Thesis (B.S.)--Pennsylvania State University, 2009. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. Thesis supervisor: David Shapiro. Graduated Fall 2009, not Spring 2009.

No description available.

Thesis : Martin-Luther-Univ., Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Deutschland, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

This is a rhetorical criticism of the science fiction short story, "Profession," by Isaac Asimov. Primary focus is on Asimov's persuasive use of this message to influence potentially creative young people to consider technological careers. A brief synopsis of the story is given, along with a statement of the functional role of science fiction in accustoming individuals to societal changes resulting from technological advancements.Methodology is based upon Kenneth Burke's dramatism which views human action in terms of a drama. Burke's concepts of identification and occupational psychosis are used in discovering the rhetor's use of persuasive strategies. Burke's pentad is used for analysis of significant ratios. The dominance of the act-scene ratio is demonstrated by the supremacy of action over motion.Asimov's work shows the influence of a philosophy of realism, identifiable by the featuring of the pentadic term "act." Asimov's primary motives are identified as a desire to share his belief in the benefits of technology and his own need for creative self-expression. / Department of Speech Communication

Zugl.: Halle, University, Staatsexamensarbeit, 2007.

Zugl.: Halle, University, Staatsexamensarbeit, 2007.

L'acquisition, la gestion et la préservation de nouveaux savoirs apparaissent comme une obsession universelle et intemporelle des sociétés évoluées. Les façons d'y parvenir sont nombreuses et les projets ponctuent la grande histoire de la connaissance. De la célèbre Bibliothèque d'Alexandrie, détruite par les flammes, à l'Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert, symbole de l'idéal rationaliste des Lumières, l'ambition et la démesure de ces entreprises enflamment l'imagination du publIc et des créateurs. A l'origine de l'encyclopédisme se trouvent la pulsion de conservation et la crainte de la perte qui motivent un désir de complétude, de totalité: le savoir absolu. Mais la totalité peut également être terrifiante: comment s'y retrouver? Ces questions ont inspiré de nombreux auteurs de tous les pays, de tous les genres littéraires, de tous les statuts institutionnels et les ont poussés à s'interroger davantage sur la place du savoir dans la société et dans l'imaginaire. Si l'encyclopédie tente de refléter le monde, les encyclopédies imaginaires en promettent d'autres. Dans le cadre de ce mémoire, certaines oeuvres d'auteurs très différents sont analysées dans cette perspective encyclopédique de totalisation des savoirs (concept qui inclut celui de bibliothèque totale). Il s'agit de deux nouvelles de l'auteur argentin Jorge Luis Borges, «Tlön Uqbar Orbis Tertius» et «La Bibliothèque de Babel »; le roman Foundation de l'auteur américain d'origine russe Isaac Asimov; et finalement, Les Fourmis, écrit par l'auteur français contemporain Bernard Werber. Différentes approches théoriques sont utilisées selon les fonctions du discours encyclopédique dans la fiction littéraire: thématique, narrative, discursive, sémiotique. Pour ce faire, les théories épistémocritiques telles que développées notamment par Michel Pierssens (Le savoir à l'oeuvre) et Jean-Francois Chassay (Imaginer la science) servent à l'analyse des savoirs et de leur effet sur les textes. Les théories sémiotiques de la lecture d'Umberto Eco concernant l'encyclopédie de référence du Lecteur modèle (Lector in fabula), ainsi que celles développées par Richard Saint-Gelais à propos du concept de xénoencyclopédie (L'Empire du pseudo) qui permet la lisibilité des textes de science-fiction, sont également essentielles à l'analyse de l'encyclopédie imaginaire en tant que stratégies discursives didactiques. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Encyclopédie imaginaire, Encyclopédisme, Xénoencyclopédie, Bibliothèque totale, Gestion des savoirs, Epistémocritique, Jorge Luis Borges, Isaac Asimov, Bernard Werber, Science-fiction, Sémiotique de la lecture.

Submitted by Marta Toyoda (1144061@mackenzie.br) on 2016-11-28T19:42:28Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Karen Stephanie Melo.pdf: 7297628 bytes, checksum: 1bfe8746a376099ee2c44b1cb271b713 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-28T19:42:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Karen Stephanie Melo.pdf: 7297628 bytes, checksum: 1bfe8746a376099ee2c44b1cb271b713 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-22 / Science Fiction is popularly known for movies that usually present spaceships, interplanetary travels, futuristic scenarios, and men living with highly advanced technology. However, even before the movies, Science Fiction is a literary genre originated in the beginning of the 20th century, in the United States, in magazines known as pulp fiction. With that, the genre started to develop itself, as magazine fans would give their opinion about the stories and, also, tried to write their own stories. One of these readers has become a great author of the genre and with his short stories he enabled readers to imagine how the world would be if there were robots so smart as human beings. This author, named Isaac Asimov, ended up influencing several other writers, movie directors and TV series producers who would create other very popular stories, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Terminator, 2001: Space Odyssey, and others. As in Asimov’s short stories, these narratives will always put men before robots, which are sometimes friendly and helpful, and other times are mean and threatening to humans. In light of this, this paper proposes a study of three of Isaac Asimov’s short stories, published in pulp magazines in the 1940s and published as a compilation in the 1950s under the title of I, Robot, and of the movie Artificial Intelligence, directed by Steven Spielberg in 2001. The analysis of the corpus aims to comprehend how the relation between men and machine is established in Science Fiction and what this relation means, both in the 20th century literature and in the contemporary cinema. / A Ficção Científica é popularmente conhecida por filmes que, quase sempre, apresentam espaçonaves, viagens interplanetárias, cenários futurísticos e homens convivendo com tecnologias extremamente avançadas. No entanto, antes mesmo do cinema, a Ficção Científica é um gênero literário que teve sua origem no início do século XX, nos Estados Unidos, em revistas conhecidas como pulp fiction. Com isso, o gênero foi se desenvolvendo conforme os fãs das revistas emitiam suas opiniões sobre as narrativas e, também, se aventuravam em escrever suas próprias histórias. Um dos leitores dessas revistas tornou-se um grande autor do gênero e, com seus contos, levou os leitores a imaginarem como seria o mundo se existissem robôs tão inteligentes quanto os seres humanos. Esse autor, chamado Isaac Asimov, acabou por influenciar diversos outros escritores, diretores de cinema e produtores de séries de TV que viriam a criar outras narrativas bastante populares, como Star Wars, Star Trek, Terminator, 2001: Space Odyssey, entre outros. Assim como nos contos de Asimov, essas narrativas sempre colocam o homem diante da figura de um robô que ora é amigo e auxiliador, ora volta-se contra o ser humano. Diante disso, este trabalho propõe um estudo de três contos de Isaac Asimov, publicados em revistas pulp ao longo da década de 1940 e reunidas em coletânea em 1950 com o título de I, Robot (Eu, Robô) e do filme Artificial Intelligence, dirigido por Steven Spielberg e lançado em 2001. A análise do corpus tem como propósito entender de que modo se estabelecem as relações entre o homem e a máquina e seus sentidos na Ficção Científica, tanto na literatura do início do século XX, quanto no cinema contemporâneo.

This work adopts a feminist perspective to analyse and compare the patriarchal oppression and objectification of humans and robots in the Foundation universe. It analyses the relationships between males and females, between humans from different social and cultural backgrounds, and between humans and robots. The study attempts to capture changes that span a long period and multiple locations, exploring how those changes are triggered by different forms of patriarchal oppression and objectification. This essay concludes that various forms of patriarchal oppression and objectification exist in the beginning but start slowly disintegrating as humanity, guided by robots, move towards a greater goal of establishing a better society.

Uppsatsen beskriver utveckling av medvetandets filosofi i science fiction mellan 1800-talet och mitten av 1900-talet. För analysen används Mary Shelleys Frankenstein och Isaac Asimovs the Bicentennial Man. Utvecklingen i science fiction går parallellt med utveckling inom filosofin. Utvecklingen går mot en fysikalisk lösning på kropp och medvetande problemet med argument från behaviorismen, identitetsteorin, samt funktionalismen.