CM34: Artificial

C Scott Jordan reflects on life, death and whether or not authenticity is possible, Jeremy Henzell-Thomas tries to pin down the numerous meanings and perceptions of artificial, Abdelwahab El-Affendi castigates sham (un)belief, Robert Irwin plays with medieval Muslim machinal devices, John Sweeney finds common ground between AI and Covid-19, Emre Kazim struggles with digital ethics, Colin Tudge wonders if it is bad to be artificial, Christopher B Jones explores four potential earths, Esra Mirze Santesso is tired of false feminism, Hassan Mahamdallie discovers multi-layers of real and artificial identities in his family history, James Brooks is angry at science propoganda spewing from universities and research institutes and Liam Mayo thinks modernity is as fake as the plastic pollution washing on his beach.

Also in this issue: Khuda Bushq is bored with Covid-19 entertainment, Naomi Foyle writes a short story about Palestine, reviews of short stories by Marie Michalke and Arsalan Isa, a short story by Shah Tazrian Ashrafi, poems by Mozibur Rahman Ullah, and Samia Rahman faces the music of postnormal times, and Wendy Schhultz’s list of ten sparks for thought on AI.