Thousands of years of fiction can help us understand the AI future

By Lauren Gilger
Published: Friday, June 9, 2023 - 2:55pm

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Real life is sounding more and more like science fiction today. With the dawn of artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, fears about it all over the news and more of our lives being lived online — whether in the metaverse or a video game — it feels like the ‘"fiction" part of science fiction is becoming obsolete.

But Matt Bell says the idea of artificial life can be traced far back in human history — and there’s long been a melding of reality and science fiction.

Bell is a professor of creative writing at Arizona State University and a novelist. His latest book, "Appleseed," is part science fiction thriller that's part speculative epic, and all about climate change and technology.

Matt Bell
Jessica Bell
Matt Bell

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