Science Fiction and Philosophy by Schneider, Susan -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Copyright Page Acknowledgements

Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V

Introduction

Part I: Could I be in a “Matrix” or Computer Simulation? - Related Works: The ... Part II: What Am I? Free Will and the Nature of Persons - Related Works: ... Part III: Mind: Natural, Artificial, Hybrid, and “Super” - Related Works: ... Part IV: Ethical and Political Issues - Related Works: Brave New World; ... Part V: Space and Time - Related Works: Twelve Monkeys; Slaughterhouse Five; ... Conclusion Notes References

Part I - COULD I BE IN A “MATRIX” OR COMPUTER SIMULATION?

Chapter 1 - BRAIN IN A VAT Chapter 2 - ARE YOU IN A COMPUTER SIMULATION? Chapter 3 - EXCERPT FROM THE REPUBLIC Chapter 4 - EXCERPT FROM THE MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY

Of the Things of which we May Doubt

Chapter 5 - THE MATRIX AS METAPHYSICS*

I. Brains in Vats II. Envatment Reconsidered III. The Metaphysical hypothesis IV. The Matrix Hypothesis as a Metaphysical Hypothesis V. Life in the Matrix VI. Objections VII. Other Skeptical Hypotheses Note

Part II - WHAT AM I? FREE WILL AND THE NATURE OF PERSONS

Chapter 6 - WHERE AM I?

Note

Chapter 7 - PERSONAL IDENTITY

1. The Problems of Personal Identity 2. Understanding the Persistence Question 3. Accounts of Our Identity Through Time 4. The Psychological Approach 5. Fission 6. The Too-Many-Thinkers Problem 7. The Somatic Approach 8. Wider Issues References Internet Resources Acknowledgments

Chapter 8 - DIVIDED MINDS AND THE NATURE OF PERSONS

The Ego Theory and the Bundle Theory What we Believe Ourselves to Be How we are not What we Believe How the Split-Brain Cases Support the Bundle Theory Notes

Chapter 9 - WHO AM I? WHAT AM I? Chapter 10 - FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM IN THE WORLD OF MINORITY REPORT

Hard Determinism and the Threat to Free Will The Soft Determinist Gambit On Behalf of Freedom The Verdict on Precrime Notes

Chapter 11 - THE BOOK OF LIFE: A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

Part III - MIND: NATURAL, ARTIFICIAL, HYBRID, AND “SUPER”

Chapter 12 - ROBOT DREAMS Chapter 13 - A BRAIN SPEAKS Chapter 14 - THE MIND AS THE SOFTWARE OF THE BRAIN

1. Machine Intelligence 2. Intelligence and Intentionality 3. Functionalism and the Language of Thought 4. Searle’s Chinese Room Argument Notes References

Chapter 15 - CYBORGS UNPLUGGED

Rats in Space Implant and Mergers A Day in the Life Dovetailing

Chapter 16 - CONSCIOUSNESS IN HUMAN AND ROBOT MINDS

1. Good and Bad Grounds for Skepticism 2. The Cog Project: A Humanoid Robot 3. Some Philosophical Considerations References

Chapter 17 - SUPERINTELLIGENCE AND SINGULARITY

The Intuitive Linear View Versus the Historical Exponential View The Six Epochs The Singularity Is Near

Part IV - ETHICAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES

Chapter 18 - THE MAN ON THE MOON

Holy Wars Unholy Wars The Man on the Moon Genetic Engineering Toward the Posthuman New Crusades

Chapter 19 - MINDSCAN: TRANSCENDING AND ENHANCING THE HUMAN BRAIN

The Transhumanist Position The Nature of Persons Robert Sawyer’s Mindscan and the Reduplication Problem A Response to the Reduplication Problem Two Issues that Modified Patternism Needs to Address Conclusion Notes References

Chapter 20 - THE DOOMSDAY ARGUMENT Chapter 21 - ASIMOV’S “THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS” AND MACHINE METAETHICS*

Introduction “The Bicentennial Man” Machine Metaethics Characteristic(s) Necessary To Have Moral Standing Why The Three Laws Are Unsatisfactory Even If Machines Don’t Have Moral Standing Conclusion Notes References

Chapter 22 - ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVANCED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

1. Introduction 2. Superintelligence is Different 3. Superintelligent Moral Thinking 4. Importance of Initial Motivations 5. Should Development be Delayed or Accelerated? References

Part V - SPACE AND TIME

Chapter 23 - A SOUND OF THUNDER Chapter 24 - TIME

The Flow of Time The Space-Time Theory Arguments Against the Space-Time Theory: Change, Motion, Causes Note

Chapter 25 - THE PARADOXES OF TIME TRAVEL

Notes

Chapter 26 - THE QUANTUM PHYSICS OF TIME TRAVEL

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Chapter 27 - MIRACLES AND WONDERS: SCIENCE FICTION AS EPISTEMOLOGY

Humeans on Miracles Three Modern Miracle Mongers Three of my Favorite Sci-Fi Things: Time Travel, Other Dimensions, and Simulations Simulation Epistemology and Metaphysics An Argument for Miracles References

INDEX

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