Transparent Minds

This book investigates the entire spectrum of techniques for portraying the mental lives of fictional characters in both the stream-of-consciousness novel and other fiction. Each chapter deals with one main technique, illustrated from a wide range of nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction by writers including Stendhal, Dostoevsky, James, Mann, Kafka, Joyce, Proust, Woolf, and Sarraute.

How do we know our current states of mind—what we want, and believe in? Jordi Fernández proposes a new theory of self-knowledge, challenging the traditional view that it is a matter of introspection. He argues that we know what we believe and desire by 'looking outward', towards the states of affairs which those beliefs and desires are about.

Transparent Minds explores the intersection between neuroscience and science fiction stories. Paul Matthews expertly analyses the narratives of humans and nonhumans from Mary Shelley to Kazuo Ishiguro across 200 years of the genre. In doing so he gives lucid insight into the meaning of existence and self-awareness. Rigorously researched and highly accessible, Matthews argues that psycho-emotional science fiction writers both imitate and inform alien and post-human consciousnesses through exploratory narratives and metaphor. Drawing from a diverse range of scholars and critics, Matthews explores topics such as psychonarration and neuroaesthetics, to create a thoughtful and cogent argument. By synthesising concepts from philosophy, neuroscience, and literary theory, Matthews posits the potential for science fiction to bridge the gap in understanding between AI and human minds. Given the recent advancements in AI technology, Matthews’ timely discussion enters the speculative realm of sentient technology and postcyborg ethics. The work constitutes a major contribution to cross-disciplinary perspectives on alien and posthuman psychology, that engages with future states of existence in both ourselves and the machines we create. Transparent Minds will be of interest to innovators, authors, and science fiction enthusiasts alike.

The purpose of The Transparency of Things is to look clearly and simply at the nature of experience, without any attempt to change it. A series of contemplations leads us gently but directly to see that our essential nature is neither a body nor a mind. It is the conscious Presence that is aware of this current experience. As such, it is nothing that can be experienced as an object, and yet it is undeniably present. However, these contemplations go much further than this. As we take our stand knowingly as this conscious Presence that we always already are, and reconsider the objects of the body, mind, and world, we find that they do not simply appear to this Presence; they appear within it. And further exploration reveals that they do not simply appear within this Presence but as this Presence. Finally, we are led to see that it is in fact this very Presence that takes the shape of our experience from moment to moment while always remaining only itself. We see that our experience is and has only ever been one seamless totality, with no separate entities, objects, or parts anywhere to be found.

Although most Canadians are familiar with surveillance cameras and airport security, relatively few are aware of the extent to which the potential for surveillance is now embedded in virtually every aspect of our lives. We cannot walk down a city street, register for a class, pay with a credit card, hop on an airplane, or make a telephone call without data being captured and processed. Where does such information go? Who makes use of it, and for what purpose? Is the loss of control over our personal information merely the price we pay for using social media and other forms of electronic communication, or should we be wary of systems that make us visible—and thus vulnerable—to others as never before? The work of a multidisciplinary research team, Transparent Lives explains why and how surveillance is expanding—mostly unchecked—into every facet of our lives. Through an investigation of the major ways in which both government and private sector organizations gather, monitor, analyze, and share information about ordinary citizens, the volume identifies nine key trends in the processing of personal data that together raise urgent questions of privacy and social justice. Intended not only to inform but to make a difference, the volume is deliberately aimed at a broad audience, including legislators and policymakers, journalists, civil liberties groups, educators, and, above all, the reading public. http://surveillanceincanada.org/

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,7, University of Münster, language: English, abstract: In James Joyce's novel "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" a variety of narrative techniques is used. In this research paper I want to explore how the use of different narrative techniques correlates with and indicates the protagonist's development towards both an artist and an autonomous adult. Except of the concluding diary entries, the novel is narrated by a third-person narrator who has got a limited point of view since he is focalized through Stephen. The narrator presents Stephen's consciousness and activities in various ways; an important aspect about his narration is that he persistently adapts his style to Stephen's idiom and mood. In some passages the narrator reports almost objectively on events, however, often he renders Stephen's consciousness, for which he uses different narrative techniques. Since Dorrit Cohn is thought to be one of the most important researchers on the field of narrative techniques concerning the presentation of consciousness, I will base this research paper on her definitions. Cohn distinguishes three ways a third-person narrator can use for rendering a person's consciousness: psycho-narration, narrated monologue and quoted interior monologue, all of which are used in the novel. I will focus on psycho-narration and narrated monologue since these are the techniques predominantly used. Psycho- narration is the narrator's description of a character's thoughts and feelings, thus, it is the most indirect way of rendering a character's consciousness. The third-person reference and the tense of narration are maintained. The presence of a narrator is marked since a verbum dicendi is always used. Narrated monologue uses the third person singular and the preterite as well; however, at the same time the syntactical structure remains that of direct discourse with exclam

This book investigates how science can help mitigate social media's negative effects on communication and create more transparency.