Writing

The term writing, as the name of this webpage implies, is pretty general. My writing spans genres as diverse as poetry, novels, unpublished opinion essays, technical book chapters, one nonfiction book (philosophy of mind), invited and op-ed magazine articles, and of course, peer-reviewed academic research papers. As such, the locations to find my writing on this website are not very centralized. The sections-list at the top should provide a helpful index however.

Sections

Published or submitted articles, papers, books, chapters, etc.

PhD Research

Please note that I have a dedicated webpage specifically for my PhD research. All associated journal and conference papers, in addition to slides and posters, are listed at the bottom of that webpage.

Nonfiction Books

  • Book: Wiley, K. B., A Taxonomy and Metaphysics of Mind-Uploading. Humanity+ Press and Alautun Press, Sep 2014.
    MIND-UPLOADING: the process of transferring one's mind from the brain to a new substrate, generally a computer. It is the stuff of science fiction, immediately recognizable in contemporary literature and cinema. However, it has also become increasingly respectable—or at least approachable—within technological, neurological, and philosophical circles. This book begins with a rich taxonomy of hypothetical procedures by which mind-uploading might be achieved, even if only in the realm of thought experiment. This is likely the most thorough collection of such procedures yet compiled and should form the basis of any reader's personal philosophy of mind and mind-uploading. It then offers one such philosophy of mind, along with an analysis and interpretation of the scenarios in the taxonomy through the lens of this philosophy. This book will be an important component of any curious reader's developing philosophy of mind and mind-uploading.

Peer Reviewed

Submitted

Invited

Op-ed

Presentation Videos and Slides

Posters

Unpublished essays

Philosophical and Nontechnical

I have a dedicated Mind Ramblings webpage specifically for my collection of informal essays. The topics are Computer Technology and the Future, Genetic Technology, Science and Exploration, Politics, Religion, and Miscellaneous. Please surf on over to my MindRamblings webpage to see them.

Technical

Novels

I like to write fiction; I wish I had more time for it. I have been known to dabble in poetry, but most of my writing consists of sci-fi and fantasy full-length novels (and numerous false starts of course). All of the writing listed below The Transference occurred while I was still in high school and I went all the way through college without writing another word outside college work, until The Transference.

  • The Migrators, 2009 — Written and completed in the early months of 2009. This story grew from an idea I have had for a long time: That vampires should migrate between the deep northern and southern hemispheres twice a year so as to live in perpetual darkness. I introduced a few other elements that are uncommon in other vampire mythoi, such as: Only a very small fraction of people are actually capable of turning into vampires. This alleviates — if not fully obviates — the mathematical paradox posed by exponentially asexual reproducing immortals. In addition, my mythos and associated story has very little supernaturalism. Vampires are immortal, but in a biologically rational way. They are stronger and faster, but not unbelievably so. They drink blood, but more from a desperate addiction than as a magical source of power. This story is also a heavy romance and a murder mystery...all wrapped up into one!
  • The Transference, 1998
    Written and completed in the early months of 1998. The writing was better than any of my past endeavours in my opinion. The central theme of this story was mind-uploading. Namely, it was about the garage hacker who finally figures out how to successfully perform mind-uploading and the complicated events going on in his life at the time. The world I created portrayed a twenty-first century take on mind-altering drugs, i.e., the idea that instead of using chemicals to induce neurological effects, neuro-electronic computational devices are used to directly stimulate, alter, and control the neural firing patterns of the brain. There was also a thick side plot concerning sentient artificial life living in the internet. I sent this one to a few literary agents and even got a few bites back, but ultimately nothing ever came of it.
  • White Sand, 1991 — Written and completed, only my second completed novel at the time. A small group of kids get stranded on a desert island. I know, I know, Lord of the Flies. I don't want to hear it.
  • Misc, 1990-1991 — A period marked by several incomplete writing projects. Some of the attempted novels were still the same setting as my first two stories (side stories about the pasts of the particular characters). Some were completely different ideas. One was about the first manned trip to Mars, one was about the theft of the fastest space ship ever built, just various writing, nothing noteworthy.
  • Untitled, 1990? — Half of a sequel to the first novel with the same characters. Eventually abandoned.
  • Untitled, 1989-1990 — A fantasy novel (you know, wizards, dragons, knights, the lot), written when I was fourteen and fifteen. It was, admittedly, heavily influenced by The Lord of the Rings.

Short Stories

  • Eternal Being, 2023 — Some of my writing straddles the boundary between prose and poetry. I'm often not sure how to classify it. This piece is a perfect example of that ambiguity.
  • Persistence, started 2011, completed 2014 — Published in Visions of the Future, Batt, J. D. (ed.), Lifeboat Foundation (pub.), 2015. This short story proudly shares space in a book that includes Hugo and Nebula Award winners, among other distinctions. Quite the honor. The story portrays the first-person perspective of a Von Neumann probe as it arrives in its destination solar system.

Poetry

I don't have much of my poetry on my website I'm afraid. I haven't written much poetry since high school actually. The poem shown below was written much later, in graduate school.

  • What Do I Think About Lying Awake at Night?, 2014 — I am undecided whether this is a poem or an essay. Choose for yourself.
  • I Watch as You Sleep, 2000 — I composed most of this poem in my head while sitting in class one day and quickly wrote it down when I got home that evening. It was inspired by the fact that women always wonder why men like to watch them sleep. Go figure.