DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS, A NOVELIST must walk – even if he doesn’t necessarily understand ahead of time why he had to go gumshoeing. At least that’s how Nick Harkaway explains the genesis of Titanium Noir, a novel that fuses elements of cyberpunk and the classic American detective novel as it follows wisecracking Cal Sounder, a specialist in the most sensitive cases, through a murder investigation that would try the ingenuity of even Philip Marlowe.
“I think unconsciously it’s possible that I decided fatigue was the primary attribute of our lives,” he says – laconically, as it would feel remiss not to add at this point. Harkaway is referencing not just the terrible tiredness that engulfed so many of us during the pandemic, but the “existential horror” of living through interesting times, the world of fighting over Brexit, Donald Trump, the Covid-19 pandemic, Ukraine and the threat of climate change.
More recently, the advent of AI in day-to-day life has made the top of the news agenda, but Harkaway isn’t so worried about this – at least not directly. “It’s on the one hand miraculous, it’s extraordinary what it can do, but it’s also sort of slightly terrible [at what it does],” he says.
“But I think it facilitates a whole bunch of other changes – not the ChatGPT stuff at all, but the use of AI in medical research and drug research, those kind of usages that you don’t see but which have massive effect as an accelerator. I honestly believe it’s biotechnology that will surprise us consistently over the next couple of decades.”
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2023-Ausgabe von SFX UK.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2023-Ausgabe von SFX UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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Making Alien - Jaws in Space - Forty-five years on from its original release, Alien continues to terrify. We dissect what arguably remains the most chilling instalment in the saga
The seven-strong crew of the commercial mining spacecraft the Nostromo seal their fate after reluctantly responding to a mysterious distress signal on a hostile planet. Here, a face-hugging alien from a derelict ship impregnates and later kills executive officer Kane (John Hurt) after its offspring is birthed onboard. After being unleashed, the fearsome newborn with acid for blood proceeds to dispatch the remainder of the crew.Ridley Scott's much more convoluted prequels have yet to reveal how the knowledge that led to this initial interception was acquired. However, the premise of the original Alien is perfect in its uncomplicated purity.
PURE AND SIMPLE
IN THE FINAL PART OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, SHOWRUNNER RUSSELL T DAVIES TALKS RELAUNCHING DOCTOR WHO
TO CAP IT ALL OFF
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE WALKING DEAD SPIN-OFF SHOWRUNNER DAVID ZABEL ON BEING GIVEN THE TOUGH TASK OF REUNITING DARYL AND CAROL IN FRANCE
SILENT KILLERS
THE DIRECTOR OF HOLLYWOOD'S SPEAK NO EVIL REMAKE ON HORROR, COMEDY AND JAMES MCAVOY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THE GHOST WITH THE MOST RETURNS FINALLY - IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
TEENAGE DREAM
JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING
MOB RULE THE PENGUIN
GOTHAM'S UP FOR GRABS IN BRUISING NEW CRIME SAGA BUT WHERE IS THE BATMAN?
SEASON OF THE WITCH
AS MARVEL TELEVISION CARVES OUT A NEW PATH FOR ITSELF, WE SPEAK TO CREATOR JAC SCHAEFFER, PLUS A CAST OF STARS LED BY KATHRYN HAHN AND JOE LOCKE, ABOUT THE MAGIC OF WANDAVISION'S SPIN-OFF AGATHA ALL ALONG
Ghouls Allowed
Even silence can't save you at this year's Halloween Horror Nights