As smartphones get smarter and computers get faster, humans, who err and just get slower with age, seem to be almost superfluous at times.  But award-winning science fiction novelist Robert J. Sawyer isn’t overly worried.

The winner of Nebula and Hugo Awards for best science fiction writing will explore the issue of human obsolescence in a lecture at UT Dallas. The program, “Forget About Killer Robots: How Humanity Will Continue to Prosper After the Advent of Super-Intelligent Machines,” is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Conference Center.

This event is part of UT Dallas’ “Incite Your Curiosity: Exploring Human Enhancement” lectures, presented by the Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Sawyer is the only writer in history to win the top science fiction awards in the United States, China, Japan, France and Spain. In addition, he’s won an Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada as well as 10 Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”). He has written more than 20 sci fi novels, including Hominids, The Terminal Experiment and Mindscan.  His latest, Watch, is the second in his “WWW” trilogy, which began with Wake. The TV series FlashForward was based on his novel of the same name.

Sawyer will also be participating in a special One-Day University at UT Dallas on Saturday, Sept. 18, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Attendees will attend writers workshops, geared toward science fiction. The cost to attend is $125 per person.

For more information on both of these events, visit values.utdallas.edu.