On Feb 5, 2008 9:36 PM, Joshua Fox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The new Terminator series brings up again the concept of mass-market > Singularity fiction. > > The folly of argument from fiction has been discussed enough. > > I want to raise another question: What is the relevance, if any, of > Singularity fiction? > > Speculative fiction has often influenced the real world. Walden 2, Old-New > Land, Utopia, 1984, Brave New World, etc. changed people's political > outlook. Science fiction inspired many people to become engineers and > scientists, including some who accomplished great things. > > What is the real-world role of Singularity fiction? Should we differentiate > between fiction which reaches the narrow intellectual/geek audience and that > which spreads to a mass audience?
When Singularity fiction reaches the intellectual/geek audience, it can have positive effects of inspiring them to work on useful things. (Or dangerous things, like AGI projects of an irresponsible kind.) When Singularity fiction reaches other audiences, it either has no significant effect on them, or has a negative effect of scaring them and possibly inspiring new Unabombers etc. > Should we use fiction as a platform for getting attention by contrasting it > to a more insightful analysis (as in the SIAI I Robot campaign) ? Or can we > hold up specific works of fiction, with all their limitations, as > inspiration for working to attain a better future or head off threats? It can be useful to recommend some works of speculative fiction to intellectuals/geeks who are in the process of forming their position on Singularity issues. -- Aleksei Riikonen - http://www.iki.fi/aleksei ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=4007604&id_secret=94063583-26515d
