Draws on a broad range of science fiction's more familiar novels, films, and TV series, including I, Robot, The Hunger Games, The Matrix, Star Trek, Blade Runner, and Brave New World
Trade Review
"Schneider's anthology, as it stands, is a great introduction to many of the fundamental theoretical issues raised by SF. Each topic is covered with a panel of accessible texts. One will also appreciate the presence of several short stories and references to related works of SF in every section of the book." (Metapsychology online reviews 2016)
Table of Contents
Introduction
Thought Experiments: Science Fiction as a Window into Philosophical Puzzles 1
Susan Schneider
Part I Could I Be in a “Matrix” or Computer Simulation?
Related Works:The Matrix; Avatar; Ender’s Game; The Hunger Games; Simulacron‐3; Ubik; Tron; Permutation City; Vanilla Sky; Total Recall 17
1 Reinstalling Eden: Happiness on a Hard Drive 19
Eric Schwitzgebel and R. Scott Bakker
2 Are You in a Computer Simulation? 22
Nick Bostrom
3 Plato’s Cave. Excerpt from The Republic 26
Plato
4 Some Cartesian thought Experiments. Excerpt from The Meditations on First Philosophy 30
René Descartes
5 The Matrix as Metaphysics 35
David J. Chalmers
Part II What Am I? Free Will and the Nature of Persons
Related Works:Moon; Software; Star Trek, The Next Generation: Second Chances; Mindscan; The Matrix; Diaspora; Blindsight; Permutation City; Kiln People; The Gods Themselves; Jerry Was a Man; Nine Lives; Minority Report 55
6 Where Am I? 57
Daniel C. Dennett
7 Personal Identity 69
Eric Olson
8 Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons 91
Derek Parfit
9 Who Am I? What Am I? 99
Ray Kurzweil
10 Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report 104
Michael Huemer
11 Excerpt from “The Book of Life: A Thought Experiment” 114
Alvin I. Goldman
Part III Mind: Natural, Artificial, Hybrid, and Superintelligent
Related Works:Transcendence; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Humans; Blade Runner; AI; Frankenstein; Accelerando; Terminator; I, Robot; Neuromancer; Last and First Men; His Master’s Voice; The Fire Upon the Deep; Solaris; Stories of your Life 117
12 Robot Dreams 119
Isaac Asimov
13 A Brain Speaks 125
Andy Clark
14 Cyborgs Unplugged 130
Andy Clark
15 Superintelligence and Singularity 146
Ray Kurzweil
16 The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis 171
David J. Chalmers
17 Alien Minds 225
Susan Schneider
Part IV Ethical and Political Issues
Related Works:Brave New World; Ender’s Game; Johnny Mnemonic; Gattaca; I, Robot; Terminator; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Mindscan; Autofac; Neuromancer; Planet of the Apes; Children of Men; Nineteen Eighty‐Four; Player Piano; For a Breath I Tarry; Diamond Age 243
18 The Man on the Moon 245
George J. Annas
19 Mindscan: Transcending and Enhancing the Human Brain 260
Susan Schneider
20 The Doomsday Argument 277
John Leslie
21 The Last Question 279
Isaac Asimov
22 Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics” and Machine Metaethics 290
Susan Leigh Anderson
23 The Control Problem. Excerpts from Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies 308
Nick Bostrom
Part V Space and Time
Related Works:Interstellar; Twelve Monkeys; Slaughterhouse‐Five; All You Zombies; The Time Machine; Back to the Future; Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions; Anathem 331
24 A Sound of Thunder 333
Ray Bradbury
25 Time 343
Theodore Sider
26 The Paradoxes of Time Travel 357
David Lewis
27 The Quantum Physics of Time Travel 370
David Deutsch and Michael Lockwood
28 Miracles and Wonders: Science Fiction as Epistemology 384
Richard Hanley
Appendix: Philosophers Recommend Science Fiction 393
Eric Schwitzgebel
Index 410
