After Dinner Conversation - Research Ethics

Ranked Top 10 "Best Lit Mags of 2023" by Chill Subs

Synopsis: Carefully curated stories from our monthly magazine to create a themed short story book about the philosophy and ethics of research. Perfect for classrooms and book clubs, each story is 1,500-7,000 words and comes with five suggested discussion questions.

• The Mind Reader: An outspoken bar patron runs an experiment to see if the world can be divided into the "weak" and the "strong" in attempt to prove he's not an authoritarian fascist.
• Mahabbah: A scientist invents a virus that causes people to be compassionate and empathetic.
• Mayonnaise: The inventor of million dollar "zero fat, zero calorie" food additive discovers her invention is killing her son.
• Bugs In The Valley: A pharmaceutical company turns a rare flower into an equally rare medicine that cures cancer and stops aging.
• Sow: A pilot is tasked with "seeding" a distant planet with the codes to give rise to future humans, at the expense of the planet's natural evolutionary process.
• Two-Percenters: A new treatment may allow 98% of the people to be genetically enhanced, but at the expense of the 2% who already are.
• We Don't Do Faux: A mother steals a cure from her medical employer to save her sick daughter.
• Pandora's Dreams: A new technology allows the recording, playback, and sale of dreams.
• Words Of The Ancients: An archeology team finds a perfectly preserved crypt with a surprisingly intelligent farm animal.
• Cicada: Dr. Zhang invents teleportation but refuses to share it with the world.

Reviews ★★★★★
“With Science fiction we can explore other galaxies and alien conflicts, but with philosophical fiction we can explore other minds and ethical conflicts. Let this book take you on a Phi-Fi adventure.”
— William Irwin, Ph.D. - Philosophy Professor, King's College

“After Dinner Conversation has taken up the initiative to write themed collections of short stories that fit focused ethics courses – say, a course on bioethics, AI ethics, Tech ethics etc. These collections can offer a spine for such courses or individual stories could be added to a course as illustrative material to stimulate discussion. The stories are lively and engaging and followed by a set of questions to start classroom discussion. Also, outside of educational contexts, the stories will work nicely to stimulate conversation in families, elder hostels, youth clubs, or book groups.”
— Luc Bovens, Ph.D. - Philosophy Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill