Science fiction and philosophy: from time travel to superintelligence

A timely volume that uses science fiction as a springboard to meaningful philosophical discussions, especially at points of contact between science fictionand new scientific developments.Raises questions and examines timely themes concerning the nature of the mind, time travel, artificial intelligence, neuralenhancement, free will, the nature of persons, transhumanism, virtual reality, and neuroethicsDraws 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 FutureConsiders the classic philosophical puzzles that appeal to the general reader, while also exploring new topics of interest to the more seasoned academic INDICE: Sources and AcknowledgmentsIntroductionThought Experiments: Science Fiction as a Window into Philosophical Puzzles (Susan Schneider).Part I: Could I be in a “Matrix” or Computer Simulation? Related Works: The Matrix; Permutation City; The 13th Floor; Vanilla Sky; Total Recall; Animatrix1. Brain in aVat (John Pollock).2. Are You In a Computer Simulation (Nick Bostrom).3. Excerpt from The Republic Plato4. Excerpt from The Meditations on First Philosophy(René Descartes).5. The Matrix as Metaphysics (David J. Chalmers).Part II: What Am I? Free Will and the Nature of Persons Related Works: Software; Star Trek, The Next Generation: Second Chances; Mindscan; The Matrix; Minority Report6. Where Am I (Daniel C. Dennett).7. Personal Identity (Eric Olson).8. Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons (Derek Parfit).9. Who Am I? What Am I (Ray Kurzweil).10. Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report (Michael Huemer).11. Excerpt from “The Book of Life: A Thought Experiment” (Alvin I. Goldman).Part III: Mind: Natural, Artificial, Hybrid, and “Super” Related Works:2001; Blade Runner; AI; Frankenstein; Terminator; I, Robot12. Robot Dreams (Isaac Asimov).13. A Brain Speaks (Andy Clark).14. The Mind as the Software of the Brain (Ned Block).15. Cyborgs Unplugged (Andy Clark).16. Consciousness in Human and Robot Minds (Daniel C. Dennett).17. Superintelligence and Singularity(Ray Kurzweil).Part IV: Ethical and Political Issues Related Works: Brave NewWorld; Gattaca; Terminator; White Plague18. The Man on the Moon (George J. Annas).19. Mindscan: Transcending and Enhancing the Human (Brain Susan Schneider).20. The Doomsday Argument (John Leslie).21. Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics” and Machine Metaethics (Susan Leigh Anderson).22. Ethical Issues in AdvancedArtificial Intelligence (Nick Bostrom).Part V: Space and Time Related Works: Twelve Monkeys; Slaughterhouse Five; The Time Machine; Back to the Future; Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions23. A Sound of Thunder (Ray Bradbury).24. Time (Theodore Sider).25. The Paradoxes of Time Travel (David Lewis).26. The Quantum Physics of Time Travel (David Deutsch and Michael Lockwood).27. Miraclesand Wonders: Science Fiction as Epistemology (Richard Hanley).Index

• ISBN: 978-1-4443-1096-2
• Editorial: Wiley-Blackwell
• Encuadernacion: Rústica
• Páginas: 368
• Fecha Publicación: 26/03/2012
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés