Science Fiction and Philosophy

Introduction Thought Experiments: Science Fiction as a Window into Philosophical Puzzles 1 Susan Schneider Part I Could I Be in a "Matrix" or Computer Simulation? Related Works: The Matrix; Avatar; Ender's Game; The Hunger Games; Simulacron?]3; Ubik; Tron; Permutation City; Vanilla Sky; Total Recall 17 1 Reinstalling Eden: Happiness on a Hard Drive 19 Eric Schwitzgebel and R. Scott Bakker 2 Are You in a Computer Simulation? 22 Nick Bostrom 3 Plato's Cave. Excerpt from The Republic 26 Plato 4 Some Cartesian thought Experiments. Excerpt from The Meditations on First Philosophy 30 René Descartes 5 The Matrix as Metaphysics 35 David J. Chalmers Part II What Am I? Free Will and the Nature of Persons Related Works: Moon; Software; Star Trek, The Next Generation: Second Chances; Mindscan; The Matrix; Diaspora; Blindsight; Permutation City; Kiln People; The Gods Themselves; Jerry Was a Man; Nine Lives; Minority Report 55 6 Where Am I? 57 Daniel C. Dennett 7 Personal Identity 69 Eric Olson 8 Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons 91 Derek Parfit 9 Who Am I? What Am I? 99 Ray Kurzweil 10 Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report 104 Michael Huemer 11 Excerpt from "The Book of Life: A Thought Experiment" 114 Alvin I. Goldman Part III Mind: Natural, Artificial, Hybrid, and Superintelligent Related Works: Transcendence; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Humans; Blade Runner; AI; Frankenstein; Accelerando; Terminator; I, Robot; Neuromancer; Last and First Men; His Master's Voice; The Fire Upon the Deep; Solaris; Stories of your Life 117 12 Robot Dreams 119 Isaac Asimov 13 A Brain Speaks 125 Andy Clark 14 Cyborgs Unplugged 130 Andy Clark 15 Superintelligence and Singularity 146 Ray Kurzweil 16 The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis 171 David J. Chalmers 17 Alien Minds 225 Susan Schneider Part IV Ethical and Political Issues Related Works: Brave New World; Ender's Game; Johnny Mnemonic; Gattaca; I, Robot; Terminator; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Mindscan; Autofac; Neuromancer; Planet of the Apes; Children of Men; Nineteen Eighty?]Four; Player Piano; For a Breath I Tarry; Diamond Age 243 18 The Man on the Moon 245 George J. Annas 19 Mindscan: Transcending and Enhancing the Human Brain 260 Susan Schneider 20 The Doomsday Argument 277 John Leslie 21 The Last Question 279 Isaac Asimov 22 Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" and Machine Metaethics 290 Susan Leigh Anderson 23 The Control Problem. Excerpts from Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies 308 Nick Bostrom Part V Space and Time Related Works: Interstellar; Twelve Monkeys; Slaughterhouse?]Five; All You Zombies; The Time Machine; Back to the Future; Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions; Anathem 331 24 A Sound of Thunder 333 Ray Bradbury 25 Time 343 Theodore Sider 26 The Paradoxes of Time Travel 357 David Lewis 27 The Quantum Physics of Time Travel 370 David Deutsch and Michael Lockwood 28 Miracles and Wonders: Science Fiction as Epistemology 384 Richard Hanley Appendix: Philosophers Recommend Science Fiction 393 Eric Schwitzgebel Index 410