Brown, Dan, 2013. Inferno.
Coetzee, J.M. 1999. The Lives of Animals.
DeLillo, Don. 2016. Zero K.
Egan, Greg. 1995. Distress.
Ghosh, Amitav. 1995. The Calcutta Chromosome.
Gibson, William 1984. Neuromancer.
The Sprawl trilogy is Gibson’s first set of novels, composed of Neuromancer (1984), Count Zero (1986), and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988). It is set in a near-future world dominated by ubiquitous technology and powerful corporations, and guided by mind-machine interface (MMI), emerging machine intelligence, and global information space (“cyberspace”).
Huxley, Aldous. 1932. Brave New World.
Hornung, Eva. 2009. Dog Boy.
Ishiguro, Kazuo. 2005. Never Let Me Go.
Lanchester, John. 2019. The Wall.
In his latest novel, the author of The Capital (2012) recounts a dystopian story after a climatic event, when movement between countries is outlawed, and the UK has turned into a fortress, which is walled in concrete and controlled by British youngsters looking for “Others”. Lanchester’s disquieting environmental anti-utopia was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2019.
Lowry, Lois. 1993. The Giver (Film: 2015)
Shelley, Mary. 1818. Frankenstein.
Simmons, Dan. 1991. Hyperion.
Wells, Herbert George. 1896. The Island of Dr. Moreau.
3.3 Plays
Churchill, Caryl. 2008. A Number.
In this drama, the English playwright treats the topic of human identity and cloning, in particular nature versus nurture. Exploring the risks of artificial creation, the play is centred around the conflict between a father and his three sons, two of whom are clones of the first one.
Marshall-Griffith, Linda. 2016. Charlotte Brontë’s Village Re-imagined.
3.4 Short Stories
Buckell, Tobias. 2004. Necahual.
Hulme, Keri. 2004. Floating Words.
Stiegler, Marc. 1989. The Gentle Seduction.
3.5 Poems
Bot or Not. http://botpoet.com/.
This poem is a Turing test for poetry: The reader has to guess whether the poem they are reading is written by a human or by a computer.
Brautigan, Richard. 1967. All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace.
I like to think
(and the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky …
Burke, Ben. 2015. The Transhumanist’s Lament. https://ideas.ted.com/a-poem-from-the-future/ (audio + verse).
… The wallpaper can see that you’re stressed,
So it turns a lovely shade of blue
The thermostat has thought things over
And is ready to have a word with you …
And Doctor mailman robot
Printed your pills in quite a hurry
Your vitamins were running low
Now there’s B12 in your curry …
3.6 Non-Fictional Texts
H+Pedia. https://hpluspedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.
Harari, Yuval Noah. 2015. Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow.
In his new cult book, the author of Sapiens examines the future of Homo sapiens. He realizes that during the 21st century, humanity may gain immortality and God-like powers (homo deus), but he closes with the following question: “What will happen to society, politics and daily life when non-conscious but highly intelligent algorithms know us better than we know ourselves?”
Kurzweil, Ray. 2005. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.
More, Max/Natasha Vita-More (eds.). 2013. The Transhumanist Reader.
Pottbäcker, Kirsten. 2006. Science (Fiction) in the Third Millennium. “Challenges” series.
3.7 Movies
Avatar. 2009ff.
Bladerunner. 1982.
Her. 2013.
This American sci-fi romantic drama movie directed by Spike Jonze satirizes digital affairs in a techno-perfect future world. It is centred around the relationship between an introverted man (acted by Joaquin Phoenix) and an artificially intelligent virtual assistant with a female voice.
Gattaca. 1997.
“I not only think that we will tamper with Mother Nature,
I think Mother wants us to.” (Willard Gaylin, Gattaca)
I,
