Feature Book
Cyborg Futures: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
This volume brings together academics from evolutionary biology, literary theory, robotics, digital culture, anthropology, sociology, and environmental studies to consider the impact of robotics and AI on society. With this approach, readers gain a sense of the complex scientific, social, and ideological contexts within which AI and robotics research is unfolding, as well as the illusory suppositions and distorted claims being mobilized by the industry in the name of bettering humanity’s future. Discussions about AI and robotics have been shaped by computer science and engineering, steered by corporate and military interests, forged by transhumanist philosophy and libertarian politics, animated by fiction, and hyped by the media. From fiction passing as science to the illusion of AI autonomy to the business of ethics to the automation of war, this collection recognizes the inevitable entanglement of humanity and technology, while exposing the problematic assumptions and myths driving the field in order to better assess its risks and potential.
Heffernan, Teresa, ed. Cyborg Futures: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. 2019.
Articles & Chapters
Heffernan, T. “The Religious Roots of AI and the Rise of Neo-Feudalism.” Religion 55, no. 3 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2025.2502290.
Heffernan, T. “Autonomous Weapons in Fiction and the Fiction of Autonomous Weapons.” In The Realities of Autonomous Weapons. Edited by Thomas Christian Bächle and Jascha Bareis. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. June 1, 2025. https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-realities-of-autonomous-weapons.
Heffernan, T. “Orga Is Not Mecha: How Literal Readings of Fiction Are Damaging the World.” Apocalyptica 2, 2 (2023). Published September 12, 2024. https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.apoc.2023.2.25030.
Heffernan, T. “Rethinking ‘Queer Kin Groups’: Cyborgs, Animals, and Machines.” In Symbiotic Posthumanist Ecologies in Western Literature, Philosophy and Art: Towards Theory and Practice. Edited by Peggy Karpouzou and Nikoleta Zampaki. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2023.
Heffernan, T. “The Imitation Game, the ‘Child Machine,’ and the Fathers of AI.” AI & Society, 25 June 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01512-0.
Heffernan, T. “The Dangers of Mystifying Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.” Toronto Journal of Theology, Advance Online, July 02, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3138/tjt-2020-0029
Heffernan, T. “Fiction Meets Science: Ex Machina, Artificial Intelligence and the Robotics Industry.” In Cyborg Futures: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Edited by Teresa Heffernan. Cham, CH: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Heffernan, T. “Fiction Writes Back: ‘Limitless Profit,’ Artificial Intelligence, and the Immortality Industry.” Researcher: European Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences 1, 3: 27–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.32777/r.2020.3.1.2.
Heffernan, T. “A.I. Artificial Intelligence: Science, Fiction and Fairy Tales.” English Studies in Africa 61, 1, 2018: 10-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00138398.2018.1512192.
Heffernan, T. “The Post-Apocalyptic Imaginary: Science, Fiction, and the Death Drive.” English Studies in Africa 58, 1, 2015: 66-79. Special Issue. https://doi.org/10.1080/00138398.2015.1083198
Asp, K. “A.I., Ecology and Existential Risk: A Critique.” In Cyborg Futures: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Edited by Teresa Heffernan. Cham, CH: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.