Beta-Life: Short Stories from an A-Life Future

Edited by: Martyn Amos & Ra Page

Narrated by: Toby Longworth, Joe Jameson
Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
Release Date: 06-18-15
Publisher: Audible Studios

Computers are changing. Soon the silicon chip will seem like a clunky antique amid
the bounty of more exotic processes on offer. Robots are changing, too; material
evolution and swarm intelligence are creating a new generation of devices that will
diverge and disperse into a balanced ecosystem of humans and robjects (robotic
objects).

Somewhere in between, we humans will have to change also...in the way we interact
with technology, the roles we adopt in an increasingly intelligent environment, and
how we interface with each other. The driving motors behind many of these changes
will be artificial life (A-Life) and unconventional computing. How exactly they
will impact our world is still an open question.

But in the spirit of collective intelligence, this anthology brings together 38

scientists and authors, working in pairs, to imagine what life (and A-Life) will
look like in the year 2070. Every kind of technology is imagined: from lie-
detection glasses to military swarmbots, brain-interfacing implants to
synthetically grown skyscrapers, revolution-inciting computer games to
synthetically engineered haute cuisine. All artificial life is here.

Contents:

Introduction: How the Future Used to Look - Martyn Amos & Ra Page

The Sayer of the Sooth - Martyn Bedford

Afterword: No More Secrets - Dr. James O'Shea, Manchester Metropolitan University

Swarm - Robin Yassin-Kassab

Afterword: Rise of the Machines - Lenka Pitonakova, University of Southampton

Growing Skyscrapers - Adam Marek

Afterword: Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow - Prof. Susan Stepney, University of
York

The Loki Variations - Andy Hedgecock

Afterword: The Moral Onboard Compass - Micah Rosenkind, University of Brighton

Everyone Says - Stuart Evers

Afterword: Everyone Surveys - Prof. Christian Jantzen, Aalborg University

A Swarm of Living Robjects Around Us - Adam Roberts

Afterword: Sing me to Sleep - Stephen Dunne, Starlab, Barcelona

Luftpause - Annie Kirby

Afterword: A Comma on the Wall - Prof. Seth Bullock, University of Southampton

The Quivering Woods - Margaret Wilkinson

Afterword: We Can Redirect it for You Wholesale - Dr. James Snowdon, formerly of
Southampton University

Certain Measures - Sean O'Brien

Afterword: Bot/Kettle - Prof. Martyn Amos, Manchester Metropolitan University
Blurred Lines - Julian Gough
Afterword: Neuroscience and Beyond - Dr. Germ�n Terrazas, University of Nottingham

The Bactogarden - Sarah Schofield

Afterword: Dream Sequence - Prof. Martyn Amos, Manchester Metropolitan University

Keynote at the European Conference on Artificial Life, 2070 - Zoe Lambert

Afterword: The Unknowable Brain - Dr. Andrew Philippides, University of Sussex

The Familiar - Lucy Caldwell

Afterword: The Feeling of What it is Like to be a Robot - Prof. Alan Winfield,
University of the West of England, Bristol

Making Sandcastles - Claire Dean

Afterword: Make/Shift - Prof. Steen Rasmussen, University of Southern Denmark

The Longhand Option - Dinesh Allirajah

Afterword: Boring, Boring Robots... - Prof. Francesco Mondada, �cole Polytechnique
F�d�rale de Lausanne

Fully Human - K. J. Orr

Afterword: A Branching Future of Synthetic Minds - Prof. Thomas S. Ray, University
of Oklahoma

The War of All Against All - Joanna Quinn

Afterword: We've Got Your Numbers - Dr. James Dyke, University of Southampton

Bruno Wins! - Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Afterword: The Hope Cycle - Prof. Andrew Vardy, Memorial University of Newfoundland

A Brief History of Transience - Toby Litt

Afterword: Where am I? - Prof. J. Mark Bishop, Goldsmiths, University of London