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Robot Suicide

Death, Identity, and AI in Science Fiction

Robot Suicide cover

Robot Suicide

Death, Identity, and AI in Science Fiction

Description

In Robot Suicide: Death, Identity, and AI in Science Fiction, Liz W Faber blends cultural studies, philosophy, sociology, and medical sciences to show how fictional robots hold up a mirror to our cultural perceptions about suicide and can help us rethink real-world policies regarding mental health. For decades, we’ve been asking whether we could make a robot live; but a new question is whether a living robot could make itself die. And if it could, how might we humans react? Suicide is a longstanding taboo in Western culture, particularly in relationship to mental health, marginalized identities, and individual choice. But science fiction offers us space to tackle the taboo by exploring whether and under what circumstances robots—as metaphorical stand-ins for humans—might choose to die. Faber looks at a broad range of science fiction, from classics like The Terminator franchise to recent hits like C. Robert Cargill’s novel Sea of Rust.

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  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
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  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

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Table of Contents

Introduction: When Robots Choose to Die
Chapter 1 – Morbid Machines: Interiority and Mental Health
Chapter 2 – Automated Altruism: Self-Sacrifice and US War Culture
Chapter 3 – The Human Touch: Eugenics and Assisted Suicide
Conclusion: Programming Life and Death

Product details

Published May 01 2023
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 118
ISBN 9781666910490
Imprint Lexington Books
Illustrations 1 tables;
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Liz W. Faber

Liz W. Faber is assistant professor of English and…

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