Full Description
A fascinating exploration of how our understanding of artificial intelligence has evolved across centuries as depicted through the stories and media we create.
Humans have always dreamed of creating intelligent life. From the earliest legends of Talos to the droids of Star Wars, artificial beings stalk our culture. Today, we routinely interact with computers, and AI is a buzzword that dominates headlines and raises record-breaking Silicon Valley investment. As the power and influence of machines continue to grow, it's time to examine our relationship with computers and machine life based on 3,000 years of stories.
Ghosts In the Machine: The Cultural Journey of AI explores humanity's complex relationship with artificial intelligence through the lens of our cultural imagination. From ancient myths of automata to today's disruptive technologies, this book traces AI's evolution in our collective consciousness. The narrative weaves through centuries of literature, film, and philosophical thought, examining what people believe about the machines that will assist—or perhaps replace—them. Organized historically, it explores how Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, and contemporary works like The Matrix and Black Mirror have shaped our hopes and fears about machine intelligence, even as we embrace the likes of ChatGPT in the workplace.
Vero and Bradley highlight how science fiction has reflected and influenced real-world AI development and how our cultural depictions align with current technological trends or diverge from them. As we stand on the brink of an AI revolution, Kelly Vero and Dave Bradley critically examine where we've been through the lens of prose, poetry, philosophy, and film and invite readers to contemplate the possibilities and challenges that lie ahead. Blending cultural analysis, literary criticism, and technological insight, Ghosts in the Machine is a fascinating read for anyone curious about the interplay between technology and culture.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Wired Gods and Bronze Golems
Chapter 2: Lucian in the Sky with Cyborgs
Chapter 3: Swift Code: Satire, Science & the Engine of WTF
Chapter 4: It's Alive! But It Was Never Born
Chapter 5: Steam Dreams and Metal Nightmares
Chapter 6: Robopop: Dance Moves for Tin Men
Chapter 7: Ghosts in the Algorithm
Chapter 8: Projecting Ghosts: AI on the Silver Screen
Chapter 9: Built to Serve, Wired to Rebel
Chapter 10: Synthetic Dreams, Channel Zero
Chapter 11: Press X to Pray: Divine Logic in Digital Worlds
Chapter 12: I Contain Multitudes.exe
Notes
Index
About the Author
