Overview
Ties together bioanthropological literature with current events and science fiction to paint a full picture of human-robot desires
Explores the iterations of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep in literature and film in the light of technological innovations
Examines the iterative relationship between fiction and science and challenges the ethics, inclusivity, and diversity of both
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book examines how science fiction’s portrayal of humanity’s desire for robotic companions influences and reflects changes in our actual desires. It begins by taking the reader on a journey that outlines basic human desires—in short, we are storytellers, and we need the objects of our desire to be able to mirror that aspect of our beings. This not only explains the reasons we seek out differences in our mates, but also why we crave sex and romance with robots. In creating a new species of potential companions, science fiction highlights what we already want and how our desires dictate—and are in return recreated— by what is written. But sex with robots is more than a sci-fi pop-culture phenomenon; it’s a driving force in the latest technological advances in cybernetic science. As such, this book looks at both what we imagine and what we can create in terms of the newest iterations of robotic companionship.
Reviews
“Gibson’s book is a masterclass in how to analyze literature and film and turn them into useful bits of evidence for a larger ethnographic study. I would recommend Desire in the Age of Robots and AI for both undergraduate and graduate courses in Anthropology, Folklore, Sociology, Film Studies, Literary Anthropology, Science and Technology Studies, Human Sexuality, and so much more.” (Wayne Fife, Anthropologica, Vol. 63 (1), 2021)
“… Rebecca Gibson has given us this wonderful book that details how these technologies could have an even more profound influence—redefining that in us which is most human.” (Chris Irwin Davis, Ph.D., A.I. Research Scientist)“Half of the time I plug into the world through technology I am wondering about the “people” of the other side…. As the online space expands, we become increasingly less sure where we stand in relation to digital simulacrums. Gibson’s book is a delightful and dirty look on what separates us from the machines, and exactly what those differences say about us if they even exist anymore.” (Jef Rouner, author of The Rook Circle)
“Well researched, engaging, and thought provoking, Dr. Gibson has given humanity a lot to consider when it comes to our desires and creations. The dance between science fiction and advances in technology is always complex and uniquely intertwined, but the threads here are neatly pulled apart and examined in such an insightful way that the reader can't help but find new understanding of their own inner world and the desires inherent to the human condition. A winning combination of entertaining and well documented information and analysis!” (Eli Girvin, Talent Analytics Strategy Consultant with IBM)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Rebecca Gibson, PhD, is Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, USA. She specializes in bioanthropology, and serves as a juror for the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Working Class Writers grant. Her work has been published in NEXUS, and in Sexuality & Culture.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Desire in the Age of Robots and AI
Book Subtitle: An Investigation in Science Fiction and Fact
Authors: Rebecca Gibson
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24017-2
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-24016-5Published: 02 September 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-24017-2Published: 24 August 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 141
Number of Illustrations: 5 illustrations in colour
Topics: Biological and Physical Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Culture and Technology, Media Sociology, Literature and Technology/Media