Beta-Life: Short Stories from an A-Life Future by Martyn Amos, Ra Page, Toby Longworth (Narrator), Joe Jameson (Narrator)
Requirements: .M4A/.M4B reader, 266mb
Overview: Computers are changing. Soon the silicon chip will seem like a clunky antique amid the bounty of more exotic processes on offer. Robots are changing, too; material evolution and swarm intelligence are creating a new generation of devices that will diverge and disperse into a balanced ecosystem of humans and robjects (robotic objects).
Somewhere in between, we humans will have to change also…in the way we interact with technology, the roles we adopt in an increasingly intelligent environment, and how we interface with each other. The driving motors behind many of these changes will be artificial life (A-Life) and unconventional computing. How exactly they will impact our world is still an open question.
But in the spirit of collective intelligence, this anthology brings together 38 scientists and authors, working in pairs, to imagine what life (and A-Life) will look like in the year 2070. Every kind of technology is imagined: from lie-detection glasses to military swarmbots, brain-interfacing implants to synthetically grown skyscrapers, revolution-inciting computer games to synthetically engineered haute cuisine. All artificial life is here.
Genre: Audiobooks > Non-Fiction
Contents:
Introduction: How the Future Used to Look – Martyn Amos & Ra Page
The Sayer of the Sooth – Martyn Bedford
Afterword: No More Secrets – Dr. James O’Shea, Manchester Metropolitan University
Swarm – Robin Yassin-Kassab
Afterword: Rise of the Machines – Lenka Pitonakova, University of Southampton
Growing Skyscrapers – Adam Marek
Afterword: Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow – Prof. Susan Stepney, University of York
The Loki Variations – Andy Hedgecock
Afterword: The Moral Onboard Compass – Micah Rosenkind, University of Brighton
Everyone Says – Stuart Evers
Afterword: Everyone Surveys – Prof. Christian Jantzen, Aalborg University
A Swarm of Living Robjects Around Us – Adam Roberts
Afterword: Sing me to Sleep – Stephen Dunne, Starlab, Barcelona
Luftpause – Annie Kirby
Afterword: A Comma on the Wall – Prof. Seth Bullock, University of Southampton
The Quivering Woods – Margaret Wilkinson
Afterword: We Can Redirect it for You Wholesale – Dr. James Snowdon, formerly of Southampton University
Certain Measures – Sean O’Brien
Afterword: Bot/Kettle – Prof. Martyn Amos, Manchester Metropolitan University
Blurred Lines – Julian Gough
Afterword: Neuroscience and Beyond – Dr. Germán Terrazas, University of Nottingham
The Bactogarden – Sarah Schofield
Afterword: Dream Sequence – Prof. Martyn Amos, Manchester Metropolitan University
Keynote at the European Conference on Artificial Life, 2070 – Zoe Lambert
Afterword: The Unknowable Brain – Dr. Andrew Philippides, University of Sussex
The Familiar – Lucy Caldwell
Afterword: The Feeling of What it is Like to be a Robot – Prof. Alan Winfield, University of the West of England, Bristol
Making Sandcastles – Claire Dean
Afterword: Make/Shift – Prof. Steen Rasmussen, University of Southern Denmark
The Longhand Option – Dinesh Allirajah
Afterword: Boring, Boring Robots… – Prof. Francesco Mondada, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Fully Human – K. J. Orr
Afterword: A Branching Future of Synthetic Minds – Prof. Thomas S. Ray, University of Oklahoma
The War of All Against All – Joanna Quinn
Afterword: We’ve Got Your Numbers – Dr. James Dyke, University of Southampton
Bruno Wins! – Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Afterword: The Hope Cycle – Prof. Andrew Vardy, Memorial University of Newfoundland
A Brief History of Transience – Toby Litt
Afterword: Where am I? – Prof. J. Mark Bishop, Goldsmiths, University of London
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