Write arguments that will help me be prepared to discuss these topics and that I can even create a short essay.
1. Dream and illusion. Descartes’ arguments : dream and Evil Genius illusion. How some scenes from Inception and Matrix exemplify those deceptions and which questions about knowledge are raised; Chalmers: Matrix : Sceptical hypothesis vs Metaphysical hypothesis
.2. Alan Turing and Searle: Turing Test and whether AI passes it in ” Ex-Machina” or “Her” movies and why; Chinese room thought experiment and the arguments for Strong AI and Weak AI claims (examples from ” Ex Machina” or “Her” or other sci-fi stories/films that support either of those claims and why)
3.Be able to reflect on the questions of meaning of life and identity in “Solaris” and/or “They” by Robert Heinlein and /or “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges
. 4. Paradoxes of time travel and Lewis’s solutions to them. Examples of those paradoxes in “All You Zombies” by Robert Heinlein and “The Weed of Time” by Norman Spinrad and/or in the films “Looper”, “Moon”, “La Jettee”5. Tempkin: His view, arguments and examples for whether living longer is living better. Be able to critically approach his arguments and reflect on the idea of “transhuman existence” as presented in “San Junipero”6. The Virtuality of Experience and Active reconstruction: The idea of virtuality in Plato, Aristotle and James. What is active reconstruction and some examples of how it could be present or absent in experiences of digital technology and/or literature.
