Sample Research Documents
The Singularity
Foreword by Jade Wheldon
Welcome to The Anthropocene. Human consciousness is currently unparalleled by anything else in existence on this planet. We have evolved in a relatively short time to become a geological force as powerful as any ice age or mass extinction throughout the earth’s 4.5 billion years existence. The industrial revolution saw us harness energy on a global scale and use it to advance our civilisations and technologies. With the creation of the atomic bomb in the 1940’s, we finally prove to ourselves that in our ape-like hands, we hold the delicate balance of the planet we live on. It is ours for the taking.
We can travel easier and faster than ever before. We can farm and trade goods on a colossal scale. We can communicate around the world in an instant. The birth of the internet ensures we have anything we desire at our fingertips (or at least next day delivery). That is at least, for those of us who can afford to stay connected…
But there are problems. We are growing at such a rate that there aren’t enough resources to go around. Around the world people are living in poverty, and in areas where resources are abundant, we are wasteful and greedy. The planet is warming and climate change is accelerating all the time. We need a solution.
In an era where we have become so dependant on technology to exist, it is not surprising that so many of us turn to the future in wonder of what has yet to come. Our imagination and unwavering curiosity has driven us to attempt to create this same intelligence artificially and with each technological advance we grow one step closer to achieving this goal. The ultimate search for a life beyond the regime of EAT. SLEEP. WORK. REPEAT. What if technology gave us the power to exist in a landscape where this is all taken care of and we are free just to exist...liberated from the shackles of the mundane. We might have the ability to finally deal with the bigger issues at hand.
But the balance of natural life is so intricate and fragile. What can come of replacing our working bodies and minds with computers, of allowing ourselves to be fed, saved, informed even governed by this intelligence? The Singularity is a series of stories exploring exactly this. Each story is set at different points within our future, intending to question our ability to coexist with the artificial intelligence we are on the brink of creating. Will the introduction of AI prove a more treacherous terrain for humans to exist? Or, will AI technology provide the answer to some of our biggest problems? Are we able to live a safe and fair life, free of inequality, famine and war? Or have we just kick-started our own extinction?
Confessions of a Horror Junkie
I’ve now been diagnosed, with affection, by my friends as a Horror Junkie.
It wasn’t always like this but these days I find I’m always on the hunt for the next big scare, that unsuspecting plot twist, an intoxicating adrenaline ‘hit’. Where most people aim to avoid that ‘fight or flight’ feeling, I’m absolutely hooked. It’s true, there was a stage where the odd rom-com could satisfy me but not now. Not anymore. So when Create50 invited me to proofread and correct errors in their latest book, Twisted50 Vol 2, it was a no-brainer…
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