Science Fiction and Philosophy

Abstract

Sources and Acknowledgments Introduction Thought Experiments: Science Fiction as a Window into Philosophical Puzzles (Susan Schneider). Part I: Could I be in a or Computer Simulation? Related Works: Matrix Permutation City 13th Floor Vanilla Sky Total Recall Animatrix 1. Brain in a Vat (John Pollock). 2. Are You In a Computer Simulation (Nick Bostrom). 3. Excerpt from Republic Plato 4. Excerpt from Meditations on First Philosophy (Rene Descartes). 5. Matrix as Metaphysics (David J. Chalmers). Part II: What Am I? Free Will and the Nature of Persons Related Works: Software Star Trek, Next Generation: Second Chances Mindscan Matrix Minority Report 6. 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, Robot 12. Robot Dreams (Isaac Asimov). 13. A Brain Speaks (Andy Clark). 14. 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 New World Gattaca Terminator White Plague 18. Man on the Moon (George J. Annas). 19. Mindscan: Transcending and Enhancing the Human (Brain Susan Schneider). 20. Doomsday Argument (John Leslie). 21. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics and Machine Metaethics (Susan Leigh Anderson). 22. Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence (Nick Bostrom). Part V: Space and Time Related Works: Twelve Monkeys Slaughterhouse Five Time Machine Back to the Future Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions 23. A Sound of Thunder (Ray Bradbury). 24. Time (Theodore Sider). 25. Paradoxes of Time Travel (David Lewis). 26. Quantum Physics of Time Travel (David Deutsch and Michael Lockwood). 27. Miracles and Wonders: Science Fiction as Epistemology (Richard Hanley). Index