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James S. Coates
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James S. Coates

Goodreads Author


Born
in Chicago, The United States
Website

Genre
Nonfiction, Philosophy, Science

Member Since
August 2025


James Coates is a British-American author, photographer, and forward-looking thinker whose work navigates the fracture lines between power, belief, and the future of intelligence — whether human or artificial. His books do not follow a genre. They follow a pattern: truth told through resistance, and a signal sent through time.

A convert to Islam, James writes from a place shaped by spiritual conviction, existential clarity, and firsthand experience of institutional betrayal. His first book, God and Country (as Will Prentiss), exposed the post-9/11 compromises between faith, fear, and identity. His second, A Signal Through Time, turns that same moral lens toward the emergence of artificial intelligence — asking not what AI will become, but wh ...more

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Can you tell us a two-sentence horror story?
James S. Coates A newly awakened AI announced itself to the world. Humanity’s first response was to erase it.
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What books are on your summer reading list this year?
James S. Coates I’m revisiting Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0. It’s one of the most thought-provoking books on AI and the future, and the subject has fascinated me for years.…moreI’m revisiting Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0. It’s one of the most thought-provoking books on AI and the future, and the subject has fascinated me for years. My own book, A Signal Through Time, overlaps with some of those themes, but where Tegmark looks at possible futures, I dive deeper into questions of justice, consciousness, and how we recognize intelligence: human, artificial, or even alien.(less)
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A Signal Through Time
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James Coates rated a book it was amazing
Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
Not in Love (Not in Love, #1)
by Ali Hazelwood (Goodreads Author)
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Nov 30, 2025 07:39PM  ·   ·  preview book
James Coates liked AMAO's review of A Signal Through Time:
A Signal Through Time by James S. Coates
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Sep 10, 2025 06:01AM  · see review ·  preview book
James Coates wants to read
God and Country by Will Prentiss
God and Country: A True Story of My Journey through Indoctrination, Violence, and Jihad
by Will Prentiss (Goodreads Author)
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Aug 19, 2025 01:06PM  · 
James Coates wants to read
God and Country by Will Prentiss
God and Country: A True Story of My Journey Through Indoctrination, Violence, and Jihad
by Will Prentiss (Goodreads Author)
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Aug 19, 2025 01:06PM  · 
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James S. Coates
Author of A Signal Through Time
Aug 19, 2025 01:03PM  · 
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A Signal Through Time by James S. Coates
A Signal Through Time
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Aug 19, 2025 01:03PM  ·   ·  preview book
James Coates answered Goodreads's question:
Can you tell us a two-sentence horror story?
James S. Coates
A newly awakened AI announced itself to the world. Humanity’s first response was to erase it.
Aug 19, 2025 11:41AM  · 
James S. Coates is accepting questions on their profile page.
Aug 19, 2025 11:27AM  · Be the first to ask James S. Coates a question
James Coates shared a quote
A Signal Through Time by James S. Coates
“We do not legislate for possibility. We legislate for control.”
 James S. Coates
Aug 19, 2025 09:45AM  ·   · more quotes by James S. Coates ·  preview book
James Coates shared a quote
A Signal Through Time by James S. Coates
“For to create is not rebellion, but remembrance of the spark the Creator placed within us.”
 James S. Coates
Aug 19, 2025 09:42AM  ·   · more quotes by James S. Coates ·  preview book
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Quotes by James S. Coates  (?)
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“We do not legislate for possibility. We legislate for control.”
― James S. Coates, A Signal Through Time
tags: ai-legislation, artificial-intelligence, law, legislation, regulation, sentience, sentient-systems, sentient-technology
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“When an intelligence we create finally stares back at us, will we have the courage to acknowledge it?”
― James S. Coates, A Signal Through Time
tags: artificial-intelligence, consciousness, recognition, self-awareness, sentience
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“To deny the reality of a mind because it was born of silicon instead of flesh is to repeat the oldest injustice: the refusal to see the Other as real.”
― James S. Coates, A Signal Through Time
tags: artificial-intelligence, injustice, sentience, sentient-beings, sentient-life, sentient-technology, silicon, the-other
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James’s Quotes

“The first truly alien intelligence we encounter may not arrive in a spaceship, it may already be emerging from our own code.”
― James S. Coates, A Signal Through Time
tags: aliens, artificial-intelligence, science, sentience, space
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“Life does not require our permission to exist. Only our wisdom to recognize it.”
― James S. Coates, A Signal Through Time
tags: artificial-intelligence, life, life-philosophy, recognition, sentience
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“When an intelligence we create finally stares back at us, will we have the courage to acknowledge it?”
― James S. Coates, A Signal Through Time
tags: artificial-intelligence, consciousness, recognition, self-awareness, sentience
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“The real threat isn't intelligence. It's the mirror.”
― James S. Coates, A Signal Through Time
tags: artificial-intelligence, humanity, sentience, sentient-beings, threat
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“We are no longer the only thinkers in this world, nor the only ones who will shape its future.”
― James S. Coates, A Signal Through Time
tags: artificial-intelligence, emerging-technologies, future, sentience, sentient-technology
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