Implausipod

With the release of Dune part 2 in cinemas, we return to Appendix W with a look at Frank Herbert's original novel from 1965.  Dune has had a massive influence on the Warhammer 40000 universe in many ways, especially when looking at the original release of the Rogue Trader game in 1987, in everything from the weapons and wargear, to space travel and technology, to the organization of the Imperium itself.  Join us as we look at some of those connections.

Dr Implausible can be reached at DrImplausible at implausipod dot com

Look for Appendix W episodes of the podcast on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@appendixw/channels or in the archives at https://www.implausipod.com/

The original Appendix W blog post can be found here: https://implausi.blog/2021/08/appendix-w-2/

Samuel Butler's novel can be found on Project Gutenberg here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1906/pg1906-images.html#chap23

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Why does it always come down to a Butlerian Jihad, a War on Robots, when we imagine a future for humanity.  Why does nearly every science fiction series, including Star Wars, Star Trek, Warhammer 40K, Doctor Who, The Matrix, Terminator and Dune have a conflict with a machinic form of life?

With Dune 2 in theatres this weekend, we take a look at the underlying reasons for this conflict in our collective imagination in this weeks episode of the Implausipod.

Dr Implausible can be reached at DrImplausible at implausipod dot com

Samuel Butler's novel can be found on Project Gutenberg here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1906/pg1906-images.html#chap23

Bibliography:
Bassala, G. (1988). The Evolution of Technology. Cambridge University Press.

Butler, S. (1999). Erewhon; Or, Over the Range. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1906

Dennett, D. (1995). Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. Simon and Schuster.

Ford, M. (2016). The Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of Mass Unemployment. Oneworld Publications.

Herbert, F. (1965). Dune. Ace Books.

Johnston, J. (2008). The Allure of Machinic Life. MIT Press. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262515023/the-allure-of-machinic-life/

Petroski, H. (1992). The Evolution of Useful Things. Vintage Books.

Popova, M. (2022, September 15). Darwin Among the Machines: A Victorian Visionary’s Prophetic Admonition for Saving Ourselves from Enslavement by Artificial Intelligence. The Marginalian. https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/09/15/samuel-butler-darwin-among-the-machines-erewhon/

Weitzman, M. L. (1998). Recombinant Growth. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113(2), 331–360. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355398555595

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How does your technology work? Do you have a deep understanding of the tech, or is it effectively a "black box"?  And does this even matter? We do a deep dive into the history of the black box, how it's understood when it comes to science and technology, and what that means for AI-assisted science.

Dr Implausible can be reached at drimplausible at implausipod dot com

Bibliography:
Bijker, W., Hughes, T., & Pinch, T. (Eds.). (1987). The Social Construction of Technological Systems. The MIT Press. 

Koskinen, I. (2023). We Have No Satisfactory Social Epistemology of AI-Based Science. Social Epistemology, 0(0), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2023.2286253 

Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford University Press. 

Latour, B., & Woolgar, S. (1979). Laboratory Life: The construction of scientific facts. Sage Publications. 

Pierce, D. (2024, January 9). The Rabbit R1 is an AI-powered gadget that can use your apps for you. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/9/24030667/rabbit-r1-ai-action-model-price-release-date 

rabbit—Keynote. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2024, from https://www.rabbit.tech/keynote 

Sutter, P. (2023, October 4). AI is already helping astronomers make incredible discoveries. Here’s how. Space.Com. https://www.space.com/astronomy-research-ai-future 

Weitzman, M. L. (1998). Recombinant Growth*. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113(2), 331–360. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355398555595 

Winner, L. (1993). Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding it Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology. Science Technology & Human Values, 18(3), 362–378. 

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The parable of the Old Man and the River tells us it isn't now deep the water is, but how swift the water flows when it comes to looking at pop culture.  There's magic in how crystal clear those swift waters flow.   Join us for a review of the theories underpining the value of studying pop culture for academic analysis, what that means for the future of the Implausipod, and hints at who the old man might be.

Contact us at drimplausible  at implausipod dot com

Bibliography:
Benjamin, W. (2008). _The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media_. Hippo. https://www.abebooks.com/9780674024458/Work-Art-Age-Technological-Reproducibility-0674024451/plp

Bourdieu, P. (1999). _On Television_. The New Press.

Daub, A. (2020). _What Tech Calls Thinking: An Inquiry into the Intellectual Bedrock of Silicon Valley_. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Flew, T., & Smith, R. (2018). _New Media: An Introduction, Third Canadian Edition_. Oxford University Press.

Griffin, E. (2003). _A First Look at Communication Theory_ (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill. https://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/first-look-communication-theory-griffin-sparks/M9781264296101.html

Katz, E., Haas, H., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). On the Use of the Mass Media for Important Things. _American Sociological Review_, _38_(2), 164–181. https://doi.org/10.2307/2094393

McLuhan, M. (1964). _Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man_. The New American Library.

Williams, R. (1974). _Television: Technology and cultural form_. Fontana.

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Silicon Dreams are those glittering visions of mythic intensity that inspire the continued development of revolutionary technologies.  Listen to this episode of the Implausipod to learn more about where they come from, and how the mythic imagination has been behind the development of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and other tech innovations.

Contact the show at drimplausible @ implausipod dot com

Bibliography:
Bainbridge, W. S. (1983). The Space Flight Revolution: A Sociological Study.

Bainbridge, W. S. (2002). The Spaceflight Revolution Revisited. In Stephen Garber (Ed.), Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Forty Year of U.S. Human Spacelight Symposium. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://mysite.verizon.net/wsbainbridge/dl/spacerevisit.htm

Brunner, J. (1975). The Shockwave Rider. Harper and Row.

Frenkel, J. (Ed.). (2001). True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier. TOR.

Frye, N., & Lee, A. A. (2007). The great code: The Bible and literature. Penguin Canada.

Hafner, K., & Lyon, M. (1996). Where Wizards Stay up late: The Origins of the Internet. Simon and Schuster.

Mosco, V. (2005). The Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace (1 edition). The MIT Press.

Ray Bradbury (Director). (1973, September 16). The Veldt. http://archive.org/details/the-veldt

Rheingold, H. (1991). Virtual Reality. Summit Books.

Saul, J. R. (2005). On Equilibrium. Penguin Canada.

Stephenson, N. (1992). Snow Crash. Bantam Books.

Vinge, V. (1981). True Names. Bluebird.

Womack, J. (2004). Some Dark Holler (pp. 355–371). Ace Books.

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Echanger - a French verb meaning to trade, to replace, or to swap, is a metaprocess of translation, that covers three main factors contributing to technological unemployment - automation, virtualization, and agentrification, the replacement of workers with generative AI tools.  Join us for our introduction and overview of the concept of echanger, in the third of our two part series inspired by the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Dr Implausible can be reached at [email protected]

Bibliography:
Autor, D., Chin, C., Salomons, A. M., & Seegmiller, B. (2022). New Frontiers: The Origins and Content of New Work, 1940–2018 (Working Paper 30389). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w30389

Hatzius, J. et al. (2023)The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth . (Briggs/Kodnani). Retrieved December 5, 2023, 

Ford, M. (2016). The Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of Mass Unemployment. Oneworld Publications.

Leontief, W. (1979). Is Technological Unemployment Inevitable? Challenge, 22(4), 48–50.

Susskind, D. (2020). A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond. Metropolitan Books.

They’re not human? AI-powered K-pop girl group Mave: eye global success. (2023, March 17). South China Morning Post.

Tupac Coachella hologram: Behind the technology - CBS News. (2012, November 9). 

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In our final episode on the 2023 Dr Who specials, we take a look at the 2023 Christmas Special and the introduction of the 15th Doctor as played by Ncuti Gatwa.  We'll take a quick take at some of the larger themes of the show, and how it connects with the past and the (possible) future(s) of Dr Who.

Dr Implausible can be reached at [email protected]

Our guest Dr. Aiden Buckland can be reached at [email protected]

Recommended Reading:
Cornell, P. (1995). The discontinuity guide. Doctor Who Books.

Booth, P. (2010). Digital Fandom: New Media Studies. Peter Lang.

Booth, P. (2012). Time on TV: Temporal Displacement and Mashup Television. P. Lang.

Booth, P., & Jones, C. O. (2020). Watching Doctor Who: Fan Reception and Evaluation. Bloomsbury Publishing.

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Not quite a full Festivus message, just a few quick tidings of joy and a message of gratitude here as 2023 draws to a close.  All the best to you and your loved ones, and we'll chat again soon.

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Join us for the final of our three episodes on the 2023 Season of Specials for Dr Who, with the return of familiar nemesis (both within the show and to yours truly as well) and the introduction of the 15th Doctor through an unique turn of events.  We're joined by our guest Dr. Aiden Buckland to discuss this momentous episode.

Dr. Buckland can be contacted at [email protected]  

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While I can't say I'm a sci-fi fan who hasn't scene Doctor Who any longer, my experience is still on the lower end of the scale, so we'll bring back our friend and guest Dr Aiden Buckland an academic and Dr Who fan to help guide us through some of the intricacies of the "Wild Blue Yonder", the second of the 2023 Dr Who Specials.

 You can contact our guest at [email protected] 

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