Call for Chapters
Springer Book series: Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics (SAPERE)
SecondDeath. Experiences of Death Across Technologies
Submission deadline: Expressions of interest requested ASAP; Chapters: December 2024
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to inform you that the international academic publisher Springer is planning the release of the “SecondDeath. Experiences of Death Across Technologies” (2024) in the book series Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics (SAPERE). This book edition has been entrusted to Alger Sans Pinillos (University of Pavia), alger.sanspinillos@unipv.it, Vicent Costa (Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, IIIA-CSIC), and Jordi Vallverdú (ICREA Academia – Autonomous University of Barcelona). Given the novelty of the fields covered by the book, the project’s success can only be guaranteed with the presence and collaboration of experienced authors who can enrich each topic according to their disciplinary knowledge.
About the planned book:
The relationship between robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and death raises complex and fundamental issues/questions/problems in philosophy. The fact that we humans live in terms of coexistence with machines with a certain degree of autonomy places us in reality much more shocking than science fiction stories, utopian/dystopian prophecies of possible and worthy futures, and even forecasts based on current data, known at the present. Indeed, living beings’ lives are intertwined with that of artificial beings, and humans depend on these artifacts and devices to survive, just as they need us to exist. The scope of the special issue is related to the relationship between death, robotics, and AI from three general focuses.
Self-motivation. The technological boom in which we find ourselves implies that there is a technology capable of autonomous killing. Whether for war purposes or euthanasia, AIs could be programmed to take life. This circumstance opens up many interesting debates about the reality of autonomy and the morality behind designing machines capable of killing under pre-established protocols.
Human-robot interaction. Humans no longer only interact with each other but also with technology with a certain degree of intelligence. That is a step beyond the simple use of artifacts and tools, which has implied the creation of new ways of communicating and relating. Likewise, the appearance of these technologies generated new interaction forms, including those laid out by the ongoing sex robots’ industry, which opens the way to a possible integration of AI into the cosmovision of human beings without implying the classic equation of robot to the human being.
The concept of death is under the new social and cultural spectrum. Understanding death and life requires considering the social and cultural spectrum where they occur and are signified. In particular, the way a machine exists is determined by the role it plays in the community, which will imply, to a large extent, what it means to the rest of its members. Furthermore, death is usually associated with the inevitability of the condition of living. However, the possibility of having technology that can last forever (for example, by replicating itself) shows the need to start thinking about the being/existence of AI. All things considered, it is relevant to analyze in which terms death can be applied to this sort of machine, which implies a revision of the concept of death under the spectrum of new entities capable of interacting and learning that seems to be able to be eternal and, at the same time, possess the capacity to cease the life of other living beings.
General guidelines for authors:
The areas of the research works submitted may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Killer robots
- Human-machine interaction/Human-Robot Interaction
- Death and life in IA
- Socio-cultural revision of Death
- Deadbots
- Automated euthanasia
- Sex robots
- Virtual Death
- Robot cemeteries
- Religion, death, and robots
- Augmented reality and palliative care
- Apoptotic Robotics
- Apocalyptic views on robots and death
- Dystopias
- Medical robots
- Automation and mortality
- Robot death and human grief
- Robotic surgery
- Living and conscious Ai/robotics
- Robot warriors and the transfiguration of death
- Psychology of robotic death
- Robots as priests of death ceremonies
- Ethorobotics
- Death as AI/robotics mistake
- Legal aspects of robotic death
- Robotics and entropy
As a chapter author, you would submit a manuscript for blind peer review as a chapter author, comprising approx. 10000-15000 words (excluding figures and references).
Chapter structure:
- Title page: Title, names, affiliation.
- Abstract, comprising approx. 150-250 words
- Keywords [5-10]
- Brief Biography of the Author(s)
- Acknowledgments
Funding Blinded chapter:
- Title
- Abstract, comprising approx. 150-250 words
- Keywords [5-10]
- Main Text [Headings + subheadings to be chosen by the authors]
- Conclusions
- References
Text Formatting: Authors are invited to take advantage of the attached Springer templates regarding Word and LaTeX.
Important dates: Springer and the editors suggest the end of December 2024 as a deadline for the contributors, as we would expect to receive the final draft (including all contributions) by the end of February 2024.
Author Contracts: Authors do not have to sign any actual author contracts anymore. Instead, when they log into the manuscript system for the first time, they will be asked to accept the electronic ‘Terms&Conditions’ that pop up. We really hope you can join us as a chapter author and enrich the book “SecondDeath. Experiences of Death Across Technologies” project with your expertise. In case you need further information before accepting or refusing our proposal, do not hesitate to contact me at alger.sanspinillos@unipv.it.
Finally, please address all replies to me, alger.sanspinillos@unipv.it, and in cc. to the other editors of the book, Vicent Costa, at vicent@iiia.csic.es, and Jordi Vallverdú, at jordi.vallverdu@uab.cat.
If you intend to submit a manuscript, please send an expression of interest (with a provisional title and abstract) to Alger Sans Pinillos (alger.sanspinillos@unipv.it) as soon as possible.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
All the very best,
Dr. Alger Sans Pinillos (University of Pavia)
Dr. Vicent Costa (Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, IIIA-CSIC)
Prof. Dr. Jordi Vallverdú (ICREA Academia – Autonomous University of Barcelona)
Editors