Category Archives: robotics

Call for Abstracts: Theology and Westworld

Edited by Juli Gittinger and Shayna Sheinfeld The television series Westworld has garnered significant interest from academics as well as from wide audiences. While many of its themes and plot motifs represent longstanding focuses in science fiction, the treatment of them has stood out as especially creative in a number of ways. While the creation […]

Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the Apocalypse

This conference looks interesting, and i’s connected to the work of Robert Geraci who has been featured here previously. April 5 – 6, 2018. Inside the Big Top at the Panacea Museum gardens, Bedford, United Kingdom CenSAMM Symposia Series 2018 Deadline for abstracts extended to February 16. We invite papers from those working across disciplines […]

STAR WARS Droid Treatment: Racism or Conflicted Relationship with Robotics?

Previously I’ve shared Robert J. Sawyer’s lecture and critique of George Lucas and Star Wars. In Sawyer’s view, Lucas damaged science fiction for years to come. A part of Sawyer’s critique is the alleged racism behind the way C3PO and R2D2 are treated when they try to enter the cantina bar in the first Star […]

Thoughts on the Theological Implications of HBO’s WESTWORLD

The 1970s science fiction film Westworld remains one of my favorites from the decade, having seen it as a child while growing up. HBO has taken the basic premise of the film, a futuristic robotic theme park based on the Old West where guests can indulge their fantasies, and has just finished its first season. […]

HBO’s “Westworld” series premieres Oct. 2

Artificial intelligence and religion

There has been a good bit of discussion lately on artificial intelligence in connection with religiosity. The Daily Mail has a piece titled “Will artificial intelligence be religious? Researchers say robots could someday be converted to a faith.” This includes positive and negative aspects. On the latter, the piece states If artificially intelligent robots could […]

Behind the scenes of AMC’s HUMAN

AMC is launching a new series that explores robotics and artificial intelligence. It is called HUMANS. This behind the scenes trailer provides some background, and it looks as if it will contribute to the growing collection of science fiction addressing this important topic.

Ex Machina

As reported by ScreenCrush.com: ‘Ex Machina’ is the directorial debut of Alex Garland, the talented screenwriter of ’28 Days Later,’ ‘Sunshine,’ ‘Never Let Me Go’ and ‘Dredd.’ With a resume like that, we can’t think of anyone better suited to helming a small and (seemingly) smart science-fiction drama like this. Color us intrigued. Here’s the […]

Automata

The trailer for Automata looks intriguing. Hopefully it will be a thoughtful expression of science fiction. In a future where Earth’s ecosystem verges on collapse, man-made robots roam the cities to protect dwindling human life. When a robot overrides a key protocol put in place to protect human life, ROC Robotics insurance agent Jacq Vaucan […]

Guest post – Westworld: Robotic Cowboys Wreak Havoc in Michael Crichton’s Directorial Debut

From time to time a select few are given the opportunity to contribute guest posts here at TheoFantastique. This essay is by Brandon Engel, who looks back at one of the classic 1970s science fiction films. There’s something incredibly unnerving (uncanny, if you must) about non-human entities that are similar to humans in either form […]

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