Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Beta Life cover art

Beta Life

By: Martyn Amos - editor, Ra Page - editor
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

  • Summary

  • Computers are changing. Soon the silicon chip will seem like a clunky antique amid the bounty of more exotic processes on offer. Robots are changing, too; material evolution and swarm intelligence are creating a new generation of devices that will diverge and disperse into a balanced ecosystem of humans and robjects (robotic objects).

    Somewhere in between, we humans will have to change also... in the way we interact with technology, the roles we adopt in an increasingly intelligent environment, and how we interface with each other. The driving motors behind many of these changes will be artificial life (A-Life) and unconventional computing. How exactly they will impact our world is still an open question.

    But in the spirit of collective intelligence, this anthology brings together 38 scientists and authors, working in pairs, to imagine what life (and A-Life) will look like in the year 2070. Every kind of technology is imagined: from lie-detection glasses to military swarmbots, brain-interfacing implants to synthetically grown skyscrapers, revolution-inciting computer games to synthetically engineered haute cuisine. All artificial life is here.

    Also featuring stories by Dinesh Allirajah, Lucy Caldwell, Claire Dean, Andy Hedgecock, Annie Kirby, Zoe Lambert, Sean O'Brien, K. J. Orr, Joanna Quinn, Sarah Schofield, Margaret Wilkinson, Robin Yassin-Kassab, Adam Roberts, Adam Marek, and Toby Litt. Plus afterwords by scientists J. Mark Bishop, Seth Bullock, James Dyke, Christian Jantzen, Francesco Mondada, James D. O'Shea, Andrew Philippides, Lenka Pitonakova, Steen Rasmussen, Thomas S. Ray, Micah Rosenkind, James Snowdon, Susan Stepney, Germán Terrazas, Andrew Vardy and Alan Winfield.

    What will life look like in the year 2070?

    ©2014 Comma Press (P)2015 Audible, Ltd.
    Show More Show Less
Episodes
  • Ep. 1: Introduction - How the Future Used to Look
    Aug 9 2018

    Introduction to the short story anthology, Beta Life: Stories from an A-Life Future, by the Editors.

    Show More Show Less
    10 mins
  • Ep. 2: The Sayer of the Sooth
    Aug 9 2018

    In Martyn Bedford’s short story - lovingly grounded in the British Pessimism School of science fiction - Silent Talker and TruLens feature as computerized, psychological profiling systems for the collection and analysis of non-verbal behaviour.

    Afterword: No More Secrets by Dr James O'Shea.

    Show More Show Less
    47 mins
  • Ep. 3: Swarm
    Aug 9 2018

    Will robots save or destroy the world? What stops a terrorist organisation or a ruthless dictatorship from weaponising technology or artificial intelligence? Robin Yassin-Kassab's story Swarm presents one such scenario.

    Afterword: Rise of the Machines by Lenka Pitonakova.

    Show More Show Less
    32 mins

What listeners say about Beta Life

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent collection

A series of interesting, entertaining science fiction short stories - each one followed by thought provoking afterwords from experts in the technology that featured in the story.

Each episode is a manageable 30 mins each, well-read and intriguing. Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Some really good stories, but some clunkers

There is some really good stuff here, but some of the stories are really hit-and-miss. And, frankly, a large number are highly politically motivated. It's a sad reminder of how riddled our academics are by tedious student Corbynista politics.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!