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Warrior of the light: a manual
By Paulo Coelho. 2003
A collection of philosophical sketches prefaced by the brief parable of a grown man returning to the beach of his…
childhood. There he is inspired to write about the "Warrior"--one who is "capable of understanding the miracle of life." Inspirational companion to The Alchemist (DB 37602). 2003Firewall (Orca Soundings Ser.)
By Sean Rodman. 2017
After his parents' divorce and his move from Chicago to a small town, Josh finds solace in his video game,…
Killswitch. But then he finds a new version of the game that is the exact reproduction of his new town. Strong language. For junior and senior high readers. 2017Heir apparent
By Vivian Vande Velde. 2002
While playing a total immersion virtual reality game full of medieval kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators protesting…
such pastimes have damaged the equipment she's connected to. She must win the game quickly or face brain damage. For grades 6-9. 2002Dragonwriter: A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern
By David Brin, Lois Mcmaster Bujold, Elizabeth Moon, Mercedes Lackey, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Todd Mccaffrey, Michael Whelan. 2013
When Anne McCaffrey passed in November 2011, it was not only those closest to her who mourned her death; legions…
of readers also felt the loss deeply. The pioneering science fiction author behind the Dragonriders of Pern® series crafted intricate stories, enthralling worlds, and strong heroines that profoundly impacted the science fiction community and genre.In Dragonwriter, Anne's son and Pern writer Todd McCaffrey collects memories and stories about the beloved author, along with insights into her writing and legacy, from those who knew her best. Nebula Award-winner Elizabeth Moon relates the lessons she learned from Pern's Lessa (and from Lessa's creator); Hugo Award-winner David Brin recalls Anne's steadfast belief that the world to come will be better than the one before; legendary SFF artist Michael Whelan shares (and tells stories about) never-before-published Pern sketches from his archives; and more.Join Anne's co-writers, fellow science fiction authors, family, and friends in remembering her life, and exploring how her mind and pen shaped not only the Weyrs of Pern, but also the literary landscape as we know it.Contributors include: Angelina Adams David Brin David Gerrold John Goodwin Janis Ian Alec Johnson Georgeanne Kennedy Mercedes Lackey Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Lois McMaster Bujold Elizabeth Moon Charlotte Moore Robert Neilson Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett Robin Roberts Elizabeth Ann Scarborough Wen Spencer Michael Whelan Richard J. Woods Chelsea Quinn YarbroTheory Of Mind And Science Fiction
By Nicholas O. Pagan. 2014
Theory of Mind and Science Fiction shows how theory of mind provides an exciting 'new' way to think about science…
fiction and, conversely, how science fiction sheds light not only on theory of mind but also empathy, morality, and the nature of our humanity.Cyborgs in Latin America
By J. Andrew Brown. 2010
A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via the OAPEN Library platform, www. oapen.…
org . Cyborgs in Latin America explores the ways cultural expression in Latin America has grappled with the changing relationships between technology and human identity.Francia contra los robots
By Georges Bernanos. 1947
En 1948, el reconocido escritor de inspiración mística Georges Bernanos desapareció, dejando el manuscrito de un último libro, publicado póstumamente:…
Francia contra robots. Esta apasionada defensa de la libertad es un desafío a las idolatrías paganas de ganancia y fuerza, con una increíble actualidad. Esta diatriba contra la "sociedad de las máquinas" es un grito futurista, para señalar una sociedad en la que es posible llevar una vida digna de seres humanos.Esta visionaria obra señala una Sociedad futura donde la tecnología domina a los seres humanos y los deshumaniza. Atacando la conformidad burguesa en nombre de sus creencias católicas, el autor afirma "que no es ni de izquierda ni derecha" y los conflictos internos son especialmente la fuente de las maldades que disminuyen al hombre y todas las tiranías que lo aplastan.“El peligro no está en las máquinas, de lo contrario deberíamos hacer este sueño absurdo de destruirlas por la fuerza, a la manicura de los iconoclastas que, rompiendo las imágenes, se halagaron aniquilando también las creencias. El peligro no está en la multiplicación de máquinas, sino también en el número cada vez mayor de hombres, que desde su infancia, solo desean lo que las máquinas pueden proveer”.Six classic science fiction stories and commentary that illustrate and explain key algorithms or principles of artificial intelligence.This book presents…
six classic science fiction stories and commentary that illustrate and explain key algorithms or principles of artificial intelligence. Even though all the stories were originally published before 1973, they help readers grapple with two questions that stir debate even today: how are intelligent robots programmed? and what are the limits of autonomous robots? The stories—by Isaac Asimov, Vernor Vinge, Brian Aldiss, and Philip K. Dick—cover telepresence, behavior-based robotics, deliberation, testing, human-robot interaction, the “uncanny valley,” natural language understanding, machine learning, and ethics. Each story is preceded by an introductory note, “As You Read the Story,” and followed by a discussion of its implications, “After You Have Read the Story.” Together with the commentary, the stories offer a nontechnical introduction to robotics. The stories can also be considered as a set of—admittedly fanciful—case studies to be read in conjunction with more serious study.Contents“Stranger in Paradise” by Isaac Asimov, 1973“Runaround” by Isaac Asimov, 1942“Long Shot” by Vernor Vinge, 1972“Catch That Rabbit” by Isaac Asimov, 1944“Super-Toys Last All Summer Long” by Brian Aldiss, 1969“Second Variety” by Philip K. Dick, 1953Neoliberalism and Cyberpunk Science Fiction: Living on the Edge of Burnout
By Caroline Alphin. 2021
Caroline Alphin presents an original exploration of biopolitics by examining it through the lens of cyberpunk science fiction. Comprised of…
five chapters, Neoliberalism and Cyberpunk Science Fiction is guided by four central themes: biopolitics, intensification, resilience, and accelerationism. The first chapters examine the political possibilities of cyberpunk as a genre of science fiction and introduce one kind of neoliberal subject, the self-monitoring cyborg. These are individuals who join fitness/health tracking devices and applications to their body to "self-cultivate". Here, Alphin presents concrete examples of how fitness trackers are a strategy of neoliberal governmentality under the guise of self-cultivation. Moving away from Foucault’s biopolitics to themes of intensity and resilience, Alphin draws largely from William Gibson’s Neuromancer, Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon, along with the film Blade Runner to problematize notions of neoliberal resilience. Alphin returns to biopolitics, intensity, and resilience, connecting these themes to accelerationism as she engages with biohacker discourses. Here she argues that a biohacker is, in part, an intensification of the self-monitoring cyborg and accelerationism is in the end another form of resilience. Neoliberalism and Cyberpunk Science Fiction is an invaluable resource for those interested in security studies, political sociology, biopolitics, critical IR theory, political theory, cultural studies, and literary theory.Turning Points: Essays on the Art of Science Fiction
By Damon Knight. 1977
Culled from the most imaginative and provocative minds of the pas thirty years, these pieces demonstrate the vitality and diversity,…
the excitement and commitment of the writers who helped make science fiction what it is today.Musings and Meditations: Essays And Thoughts
By Robert Silverberg. 2010
Presenting acclaimed essays from one of contemporary science fiction's most imaginative wordsmiths, this collection shows that Robert Silverberg's nonfiction is…
as witty and original as his fiction and full of acute observations and matter-of-fact insights. Whether he is discussing science fiction, history, cultural effects, science, or writing, Silverberg is always exploring new territories. As in his fiction, no cultural icon escapes his scrutiny, including fellow writers such as Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, H. P. Lovecraft, and Isaac Asimov. Delightfully wicked commentaries on the concepts of thoughtcrimes, space exploration, the ancient Antikythera Computer, and the universal translator in science fiction fill these essays, many of which were originally published as columns in Asimov Science Fiction magazine.Mind Candy
By Lawrence Watt-Evans. 2013
Over the years, in a variety of venues, Lawrence Watt-Evans has turned his sharp, analytical, and slightly crazed mind to…
everything from weaponized poetry to why the Enterprise doesn't have seatbelts, and everyone from Jane Austen to Buffy Summers. Collected for the first time are twenty-three of these essays, discussing icons of comic books, television, novels, movies, and much more!Extreme Fabulations: Science Fictions of Life
By Steven Shaviro. 2021
An examination of science fiction narratives and the light they shed on human life, the unknowable future, and the vagaries…
of unforeseeable change.With this book, Steven Shaviro offers a thought experiment. He discusses a number of science fiction narratives: three novels, one novella, three short stories, and one musical concept album. Shaviro not only analyzes these works in detail but also uses them to ask questions about human, and more generally, biological life: about its stubborn insistence and yet fragility; about the possibilities and perils of seeking to control it; about the aesthetic and social dimensions of human existence, in relation to the nonhuman; and about the ethical value of human life under conditions of extreme oppression and devastation. Shaviro pursues these questions through the medium of science fiction because this form of storytelling offers us a unique way of grappling with issues that deeply and unavoidably concern us but that are intractable to rational argumentation or to empirical verification. The future is unavoidably vague and multifarious; it stubbornly resists our efforts to know it in advance, let alone to guide it or circumscribe it. But science fiction takes up this very vagueness and indeterminacy and renders it into the form of a self-consciously fictional narrative. It gives us characters who experience, and respond to, the vagaries of unforeseeable change.Enter The Expanse to explore questions of the meaning of human life, the concept of justice, and the nature of…
humanity, featuring a foreword from author James S.A. Corey The Expanse and Philosophy investigates the philosophical universe of the critically acclaimed television show and Hugo Award-winning series of novels. Original essays by a diverse international panel of experts illuminate how essential philosophical concepts relate to the meticulously crafted world of The Expanse, engaging with topics such as transhumanism, belief, culture, environmental ethics, identity, colonialism, diaspora, racism, reality, and rhetoric. Conceiving a near-future solar system colonized by humanity, The Expanse provokes a multitude of moral, ethical, and philosophical queries: Are Martians, Outer Planets inhabitants, and Earthers different races? Is Marco Inaros a terrorist? Can people who look and sound different, like Earthers and Belters, ever peacefully co-exist? Should science be subject to moral rules? Who is sovereign in space? What is the relationship between human progress and aggression? The Expanse and Philosophy helps you answer these questions—and many more. Covers the first six novels in The Expanse series and five seasons of the television adaptation Addresses the philosophical issues that emerge from socio-economics and geopolitics of Earth, Mars, and the Outer Planets Alliance Offers fresh perspectives on the themes, characters, and storylines of The Expanse Explores the connections between The Expanse and thinkers such as Aristotle, Kant, Locke, Hannah Arendt, Wittgenstein, Descartes, and Nietzsche Part of the popular Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, The Expanse and Philosophy is a must-have companion for avid readers of James S.A. Corey’s novels and devotees of the television series alike.The God Game
By Danny Tobey. 2018
'Like an episode of Black Mirror written by Stephen King' John Marrs, bestselling author of The One 'Immersive, claustrophobic .…
. . addictive' GuardianWin and All Your Dreams Come True™! ;) Charlie and his friends have entered the God Game. Tasks are delivered through their phones. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them. Charlie's money problems could be over. Vanhi can erase the one bad grade on her university application. It's all fun and games - at first. Then the threatening messages start. Obey me. Mysterious packages show up at their homes. Shadowy figures start following them. Who else is playing this game, and how far will they go to win? As Charlie looks for a way out, there's only one rule he knows for sure.If you die in the game, you die for real.'Smart, propulsive and gripping' Harlan Coben, #1 Sunday Times bestselling authorFortune's Stroke (Belisarius Saga, Book #4)
By David Drake, Eric Flint. 2000
EVIL FROM BEYOND TIME RULES THE GREATEST EMPIRE ON EARTH! Link, the supercomputer from a future that should not exist,…
has used terror and gunpowder weapons to forge the Malwa Empire, harnessing the vast manpower of the Indian subcontinent and using the barbarian races of the periphery to bind the whole together. No power on Earth in the 6th century could stand against Link's evil. Aide, a human soul embodied in a jewel, has come back to halt evil's progress. Aide has no power but that of truth, but truth is the only power that could move the greatest general of the age, Belisarius. With his sword, his paladins, and his genius, Belisarius has turned the armies of Byzantium into a weapon capable of blunting the first assault of the Malwa hordes. Now, supported by allies from all the world yet free, Belisarius, with his wife and co-commander Antonina, faces overwhelming Malwa numbers in a ring that tightens about them. There is no room for maneuver and no safety in defeat. The armies of Good and Evil gathered on the fertile plains of Mesopotamia will decide the fate of the world --And the fate of all the future!Ender's World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender's Game
By Orson Scott Card, Neal Shusterman, Mary Robinette Kowal, Janis Ian, Aaron Johnston, Eric James Stone. 2013
Experience the thrill of reading Ender's Game all over againGo deeper into the complexities of Orson Scott Card's classic novel…
with science fiction and fantasy writers, YA authors, military strategists, including: Ender prequel series coauthor Aaron Johnston on Ender and the evolution of the child hero. Burn Notice creator Matt Nix on Ender's Game as a guide to life. Hugo award-winning writer Mary Robinette Kowal on how Ender's Game gets away with breaking all the (literary) rules. Retired US Air Force Colonel Tom Ruby on what the military could learn from Ender about leadership. Bestselling YA author Neal Shusterman on the ambivalence toward survival that lies at the heart of Ender's story. Plus pieces by Hilari Bel, John Brown, Mette Ivie Harrison, Janis Ian, Alethea Kontis, David Lubar and Alison S. Myers, John F. Schmitt, Ken Scholes, and Eric James Stone. Also includes never-before-seen content from Orson Scott Card on the writing and evolution of the events in Ender's Game, from the design of Battle School to the mindset of the pilots who sacrificed themselves in humanity's fight against the formics. Hugo and Nebula Awards winner.The Geek Handbook: User Guide and Documentation for the Geek in Your Life
By Mikki Halpin. 2000
He has reached every level of Myst. Her room is littered with soda cans. He idolizes Data from Star Trek®.…
But all your favorite geek really wants is to be understood.... Whether you're friends with a geek, work with one, love one, or hate one, The Geek Handbook provides handy instructions for analyzing and understanding all things geek, including: How Your Geek Relates to Others Geek organizations and gathering spots Getting Your Geek to Exercise Klingon martial arts as workout strategy The Geek Diet Soda, pizza, and other geek food groups; how to help your geek thriveAmy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world.She…
is.Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row.He's wrong.FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming.It is.THE PASSAGE.(p) 2010 Penguin Random House LLCDreams Must Explain Themselves: The Selected Non-Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin
By Ursula K. Le Guin. 2018
'By turns sharp, funny and insightful, high-minded but never mean-spirited, the book embodies its author's lifelong quest for freedom: freedom…
as a woman, freedom to write what she pleased, freedom to like what she liked. Genre fiction - and literature in general - has lost not just one of its brightest exponents but one of its bolshiest champions.' FINANCIAL TIMES'Excellent' CHOICE'Le Guin is one of the singular speculative voices of our future, thanks to her knack for anticipating issues of seminal importance to society' TLSUrsula K. Le Guin has won or been nominated for over 200 awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master Awards. She is the acclaimed author of the Earthsea sequence and The Left Hand of Darkness - which alone would qualify her for literary immortality - as well as a remarkable body of short fiction, including the powerful, Hugo-winning 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' and the masterpiece of anthropological and environmental SF 'The Word for World is Forest' - winner of the Hugo Award for best novella. But Ursula Le Guin's talents do not stop at fiction. Over the course of her extraordinary career, she has penned numerous essays around themes important to her: anthropology, environmentalism, feminism, social justice and literary criticism to name a few. She has responded in detail to criticism of her own work and even reassessed that work in the context of such critiques. This selection of the best of Le Guin's non-fiction shows an agile mind, an unparalleled imagination and a ferocious passion to argue against injustice. In 2014 Ursula Le Guin was awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and her widely praised acceptance speech is one of the highlights of this volume, which shows that one of modern literature's most original voices is also one of its purest consciences.