Science Fiction Representations of Technology

On September 29, 1846, James Challis, as he had done many times in the previous two months, went to use the Northumberland Telescope at the Cambridge University Observatory to scan the skies in pursuit of a new planet. On that night, however, he spotted an object he suspected might be the body predicted to exist by the mathematical analyses of John Couch Adams and U. J. J. Le Verrier. But two days later, the sensational news that the planet-Neptune-had been discovered from Berlin on September 23 was announced publicly in Britain. The information did not come in the pages of a scientific journal or through a report at a scientific meeting, but in the columns of the Times of London. Some seventy-seven years later, the first public notice of arguably the most momentous discovery in twentieth-century astronomy-that there is a myriad of galaxies beyond our own Milky Way galaxy-appeared in November 1924 in the New York Times, six weeks before the findings were presented at a scientific meeting. The appropriateness of presenting significant astronomical findings in newspapers was widely accepted in the years between the discoveries of Neptune and of external galaxies. In News from Mars, Joshua Nall goes far beyond this link between astronomy and newspapers. He argues for an intimate relationship between the new sorts of astronomy that emerged in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries-astrophysics and planetary science-and mass media, particularly the novel sorts of mass media that also arose in these same years. In so doing, he questions the shifting meanings of ''astronomer'' and ''astronomy.''

Alien infertility has also featured in all of the popular SF television series, particularly in Star Trek, and the next section will be devoted to alien infertility in the Star Trek universe. In an interesting twist on the praying-mantis theme, men are truly needed, albeit briefly, in the two Star Trek episodes, The Lorelei Signal (1973) 1 and Favorite Son (1997), 2 in which beautiful females feed off the 'life energies' of males, thus killing men to retain their immortality at the expense of infertility. In When the Bough Breaks (1988), the starship Enterprise encounters a planet that is deliberately kept cloaked using a form of sophisticated stealth technology. While the Enterprise is in orbit, seven of the ship's children are kidnapped by the alien inhabitants, an otherwise kindly

is best known for his science fiction, but his contribution to science goes much further: many of his ideas still shape crucial new space technologies. On the eve of his 90th birthday, Andrew Robinson looks at the life of this ever-enthusiastic visionary Still looking at the stars

This article discusses the story collection The Martian Chronicles by American author Ray Bradbury and analyzes the literary genres that are combined in it: science fiction, utopia and chronic. It will demonstrate how the text weaves from these genres, a clear, open and sometimes acidic critique of society, a warning rather than force on the scope of space exploration and the frightening possibility of repeating the cruel experience of the Conquest of America From an ethical perspective and humanist. Este artículo aborda la colección de relatos Crónicas marcianas del escritor estadounidense Ray Bradbury y analiza los géneros literarios que se combinan en él: la ciencia ficción, la crónica y la utopía. Se demostrará cómo el texto entreteje a partir de estos géneros, una clara, abierta y a veces ácida crítica a la sociedad, una advertencia más que vigente sobre los alcances de la exploración espacial y de la aterradora posibilidad de repetir la cruel experiencia de la Conquista de Amé...

A number of low-budget science fiction (SF) films were made in Bombay in the 1960s that have entirely been glossed over in scholarly accounts of Indian film history, genre studies, or global accounts of non-western SF cinema. Symptomatic of the desires and anxieties of the space age, these films mobilized common science fictional tropes of UFOs, space travel, rockets, atomic energy, gigantic monsters, epic disaster, automatons, aliens, and so on, in an attempt to legitimize India's claims to scientific and technological modernity. Inspired by the SF narratives and iconography of 1950s international films, these B-films constructed alternative circuits of stardom and creative labour, along with new imaginations of science, technology and ethics. Although prints of most of the films are unavailable, this article constructs a speculative account of the industrial economies and aesthetic characteristics of this peculiarly 1960s Bombay B genre through film scripts, song and publicity booklets, film stills, posters, media interviews and film reviews. The flash-in-the-pan appearance of the genre in the 1960s, much like a meteorite zapping past, is indicative of the tremendous risk and enterprise that characterizes 1960s Bombay cinema, and this article attempts to recover some of this, in its lowbrow forms.

La máquina está en movimiento. Reseña de Recalibrando los La máquina está en movimiento. Reseña de Recalibrando los circuitos de la máquina: ciencia ficción e imaginarios circuitos de la máquina: ciencia ficción e imaginarios tecnológicos en la narrativa en español del siglo XXI. Jonatán tecnológicos en la narrativa en español del siglo XXI. Jonatán Martín Gómez, Patricio Sullivan (eds.). Albatros Ediciones, 2022. Martín Gómez, Patricio Sullivan (eds.). Albatros Ediciones, 2022. 404 págs. 404 págs.

This article explores the evolution of the nuclear energy debate and its associated controversies in the Portuguese parliament. The analysis focuses on the dictatorial regime of the New State (from the beginning of the nuclear program in 1951 until the 1974 revolution) and on the democratic period (post-1974). Portugal, as an exporting country of uranium minerals, significantly invested in the development of a national capacity in nuclear research, but never developed an endogenous nuclear power infrastructure. Through the analysis of parliamentary debates, this article characterizes the dynamic evolution of the Portuguese sociotechnical imaginary on nuclear energy and technology interlinked with ambivalent representations, including the promise of nuclear energy as key for the constitution of a technological Nation or as prompting new sociotechnical risks.

Coordinating distributed software development projects becomes more difficult, as software becomes more complex, team sizes and organisational overheads increase, and software components are sourced from disparate places. We describe the development of a range of software tools to support coordination of such projects. Techniques we use include asynchronous and semi synchronous editing, software process modelling and enactment, developer-specified coordination agents, and component based tool integration

Fifty thousand years ago, humans demonstrated their urge to explore by leaving Africa and radiating out across the planet. About fifty years ago, they mastered the technology to leave the planet for the first time. Now, we are poised to venture out into the Solar System and beyond, to the stars. Only 600 people have been in Earth orbit, and just 12 have stood on another world. For most of its history, the ―Space Race‖ was a superpower rivalry born out of the Cold War. Now, new countries involved and a burgeoning private sector has bold plans for tourism and commerce beyond the Earth. The next fifty years should see colonies on the Moon and Mars, the mining of asteroids, a space elevator, and increasing human exploration of the Solar System. Space travel is poised to transition from being the activity of an elite few to being a broader aspect of human culture. The dream of human travel to the stars may finally be within reach.

Cossos bíonics i protesis: les primeres pròtesis és va crear entre els anys 950-710 aC i eren utilitzades pels egipcis. Des de llavors el nombre de dispositius ha anat augmentant tant que en l'actualitat s'estan començant a emprar pròtesis que responen als moviments musculars de la resta de l'extremitat o a senyals enviats per dispositius inserits en el cervell.

This article discusses the story collection The Martian Chronicles by American author Ray Bradbury and analyzes the literary genres that are combined in it: science fiction, utopia and chronic. It will demonstrate how the text weaves from these genres, a clear, open and sometimes acidic critique of society, a warning rather than force on the scope of space exploration and the frightening possibility of repeating the cruel experience of the Conquest of America From an ethical perspective and humanist.

The idea of other worlds and realities beyond what we can see in the sky has always stimulated the public imagination. In this way, space has had an important place in popular culture since early times, before the beginning of the space race. Representations of this can be found in many forms of arts, including cinema, plastic arts, music and literature.Whether popular culture inspires scientists in their work or technological developments expand the limits of writers and artists’ imagination, there is an undeniable interplay between both fields. From the astonishingly correct predictions in Jules Verne’s novel From the Earth to the Moon, to the early visions of space depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, this chapter presents a compilation of “predictions” of science fiction that came true in the space industry.

La idea de homenajear a Mary Shelley y su pulsión creativa apunta precisamente a mostrar el lado productivo y feminista del monstruo en las letras contemporáneas. La transgresión de Shelley ha sido definitoria en la sensibilidad y mirada ideológica de muchas escritoras occidentales, probablemente porque —si aludimos muy brevemente a los campos culturales en tanto espacios también orgánicos de escritura— muchas de estas escritoras están instaladas en espacios de enunciación semiperiféricos de Latinoamérica y España. Así, el monstruo escrito alcanza una escala orgánica continental y transoceánica que tiene que ver con tomar piezas de ese desmembrado cuerpo de saberes que no siempre el canon llega a reconocer como legítimo y, por tanto, a suturar en su último tejido.

This article discusses Antonio Margheriti’s films, scrutinizing how they represent science, scientists, and technology. Such motifs are not limited to his sci-fi films. Although Margheriti mostly created low-budget or derivative films, science, scientists, and technology are represented with a surprising variety of undertones and intersections with other motifs.

L’articolo discute i film di Antonio Margheriti (fantascientifici e non solo), esaminando come rappresentano scienza, scienziati e tecnologia. Nonostante i film di Margheriti fossero per lo più a basso costo e si rifacessero a produzioni più importanti, si riscontra che la loro rappresentazione di scienza, scienziati e tecnologia, è sorprendentemente sfaccettata, come pure la loro intersezione con altri temi rilevanti.

O ne aspect of the development of the philosophy of film in recent years has been the proliferation of philosophical interpretations of films. This growth can be measured in a variety of ways. Here, let me just call attention to a number of recent books that focus on film as a source for philosophical enlightenment, such as Peter French's Cowboy Metaphysics: Ethics and Death in the Western, 2 Joseph Kupfer's Visions of Virtue in Popular Film, 3 and my own, Unlikely Couples: Movie Romance as Social Criticism. 4 These three books-and there are others that I could have chosen as equally significant-show that philosophers are turning with increasing frequency to film as a way of doing philosophy and that they see film as a resource for enriching philosophic discussions of a range of ethical, social, and even metaphysical questions. Despite this trend, there have been very few discussions of the question of what legitimates this procedure, of how films can have philosophic content. Although philosophers such as Stanley Cavell and Ian Jarvie discussed this as early at 1971, it is not an issue that has attracted the sustained attention from philosophers that a variety of other questions have that fall, broadly speaking, within the realm of traditional aesthetics. 5 I think this is unfortunate because, as the number of books and articles that link film and philosophy grows, it is important that we have

Estamos ante al primer estudio realizado hasta la fecha en el que se aborda con voluntad panorámica la historia de la ciencia ficción latinoamericana del ámbito hispánico, desde sus orígenes en el siglo XIX hasta la modernidad (mediados del siglo XX). Aunque se han publicado diversos trabajos sobre autores, obras o temas, no existe un estudio de esta magnitud sobre el género en América Latina. Este volumen, junto a la Historia de la ciencia ficción latinoamericana II. Desde la modernidad hasta la posmodernidad, ofrece una aproximación historiográfica en la que se ha privilegiado la perspectiva teórica y comparatista para determinar la poética de la ciencia ficción dominante desde el siglo XIX, a lo largo del siglo XX y lo que llevamos del XXI. Los dos volúmenes destacan por la recuperación del trabajo de las autoras de ciencia ficción latinoamericanas, así como por la visibilización de diferentes obras y autores que demuestran la existencia de una larga tradición del género en toda la región.

The first Polish translation of one of the best-known articles on the poetics of science fiction, considered nowadays a must-read reference in the field. In this classical piece, Darko Suvin famously argues in favour of introducing the concept of cognitive estrangement modelled after Viktor Shklovsky’s ostranenie (often questionably rendered as defamiliarisation) as well as Bertolt Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt (as defined in his Kleines Organon für das Theater). Arguing, in due course, for acknowledging the cognitive and epistemological potential of thus defined estrangement, Suvin proceeds to introduce and analyse two distinct models for studying science fiction from both historical and formalist perspective—the extrapolative model and analogic model—which altogether help at outlining features of the most prototypal science fiction. This translation is also supplemented with an addendum from 2014 wherein the author revisits his thoughts from Marxist perspective and ponders on their relevance in reference to a more politically inclined debate in science fiction studies.

For decades, social scientists have explained the emergence of flying saucers in 1947 as a by-product of the cold war context. They claimed that people were influenced by cold war and "saw" Russian flying disks while the rest of the population, scared by the context, believed in the reality of these saucers. In this paper, I show that the explanation in terms of cold war influence does not explain the situation. For several reason. First because people in 1947 were not afraid of saucers, they spent their time making jokes about them. Only 1% of the people interrogated for a Gallup poll on the subjects mentioned the Russians as an explanation. This fact can be clearly understood when we compare the flying disks wave of 1947 and the ghost rockets wave on 1946 in Europe. We see that the reactions to the two events were very different. While Europeans took very seriously the existence of ghost rockets on 1946, the American public didn't take seriously the disks in 1947.
We may therefore think that the cold war explanation works for the ghost rockets and not for the disks, but the situation is a little more complex. This cold war explanation should be discussed for a second reason: sociology and social history cannot use explanation in terms of influence because social actors are not sponges that absorb the context: they define it, they discuss it, they chose among the elements from that context that they will take seriously and that they will reject. Social studies of subjects like UFOs as a lot to learn from the tools developed by social students of science. [note: this paper is a corrected version of a paper previously published in 2012 in the firs hardcover edition of the book in which it is included.]

The origins of science fiction are most often thought to trace to Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, a story born from a night of spooky tale-telling by the fireside that explores scientific, moral, and ethical questions that were of great concern in the 19th century—and that continue to resonate today. And, although novels and short stories built the foundations of science fiction, film and television have emerged as equally powerful, experimental, and enjoyable ways to experience the genre. Even as far back as the silent era, films like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis have used science fiction to tell stories that explore many facets of human experience.

In Sci-Phi: Science Fiction as Philosophy, Professor of Philosophy David Kyle Johnson of King’s College takes you on a 24-lecture exploration of the final frontiers of philosophy across several decades of science fiction in film and television. From big-budget blockbusters to television series featuring aliens in rubber masks, Professor Johnson finds food for philosophical thought in a wide range of stories. By looking at serious questions through astonishing tales and astounding technologies, you will see how science fiction allows us to consider immense, vital—and sometimes controversial—ideas with a rare combination of engagement and critical distance.

The Future Is Now

Science fiction is often concerned with the future, being used not only as a tool of prediction—humans are notoriously bad at accurately predicting the future—but also as one of extrapolation and interrogation. Rather than simply asking what the future will look like, the futuristic visions of sci-fi TV, like Star Trek, Firefly, and even the animated comedy Futurama, offer compelling statements about humanity’s hopes, dreams, and fears. We can, therefore, use fictionalized futures to better understand today’s world.

Setting a story in the future—or in an alternate reality, or on a faraway planet—also allows sci-fi creators to open up the realm of possibility beyond what our current world offers, while also looking at very real scientific possibilities. As you look at sci-fi films like Arrival and Interstellar, Professor Johnson highlights the kinds of issues worth considering if contact with extraterrestrial life or time travel became part of our real-life experience. And even if these experiences remain in the realm of fiction, considering them still provides insight into important philosophical questions. Indeed, throughout the lectures of Sci-Phi, you will ponder many questions that have concerned philosophers for centuries, including:

Do humans truly have free will?
Could machines one day be conscious? Or be sentient?
Could we actually be living in a simulated world?
How will humanity confront a future of diminished resources and advancing technology?
Are science and religion compatible?
When, if ever, is war justified?
How do we know what information to trust and what to dismiss?
Exploring Reality through Fiction

Staples of science fiction like time travel, alternate universes, and extraterrestrial life are endlessly fascinating ideas to explore. Yet, despite the insights they can give us, they may not seem very relevant to everyday life. Even our conception of reality—what is real and what isn’t—can have little bearing on the more mundane aspects of living from day to day. But science fiction, for all its futurism and outlandish flourishes, is not limited to these theoretical concepts; it is also a window into crucial discussions about the here and now, questions concerning ethics, power, religion, tolerance, social justice, politics, and the many practical dimensions of living in a world that is constantly changing and forever presenting humans with fresh new dilemmas to solve. And by removing us from reality, sci-fi can also remove our biases and make us see such issues anew.

Indeed, as Professor Johnson makes clear, stories of simulated worlds and artificial intelligence can seem far-fetched, but they actually offer valuable insights into social and ethical issues that may be more immediate and relevant than they first appear. By looking at them through fiction, we can take a step back and get a clearer picture of the larger implications. For instance, by looking at characters like Commander Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation or the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica, we are forced to wonder: If we create artificial intelligence that achieves true sentience, how will we treat these man-made beings? Will we repeat the sins of the past by enslaving them or will we embrace them as our equals? If we are ever able to re-create a convincing version of the world via computers, as films like The Matrix and The Thirteenth Floor suggest, do the lives lived in those simulations mean less than those in the “real” world? The answers to these questions—and many others—speak volumes about human values and, given our ever-evolving technology, may require answers sooner rather than later.

You may be surprised to see how often a science fiction story can “trick” you into thinking about questions and concepts you may have never considered. Shows like The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror overtly present questions and issues for audiences to ponder. However, while other films and television shows may seem to focus more on the adventure and entertainment value of science fiction, they still often have deep philosophical dimensions. Consider the long-running British TV series Doctor Who. A beloved icon of science fiction, the show has always been framed as simply the exciting weekly adventures of a time-traveling alien; yet, throughout its decades on television, it has explored issues of autonomy, sentience, pacifism, colonialism, racism, grief, morality, and much more.

A Unique View of Philosophy

While each lecture of Sci-Phi focuses on a few key films or television episodes, you will also explore dozens of other movies and TV episodes along the way. Likewise, each philosophical concept you explore opens the door to further discovery. Throughout the lectures, you will be introduced to the ideas of great thinkers like Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Marx, Nietzsche, Sartre, Turing, Baudrillard, and many others; and through these ideas, you will better understand the different ways philosophy examines the big questions, from metaphysics and epistemology to existentialism and ethics.

Fans of the genre will find their experience of sci-fi stories enriched by layers of philosophical inquiry that reveal each story to be much more than just entertainment. Similarly, those who are looking for a thrilling and accessible introduction to philosophy will be equally rewarded by Professor Johnson’s breadth of knowledge, as well as his deep and abiding love for both science fiction storytelling and philosophical exploration. As you engage with philosophy by way of sci-fi stories for screens both large and small, it is important to keep in mind that Professor Johnson will not shy away from revealing key plot points in many of the stories he explores throughout the lectures; so, although it is not required, watching the films and TV episodes at the heart of each lecture is recommended. Presented as a one-on-one conversation and enlivened by fun visual references to many of the stories you will encounter, Sci-Phi: Science Fiction as Philosophy is a philosophy course unlike any other.

Whether telling stories of far-flung futures or investigating the here and now, science fiction is an invaluable source of intellectual and imaginative exploration. From the genre-defining classics like Star Wars, Doctor Who, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Twilight Zone to a new wave of speculative tales like Transcendence, Snowpiercer, Westworld, and The Hunger Games, sci-fi stories offer a uniquely engaging and incisive way to ask serious questions about the world we live in, even when those stories are set in a galaxy far, far away. Philosophy is the search for truth. Sometimes that truth is best revealed through fiction.

Lecture 1 : Inception and The Interpreation of Art
Lecture 2 : The Matrix and the Value of Knowledge
Lecture 3 : The Matrix Sequels and Human Freewill
Lecture 4 : The Adjustment Bureau, the Force, and Fate
Lecture 5 : Contact: Science vs. Religion
Lecture 6 : Arrival: Aliens and Radical Translation
Lecture 7 : Interstellar: Is Time Travel Possible?
Lecture 8 : Futurama, Doctor Who and Temporal Paradoxes
Lecture 9 : Star Trek TNG and Alternate Worlds
Lecture 10 : Dark City, Dollhouse, and Personal Identity
Lecture 11 : Westworld and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Lecture 12 : Transcendence and the Dangers of AI
Lecture 13 : The Thirteenth Floor: Are We Simulated?
Lecture 14 : The Orville, Orwell, and the "Black Mirror"
Lecture 15 : Star Wars: Good vs. Evil
Lecture 16 : Firefly, Blake's 7 and Political Rebellion
Lecture 17 : Starship Troopers, The Doctor, and Just War
Lecture 18 : The Prime Directive and Postcolonialism
Lecture 19 : Capitalism in Metropolis, Elysium, and Panem
Lecture 20 : Snowpiercer and Climate Change
Lecture 21 : Soylent Green: Overpopulation and Euthanasia
Lecture 22 : Gattaca and the Ethics of Reproduction
Lecture 23 : The Handmaid’s Tale: Feminism and Religion
Lecture 24 : Kubrick's 2001 and Nietzsche’s Übermensch

Since the late 1940s, a tenacious disconnect between popular interest and professional disinterest in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) has typified the controversy surrounding the subject. Numerous high-profile scientists have seen the topic of UFOs as an opportunity to denounce and rectify a popular, yet allegedly misguided, conviction—that some UFOs are physical anomalies indicating the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence— and thus to advance the explanatory authority of science. Rather than constituting rigorous, informed, and effective assessments, however, the ways in which many prominent scientists publicly address the UFO question often exemplify both the problematic “boundary-work” of scientific discourse in this area and, more specifically, the role that logical fallacies can play in the rhetorical construction of scientific authority in public domains. Through a critical discourse analysis, this article argues that ignorance of UFO phenomena is socially and discursively constructed in ways that are conducive to the public faces of individuals and institutions. More broadly, it suggests that the rudimentary standard of science communication attending to the extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) hypothesis for UFOs inhibits public understanding of science, dissuades academic inquiry within the physical and social sciences, and undermines progressive space policy initiatives.

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Este libro responde a una pregunta que todo aficionado a la saga se ha hecho alguna vez: ¿Por qué nos gusta Star Wars?

Muchas otras películas tienen sus héroes, sus princesas, sus naves espaciales y sus malvados sin haber obtenido tanto éxito. Tampoco los grandes presupuestos económicos ni las poderosas campañas de marketing son suficientes para dar cuenta de su enorme influencia cultural.

El título del libro anticipa la respuesta: nos gusta Star Wars porque, sin que seamos del todo conscientes de ello, nos invita a hacernos preguntas sobre ética, política, religión, historia, relaciones personales…

Hasta ahora ningún libro había rastreado la multitud de ideologías que se entrecruzan en las aventuras de la familia Skywalker. La ideología de Star Wars lo hace, y consigue explicar de un modo familiar y entretenido por qué disfrutamos de la gran saga de nuestro tiempo desde hace más de cuarenta años.

5 films from indigenous filmmakers that expand the genre of science fiction while engaging the nature of science.

In today's politically polarized climate, climate change denial and other profit-driven positions have led to caricatured rifts between " pro " and " anti " science positions, undermining productive and nuanced debates about what science is, could be, and should be. Expanding the genre of science fiction, Indigenous filmmakers help to critically and thoughtfully engage the nature and limitations of science.

Notes on a Science Fiction Film about Time and Aliens: Genetic Phenomenology, Metaphysical Time, and the Heterochronic

Arrival, the film is about Time. And so, we can say it is about time we should be talking about the Philosophy of Time using this movie as a leverage point when it has been brought to our attention and collective consciousness.

I have re-edited this paper 2017.01.19 after initial submission

This paper introduces the concept of online 'Innovations-Labs' (i-Labs) as location-independent collaborative ideation spaces. We highlight the challenges and opportunities that disruptive innovations present to companies and society, and discuss how Science Fiction Prototyping and Diegetic Innovation Templating can provide a means to explore that space by acting as ideation process and a language for capturing and communicating innovations. A core hypothesis of this paper is that there are significant gains to be accrued from integrating Virtual Reality, Science Fiction Prototyping, Diegetic Innovation Templating and Innovation Labs to form an online immersive reality innovation lab which both offers better affordances and access to people wishing to undertake innovation related activities. We present details of our initial implementation of an online innovation-lab (Our HEX) which takes the form of a virtual reality space-station. We then conclude the paper by describing future directions of our work, principally, a venture which uses 'Our HEX' space-station platform, plus a supporting textbook published by Tsinghua University Press, to teach 'English, Computing and Creativity' to Chinese students. Finally the paper concludes with a summary and reflections on our work to-date.

Despite the indifferent responses to the second and third instalments of 'The Matrix' series, the trilogy is nevertheless a valuable contribution to popular debate about the human implications of a rapidly emerging technoculture. In this essay, I will develop a reading of the Matrix scenario, not so much as a cautionary warning about the folly of developing intelligent machines, but as a reflection on the moral meanings of becoming increasingly immersed in a technological milieu. I argue that whilst 'The Matrix', the first of the trilogy, depicts a simplisitic opposition between humans and machines, 'Reloaded' and 'Revolutions' open up a more dialectical understanding of human meaning in a technological world and instead explore the tension between two competing moral trajectories of technological existence: the first, the unfolding of a bleak, nihilistic instrumentalism, the second, a reflexive recovery of human relationship made possible by the renewal of a moral ontology of sacrificial self-giving. q

Le livre de Sylvie Bérard, auteure canadienne, reprend la question de la possibilité d’existence de l’art sous un pouvoir psychiatrique répressif en interrogeant l’identité de l’artiste devenu œuvre d’art incarné, dans une société divisée en castes où la reproduction par clonage des corps adultes est techniquement possible. En jouant sur les thèmes du travesti et du sadomasochisme la fiction permet de pousser les hypothèses de la convergence NBIC jusqu’à leurs conséquences ultimes.

The book of Sylvie Bérard, a Canadian author, is a kind of philosophical “saga”, about the identity and possibility of existence of the Artist-Performer, as a work of art in itself, in the future age of its reproduction through cloning. Using elements like transvestite and sadomasochist sexuality in a repressive society ruled by psychiatrists, this hypothetical case  is extended until its ultimate consequences.

continua a essere, a due anni dalla sua scomparsa, uno degli autori contemporanei più celebrati, uno scrittore di riferimento per un pubblico che vuole approfondire come la modernità abbia condizionato le psicogeografie dell'individuo. Autore di rottura, ha sovvertito i canoni della fantascienza tradizionale nei primi anni '60. Il suo testo "Quale la strada per lo spazio interiore?" del 1962 viene adottato dalla New Wave, un gruppo di autori inglesi che ha rinnovato profondamente il genere, come manifesto di intenti. Non ci sono alieni né astronavi nei racconti e romanzi di Ballard. "Le trasformazioni più importanti" -afferma Ballard -"che avverranno nell'immediato futuro non avverranno sulla Luna o su Marte, ma sulla Terra. E' lo spazio interno -e non quello esterno -che necessita di essere esplorato. L'unico pianeta veramente straniero è la Terra." gigantesco telequiz, che banalizzi tutto". Cosa che si è puntualmente avverata. Nell'ultima parte del saggio, Simone Brioni e Maria Vaccarella fanno un'incursione sui "non luoghi nell'opera di James Graham Ballard." Luoghi che "si configurano come trasposizioni spaziali delle problematiche sociali dell'era postmoderna, poiché la loro natura effimera promuove un'individualità solitaria e alienata". Per fare questo, gli autori si rifanno a opere della seconda parte della carriera artistica di Ballard, ad eccezione di High rise (Il condominio), 1975. Millennium People (2004, Running wild (Un gioco da bambini) 1988, Cocaine nights (1996) e Super Cannes (2000 sono romanzi in cui Ballard lascia la sua fantascienza per addentrarsi in città fortezze, enclave, condomini fortificati e autosufficienti dove la gente cura i propri malesseri con massicce dosi di psicopatologia. E' il ceto medio, la borghesia che comincia le rivoluzioni per mantenere i privilegi ottenuti. Questo saggio è utilissimo sia per chi già conosce Ballard ma soprattutto per chi volesse farsi una prima idea sulle potenzialità eversive di questo autore che ha affermato: "Più invecchio e più divento di sinistra". Il suo testamento letterario, Regno a venire, mette in guardia tutti noi da come il consumismo, le sue nuove cattedrali (i centri commerciali), la ricerca ossessiva del benessere, i club di tifosi che marciano per le strade con gli emblemi della propria squadra possano facilmente trasformarsi in un non troppo strisciante fascismo. E con i tempi che corrono non mi sembra poco.

This Science-Fiction Prototype ruminates on a post-singularity world, where transhumanism practices are in widespread use. In particular, the discussion focuses on a form of transhumanism that involves reengineering the brain, and associated reality experiences, as part of an educational process. The paper uses two short SFPs to explore some consequences of transhumanism for immersive education ideas (the focus of the host conference). The article concludes by postulating that we may, perhaps unwittingly, already be on a path to such a future with the advent of technologies like augmented reality glasses and wonders where we might draw a line that we shouldn’t cross.

Se ha dicho que los textos de ciencia-ficción abarcan todas las posibles formas de lo Otro al proveerle una identidad que subraya la diferencia como punto de partida para el diálogo. La ciencia-ficción argentina es tanto una excepción como una prueba de tal afirmación puesto que, aunque aparecen raras veces, los monstruos, los extraterrestres y las razas extrañas que la habitan ponen en evidencia en qué medida esa diversidad constituye una amenaza para discursos políticos que se organizan en torno a una deseada homogeneidad nacional. Pero a su vez, la  misma singularidad de esa diferencia ofrece un espacio contra y desde el cual esa imaginaria homogeneidad puede constituirse como sujeto y definir filiaciones ideológicas inesperadas. Partiendo de una historieta de ciencia-ficción como Yo, Ciborg de Grassi y Olivera, el objetivo de este trabajo es entonces analizar cuál es realmente el rol de esos seres extraños o monstruosos y en qué medida las cuestiones otredad en la ciencia-ficción ponen en tela de juicio todas las posibles formas de gobernabilidad y orden político.

The focus of this paper is on the potential challenges and opportunities that might emerge as a result of the continuing development and proliferation of so-called 3D printing technology. In particular, it is interested in looking at how society would cope if 3D printing (or some other form of comparable replicating technology) advanced to such a stage that it became possible to accurately and cheaply replicate any commodity or currency-form many times over. As many readers will no doubt be aware, these are issues that have gained increased traction in recent times, with countless articles and opinion-pieces having been printed on the so-called ‘3D printing revolution’ in the last couple of years. However, whilst the technology underpinning the latest cluster of 3D printers may be ground-breaking, the idea itself is far from new. Indeed, the concept of replicating technology actually has a fairly long intellectual history, with a number of past writers and thinkers having devoted a great deal of time to considering the effects that might result from the (potential) emergence of mass 3D printing capabilities. In this paper, the focus will be on one such text; namely, George O. Smith’s Venus Equilateral series (1942–1945). Looking both at the fictionalised replicating technologies outlined by Smith and the uses they were put to by his protagonists, this paper will offer a critical reading of Smith’s work, with a particular emphasis on his treatment of the 3D printing phenomenon. Likewise, it will also look at how Smith tried to incorporate the idea of mass replicating technology into a wider socio-economic framework, along with his attempts to produce working economic models based on this postulated mode of production. Ultimately, what it shows is that, whilst Smith’s fictionalised technologies may today seem farcically outdated, his reflections and insights on the potential social ruptures and cultural transformations that might unfold as a result of the emergence of mass replicating technology remain as pertinent and as relevant as ever.

This is part of the "Virtual Introduction to Science Fiction. Online Toolkit for Teaching SF", an international collaborative website aimed for teachers who want to prepare courses on SF. This lecture is an overview of Argentinean SF for those interested on the topic and approaching it for the first time. Instructions on how to use the website are provided on the home page.

Se aborda en Crónicas Marcianas, diversas cuestiones clave para la teoría política actual, como son la violencia mental y las fantasías políticas; los encuentros coloniales; la resistencia y el papel de una memoria ligada a la narración y a la experiencia; la isegoría arendtiana como fundamento democrático; la crítica al sentido de un progreso científico alejado de la vida; el viaje teórico espacial frente a los viajes persecutorios y forzados y, por último, las relaciones de alteridad y la identidad política. A partir de estas cuestiones, en este trabajo se avanza hacia un re-conocimiento de la pluralidad interna del individuo, que resulta básica para su despliegue en el mundo exterior. El comportamiento democrático en el gobierno del individuo se comprenderá, así, como un poderoso antídoto frente a tiranías de todo tipo.

Fifty-five years have passed since the remarkable UFO events of 1954. Hardly anyone is still alive who remembers from personal experience what transpired. At the time I was less than two years old and have no conscious memory of anything from that period, so what I know is based entirely upon the accounts I have read, which is also true for nearly everyone else interested in the phenomena. To the best of my knowledge, no English language television documentaries have ever been produced about the worldwide UFO wave of 1954, and neither has the History Channel's UFO Hunters had an episode devoted to the topic.

In Joss Whedon’s science fiction television show Dollhouse, a secretive corporation running facilities known as Dollhouses across the world, hires out human beings (‘actives’) that have had their minds wiped and then been ‘imprinted’ with temporary personalities, memories and skills to satisfy the needs and desires of their wealthy clients. The premise of the show relies on the transhumanist trope of uploading consciousness into a computer by materially separating the mind from the body as argued by transhumanists such Hans Moravec and Marvin Minsky.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how Dollhouse and ‘mind uploading’ can be used to analyze reality television production. Like Donna Haraway’s cyborg, ‘mind uploading’ is an imaginative resource that can be used to understand the particular labour reality show contestants and the production process of reality television shows. From the point of view of the production process, the political economy in Dollhouse is very similar to the political economy of reality television. The imprinted ‘actives’ in Dollhouse are the fictional equivalents of reality television contestants. Considering the persons that are portrayed on reality television do not necessarily have to have anything in common with how the actual contestants perceive themselves, I argue that reality TV contestants are, like the actives in Dollhouse, imprinted with specific personalities programmed by the show’s editors. Consequently reality television can be considered a transhumanist genre.

Imagining Outer Space makes a captivating advance into the cultural history of outer space and extraterrestrial life in the European imagination. How was outer space conceived and communicated? What promises of interplanetary expansion and cosmic colonization propelled the project of human spaceflight to the forefront of twentieth-century modernity? In what way has West-European astroculture been affected by the continuous exploration of outer space? Tracing the current thriving interest in spatiality to early attempts at exploring imaginary worlds beyond our own, the book analyzes contact points between science and fiction from a transdisciplinary perspective and examines sites and situations where utopian images and futuristic technologies contributed to the omnipresence of fantasmatic thought. Bringing together state-of-the-art work in this emerging field of historical research, Imagining Outer Space breaks new ground in the historicization of the Space Age.