The Emergence of Science Fiction, a talk by a scholar of 19th century SF

[Peyton Stafford]

If you're interested in how SF emerged in the time of Darwin, the American and French revolutions, and industrialization, this is for you.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

I found the parallels between the Victorian Era and ours most interesting, especially about the Internet and AI.

 

[Rich.]

Really interesting talk. What struck me most was the tension between the the West's 19th-century's concern with mastering nature and its fear of precarious insignificance in the face of that nature. To endeavor to dominate what one fears strikes me as a particularly puritan (with a lowercase 'p' but, in this case, still deeply Christian) way to behave, very Victorian, very do-gooder. And of course, we're still living through the effects of that thinking – our 'dominance' has trashed the biosphere.

@Peyton Stafford, there's an opportunity here to tell a story about AI holding humanity to account for the damage it's done to the natural world. (Or maybe truly sentient AI would be above such judgmental behaviour and would seek to steward humanity towards more harmonious behaviour – an AI steward of humanity's morals and values, perhaps – which humanity would then, of course [and now I'm being ironic], wage war on.)

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Really interesting talk. What struck me most was the tension between the the West's 19th-century's concern with mastering nature and its fear of precarious insignificance in the face of that nature. To endeavor to dominate what one fears strikes me as a particularly puritan (with a lowercase 'p' but, in this case, still deeply Christian) way to behave, very Victorian, very do-gooder. And of course, we're still living through the effects of that thinking – our 'dominance' has trashed the biosphere.

@Peyton Stafford, there's an opportunity here to tell a story about AI holding humanity to account for the damage it's done to the natural world. (Or maybe truly sentient AI would be above such judgmental behaviour and would seek to steward humanity towards more harmonious behaviour – an AI steward of humanity's morals and values, perhaps – which humanity would then, of course [and now I'm being ironic], wage war on.)

Didn't Asimov already write that story about robots trying to serve humans and keep us out of trouble?

 

[Rich.]

I don't know, did he? I've read the Foundation series, and possibly some others in the poorly remembered past, but I'm not sure which of his works you mean.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

I don't know, did he? I've read the Foundation series, and possibly some others in the poorly remembered past, but I'm not sure which of his works you mean.

I would have to look it up. Something to do with his laws of robotics. Read it ages ago.