Generation Robot: A Century of Science Fiction, Fact, and Speculation
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Generation Robot: A Century of Science Fiction, Fact, and Speculation

by Terri Favro
  • from-ontario
  • narrative
  • pop-culture
  • sci-fi-fantasy
  • science

Generation Robot covers a century of science fiction, fact and, speculation — from the 1950 publication of Isaac Asimov’s seminal robot masterpiece, I, Robot, to the 2050 Singularity when artificial and human intelligence are predicted to merge. Beginning with a childhood informed by pop-culture robots in movies, in comic books, and on TV in the 1960s to adulthood where the possibilities of self-driving cars and virtual reality are daily conversation, Terri Favro offers a unique perspective on how our relationship with robotics and futuristic technologies has shifted over time.

Peppered with pop-culture fun-facts about Superman’s kryptonite, the human-machine relationships in the cult TV show Firefly, and the sexual and moral implications of the film Ex Machina, Generation Robot explores how the techno-triumphs and resulting anxieties of reality bleed into the fantasies of our collective culture.

Clever and accessible, Generation Robot isn’t just for the serious, scientific reader — it’s for everyone interested in robotics and technology since their science-fiction origins. By looking back at the future she once imagined, analyzing the plugged-in present, and speculating on what is on the horizon, Terri Favro allows readers the chance to consider what was, what is, and what could be.

This is a captivating book that looks at the pop-culture of our society to explain how the world works — now and tomorrow.

Contributors

Terri Favro, author

Terri Favro, winner of the CBC Creative Non-fiction Prize for her essay Icarus,” is the author of the novels /em>Sputnik’s Children, Once Upon A Time In West Toronto, and The Proxy Bride, and the co-creator of a series of comic books published by Grey Borders Books. She has written marketing copy for IBM, Apple, Blackberry and LEGO, among others. She lives in Toronto.

Reviews

  • "Generation Robot: A Century of Science Fiction, Fact, and Speculation" [is] an interesting and funny book about the intersection of science fiction and reality, and Favro blends memoir, tech reporting, and even a bit of science fiction to look at where robots have come from, and where they could be going in the coming decades - theverge.com
  • "Generation Robot" offers a new perspective on how people’s relationships with robotics and futuristic technologies have shifted over time, letting readers ponder the way techno-triumphs and resulting anxieties bleed into fantasies of our collective culture. - Publishers Weekly Link to review
  • What Favro is saying, in prose that is lively and even (in places) tinged with an appealing aura of childlike gosh-wow, is this: for people of her generation, growing up with robots and artificial intelligence didn’t just mean growing up reading about those things in books; it meant watching the world’s most brilliant minds taking other people’s wild ideas and making them real. Favro makes us see and appreciate that it really has been a fantastic voyage. A wonderful book for the SF geek who lurks in all of us. - Booklist

Rights Holder

Rights Holder: Skyhorse

email: carolyn@swayzeagency.com

website: https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510723108/generation-robot/

rights available: World, excl. North America

Additional Information

number of pages: 256

publication date: 02/06/2018

Original language of pub: English

Materials Available: finished book