Cognitive Science and Science Fiction Requests

As mentioned in another post I teach a course on Cognitive Science and Science Fiction. I thought I would start a new thread to ask if anyone could offer short stories, movies, or novels that they think beneficial to a course on Cognitive Science (but also science in general) and Science Fiction (but also fiction in general).

I do not have a syllabus around, but for instance they will most likely view Memento, Gattaca, Blade Runner, The Matrix, they read I, Robot (selections), Futurological Congress, R.U.R (usually).. The Lonely, (I forget what else)

I would like to focus on short stories, since I can maximize readings that way, as opposed to novels... feel free to offer up anything.

One I read the other day :-

Incarnation Day by Walter Jon Williams

Learning To Be Me by Greg Egan (basically,though, you could get the collections Luminous and Axiomatic and lots would fit.

However, he also has a bunch of stuff here :-
http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/, so as far as textbooks go, extremely cheap. :)

Great Wall of Mars by Alastair Reynolds
Rachel In Love by Pat Murphy think this is online, check book, etc., but http://www.freesfonline.de will be useful.
Bookworm Run! by Vernor Vinge
The Pope of the Chimps by Robert Silverberg
Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson
Lobsters by Charles Stross
The Soldier In the Machine by Russell Blackford
Understand by Ted Chiang
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick

Book series I can think of offhand - Intervention and all the Galactic Milieu books by Julian May.

Egan, again, mostly.

Orphans Of Earth et. al. by Sean Williams and Shane Dix

David Brin's Uplift series The Uplift War et.c

You mentioned The Futurological Congress, but as far as Lem goes, The Cyberiad and Mortal Engines may be more on point.

Galatea 2.2 was used in one of my cognitive science courses as an undergrad, but it's not one of my favorites.

Children Of the Atom by William H. Shiras
Beggars In Spain by Nancy Kress
Skein Dogs by Leanne Frahm
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Also I suppose The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells
Sirius by Olaf Stapledon
Brain Child by George Turner is a novel.

Children Of the Atom by William H. Shiras
Beggars In Spain by Nancy Kress
Skein Dogs by Leanne Frahm
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Empathy by Chris Lawson

Also I suppose The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells
Sirius by Olaf Stapledon
Brain Child by George Turner is a novel.
The Fourth 'R' by George O. Smith

More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon... three short stories that together form a mostly-coherent novel.

Peter Watts' Blindsight (touchstone doesn't come up) is in large part about the nature of consciousness. It's a novel, however.

Something at short story length, sort of, is Watts' very funny fictional Powerpoint presentation on vampires. It's free (Flash required). Vampires turn out to be quite different from us, neurologically. Runs about an hour.

PeterKein,

Are you looking for stories informed by modern cognitive science and neuroscience? If so, I think many of these suggestions don't actually fit, as they are about the development of extremely high/superhuman intelligence, but don't connect to your subject. The modern scientific subject is fairly new, basically since the 1980s or so, no? So the Stapledon stories from the 1930s wouldn't fit, for example.

Looking at what you listed in the first post, only Memento would count under my restriction, so maybe you're casting your net a bit wider.

I do second bluetyson on Greg Egan; identity and brain stuff is a major concern for him.

Blade Runner, R.U.R., the Matrix, I, Robot etc. listed above are concerned with artificial intelligence, a list here would be massive, storywise, if you were going down that route. :)

He did say 'in general' in the opening, hence other sentience, enhancement (Gattaca), etc. I suppose there is repair of cognitive function, as well, the Maureen F. McHugh story Presence or even Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End.

Mappa Mundi by Justina Robson is good. As a cognitive psychologist I was impressed by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for dealing with the ways in which the way we recall memories is a creative process. Beyond that, perhaps Solaris (the Russian film version, not the American).

OK, mentioned these books about 2000 times by now so most of you probably think I'm extremely singleminded ;-)

Anyway, to the point - Jon Courtenay Grimwood has written a three book suite (The Arabesque suite) where the protagonist has main issues versus his own "mind". As the story proceeds the reader is able to reflect on how he internalises and externalises parts of his mind (the fox that sits on his shoulder - how real is it?!?!) while he himself tries to repress it. It also deals with genetic engineering while at the same time being a crime story (or three) and a search for origin/father.
Maybe it would fit.

Anthem by Ayn Rand, a short novel

>13 arrr: arrr
How does Anthem have cognitive science?

#11, I too am a cognitive psychologist, but many of my interests have broadened- hence 'cognitive science' (I have done cog neuro work, for instance).

#9 I would like more of the latter of course. But, I dont mind good classic SciF, for instance I have them read Rod Serling's 'The Lonely' when they consider what it means to be human.

I am aware of Egan - have read a number of his novels, and they are ok (I am going to check out some of his short story anthologies)-- I should wait until I have a copy of the syllabus here to respond with more detail.. but rest assured I will be looking into each of the works mentioned here...

#10 Well the topic of 'cognitive science' certainly encompasses AI, but isnt limited to it. In my course, I begin rather broadly- simply asking the question - what is life? (what are the necessary and sufficient conditions). I have them question the nature of reality (scientific articles on the possibility of parallel universes for instance, have them watch the matrix, etc.) and then ask what it means to be human (obviously AI is relevant here). Then depending on the interests of the students, I tend to delve into some cognitive processes like memory, emotion, self identity. I tend to have a section on ethics, neuroethics etc as well.

So honestly I have asked this question of a number of SciFi fans, and it usually seems that the answers are limited by their narrow conceptualization of Cog Science.

Mindscan by Robert Sawyer would qualify, I suppose. It's a novel, though.

PeterKein #15,

By "the latter", do you mean the wider-net approach?

For Charles Stross, I suggest, rather than "Lobsters", his "Halo". Both are chapters in his novel Accelerando, but can be read as standalone novelettes. "Halo" speculates more directly on how human brains might be upgraded. It's maybe not exactly cog. sci., but tries to show more of a mechanism for improvement.

However, "Lobsters" has the kinkiest sex scene I've ever read in Asimov's Magazine - always a plus in getting undergraduates' interest, yes?

Dukedom (#17)

Sorry, I actually meant the former. I have a lot on advanced/alternative consciousness/mind as you might imagine- which would include most AI- although again, if there are specific titles one considers unique, I'm all for hearing about them.

I am also toying with the idea of having them subscribe to Asimov's Science Fiction...

(ps. I had David Lodge's Thinks, but dismissed it since while relevant, its rather long to get at one or two of the kernels I find worthwhile).

A novel? You might try The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. It deals with a high functioning autist who works with pattern recognition. A non-voluntary Flowers for Algernon situation develops.

A short story? I cannot remember the name. It came out in a "best of" collection in the past year or two. A woman programs a doll to respond to input cues. (i.e. "I love you, too.") Eventually the woman has a crisis when she believes that she and everyone else are mere input/output machines. Fascinating and heartbreaking. I will see if I can find the collection on my shelf.

#19> said: "Eventually the woman has a crisis when she believes that she and everyone else are mere input/output machines. "

Hmmm arent we?;) (throw in (S)ituation as well, and well there it goes). ANyhow it would be great if you could locate this.

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions- I have a lot of homework to do!

Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith