Beta-Life: Short Stories from an A-Life Future – Anthology (multiple) Free Audiobook

Written by Anthology (multiple)
Read by Toby Longworth, Joe Jameson
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Edited by: Martyn Amos & Ra Page
Narrated by: Toby Longworth, Joe Jameson
Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
Release Date: 06-18-15
Publisher: Audible Studios

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.

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