Aurealis #195
$3.99
Savour the F/SF/H feast that is Aurealis #195, our October issue! On the menu is the absorbing ‘A Remembrance of Coral’ by Arden Baker, the engrossing ‘An Orchid for Lial’ by Matt Georgeson and the stylish ‘What Swims in the Birthing Lake?’ by Xavier Garcia. Our fascinating non-fiction articles are ‘Creating Universes Through Fiction: Mary Durack’ by Gillian Polack, ‘Myth in Motion: The Legacy of Conan the Barbarian’ by MP Norman and ‘Doctor Who’s “Face of Evil”: A Warning About AI From the 1970s’ by Joseph Sullivan, while our brilliant internal art comes from Peter Allert, Zuzanna Kwiecien and Joshua Hardie. Add to this our jam-packed Reviews section, where you’ll find your next great read!
- From the Cloud — Dirk Strasser
- A Remembrance of Coral — Arden Baker
- An Orchid for Lia — Matt Georgeson
- What Swims in the Birthing Lake? — Xavier Garcia
- Creating Universes through Fiction: Mary Durack — Gillian Polack
- Myth in Motion: The Legacy of Conan the Barbarian — MP Norman
- Doctor Who’s ‘The Face of Evil’: A Warning About AI From the 1970s — Joseph Sullivan
Guest Editorial: Terry Wood
Science Fiction has proven, yet again, that it is no good at predicting the future. Certainly, SF is full of good ideas that have shaped technological developments—satellites, smart watches, mobile phones, robotics, rockets, nuclear power, even the internet.
We wondered about robots doing all types of domestic and low-skilled jobs—faithfully and obediently. We even speculated on how those robots would behave—Asimov’s Three Laws—and how they might destroy us if they didn’t.
But no one quite got the handle on how social media, CGI, deep fake technologies and AI have transformed how we communicate with each other and function on a daily basis.
I’m not much into AI; at least, I like to think so (except I used Google to research this editorial). Of course, we were so obsessed with how a smart robot—the ultimate fusion of AI software and mechanics—would change our lives, we missed the growing impact of simple AI technology affecting our everyday world, all without the protections of Asimov’s Three Laws (and the later Fourth).
It is the classic: ‘Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should’.
And the most insidious part of all this is how the growing computer power got to be called ‘artificial intelligence’. When did we go from using computers and programs to run complex functions, to calling everything a form of ‘intelligence’?
Without being too simplistic, can we call intelligence ‘the mental capacity to learn, remember, solve problems, and adapt to (local) environments’?
Will ChatGPT evolve into something bigger and better without any further human intervention? I doubt it. Is it smart at what it does (or is programmed to do)—well, yes.
Is it ‘intelligence’—I think not. The last of the criteria for intelligence is self-awareness. Don’t forget to ask ChatGPT ‘how do you feel?’ (hats off to Star Trek: The Next Generation)
It’s a great marketing slogan, though, and I guess that’s all that matters—until it doesn’t.
Now, one of the great tropes that SF might just have got right is corporations ruling the world. And, yes, they will probably do it off the back of AI.
All the best from the cloud!
Terry Wood
From A Remembrance of Coral by Arden Baker:
Sit down, boy, and take off your coat. You’re dripping rain everywhere! Did you bring the red coral? Ah, perfect. Smells just how I remember.
From An Orchid for Lia by Matt Georgeson:
He descends. The tunnel mouth is a halo of light, warping portal-like in the heat. Pedro passes through it into vanishing darkness, his footsteps echoing uncomfortably loud. He stops, listens to his breath.
From What Swims in the Birthing Lake? by Xavier Garcia:
Awilix’s disgusting belly is still postpartum swollen even as it wanes gibbous light down onto the sandy beach where stands the maiden Lady Blood looking back up at that disgusting moon that is postpartum Awilix
From Creating Universes through Fiction: Mary Durack by Gillian Polack:
Why write about the Duracks? Mary and Elizabeth are hardly the stuff of science fiction legend, after all. There is an answer to this question, but it may take a little time to explore.
From Myth in Motion: The Legacy of Conan the Barbarian by MP Norman:
Conan the Barbarian (1982) remains one of the most distinctive works in fantasy cinema, not because of its scale, but because of its restraint.
From Doctor Who’s ‘The Face of Evil’: A Warning About AI From the 1970s by Joseph Sullivan:
From 1-22 January 1977, the Doctor Who serial ‘The Face of Evil’ was broadcast. In the story, the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) arrives on an unknown planet in strife between two warring tribes of humans, the Sevateem and the Tesh.
