Overview
- Examines Rand’s influence in the 21st century from a cultural, political, technological, and economic perspective
- Contributes to scholarship on science fiction and specifically posthuman science fiction
- Addresses transhumanism and other facets of posthumanism
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About this book
Ayn Rand and the Posthuman is a study of the American novelist’s relationship with twenty-first-century ideas about technology. Rand wrote science fiction that has inspired Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, politicians, and economists. Ben Murnane demonstrates Rand’s connection to, and impact on, those with a “posthuman” vision, in which human and machine merge. The text examines the philosophical intersections between Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism and posthumanism, and Rand’s influence on transhumanism, a major branch of posthumanist thought. The book further investigates Rand’s presence and portrayal in various examples of posthumanist science fiction, including Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, popular videogame BioShock, and Zoltan Istvan’s novel The Transhumanist Wager. Considering Rand’s influence from a cultural, political, technological, and economic perspective, this study throws light on an under-documented but highly significant aspect of Rand’s legacy.
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Keywords
Table of contents (7 chapters)
Reviews
“Murnane succeeds in offering an insightful and—a rare treat in academia—fun book that both entertains and challenges. It’s a timely and useful contribution, which breaks new ground.”(Claudia Franziska Brühwiler, Lecturer at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Ben Murnane was born in 1984. He is the author of a memoir, Two in a Million (2008), and a collection of poetry, Feather Silence (2010), and has written for several newspapers and academic publications. He completed his PhD at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in 2016.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Ayn Rand and the Posthuman
Book Subtitle: The Mind-Made Future
Authors: Ben Murnane
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90853-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-90852-6Published: 31 May 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-08116-4Published: 26 January 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-90853-3Published: 17 May 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 197
Topics: Contemporary Literature, Literature and Technology/Media, Literary Theory