Non-science fictional readings on intelligence

Calvin, William H. 1991. The Ascent of Mind: Ice Age Climate and the evolution of intelligence. Bantam Books.

Carruthers, Peter, and A. Chamberlain. {Eds.] 2000. Evolution and the Human Mind. Cambridge University Press.

Gardner, H. 1983. Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books.

Gibson, Kathleen R., and Tim Ingold. 1993. Tools, Language and Cognition in Human Evolution. Cambridge University Press.

Gould, S. J. 1981. The Mismeasure of Man. W. W. Norton & Co.

Khalfa, Jean. [Ed.] 1994. What is Intelligence? Cambridge University Press.

Savage-Rumbaugh, E. S., Jeannine Murphy, Rose A. Sevcik, Karen E. Brakke, Shelley L. Williams and Duane Rumbaugh. 1993. Language Comprehension in Ape and Child. University of Chicago Press.

Assignments taken from:

1. Keyes, D. 1959. Flowers for Algernon. Short story available in numerous collections, e.g. Robert Silverberg, Ed. 1971. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, vol 1. Avon, New York. (Original short story expanded to book length, 1966, book reissued, 1984, Bantam Books.)

2a. Clement, H. 1953. Mission of Gravity. NESFA Press.

2b. Dickinson, T., and Schaller, A. 1994. Extraterrestrials: A Field Guide for Earthlings. Camden House, Ontario, Canada and Buffalo, NY, USA.

3. Slonczewski. J. 1998. The Children Star. Tor Books, New York.

4. Read, W. Nov. 1996. Epona. Analog.

5. Barlowe, W. D., I. Summers, and B. Meacham. 1979. Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials.Workman Publishing, New York.

6. Weinbaum, Stanley. A Martian Odyssey. In: Silverberg, R., Ed. 1971. The Science Fiction Bestiary. Dell Publishing Co., New York. First published 1934;reissued in other anthologies also.

Science-fictional work used on this site and further readings

Non-fiction

Asimov, I. 1963. View from a Height. Avon Books. [A readable and reasonably thorough overview of physical and chemical influences on life, with some discussion of biology and society.]

Barlowe, W. D., I. Summers, and B. Meacham. (see under Assignments, above)

Bylinsky, G. 1981. Life in Darwin's Universe. (out of print). [Likely evolutionary scenarios given evolutionary processes. Some graphics on this site have been taken from this book. Out of print status extremely unfortunate.]

Dickinson, T., and Schaller, A. (see under Assignments, above)

Doyle, Laurance R. {Ed.] 1996. Circumstellar Habitable Zones. Travis House Publications. [Proceedings of the first international scientific conference on this subject.]

Hollister, B. C., and D. C. Thompson. 1973. Grokking the Future: Science Fiction in the Classroom. Pflaum/Standard, Dayton.

Molvray, M. 1997. They came from outer space: Real aliens. Science Fiction Writers of America Bulletin, Winter issue. [Creating plausible aliens by taking evolutionary principles into account.]

Parker, H. N. 1984. Biological Themes in Modern Science Fiction. UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor.

Schmidt, S. 1996. Aliens and Alien Societies: A Writer's Guide to Creating Extraterrestrial Life-Forms. Writer's Digest Books.

Fiction

Clement, H. (see under Assignments, above)

Foster, A. D. 1985. Sentenced to Prism. Ballantine/Del Rey. [Silicon-based life forms.]

Foster, A. D. 1982. Nor Crystal Tears. Del Rey. [Alien contact and the difficulties of understanding different minds.]

Gibson. W. 1996. Idoru. The Putnam Berkley Group. [Artificial intelligence and humanity.]

Keyes, D. (see under Assignments, above)

Molvray, M. 2000 [unpublished]. They Toil Not. [a low -energy physiology combined with intelligence, and the difficulty of recognizing intelligence in alien forms.]

Read, W. (see under Assignments, above)

Silverberg, R., Ed. 1971. The Science Fiction Bestiary. Dell Publishing Co., New York. (see also under Assignments, above) [The best collection I have come across of stories involving aliens.]

Sloncewski. J. (see under Assignments, above)

Weinbaum, S. (see under Assignments, above)

Links to web sites on intelligence

Calvin, W. H. 1994.The Emergence of Intelligence. Scientific American. Life in the Universe issue, October. http://proxy.arts.uci.edu/~nideffer/Hawking/early_proto/calvin.html

 

The following are course outlines offered at the universities named. The sites raise interesting questions and have bibliographies for further reading.

The Evolution of Human Cognitive Processes: The Foundations, SE552 - Culture and Cognition, University of Kent at Canterbury, England. (Roy Ellen, instructor. However, course currently not offered. Search using course and university keywords to see if it has returned.)

http://cas-courses.buffalo.edu/classes/psy/segal/416f2000/Intelligence.htm. Dr. Segal. Psy 416:Reasoning and Problem Solving, offered Fall, 2000, SUNY at Buffalo, NY.

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~SEGLea/psy1001/outline.htm. Stephen Lea. School of Psychology. PSY1001 Evolution of Behaviour Lectures, University of Exeter, England.

Links to science fiction + biology education web sites

http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/bio3/bio03syl.htm - Dr. Joan Slonczewski’s "Biology in Science Fiction" (Biology 103) course at Kenyon College. A course that explores biological principles using science fiction to provoke thought.

http://web.calstatela.edu/academic/builders/index.html [link no longer active]. A course at California State University teaching science through the process of "World Building," including many questions regarding aliens and their thought processes.

NO LIMITS: Developing Scientific Literacy Using Science Fiction. Julie H. Czerneda. Trifolium Press. (http://ca.geocities.com/wonderzone@rogers.com/). Using science fiction to teach science.

Contact, and the world they have developed, Epona. This is a highly detailed world created to help educators use science fiction to facilitate learning in a variety of disciplines. The article by Read in the Nov. '96 Analog referenced under Assignments describes some of the major aspects.