure full coverage of the topics. This book explores many issues within the field of EDC such as the interaction of evolutionary stochasticity and developmental determinism in biological systems and what they might teach us about these twin processes in other complex systems. This text will appeal to students and researchers within the complex systems and EDC fields.
Claire Escott had ignored her father's warning against involvement with her fiancé Mark Rowland. However, she little realised the extent of the scientist's corroding ambition when he invents a method of matter transmission. And it was not long after their marriage that Rowland's ruthless pursuit of a scientific empire encompassed a horrifying murder. But that was only the start of things. Mark's scientific genius and obsessive ambition to go one step further eventually led to the conquest of space, culminating in the mass destruction of an interstellar war!
Irrational mechanics is defined as a futurist science that will eventually open the door to faster than light travel, time travel, psychic engineering, God-like abilities, and the resurrection of the dead. This is not a scientific theory of irrational mechanics, but a narrative sketch that tries to communicate the flavor of what a futurist science of irrational mechanics could be. Irrational mechanics will eventually become the foundation of a new religion, one that is inspired by science instead of revelation, but is still able to offer all the comforts of traditional religion. Yes, the universe is striving toward a purpose, and we are part of that purpose. Yes, the cosmic operating system has the attributes that traditional religions have assigned to their God(s). Yes, you’ll live again after death with your loved ones.
