Jacek Dukaj
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Jacek Dukaj
Jacek Józef Dukaj (pronounced: ; born 30 July 1974) is a Polish science fiction and fantasy writer. His fiction explores such themes as alternate history, alternative physics and logic, human nature, religion, the relationship between science and Power (social and political), power, technological singularity, artificial intelligence, and transhumanism. He is regarded among the most popular Polish contemporary science fiction authors. He is the recipient of numerous national and international literary prizes including the European Union Prize for Literature, Janusz A. Zajdel Award and Eurocon#European SF Awards, European Science Fiction Award. Career He was born on 30 July 1974 in Tarnów. He graduated from High School No. 3 in Tarnów and subsequently studied philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He made his literary debut at the age of 16 when he published his short story "" ("The Golden Galley") in the ''Fantastyka'' science-fiction monthly. In 1997, he pub ...
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Tarnów
Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east–west connection from Lviv to Kraków, and two additional lines, one of which links the city with the Slovakia, Slovak border. Tarnów is known for its traditional architecture of Poland, Polish architecture, which was influenced by foreign cultures and foreigners that once lived in the area, most notably Jews, Germans and Austrians. The Old Town, featuring 16th century tenements, houses and defensive walls, has been preserved. Tarnów is also the warmest city of Poland, with the highest long-term mean annual temperature in the whole country. Companies headquartered in the city include Poland's largest chemical industry company Grupa Azoty and defence industry company Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów, ZMT. The city is currently subdivided into ...
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Human Nature
Human nature comprises the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of Thought, thinking, feeling, and agency (philosophy), acting—that humans are said to have nature (philosophy), naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or what it 'Meaning (psychology), means' to be human. This usage has proven to be controversial in that there is dispute as to whether or not such an essence actually exists. Arguments about human nature have been a central focus of philosophy for centuries and the concept continues to provoke lively philosophical debate. While both concepts are distinct from one another, discussions regarding human nature are typically related to those regarding the comparative importance of genes and Social environment, environment in Developmental psychology, human development (i.e., 'nature versus nurture'). Accordingly, the concept also continues to play a role in academic fields, such as both the natural science, natural an ...
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Xavras Wyżryn
''Xavras Wyżryn'' is an alternate history novel by the Polish science fiction writer Jacek Dukaj, published in 1997. An alternate history novels, it discusses Polish martyrology, circling on the philosophical aspects of war, shows the thin line between terrorism and freedom fighters. It has lots of action, which makes it a member of a military science fiction genre. The story's divergence point is set during the Polish–Soviet War by ending in a decisive Soviet victory. The actual story takes place in the 1990s and is told from the point of view of an American reporter, who is an embedded journalist with the anti-Soviet Polish resistance. In 1996, a young American reporter, Ian Smith, is sent by his news network to the Soviet republic of Poland, to document guerrilla actions of Polish freedom fighters against the Soviet regime. His task includes interviewing the charimastic leader of Polish Freedom Army, Colonel Xavras Wyżryn. Smith does not realize that during his long tri ...
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Fantastyka
''Nowa Fantastyka'' (established as ''Fantastyka'' in 1982, renamed in 1990) is a Polish speculative fiction monthly fantasy and science fiction magazine. It is the leading and oldest of the Polish magazines on this topic. History ''Fantastyka'' was established in 1982 by sci-fi fans Andrzej Krzepkowski, Jacek Rodek and , under the direction of the writer and journalist Adam Hollanek, who became the magazine's first editor-in-chief. It became known as one of few magazines to publish both foreign and Polish short stories, as well as full-length novels in instalments. Between 1990 and 1992 its editor-in-chief was Lech Jęczmyk, followed by Maciej Parowski and Arkadiusz Nakoniecznik. In March 2006 Paweł Matuszek took over. Andrzej Sapkowski published his first short story about ''The Witcher'' in the magazine - a debut that led to the publishing success of The Witcher saga. Today ''Fantastyka'' is dedicated predominantly to short stories, but also to articles on modern scien ...
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Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 (2023), with approximately 8 million additional people living within a radius. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596, and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Kraków Old Town, Old Town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, one of the world's first sites granted the status. The city began as a Hamlet (place), hamlet on Wawel Hill and was a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 985. In 1038, it became the seat of King of Poland, Polish monarchs from the Piast dynasty, and subsequently served as the centre of administration under Jagiellonian dynasty, Jagiellonian kings and of the Polish–Lithuan ...
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Philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its methods and assumptions. Historically, many of the individual sciences, such as physics and psychology, formed part of philosophy. However, they are considered separate academic disciplines in the modern sense of the term. Influential traditions in the history of philosophy include Western philosophy, Western, Islamic philosophy, Arabic–Persian, Indian philosophy, Indian, and Chinese philosophy. Western philosophy originated in Ancient Greece and covers a wide area of philosophical subfields. A central topic in Arabic–Persian philosophy is the relation between reason and revelation. Indian philosophy combines the Spirituality, spiritual problem of how to reach Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlighten ...
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Polcon2011 Zajdel Laureaci02
Polcon is the oldest Polish speculative fiction convention, organized each year in a different place by the local speculative fiction club. The Janusz A. Zajdel Award is awarded during the convention. The first Polcon was held in 1985 in Błażejewko near Poznań. List of Polcons Polcon's location is chosen two years in advance during the convention itself; for example, the location of 2016 Polcon (Wrocław) was chosen during Polcon 2014 (Bielsko-Biała). :2024 - Toruń ( Copernicon) :2023 - Łódź :2022 - Kraków :2021 - Zielona Góra :2020 - was not held :2019 - Białystok :2018 - Toruń :2017 - Lublin :2016 - Wrocław :2015 - Poznań :2014 - Bielsko-Biała :2013 - Warsaw :2012 - Wrocław :2011 - Poznań :2010 - Cieszyn and Český Těšín, with Eurocon and :2009 - Łódź :2008 - Zielona Góra :2007 - Warsaw :2006 - Lublin :2005 - Błażejewko near Poznań :2004 - Zielona Góra :2003 - Elbląg :2002 - Kraków :2001 - Katowice :2000 - Gdynia :1999 - Warsaw :1998 - Bia ...
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Janusz A
Janusz is a masculine Polish given name. It is also the shortened form of January and Januarius. People * Janusz Akermann (born 1957), Polish painter * Janusz Bardach, Polish gulag survivor and physician * Janusz Bielański, Roman Catholic priest * Janusz Bojarski (born 1956), Polish general * Janusz Bokszczanin (1894–1973), Polish Army colonel * Janusz Brzozowski (1935–2019), Polish-Canadian computer scientist *Janusz Christa (1934–2008), Polish author of comic books * Janusz Domaniewski (1891–1954), Polish ornithologist *Janusz Gajos, Polish actor *Janusz Gaudyn (1935–1984), Polish physician, writer and poet * Janusz Głowacki (1938–2017), Polish-American author and screenwriter * Janusz Grabowski (born 1955), Polish mathematician * Janusz Janowski (born 1965), Polish painter, jazz drummer and art theorist *Janusz Kamiński (born 1959), Polish cinematographer and film director *Janusz Korczak (Henryk Goldszmit), Polish-Jewish children's author, pediatrician, and ...
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Literary Prize
A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Many awards are structured with one organization (usually a non-profit organization) as the presenter and public face of the award, and another organization as the financial sponsor or backer, who pays the prize remuneration and the cost of the ceremony and public relations, typically a corporate sponsor who may sometimes attach their name to the award (such as the Orange Prize). Types of awards There are awards for various writing formats including poetry and novels. Many awards are also dedicated to a certain genre of fiction or non-fiction writing (such as science fiction or politics). There are also awards dedicated to works in individual languages, such as the Miguel de Cervantes Prize ( Spanish); the Camões Prize ( Portuguese); th ...
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Transhumanism
Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the human enhancement, enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available new and future technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cognition, and well-being. Transhumanist thinkers study the potential benefits and dangers of emerging technologies that could overcome fundamental human limitations, as well as the technoethics, ethics of using such technologies. Some transhumanists speculate that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings of such vastly greater abilities as to merit the label of posthuman#Transhumanism, posthuman beings. Another topic of transhumanist research is how to protect humanity against existential risks from Existential risk from artificial general intelligence, artificial general intelligence, asteroid impact, gray goo, high-energy particle collision experiments, natural or synthetic pandemic, and nuclear warfare. The ...
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Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of research in computer science that develops and studies methods and software that enable machines to machine perception, perceive their environment and use machine learning, learning and intelligence to take actions that maximize their chances of achieving defined goals. High-profile applications of AI include advanced web search engines (e.g., Google Search); recommendation systems (used by YouTube, Amazon (company), Amazon, and Netflix); virtual assistants (e.g., Google Assistant, Siri, and Amazon Alexa, Alexa); autonomous vehicles (e.g., Waymo); Generative artificial intelligence, generative and Computational creativity, creative tools (e.g., ChatGPT and AI art); and Superintelligence, superhuman play and analysis in strategy games (e.g., ...
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Technological Singularity
The technological singularity—or simply the singularity—is a hypothetical point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable consequences for human civilization. According to the most popular version of the singularity hypothesis, I. J. Good's #Intelligence explosion, intelligence explosion model of 1965, an upgradable intelligent agent could eventually enter a positive feedback loop of successive Recursive self-improvement, self-improvement cycles; more intelligent generations would appear more and more rapidly, causing a rapid increase ("explosion") in intelligence that culminates in a powerful superintelligence, far surpassing all human intelligence.Vinge, Vernor"The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era", in ''Vision-21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace'', G. A. Landis, ed., NASA Publication CP-10129, pp. 11–22, 1993. - "There may be developed ...
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