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Twitter (Con News)Ryan Nichols
Ryan Nichols is currently a fellow in residence at the Center for Philosophy of Religion, University of Notre Dame, where he researches the cognitive science of religion and the history of philosophy. He has a standing tenured position at Cal State University Fullerton, in Orange County. Ryan co-wrote Philosophy Through Science Fiction (Routledge 2009), a guide to contemporary philosophical issues through science fiction literature, and organized a conference on Science Fiction and Philosophy in 2007. An avid listener to Escape Pod, his favorite SF author is Iain M. Banks.
Programming for Ryan Nichols
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| Fri | 10:00 | (A17) | 1 hr |
A Science of Science Fiction: Applying Quantitative Analysis to Genre Individuation
Recent research by Ryan Nichols and Justin Lynn tests hypotheses about genre differentiation by compiling millions of words of fantasy and science fiction with a quantitative textual analysis tool. Dr. Nichols presents the results, which he suggests call for data-driven revisions of a priori definitions of "science fiction" from Suvin, James, Hartwell, and others. |
| Fri | 16:00 | (A17) | 1 hr |
Scholars, Science Fiction, and the Pursuit of Knowledge
Our panel of scholars discuss their experience working with science fiction in academia, both research and teaching, focusing on how and why they use science fiction in their scholarly work, how that work is received, and how it relates to their work on other topics. |