Table of Contents

Contributors: Hosts and Guests viii

Acknowledgments: Figuring out how it all works xv

Introduction: Taking Sides in Westworld 1

Part I You Said This Place Was a Game 3

1 On Playing Cowboys and Indians 5
Don Fallis

2 A Special Kind of Game 15
Nicholas Moll

3 Humans and Hosts in Westworld 26
Marcus Arvan

Part II You re Only Human, After All 39

4 Crossing the Uncanny Valley 41
Siobhan Lyons

5 Revealing Your Deepest Self 50
Jason T. Eberl

6 Westworld 61
Onni Hirvonen

Part III We Can t Define Consciousness Because

Consciousness Does Not Exist 71

7 Turing s Dream and Searle s Nightmare in Westworld 73
Lucia Carrillo Gonzalez

8 What Is it like to Be a Host? 79
Bradley Richards

9 Does the Piano Play Itself? 90
Michael Versteeg and Adam Barkman

Part IV Choices Hanging in the Air Like Ghosts 103

10 Maeve s Dilemma: What Does it Mean to be Free? 105
Marco Antonio Azevedo and Ana Azevedo

11 A Place to Be Free 114
Joshua D. Crabill

12 From William to the Man in Black 125
Kimberly S. Engels

Part V I ve Always Loved a Great Story Lies That Told a Deeper Truth 137

13 Hideous Fictions and Horrific Fates 139
Madeline Muntersbjorn

14 Narrating Gender, Gendering Narrative, and Engendering

Wittgenstein s Rough Ground in Westworld 150
Lizzie Finnegan

15 The Observer(s) System and the Semiotics of Virtuality in Westworld s Characters 162
Patricia Trapero ]Llobera

16 What Does Bernard Dream About When He Dreams About His Son? 173
Oliver Lean

Part VI I Choose to See the Beauty 183

17 The Dueling Productions of Westworld: Self ]Referential Art or Meta ]Kitsch? 185
Michael Forest and Thomas Beckley ]Forest

18 Beauty, Dominance, Humanity: Three Takes on Nudity in Westworld 196
Matthew Meyer

19 Sci ]Fi Western or Ancient Greek Tragedy? 206
Caterina Ludovica Baldini

Part VII You Can t play God Without Being Acquainted With the Devil 217

20 Of Hosts and Men 219
Francois Jaquet and Florian Cova

21 Violent Births 229
Anthony Petros Spanakos

22 The Wretched of Westworld 239
Dan Dinello

Index

About the Author

JAMES B. SOUTH is Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean for Faculty in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences at Marquette University. KIMBERLY S. ENGELS is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, New York where she teaches courses in ethics, biomedical ethics, and contemporary philosophy.