Ethical issues: scientific and medical developments Books
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Grieving Body
Book Synopsis
£18.75
Profile Books Ltd The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for
Book SynopsisTHE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S TOP BOOKS OF THE YEAR Shortlisted for The Orwell Prize 2020 Shortlisted for the FT Business Book of the Year Award 2019 'Easily the most important book to be published this century. I find it hard to take any young activist seriously who hasn't at least familarised themselves with Zuboff's central ideas.' - Zadie Smith, The Guardian The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control us. The heady optimism of the Internet's early days is gone. Technologies that were meant to liberate us have deepened inequality and stoked divisions. Tech companies gather our information online and sell it to the highest bidder, whether government or retailer. Profits now depend not only on predicting our behaviour but modifying it too. How will this fusion of capitalism and the digital shape our values and define our future? Shoshana Zuboff shows that we are at a crossroads. We still have the power to decide what kind of world we want to live in, and what we decide now will shape the rest of the century. Our choices: allow technology to enrich the few and impoverish the many, or harness it and distribute its benefits. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is a deeply-reasoned examination of the threat of unprecedented power free from democratic oversight. As it explores this new capitalism's impact on society, politics, business, and technology, it exposes the struggles that will decide both the next chapter of capitalism and the meaning of information civilization. Most critically, it shows how we can protect ourselves and our communities and ensure we are the masters of the digital rather than its slaves.Trade ReviewEasily the most important book to be published this century. I find it hard to take any young activist seriously who hasn't at least familarised themselves with Zuboff's central ideas. -- Zadie Smith * The Guardian *everyone needs to read this book as an act of digital self-defense. -- Naomi KleinA must read for anyone interested in power, politics, technology and the future of our fragile democracies. Zuboff is a brilliant mind who connects the dots like no other. -- Elif Shafak * New Statesman Books of the Year *Das Kapital of the digital age -- Hugo Rifkind * The Times *Magisterial, indispensable -- Carole Cadwalladr * Observer *[It] will surely become a pivotal work in defining, understanding and exposing this surreptitious exploitation of our data and, increasingly, our free will ... essential * Irish Times *An intensively researched, engagingly written chronicle of surveillance capitalism's origins and its deleterious prospects for our society ... This is the rare book that we should trust to lead us down the long hard road of understanding -- Jacob Silverman * New York Times *Groundbreaking, magisterial ... unmissable -- John Thornhill * FT *Comprehensive and impassioned ... an important book -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *Groundbreaking ... Aiming to apply Marx's account of surplus value in a time when capital is accumulated through knowledge-based technology, she has given us an illuminating critical perspective on the regime of surveillance under which we all now live * New Statesman *A bold, important book ... Combining in-depth technical understanding and a broad, humanistic scope, Zuboff has written what may prove to be the first definitive account of the economic - and thus social and political - condition of our age. -- James Bridle * Guardian *This book's major contribution is to give a name to what's happening, to put it in cultural and historical perspective, and to ask us to pause long enough to think about the future and how it might be different from today -- Frank Rose * WSJ *A chilling exposé of the business model that underpins the digital world ... a striking and illuminating book. A fellow reader remarked to me that it reminded him of Thomas Piketty's magnum opus, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, in that it opens one's eyes to things we ought to have noticed, but hadn't -- John Naughton * Observer *It's quite possible that the single most important book about politics, economics, culture and society in this century is Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. She explains with far more power than anyone has done before the emergence of a whole new form of capitalism based on the expropriation of the personal data we freely give to vast corporations. It's the Das Kapital for our times. -- Fintan O'Toole * Irish Times *An exceptional and necessary book about the information civilisation we have become -- David Patrikarakos * Literary Review *Extraordinarily intelligent ... Absorbing Zuboff's methodical determination, the way she pieces together sundry examples into this comprehensive work of scholarship and synthesis, requires patience, but the rewards are considerable - a heightened sense of awareness, and a deeper appreciation of what's at stake -- Jennifer Szalai * New York Times *Original ... it arrives at a crucial moment, when the public and its elected representatives are at last grappling with the extraordinary power of digital media and the companies that control it. Like another recent masterwork of economic analysis, Thomas Piketty's 2013 Capital in the Twenty-First Century, the book challenges assumptions, raises uncomfortable questions about the present and future, and stakes out ground for a necessary and overdue debate -- Nicholas Carr * LARB *I will make a guarantee: Assuming we survive to tell the tale, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism has a high probability of joining the likes Adam Smith's The Wealth of Natiions and Max Weber's Economy and Society as defining social-economics texts of modern times. It is not a 'quick read;' it is to be savored and re-read and discussed with colleagues and friends. No zippy one-liners from me, except to almost literally beg you to read/ingest this book -- Tom Peters, author of In Search of ExcellenceThe Age of Surveillance Capitalism is brilliant and essential ... a masterpiece of rare conceptual daring, beautifully written and deeply urgent -- Robert B. Reich, author of The Common Good and Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the FewThe defining challenge for the future of the market economy is the concentration of data, knowledge, and surveillance power. Not just our privacy but our individuality is at stake, and this very readable and thought-provoking book alerts us to these existential dangers. Highly recommended -- Daron Acemoglu, author of Why Nations FailZuboff's expansive, erudite, deeply-researched exploration of digital futures elucidates the norms and hidden terminal goals of information-intensive industries. Zuboff's book is the information industry's Silent Spring -- Chris Hoofnagle, University of California, BerkeleyIn the future, if people still read books, they will view this as the classic study of how everything changed. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is a masterpiece that stunningly reveals the essence of twenty-first-century society, and offers a dire warning about technology gone awry that we ignore at our peril. Shoshana Zuboff has somehow escaped from the fishbowl in which we all now live, and introduced to us the concept of water. A work of penetrating intellect, this is also a deeply human book about what is becoming, as it relentlessly demonstrates, a dangerously inhuman time -- Kevin Werbach, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Blockchain and The New Architecture of TrustA panoramic exploration of one of the most urgent issues of our times, Zuboff reinterprets contemporary capitalism through the prism of the digital revolution, producing a book of immense ambition and erudition. Zuboff is one of our most prescient and profound thinkers on the rise of the digital. In an age of inane Twitter soundbites and narcissistic Facebook posts, Zuboff's serious scholarship is great cause for celebration -- Andrew Keen, author of How to Fix the FutureShoshana Zuboff has produced the most provocative compelling moral framework thus far for understanding the new realities of our digital environment and its anti-democratic threats. From now on, all serious writings on the internet and society will have to take into account The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. -- Joseph Turow, Robert Lewis Shayon Chair Professor, Annenberg School, University of PennsylvaniaFrom the very first page I was consumed with an overwhelming imperative: everyone needs to read this book as an act of digital self-defense. With tremendous lucidity and moral courage, Zuboff demonstrates not only how our minds are being mined for data but also how they are being rapidly and radically changed in the process. The hour is late and much has been lost already - but as we learn in these indispensable pages, there is still hope for emancipation * Naomi Klein *Something you need -- Margaret Atwooda must read for anyone interested in power, politics, technology and the future of our fragile democracies. Zuboff is a brilliant mind who connects the dots like no other. -- Elif Shafak * New Statesman *It's the Das Kapital for our times, setting out with clarity and urgency the implications of an economic system in which an elite can predict, and therefore manipulate, every shift in our desires. But Zuboff is no fatalist and her book should give us courage to, as it were, take back control. -- Fintan O’Toole * New Statesman *a vital analysis of the digital economy and our place in it. -- Rosamund Urwin * Sunday Times best Business Books of the Year 2019 *It is a stunning research on "information civilisation", concentration of power and the sinister exploitation of our data at the expense of our freedom, which are no doubt some of the most pressing issues of our times. But more than that, this is a fascinating and wise and honest exploration of what it means to be human in the digital age and why we need to fight back. Technology is way too important to leave it to tech companies, which are clearly becoming tech monopolies. We all need to become part of this important discussion, and for that to happen, we need to ask the right questions. This book is a brilliant way to do that. -- Elif Shafak * Guardian – Best Books of the Year Writers’ Choice *Of the many excellent books on our vexed relationship with tech published this year, the standout title has to be Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (Profile), which details how the Silicon Valley behemoths are mining our private experiences to make a profit. -- Ian Sample * Guardian's Best Science, Nature and Ideas Books of 2019 *Praise for In the Age of the Smart Machine: 'A work of rare originality and engrossing complexity * New York Times Book Review *Ground-breaking, magisterial and synthetically brilliant * Technology and Culture *Examined with force and almost cunning insight what is yet to come * Encyclopedia of Software Engineering *
£11.69
Bonnier Books Ltd Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture
Book SynopsisThe early promise of a free Internet is long gone. Now, rather than allowing us a meaningful relationship with a range of content of our choosing, algorithms have not only removed genuine choice but de-texturized the world around us: smoothed its edges, planed down friction, and flattened differences. So coffee shops from Brooklyn to Beijing are inflected with a similar, 'Instagrammable' aesthetic. Airbnb rentals are decked out for their swipability factor as much as for their comfort. Spotify builds playlists that echo a category, looping back to music we've already heard before so as not to disrupt the flow. Netflix doesn't just make suggestions based on viewing histories but it actively changes the thumbnails to increase the chances we click on it.As Filterworld masterfully shows, culture itself has become algorithmic: a set of principles, a data rule, a line of code. And we interact with it in ever more passive ways. The result is not isolated echo chambers or a filter bubbles, but an all-encompassing Filterworld of the title.Kyle Chayka deliciously deconstructs this Filterworld: it shows us how technology has led us to this place and its effects on society and the individual, as well as how we might be able to remove the filter to gain liberation.
£15.29
Simon & Schuster Ltd Your Face Belongs to Us
Book Synopsis*SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2024**LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2023* 'A parable for our times' FINANCIAL TIMES, Best Books of 2023'Gripping' THE TIMES, Best Technology Books of 2023 ______________________________________________________________________What if you could be identified by anyone with just a blurry photo? When Kashmir Hill stumbled upon Clearview AI in 2019, a facial recognition platform with an alleged 98.6% accuracy rate, the implications were terrifying. But that was just the beginning. Clearview AI would quickly rise to the top, sharing its app with billionaires, law enforcement and even Hollywood actors. In this gripping true story, Hill dives deep into its shadowy journey, and explores how facial recognition technology is already a part ofTrade Review'The dystopian future portrayed in some science-fiction movies is already upon us. Whether you like it or not, your face has already been scraped from the internet, stored in a giant database, and made available to law enforcement agencies, private corporations, and authoritarian governments to track and surveil you. Kashmir Hill’s fascinating book brings home the scary implications of this new reality' -- John Carreyrou, author of 'Bad Blood''I loved this. A dark and gripping story, meticulously researched and stylishly told' -- Jenny Kleeman, author of 'Sex Robots & Vegan Meat'‘A gripping account . . . [Hill] writes with great clarity about the dangers of facial recognition technology’ * New Statesman *'A haunting portrait of sci-fi darkness in the real world' * Kirkus *'A breezy, compelling dive into the alarming use of face matching and the enormous consequences for privacy and civil liberties . . . an engrossing cautionary tale' * Literary Review *‘Startling, if not terrifying . . . the author does a great job of explaining the ins and outs of facial recognition in the book . . . Be very, very careful, Hill says again and again. If we’re not, we might all face the reality of Beijing today' * Cybernews *'So gripping' -- Taylor Lorenz, author of 'Extremely Online', on Twitter‘I’m loving this book - you’ll laugh, you’ll recoil, you’ll learn about the sordid history of eugenics and where facial recognition tech fits into said history’ -- Brian Merchant, author of 'Blood in the Machine', on Twitter‘Sharply reported . . . The saga is colorful, and the characters come off as flamboyant villains; it’s a fun read. But the book’s most incisive contribution may be the ethical question it raises’ * Atlantic *‘A most timely contribution to a much needed debate about the implications for personal privacy’ * TLS *‘Gripping . . . illuminating. The scope and sophistication of the technology is striking. A walk down the street will not feel quite the same again’ * The Economist *‘Combining vivid reportage with a chilling overview of facial recognition technology’s capabilities, this unnerves’ * Publishers Weekly *‘In a gripping — and sometimes creepy — book Hill explores the repercussions of this new technology and finds out who is behind it' * The Times, '5 Best Technology Books of 2023' *'Kashmir Hill all but invented the tech dystopia beat, and no one is a more exuberant and enjoyable guide to the dark corners of our possible future than she is. Reaching deep into the past to paint a terrifying portrait of our future, Hill’s thorough, awe-inspiring reporting and compelling storytelling paint a fascinating tale of tech’s next chapter. This is the most fun you can have reading a real-life nightmare' -- Garrett Graff, author of 'The Only Plane in the Sky'‘In its focus on the ambiguous duality of technology, a parable for our times’ * Financial Times, 'Best Books of 2023 – Technology' *
£17.00
Simon & Schuster Ltd Your Face Belongs to Us
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Bristol University Press Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to
Book SynopsisArtificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, yet it causes damage to society in ways that can’t be fixed. Instead of helping to address our current crises, AI causes divisions that limit people’s life chances, and even suggests fascistic solutions to social problems. This book provides an analysis of AI’s deep learning technology and its political effects and traces the ways that it resonates with contemporary political and social currents, from global austerity to the rise of the far right. Dan McQuillan calls for us to resist AI as we know it and restructure it by prioritising the common good over algorithmic optimisation. He sets out an anti-fascist approach to AI that replaces exclusions with caring, proposes people’s councils as a way to restructure AI through mutual aid and outlines new mechanisms that would adapt to changing times by supporting collective freedom. Academically rigorous, yet accessible to a socially engaged readership, this unique book will be of interest to all who wish to challenge the social logic of AI by reasserting the importance of the common good.Trade Review"Resisting AI is an important and necessary book... McQuillan has provided us with a powerful contribution." Computational ImpactsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Operations of AI 2. Collateral Damage 3. AI Violence 4. Necropolitics 5. Post-machinic Learning 6. People’s Councils 7. Anti-fascist AI
£18.99
Oxford University Press The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Book SynopsisThe Ethics of Artificial Intelligence develops the theses that AI is an unprecedented divorce between agency and intelligence and, on this basis, that AI as a new form of agency can be harnessed ethically and unethically. Luciano Floridi argues in favour of a marriage between the Green of environmentalism and the Blue of our digital technologies.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Part One: Understanding AI 1: Past: the Emergence of AI 2: Present: AI as a New Form of Agency, Not Intelligence 3: Future: the Foreseeable Development of AI Part Two: Evaluating AI 4: A Unified Framework of Ethical Principles for AI 5: From Principles to Practices: the Risks of being Unethical 6: Soft Ethics and the Governance of AI 7: Mapping the Ethics of Algorithms 8: Bad Practices: the Misuse of AI for Social Evil 9: Good Practices: the Proper Use of AI for Social Good 10: How to Deliver a Good AI Society: Some Recommendations 11: The Gambit: AI Impact on Climate Change 12: AI and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 13: Conclusion: the Green and the Blue Bibliography
£28.50
PublicAffairs,U.S. The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in
Book SynopsisSynthetic biology is the technique that enables us not just to read and edit but also write DNA to program living biological structures as though they were tiny computers. Unlike cloning Dolly the sheep-which cut and copied existing genetic material-the future of synthetic biology might be something like an app store, where you could download and add new capabilities into any cell, microbe, plant, or animal.This breakthrough science has the potential to mitigate, perhaps solve, humanity's immediate and longer-term existential challenges: climate change; the feeding, clothing, housing, and caring for billions of humans; fighting the next viral outbreak before it becomes a global pandemic; old age as a treatable pathology; bringing back extinct animals.It could also be anarchic and socially destructive. With our governing structures created in an era before startling advances in technology, we are not prepared for a future in which life could be manipulated or programmed.As futurist Amy Webb and synthetic biologist Andrew Hessel show in this book, within the next decade, we will need to make important decisions: whether to program novel viruses to fight diseases, what genetic privacy will look like, who will "own" living organisms, how companies should earn revenue from engineered cells, and how to contain a synthetic organism in a lab. The Genesis Machine? provides the background for us to understand and grapple with these issues, and think through the religious, philosophical, and ethical implications for the future.
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Like A Thief In Broad Daylight
Book SynopsisIn our brave new world of Big Tech, work is automated and money melts into air. What comes next as the global capitalist edifice crumbles? Slavoj Žižek shows how the answer is already stealing into sight, like a thief in broad daylight. What we must do is wake up and see it. ''In a world determined to crush hope of radical change, where moral corruption poses as pragmatism and systemic oppression as the new freedom, Slavoj Žižek''s excellent new book serves humanity in a way that only authentic philosophy can'' Yanis Varoufakis''The Elvis of cultural theory'' New Statesman''Master of the counterintuitive observation'' New YorkerTrade ReviewŽižek is a thinker who regards nothing as outside his field: the result is deeply interesting and provocative * Guardian *Žižek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized, and is master of the counterintuitive observation * New Yorker *In a world determined to crush hope of radical change, where moral corruption poses as pragmatism and systemic oppression as the new freedom, Slavoj Zizek's excellent new book serves humanity in a way that only authentic philosophy can -- Yanis Varoufakis
£10.44
Verso Books Cybernetic Circulation Complex
Book SynopsisAn anti-capitalist guide to breaking the power of Big Tech
£18.71
Oxford University Press Future Politics
Book SynopsisPolitics in the Twentieth Century was dominated by a single question: how much of our collective life should be determined by the state, and what should be left to the market and civil society?Now the debate is different: to what extent should our lives be directed and controlled by powerful digital systems - and on what terms?Digital technologies - from artificial intelligence to blockchain, from robotics to virtual reality - are transforming the way we live together. Those who control the most powerful technologies are increasingly able to control the rest of us. As time goes on, these powerful entities - usually big tech firms and the state - will set the limits of our liberty, decreeing what may be done and what is forbidden. Their algorithms will determine vital questions of social justice. In their hands, democracy will flourish or decay.A landmark work of political theory, Future Politics challenges readers to rethink what it means to be free or equal, what it means to have poweTrade ReviewThe most interesting exploration yet of the political realities in the digital era. * Matthew d'Ancona, Books of the Year 2018, Evening Standard *He steers a course to the future that is as convincing as it is shocking. * Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times *An impressive feat of intellectual organization ... To have written it all down so lucidly, engagingly and succinctly is a formidable achievement. * Raphael Behr, The Guardian *A work of clarity and effortless genius which is a must for anybody seeking to understand the impact of modern technology on our body politic now and in the future. * Robert Rinder Evening Standard *[Susskind] has tremendous talent and the book is very readable. * Tim Stanley, The Telegraph *The tone of this book is as refreshing as the originality of insight. Susskind contends that "that there are causes for both optimism and pessimism, but what the future requires above all is vigilance. * Paschal Donohoe, The Irish Times *Future Politics is a riveting book that sparkles with great ideas ... It is chock full of facts and the book combines knowledge of politics and technology in a unique and fascinating way. * Catherine Balavage, Frost *Superb and necessary book. * Nick Cohen, The Observer *Future Politics should be essential reading for those with the will to anticipate the future challenges facing defence and society. * Wavell Room *Brilliant ... detailed research, colourful examples, and a pacy, upbeat style ... Future Politics will remain relevant for several years. All elected officials should read it as a matter of urgency. * Jamie Bartlett, Catholic Herald *Future Politics challenges readers to rethink what it means to be free or equal, what it means to have power or property, what it means for a political system to be just or democratic, and proposes ways in which we can - and must - regain control. This is no less than a call for a fundamental change in the way we think about politics. * Dominic Lenton, Engineering & Technology *...rigorous and thoughtful book ... * David Patrikarakos, Literary Review *Brilliant and ground-breaking ... It is essential reading for anyone who wants to get to grips with the profound and far-reaching impacts of digital technology on politics. * Paradigm Explorer *Original and thought-provoking, this ground-breaking book challenges us to develop new policies for new times. * Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 2007-2010 *Few understand politics. Even fewer understand technology. Susskind is that rare soul who understands both - and more importantly, how the latter will change the former. Whether correct or not - and I believe he is correct - there is no better glimpse into our shared future than this book. * Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School *This book crackles with ideas, sparking new thoughts with every page. And it is superbly organised, too. It's difficult to help people understand the past, but to help understand the future is a real achievement. Terrific. * Lord Finkelstein, Associate Editor, The Times *From Arendt to artificial intelligence, from Machiavelli to machine learning, Susskind seamlessly weaves modern technology with classic theory to present a tour de force introduction to the future-explaining with erudition and humor the powerful digital systems that will govern our lives. * Beth Simone Noveck, Professor in Technology, Culture and Society, New York University Tandon School of Engineering *Only an elite can control the power of computation, dispersed in space, integrated in the cloud, and enabled to operate on ever bigger data. What are the implications for freedom, democracy, and justice? Jamie Susskind offers a pathbreaking exploration of the challenge that these issues pose for our political thinking and practice. It's a must-read. * Philip Pettit, L. S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values, Princeton University, and Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University *This brilliant and ground-breaking book ... is essential reading for anyone who wants to get to grips with the profound and far-reaching impacts of digital technology on politics. * David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer *Future Politics' is intelligently written and utterly compelling in its treatment of a subject too often ignored by today's politicians and academics. * Luke Geikie, SF2 Concatenation *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I. THE DIGITAL LIFEWORLD 1: Increasingly Capable Systems 2: Increasingly Integrated Technology 3: Increasingly Quantified Society 4: Thinking Like a Theorist Part II. FUTURE POWER 5: Code is Power 6: Force 7: Scrutiny 8: Perception-Control 9: Public and Private Power Part III. FUTURE LIBERTY 10: Freedom and the Supercharged State 11: Freedom and the Tech Firm Part IV. FUTURE DEMOCRACY 12: The Dream of Democracy 13: Democracy in the Future Part V. FUTURE JUSTICE 14: Algorithms of Distribution 15: Algorithms of Recognition 16: Algorithmic Injustice 17: Technological Unemployment 18: The Wealth Cyclone Part VI. FUTURE POLITICS 19: Transparency and the New Separation of Powers 20: Post-Politics
£11.39
Verso Books Fully Automated Luxury Communism: A Manifesto
Book SynopsisThe first decade of the twenty-first century marked the demise of the current world order. Despite widespread acknowledgement of these disruptive crises, the proposed response from the mainstream remains the same. Against the confines of this increasingly limited politics, a new paradigm has emerged. Fully Automated Luxury Communism claims that new technologies will liberate us from work, providing the opportunity to build a society beyond both capitalism and scarcity. Automation, rather than undermining an economy built on full employment, is instead the path to a world of liberty, luxury and happiness. For everyone.In his first book, radical political commentator Aaron Bastani conjures a new politics: a vision of a world of unimaginable hope, highlighting how we move to energy abundance, feed a world of nine billion, overcome work, transcend the limits of biology and build meaningful freedom for everyone. Rather than a final destination, such a society heralds the beginning of history.Fully Automated Luxury Communism promises a radically new left future for everyone.Trade ReviewIn 100 years' time many of the ideas in this book will be mainstream, while kindergarten students laugh at our mainstream economic textbooks. Bastani's genius is to see the future with crisp clarity, unafraid of the consequences of being right. -- Paul Mason, author of PostcapitalismOne of the most important books to come out of the British left in recent years. Incredibly ambitious and wide-ranging, but also well-written and readable, it provides a fascinating glimpse into a future beyond scarcity and beyond capitalism. Not simply a set of predictions about an unknowable future, it is a call to action to those seeking to bring an entirely new world into being. -- Grace Blakeley, New StatesmanThe debate is no longer about tinkering with our current broken social order, but replacing it: this fascinating book is an absolutely critical contribution, and a must-read for all those who aspire to build a new society. -- Owen Johns, author of The EstablishmentAt a time when our horizons have shrunk, when instead of striving for a better world we look backward to old comforts, Aaron Bastani calls us to dream and struggle for the type of society finally fit for humanity to live as humans should.' -- Bhaskar Sunkara, author of The Socialist ManifestoA startlingly sunny and audacious manifesto that reads the extremity of current political, economic, and environmental crises as a sign of the scale of opportunity for radical change...[Bastani] gamely reclaims the stuff of dystopia for a more buoyant vision . . . Bastani's arguments rest on the conviction that the major problems that face citizens are political in nature-and thus that their only possible solutions will be political, too -- Lidija Haas * Harpers *Angry and lyrical, uncompromising and vivid, Imperial Intimacies is a daughter's reckoning with the bitter legacies of slavery and colonialism as they come to shape the lives of families and individuals, their dreams and desires. A deeply searching and often moving book, it made me think again about the writing of family history and about what it means to be British. -- Alison Light, author of Common PeopleBastani writes with pace, economy and infectious enthusiasm ... There are more ideas crammed in here than in a whole shelf of standard politics books. And in today's fraught world, the time to read whole shelves of politics books may have passed. -- Andy Beckett * Guardian *Fully Automated Luxury Communism offers a hopeful vision of a possible future, one that, with its blend of utopian energy and careful argumentation, is worth taking seriously. * Vector *Attempts to take the word back to Marx's post-work, post-scarcity future. -- Sarah Jaffe * Bookforum *A startlingly sunny and audacious manifesto that reads the extremity of current political, economic, and environmental crises as a sign of the scale of opportunity for radical change...[Bastani] gamely reclaims the stuff of dystopia for a more buoyant vision. -- Lidja Haas * Harpers *A rising young leftwing provocateur . . .There are more ideas crammed in here than in a whole shelf of standard politics books -- Andy Beckett * Guardian *[Fully Automated Luxury Communism] is a provocative ... reckoning with the end of market capitalism, and what might follow ... in outlining the benefits of decarbonised economies, worker-owned businesses, people's banks, planet taxes and universal basic services, Bastani is starting to put flesh on the spectre that might one day haunt Europe again. -- Gavin Jacobson * New Statesman *In outlining the benefits of decarbonised economies, worker-owned businesses, people's banks, planet taxes and universal basic services, Bastani is starting to put flesh on the spectre that might one day haunt Europe again -- Gavin Williamson * New Statesman *Jeremy Corbyn's new left ... do not wish only to manage capitalism. They want something more. They are something more. And this book is an attempt to explain what that more is. * Times *[Bastani's] limpid prose, fuelled by an infectious revolutionary elan, adroitly synthesises ... big ideas for lay readers and deftly elucidates the continued relevance of Marx's writings... [Fully Automated Luxury Communism] serves as a vital broadening of our political horizons * Morning Star *A feisty manifesto . . . proposes a blueprint for a new society; one in which advanced technology will free humanity from the necessity to work * New Internationalist *An entertaining ... romp through some of the most profound innovations and developments that could, if managed under the aegis of socialism, transform the way in which we live our lives. * Quietus *A stimulating intervention ... fascinating on the dazzling possibilities of the present * New Humanist *A knowingly provocative ... utopian manifesto ... a refreshing departure from the the usual forecasts of machine-led jobpocalypse. * Times Literary Supplement *It's a manifesto that imagines life in a post-capitalist world where automation has replaced manual labour, and it applies the theories of Marx to show how this could save us from dystopia. Its a pretty audacious book.' -- Gruff Rhys * Observer *
£16.14
Pan Macmillan Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google
Book SynopsisA Financial Times 'Best Thing I Read This Year' LONGLISTED FOR THE FT & MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDGoogle. Amazon. Facebook. The modern world is defined by vast digital monopolies turning ever-larger profits. Those of us who consume the content that feeds them are farmed for the purposes of being sold ever more products and advertising. Those that create the content – the artists, writers and musicians – are finding they can no longer survive in this unforgiving economic landscape. But it didn’t have to be this way. In Move Fast and Break Things, Jonathan Taplin offers a succinct and powerful history of how online life began to be shaped around the values of the entrepreneurs like Peter Thiel and Larry Page who founded these all-powerful companies. Their unprecedented growth came at the heavy cost of tolerating piracy of books, music and film, while at the same time promoting opaque business practices and subordinating the privacy of individual users to create the surveillance marketing monoculture in which we now live.It is the story of a massive reallocation of revenue in which $50 billion a year has moved from the creators and owners of content to the monopoly platforms. With this reallocation of money comes a shift in power. Google, Facebook and Amazon now enjoy political power on par with Big Oil and Big Pharma, which in part explains how such a tremendous shift in revenues from creators to platforms could have been achieved and why it has gone unchallenged for so long.And if you think that’s got nothing to do with you, their next move is to come after your jobs. Move Fast and Break Things is a call to arms, to say that is enough is enough and to demand that we do everything in our power to create a different future.Trade ReviewTaplin wields his axe mercilessly...by the end of this book you will agree with Taplin that the tech firms are abusing their monopoly power to rip us off and debase our culture - breaking the world as he sees it...It is time for consumers to break back. This manifesto is a punchy start. * The Sunday Times *A bracing, unromantic account of how the internet was captured…Move Fast and Break Things is a timely and useful book * The Observer *Taplin is angry as hell about the immense size and power of the tech giants, and has a compelling pitch for why we should all be worried too * The Evening Standard *Comprehensive…Where Taplin excels is by putting all this into the context of the changing global economy * The Times *A new analysis of the dark side of the digital revolution...Taplin goes beyond familiar critiques * Financial Times *Taplin’s sense of outrage is palpable and his case is often compelling * The Guardian *A radical remedy * The Economist *A nuanced look at the downside of what is glibly tossed around as "disruption" by various cyber-messianic blowhards. Taplin is hunting big game; it is his contention that the giants of the cyberworld-from Google to Amazon-are threats to the fundamental foundations of democracy and that they also cement inequality into our systems in new and dangerous ways * Esquire *Jonathan Taplin's Move Fast and Break Things argues that the radical libertarian ideology and monopolistic greed of many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs helped to decimate the livelihoods of musicians and is now undermining the communal idealism of the early internet * Walter Isaacson, New York Times Book Review *Mr Taplin brings an informed perspective to his task * Wall Street Journal *Jonathan Taplin's new book could not be more timely. Twenty years after the initial euphoria of the Web, ten years after the invention of social media, it's time to stop breaking things and start thinking seriously about the new habitat we're creating. Move Fast and Break Things provides a blueprint for a future that humans can live in * Frank Rose, author of The Art of Immersion *Move Fast and Break Things goes on my bookshelf beside a few other indispensable signposts in the maze of life in the 21st Century--The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul, The Image by Daniel Boorstin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin, The Medium is the Message by Marshall McLuhan, The Media Monopoly by Ben Bagdikian, Christ and the Media by Malcolm Muggeridge, and Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. I pray the deepest and highest prayer I can get to that this clarion warning is heeded. The survival of our species is at stake * T Bone Burnett, Oscar-Winning Songwriter, soundtrack and record producer *Jonathan Taplin's Move Fast and Break Things, a rock and roll memoir cum internet history cum artists' manifesto, provides a bracing antidote to corporate triumphalism - and a reminder that musicians and writers need a place at the tech table and, more to the point, a way to make a decent living * Jeffrey Toobin, author of American Heiress *A powerful argument for reducing inequality and revolutionizing how we use the Web for the benefit of the many rather than the few * Kirkus Review *Jonathan Taplin, more than anyone I know, can articulate the paralyzing complexities that have arisen from the intertwining of the tech and music industries. He counters the catastrophic implications for musicians with solutions and inspiration for a renaissance. He shows the way for artists to reclaim and reinvent subversion, rather than be in servitude to Big Tech. Every musician and every creator should read this book. * Rosanne Cash, Grammy-winning Singer and Songwriter *An absolute must-read for anyone who wants to gain a little savvy in the internet era * Newsweek *Insightful.... Taplin provides a keen, thorough look at the present and future of Americans' lives as influenced and manipulated by the technological behemoths on which they've come to depend. His work is certainly food for thought * Publishers Weekly *A breakthrough, must-read book… a tour de force—a compelling, story-driven work focusing on the handful of men who have shaped and essentially taken over the massive tech industry. Along the way, Taplin tells his own personal story with charm and insight. If you want to understand what has happened to our country and where tech will take us in the era of Trump, put aside some time to read this book. It will take your breath away * Alternet *Jonathan Taplin's excellent new book explains exactly how Google, Facebook and Amazon are undermining democratic institutions, accelerating the rise of oligarchy...and destroying both cultural and economic opportunities for millions of people. * The Chicago Tribune *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing A Crack in Creation: The New Power to Control
Book Synopsis'The most important advance of our era. One of the pioneers of the field describes the exciting hunt for the key breakthrough and what it portends for our future' Walter IsaacsonWorld-famous scientist Jennifer Doudna - winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating the revolutionary gene-editing technique CRISPR - explains her discovery, describes its power to reshape the future of all life and warns of its use.A handful of discoveries have changed the course of human history. This book is about the most recent and potentially the most powerful and dangerous of them all. It is an invention that allows us to rewrite the genetic code that shapes and controls all living beings. As a result, dreams of genetic manipulation have become a stark reality: the power to cure disease and alleviate suffering, as well as to re-design any species, including humans, for our own ends. Jennifer Doudna is the co-inventor of this technology - known as CRISPR - and a scientist of worldwide renown. Writing with fellow researcher Samuel Sternberg, here she provides the definitive account of her discovery, explaining how this wondrous invention works and what it is capable of. She also asks us to consider what our new-found power means: how do we enjoy its unprecedented benefits while avoiding its equally unprecedented dangers? _________________PRAISE FOR A CRACK IN CREATION: 'The future is in our hands as never before, and this book explains the stakes like no other' George Lucas'One of the most PIONEERING women in science . . . Exhilarating' Arianna Huffington'Thrilling' Adam Rutherford'An instant classic' Siddhartha MukherjeeTrade ReviewThe most important advance of our era. One of the pioneers of the field describes the exciting hunt for the key breakthrough and what it portends for our future -- Walter IsaacsonToo important … What may happen thanks to Doudna’s [discovery] is dizzying … for her, this is the future of medicine. If she’s right, then Crispr is about to make our present healthcare concerns look surprisingly trivial -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *One of the architects of this miraculous biological technique … explains the science clearly and excitingly as a kind of globalist detective story * Telegraph *Probably the greatest biological breakthrough since that of Francis Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin… We owe Doudna several times over – for her discovery, for her zeal to take it from the lab into the clinic, for her involvement in the ethical issues raised, for her public engagement work, and now for this book -- Peter Forbes * Guardian *An urgent plea from the celebrated biologist whose discovery enabled us to rewrite the code of life. The future is in our hands as never before, and this book explains the stakes like no other -- George LucasUrgent, riveting and endlessly fascinating, this book is destined to become an instant classic. Read it if you want to understand our biological future -- Siddhartha MukherjeeIn this wonderful book … Doudna’s and Sternberg’s simple but compelling exploration of this hugely important subject offers and excellent overview of this startling and unprecedented discovery * Literary Review *An exhilarating and frightening roadmap to our future by one of the most pioneering women in science -- Arianna HuffingtonJennifer Doudna is the true pioneer who built the bridge between the basic science of CRISPR and its diverse applications. Now is the time to read about the revolution that could change our world -- George ChurchA scientific thriller and a gripping read by a brilliant scientist -- Venki RamakrishnanOne of the most monumental discoveries in biology * New York Times *A detailed account of the story so far. It may well end up being compared with the book that inspired a 12-year-old Doudna in the first place: James Watson’s The Double Helix … Packed with amazing female scientists, it is thrilling, generous and no less personal … We need scientifically informed conversations about what we should do next with these powers, and Doudna’s book is a good place to begin -- Adam Rutherford * New Scientist *A welcome new contribution to the [gene editing] debate… She should be congratulated for being one of the very few scientists involved in a breakthrough to write a timely, popular personal account… Doudna’s style, more contemplative than Watson or Venter, is just as effective at describing the increasingly frantic pace of life in the lab, as researchers realise that epoch-making discoveries are in the offing. She tells the scientific back-story particularly well… The arguments are rehearsed with admirable clarity -- Clive Cookson * Financial Times *
£10.44
London Publishing Partnership Technology Is Not Neutral: A Short Guide to
Book SynopsisIt seems that just about every new technology that we bring to bear on improving our lives brings with it some downside, side effect or unintended consequence. These issues can pose very real and growing ethical problems for all of us. For example, automated facial recognition can make life easier and safer for us – but it also poses huge issues with regard to privacy, ownership of data and even identity theft. How do we understand and frame these debates, and work out strategies at personal and governmental levels? Technology Is Not Neutral: A Short Guide to Technology Ethics addresses one of today’s most pressing problems: how to create and use tools and technologies to maximize benefits and minimize harms? Drawing on the author’s experience as a technologist, political risk analyst and historian, the book offers a practical and cross-disciplinary approach that will inspire anyone creating, investing in or regulating technology, and it will empower all readers to better hold technology to account.Trade Review"This is a state of the art overview of the tech ethics landscape. An original, lucid, extraordinarily comprehensive and compelling account of what we are now having to grapple with in the age of AI and of how we can find a trustworthy way forward whilst learning some stark lessons from the pandemic." Lord Clement-Jones CBE; “A highly readable and enlightening introduction to the ethics of technology with none of the usual finger-wagging! You’ll never look at your cell phone the same way again.” Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley; “Hare forces us to think critically and with intentionality about the chaos factories beneath the innocent surface of the technology that surrounds us. A thought-provoking, humorous and sometimes frightening look at an issue that needs our urgent attention, from the leading voice in technology ethics. Put the ethics of the ubiquitous cell phones, televisions, apps, surveillance cameras and national identity cards on your radar, and use this book as your guide.” Rob Chesnut, former Chief Ethics Officer at Airbnb and author of Intentional Integrity: How Smart Companies Can Lead An Ethical Revolution
£18.04
Verso Books Genes, Cells and Brains: The Promethean Promises
Book SynopsisOur fates lie in our genes and not in the stars, said James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. But Watson could not have predicted the scale of the industry now dedicated to this new frontier. Since the launch of the multibillion-dollar Human Genome Project, the biosciences have promised miraculous cures and radical new ways of understanding who we are. But where is the new world we were promised? Now updated with a new afterword, Genes, Cells and Brains asks why the promised cornucopia of health benefits has failed to emerge and reveals the questionable enterprise that has grown out of bioethics. The authors, feminist sociologist Hilary Rose and neuroscientist Steven Rose, examine the establishment of biobanks, the rivalries between public and private gene sequencers, and the rise of stem cell research. The human body is becoming a commodity, and the unfulfilled promises of the science behind this revolution suggest profound failings in genomics itself.Trade ReviewFascinating, lucid and angry. -- Steven Poole * Guardian *On my must-read list! Genes, Cells, Brains ... the rundown on the hype. -- Margaret AtwoodWhatever else we may need for the public understanding of science, we certainly do need the facts contained in this book. The Roses show how rapidly the ideal of disinterested scientific research has been evaporating since Mammon has been welcomed into the laboratory. Immense and still increasing profits have been made by people who have repeatedly promised various holy grails-discoveries expected to arise from genetic and cerebral research-but comparatively little of real use has emerged from that quarter. In particular, Genes, Cells and Brains shows how the recent expansion of the neurosciences, which was widely hailed as the dawn of a new psychiatry, has actually had little effect. Plainly this research has done little to check the steadily continuing increase in mental illness. Altogether, this is a rather blood-curdling but fascinating book and a much-needed alarm call! -- Mary Midgley, author of Animals and Why They MatterGenes, Cells and Brains is an angry book. It is also an important one ... contains wonderful descriptions of the science behind the new biology. -- W. F. Bynum * Times Literary Supplement *While I generally turn down requests for an endorsement of a book, I must make an exception for the superb analysis of a very important topic by Hilary Rose and Steve Rose. Genes, Cells and Brains refutes with authority the extravagant claims that everything that ails us will be cured by modern molecular and cellular biology. They show that despite the self-serving hype produced by both academic and entrepreneurial science, we still do not understand how the brain works nor can we avoid the thousand shocks that flesh is heir to. -- Richard Lewontin, author of The Triple HelixA scathing account of the failure of recent projects in biology to provide significant new knowledge ... the Roses provide thought-provoking and interesting contrasts to the secular, neoliberal view that predominates at present. * Nature *Rose and Rose provide incisive analyses of the successes of the new biology at improving corporate profits while failing to do much to improve human health. This is a valuable therapy for all of us suffering from the inflated promises and huge costs of the new biology, and a splendid resource for reinvigorating the Radical Science Movement in today's global political economy. -- Sandra Harding, UCLA Professor and author of The Science Question in FeminismGenes, Cells and Brains offers a complex, compelling picture of the social and political challenges emerging around biotechnological investment, promise and hype. -- Maureen McNeil, Professor and Associate Director, Cesagen: ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of GenomicsI have just started Genes, Cells and Brains and I can hardly put it down. What clarity and insights, what history and up to the minute perceptiveness. And what brilliant and unpretentious writing. I think this is an important book. -- Sian Ede, Director of the Gulbenkian FoundationWhat brilliant and energetic warriors Hilary Rose and Steven Rose have been! Reading this book is to visit the innumerable battlefields on which they have fought over half a century. The battle cries have now softened into gentler irony, but the pace of the writing is superb. Anybody who wants an incisive and radical perspective on the excessive claims made for human genome project, sociobiology, neurosciences, or human discrimination against other humans, should read this book. -- Patrick Bateson, author (with Peter Gluckman) of Plasticity, Robustness, Development and Evolution[The Roses] unwind the myriad assumptions about technology as the engine of improvement in our lives and offer a powerful argument against the sociopolitical machinery behind these dream disciplines. -- Michael Thomsen * The Daily Beast *[Hilary Rose and Stephen Rose] unwind the myriad assumptions about technology as the engine of improvement in our lives and offers a powerful argument against the sociopolitical machinery behind these dream disciplines. -- Michael Tomsen * The Daily Beast *The authors (professors emeriti of sociology and neuroscience at, respectively, Bradford U. and the Open U., England) place contemporary developments in the biotechnosciences of genomics, regenerative medicine, and the neurosciences (the 'genes, cells, and brains' of their title) within the context of the global neoliberal economy and culture of the 21st century. * Book News *[Genes, Cells and Brains is] a detailed and acerbic history of 20th-century genetics: its uneasy dance in and out of the arms of eugenics, its stumbles on the envisioned road to decoding and commodifying human nature, and its upstaging-after the Human Genome Project disappointed hopes for disease cures-by neuroscience, which, in turn, has fallen short of its promises to find and fix the psyche in the brain. * The Scientist *
£12.34
Hodder & Stoughton If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal
Book SynopsisCHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 BY WATERSTONES AND THE TIMES''Entertaining and original.'' Guardian''Accessible and insightful, it''s a thought-provoking read.'' Observer'' Highly readable.'' The Times''Nothing less than brilliant.'' Wall Street JournalWhat if human intelligence is actually more of a liability than a gift? After all, the animal kingdom, in all its diversity, gets by just fine without it. At first glance, human history is full of remarkable feats of intelligence, yet human exceptionalism can be a double-edged sword. With our unique cognitive prowess comes severe consequences, including existential angst, violence, discrimination, and the creation of a world teetering towards climate catastrophe. What if human exceptionalism is more of a curse than a blessing?As Justin Gregg puts it, there''s an evolutionary reason why human intelligence isn''t moreTrade ReviewI love the book and everyone should read it -- Ryan HolidayIf Nietzsche Were A Narwhal makes some extraordinary and thought-provoking points. It is not only engagingly written, but its controversial thesis is worth taking seriously... some of the cognitive concepts introduced...are nothing less than brilliant. * Wall Street Journal *Beautiful, thought-provoking, and often hilarious * BBC Science Focus *Gregg's clever and provocative book is full of irreverent notions and funny anecdotes - the creative upside to being a human animal. But our ability to abstract from our immediate experience means we can take that creativity too far....undeniably entertaining * New York Times *A dazzling, delightful read on what animal cognition can teach us about our own mental shortcomings. You won't just tear through this book in one sitting - you'll probably want to invite Justin Gregg over for dinner to spend more time inside his brilliant mind. This is one of the best debuts I've read in a long time, and I dare you to open it without rethinking some of your basic ideas about intelligence. -- Adam GrantI defy you not to be interested by this book - it finds a novel way of getting at very deep questions about who we are and what it means, and does so with clear-eyed compassion and a certain humor that softens the conclusion a bit -- Bill McKibbenCombining first rate story-telling with the latest research on animal minds and cognitive psychology, If Nietzsche Were A Narwhal is the rare book that will cause readers to think deeply about big questions and moral issues and to laugh out loud on nearly every page. I loved it. -- Hal HerzogIf Nietzsche Were a Narwhal is a book full of observations as surprising and off-the-beaten-path as its title. It's scientifically very well informed. It's not a treatise - it's a pleasure. -- Carl SafinaI felt dumber after reading this book. Mission accomplished, Justin! -- David GrimmWe've heard that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, but have you ever considered that having a human mind is more a bane than a gift? Justin Gregg's delightful and provocative book melds science with anecdote to explore that question. Read it, have your preconceptions challenged, and feel some humility. It might do you good. -- Jonathan BalcombeA highly original take on the nature of intelligence across life forms. Simultaneously thought -provoking and delightfully humorous, Justin Gregg guides readers into an essential re-thinking of human exceptionalism. This is a welcome upending of all we have been molded to believe about humans and other animal minds. -- Lyanda Lynn HauptThis is an important book to read if you want to understand animals for what they are - not as cardboard cutouts, or as furry humans. Animal minds aren't in competition with us, although Gregg makes a good case that if they were, they would win hands down. The idea that human intelligence may be nothing more than a failed evolutionary dead end, gives humanity an important challenge to which we must rise. -- Arik KershenbaumWhat's it like to be a bat, a bee, or a bed bug? In this enthralling book, Justin Gregg offers a window into the minds of other creatures, and debunks many of the myths of human exceptionalism. He makes the provocative argument that human thinking may be complex, but it is by no means superior - and its unique qualities could even be the cause of our species' ultimate downfall. If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal is both a humbling and awe-inspiring read. -- David RobsonA funny, perceptive book that answers questions we've been told not to ask. Like many of the great sages, Justin Gregg uses animal stories to treat deep questions of consciousness and justice. The result is a deft field guide to the mixed blessings of intelligence and the real possibility that consciousness (and joy) exist perfectly well without it. -- William PoundstoneA sparkling and witty tour of the many minds we share this planet with. Nietzsche might be surprised to find himself contemplated in the company of beasts from narwhals to slugs - but the fascinating and detailed payoff of the cognitive lives of so many animals is immense. -- Clive WynneEnlightening! If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal is a hilarious and thrilling look at intelligence that asks: are humans really the best? Gregg will dazzle and sweep you off your feet with his detailed exploration of the animal kingdom and its many secrets. This is an absolute must-read. -- Wednesday MartinIf Nietzsche Were a Narwhal is an unusual, delightful, and entertaining book that will help us achieve a more precise understanding of human nature, counterintuitively by looking at our reflection in light of the clues of conscious behavior expressed by our fellow animals. I loved Dr. Gregg's book because I learned quite a few interesting things from each chapter. As a scholar, I can offer no higher praise. Highly recommended. -- Oné R PagánIf Nietzsche were a Narwhal is a beautiful, thought-provoking and often hilarious exploration of this planet's different kinds of minds. Justin Gregg points out that while many of the hallmarks of human intelligence are also found, in some form, in animals from insects to narwhals, humans are by all means exceptional. But our intelligence is still constrained by our evolutionary history; we may be too intelligent for own good, and too stupid to look after our planet with a sufficiently long-term planning perspective. Gregg's magnificent book is a poignant reminder that if we don't raise our game fast, we might once again cede Earth to the rule of insects and other supposedly less intelligent creatures. -- Lars Chittka[If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal] challenges deep-seated ideas about the superiority of human intelligence by contrasting it with stories of animals who've gotten along just fine without it * Publishers Weekly *
£16.14
Bristol University Press Race and Sociocultural Inclusion in Science
Book Synopsis• An agenda-setting book that asks what inclusion and equity should look like within the field of science communication. • Truly global in coverage, providing the perspectives of the groups that are marginalised and made invisible with the field, containing contributions from across the world. • Includes academic and practitioner perspectives.Table of ContentsIntroduction – Elizabeth Rasekoala Part I: The Practice(s) of Science Communication: Challenges and Opportunities for Race, Gender, Language and Epistemic Diversity, Representation and Inclusion 1. Inclusion Is More Than an Invitation: Shifting Science Communication in a Science Museum – C. James Liu, Priya Mohabir, Dorothy Bennett 2. Communicating Science On, to, and With Racial Minorities During Pandemics – John Noel Viana 3. Breaking the Silos, Science Communication for All – Amparo Leyman Pino 4. Building Capacity for Science Communication in South Africa: Afrocentric Perspectives From Mathematical Scientists – Mpfareleni Rejoyce Gavhi-Molefe and Rudzani Nemutudi Part II: Science Communication in the Global South: Leveraging Indigenous Knowledge, Cultural Emancipation and Epistemic Renaissance for Innovative Transformation 5. Challenges of Epistemic Justice and Diversity in Science Communication in Mexico: Imperatives for Radical Re-Positioning Towards Transformative Contexts of Social Problem Solving, Cultural Inclusion and Trans-Disciplinarity – Susana Herrera-Lima and Sofía Gutiérrez-Ramírez 6. Past, Present and Future: Perspectives on the Development of an Indigenous Science Communication Agenda in Nigeria – Temilade Sesan and Ayodele Ibiyemi 7. Harnessing Indigenous Knowledge Systems for Socially Inclusive Science Communication: Working Towards a “Science for Us, With Us” Approach to Science Communication in the Global South – Konosoang Sobane, Wilfred Lunga and Lebogang Setlhabane 8. Indigenous Science Discourse in the Mainstream: The Case of ‘Mātauranga and Science’ in New Zealand Science Review – Ocean Ripeka Mercier and Anne-Marie Jackson Part III: The Decolonisation Agenda in Science Communication: Deconstructing Eurocentric Hegemony, Ideology and Pseudo-Historical Memory 9. Decolonising Initiatives in Action: From Theory to Practice at the Museum of Us – Brandie Macdonald and Micah Parzen 10. Falling From Normalcy? Decolonisation of Museums, Science Centres & Science Communication – Mohamed Belhorma 11. African Challenges and Opportunities for Decolonised Research-Led Innovation and Communication for Societal Transformation – Akanimo Odon 12. Decolonising Science Communication in the Caribbean: Challenges and Transformations in Community-Based Engagement With Research on the ABCSSS Islands – Tibisay Sankatsing Nava, Roxanne-Liana Francisca, Krista T. Oplaat and Tadzio Bervoets Part IV: The Globally Diverse History of Science Communication: Deconstructing Notions of Science Communication as a Modern Western Enterprise 13. Shen Kua’s Meng Hsi Pi T’an (c. 1095 CE): China’s First Notebook Encyclopaedia as a Science Communication Text – Ruoyu Duan, Biaowen Huang and Lindy A. orthia 14. Making Knowledge Visible: Artisans, Craftsmen, Printmakers and the Knowledge Sharing Practices of 19th-Century Bengal – Siddharth Kankaria, Anwesha Chakraborty and Argha Manna 15. Advancing Globally Inclusive Science Communication: Bridging the North-South Divide Through Decolonisation, Equity, and Mutual Learning – Elizabeth Rasekoala
£72.25
Oxford University Press The Ethics of Privacy and Surveillance
Book SynopsisPrivacy matters because it shields us from possible abuses of power. Human beings need privacy just as much as they need community. Our need for socialization brings with it risks and burdens which in turn give rise to the need for spaces and time away from others. To impose surveillance upon someone is an act of domination. The foundations of democracy quiver under surveillance. Given how important privacy is for individual and collective wellbeing, it is striking that it has not enjoyed a more central place in philosophy. The philosophical literature on privacy and surveillance is still very limited compared to that on justice, autonomy, or equality-and yet the former plays a role in protecting all three values. Perhaps philosophers haven''t attended much to privacy because for most of the past two centuries there have been strong enough privacy norms in place and not enough invasive technologies. Privacy worked for most people most of the time, which made thinking about it unnecessaTable of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Where Does Privacy Come From? 1: The Animalistic Origins of Privacy 2: Etymology, History, and Anthropology of Privacy Part Two: What Is Privacy? 3: Privacy, the Public, and the Private 4: Ten Accounts of Privacy-And Their Shortcomings 5: The Hybrid Account of Privacy 6: The Epistemology of Privacy Part Three: Why Does Privacy Matter? 7: The Value of Privacy 8: The Value of Surveillance 9: Privacy vs Surveillance Part Four: What Should We Do About Privacy? 10: The Right to (Robust) Privacy 11: Privacy Duties 12: Privacy Deceptions Part Five: Where Are We Now? 13: Privacy in the 21st Century Conclusion Acknowledgements References Index
£23.75
Bristol University Press The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism
Book SynopsisAvailable open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence This book interrogates the promises of transhumanism, arguing that it is deeply entwined with capitalist ideology. It casts doubt on a utopian techno-capitalist narrative of unending progress and shows how an alternative ethical framework might foster a more inclusive future.
£25.19
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Bottle of Lies
Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * New York Times Notable Book * Best Book of the Year: New York Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, Science Friday With a new postscript by the authorFrom an award-winning journalist, an explosive narrative investigation of the generic drug boom that reveals fraud and life-threatening dangers on a global scale—The Jungle for pharmaceuticalsMany have hailed the widespread use of generic drugs as one of the most important public-health developments of the twenty-first century. Today, almost 90 percent of our pharmaceutical market is comprised of generics, the majority of which are manufactured overseas. We have been reassured by our doctors, our pharmacists and our regulators that generic drugs are identical to their brand-name counterparts, just less expensive. But is this really true?Katherine Eban’s Bottle of Lies exposes the deceit behind generic-drug manufacturing—and the attendant risks for global health. Drawing on exclusive accounts from whistleblowers and regulators, as well as thousands of pages of confidential FDA documents, Eban reveals an industry where fraud is rampant, companies routinely falsify data, and executives circumvent almost every principle of safe manufacturing to minimize cost and maximize profit, confident in their ability to fool inspectors. Meanwhile, patients unwittingly consume medicine with unpredictable and dangerous effects.The story of generic drugs is truly global. It connects middle America to China, India, sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil, and represents the ultimate litmus test of globalization: what are the risks of moving drug manufacturing offshore, and are they worth the savings? A decade-long investigation with international sweep, high-stakes brinkmanship and big money at its core, Bottle of Lies reveals how the world’s greatest public-health innovation has become one of its most astonishing swindles.
£17.60
Vintage Publishing The Gene
Book SynopsisSpanning the globe and several centuries, this is the story of the quest to decipher the master-code that makes and defines humans, that governs our form and function. It is also an intimate history of the author's own family and its recurring pattern of mental illness, reminding us that genetics is vitally relevant to everyday lives.Trade ReviewWith a marriage of architectural precision and luscious narrative, an eye for both the paradoxical detail and the unsettling irony, and a genius for locating the emotional truths buried in chemical abstractions, Mukherjee leaves you feeling as though you’ve just aced a college course for which you’d been afraid to register — and enjoyed every minute of it -- Andrew Solomon * Washington Post *[Siddhartha Mukherjee] is the perfect person to guide us through the past, present, and future of genome science… It is up to all of us—not just scientists, government officials, and people fortunate enough to lead foundations—to think hard about these new technologies and how they should and should not be used. Reading The Gene will get you the point where you can actively engage in that debate. -- Bill Gates * Gatesnotes *The Gene is prodigious, sweeping, and ultimately transcendent. If you’re interested in what it means to be human, today and in the tomorrows to come, you must read this book. -- Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot SeeDramatic and precise... [A] thrilling and comprehensive account of what seems certain to be the most radical, controversial and, to borrow from the subtitle, intimate science of our time... He is a natural storyteller... A page-turner... Read this book and steel yourself for what comes next. -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *The story […] has been told, piecemeal, in different ways, but never before with the scope and grandeur that Siddhartha Mukherjee brings to his new history, The Gene. He fully justifies the claim that it is “one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in the history of science.” … Definitive -- James Gleick * New York Times Book Review *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Playbook
Book Synopsis''This brilliantly subversive and witty book lays bare the techniques of manipulation and disinformation that keep the rich and powerful rich and powerful. . . A landmark book'' Brian Eno''Very funny, as satire should be, until you realise it''s deadly serious'' Adam Rutherford, BBC Radio 4 Start the WeekKnowledge is power. Which is why the rich and powerful don''t want you to have it.The Playbook is an exposé of the extraordinary lengths that corporations will go to in order to spread disinformation and deny the scientific facts - around climate change, public health risks and worker safety - when they don''t suit their agenda.Written in the form of a corporate handbook for tobacco, oil and pharmaceutical company executives, it is a litany of obfuscation techniques, denial, delays and outright lies, including: how to recruit an academic ''expert'' who is willing to compromise their integrity (or is just short of casTrade ReviewThis brilliantly subversive and witty book lays bare the techniques of manipulation and disinformation that keep the rich and powerful rich and powerful. It's a handbook to show you all their tricks - with working examples. If you want to be a vile, greedy capitalist, this how-to book will be a great help. And if you want to identify vile greedy capitalists it will show you how to recognise them. It's a landmark book -- Brian EnoA training manual and fake guidebook for companies. . . very funny, as satire should be, until you realise it's deadly serious -- Adam Rutherford * BBC Radio 4 Start the Week *Jacquet has found a brilliantly effective way of revealing just how extensive and systematic corporate strategies of doubt and denial are - by creating a Machiavellian secret guide for executives worried about what the latest science might mean for their business. Far more entertaining, but also far more disturbing than a more sober historical account or polemic would be * The Observer *If you feel exhausted from constantly taking the high road, The Playbook offers an enticing alternative . . . with Jacquet's dry humor suffusing each chapter, the book's tongue-in-cheek format is a chilling realization that the villains in The Playbook are extraordinarily banal. The tactics that enable their misconduct have been recycled across decades * Scientific American *This whip-smart and delightfully snarky exposé gives readers the tools to recognize and refute corporate deception . . . Fashioned as a strategy manual, Jacquet's satirical advice explains . . . how to challenge the existence of a problem, the integrity of those who raise it, and the need for policies to address it * Publishers Weekly *A savage satirical stab at corporate malfeasance draws blood. . . Jacquet takes an original approach to indicting the ethical vacuum that besets much of big business. . . A sharp warning to corporations that deep pockets and armies of accomplices won't stall a reckoning forever * Kirkus Reviews *
£10.44
Penguin Putnam Inc How to Be Animal
Book Synopsis
£16.20
Oxford University Press Inc The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI Oxford
Book SynopsisThis interdisciplinary and international handbook captures and shapes much needed reflection on normative frameworks for the production, application, and use of artificial intelligence in all spheres of individual, commercial, social, and public life.Trade ReviewThe ethics of AI is a dynamic field, and so anythingwritten on the topic is likely to be out of date by the time it is published. Thanks to the acumen of its editors, however, the Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI will remain relevant despite these shifting conceptual and methodological sands. * Fabio Tollon, Department of Philosophy, Bielefeld University, Germany, Prometheus *Table of ContentsPart I. Introduction & Overview 1. The Artificial Intelligence of Ethics of AI: An Introductory Overview Joanna Bryson 2. The Ethics of Ethics of AI: Mapping the Field Thomas Powers, Delaware & Jean-Gabriel Ganascia 3. Ethics of AI in Context: Society & Culture Judith Donath Part II. Frameworks & Modes 4. Why Industry Self-regulation Will Not Deliver 'Ethical AI': A Call for Legally Mandated Techniques of 'Human Rights by Design' Karen Yeung, Andrew Howes and Ganna Pogrebna 5. Private Sector AI: Ethics and Incentives Tom Slee 6. Normative Modes: Codes & Standards Paula Boddington 7. Normative Modes: Professional Ethics Urs Gasser Part III. Concepts & Issues 8. Fairness and the Concept of 'Bias' Safiya Umoja Noble 9. Accountability in Computer Systems Joshua Kroll 10. Transparency Nick Diakopoulos 11. Responsibility Virginia Dignum 12. The Concept of Handoff as a Model for Ethical Analysis and Design Helen Nissenbaum & Deirdre Mulligan 13. Race and Gender Timnit Gebru 14. The Future of Work in the Age of AI: Displacement, Augmentation, or Control? Karen Levy & Pegah Moradi 15. The Rights of Artificial Intelligences John Basl and Joseph Bowen 16. The Singularity: Sobering up About Merging with AI Susan Schneider 17. Do Sentient AIs Have Rights? If So, What Kind? Mark Kingwell 18. Autonomy Michael Wheeler 19. Troubleshooting AI and Consent Meg Leta Jones 20. Is Human Judgment Necessary? Norman Spaulding 21. Sexuality John Danaher IV. Perspectives & Approaches 22. Computer Science Benjamin Kuipers 23. Engineering Jason Millar 24. Designing Robots Ethically Without Designing Ethical Robots: A Perspective from Cognitive Science Ron Chrisley 25. Economics Anton Korinek 26. Statistics Martin Wells 27. Automating Origination: Perspectives from the Humanities Avery Slater 28. Philosophy David Gunkel 29. The Complexity of Otherness: Anthropological contributions to robots and AI Kathleen Richardson 30. Calculative Composition: The Ethics of Automating Design Shannon Mattern 31. Global South Chinmayi Arun 32. East Asia Danit Gal 33. Artificial Intelligence and Inequality in the Middle East: The Political Economy of Inclusion Nagla Rizk 34. Europe's struggle to set global AI standards Andrea Renda Part V. Cases & Applications 35. The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Transportation Bryant Walker Smith 36. Military Jai Galliott 37. The Ethics of AI in Biomedical Research, Medicine and Public Health Effy Vayena & Alessandro Blasimme 38. Law: Basic Questions Harry Surden 39. Law: Criminal Law Chelsea Barabas 40. Law: Public Law & Policy: Notice, Predictability, and Due Process Kiel Brennan-Marquez 41. Law: Immigration & Refugee Law Petra Molnar 42. Education Elana Zeide 43. Algorithms and the Social Organization of Work Ifeoma Ajunwa 44. Smart City Ethics Ellen Goodman
£186.29
Oxford University Press Inc Saving Animals Saving Ourselves
Book SynopsisIn 2020, COVID-19, the Australia bushfires, and other global threats served as vivid reminders that human and nonhuman fates are increasingly linked. Human use of nonhuman animals contributes to pandemics, climate change, and other global threats which, in turn, contribute to biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and nonhuman suffering. Jeff Sebo argues that humans have a moral responsibility to include animals in global health and environmental policy. In particular, we should reduce our use of animals as part of our pandemic and climate change mitigation efforts and increase our support for animals as part of our adaptation efforts. Applying and extending frameworks such as One Health and the Green New Deal, Sebo calls for reducing support for factory farming, deforestation, and the wildlife trade; increasing support for humane, healthful, and sustainable alternatives; and considering human and nonhuman needs holistically. Sebo also considers connections with practical issues such as education, employment, social services, and infrastructure, as well as with theoretical issues such as well-being, moral status, political status, and population ethics. In all cases, he shows that these issues are both important and complex, and that we should neither underestimate our responsibilities because of our limitations, nor underestimate our limitations because of our responsibilities. Both an urgent call to action and a survey of what ethical and effective action requires, Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves is an invaluable resource for scholars, advocates, policy-makers, and anyone interested in what kind of world we should attempt to build and how.This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.Trade ReviewThe book provokes scholars from across disciplines to think through in further detail the empirical, normative, and other questions that arise from its main propositions, and the general public to openly engage with its contents. * Charlotte E. Blattner, University of Bern, Society & Animals *The pandemic should have caused a global awakening to how our treatment of animals significantly causes human harm. In one way or another, the pandemic is rooted in animal exploitation. But the world remains largely silent on this connection. Ditto climate change. Ditto world hunger. Ditto environmental destruction. Maybe Jeff Sebo's new book, Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves, will end the silence. Sebo clearly shows how many of the most urgent public health issues we face today are directly related to our treatment of animals. This is a book that must be read. Time is running out – if we want to save ourselves, we have to save animals, too. * Aysha Akhtar, MD, MPH, Author of Our Symphony with Animals: On Health, Empathy and Our Shared Destinies *Jeff Sebo has been leading the conversation about the impacts of human behavior on animals and the environment for years. In Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves, he shows that when we accept our responsibilities as well as our limitations, we can bring about transformative change for everyone and build a more just and sustainable future—including for the most vulnerable among us. This book is a must-read for policy makers looking to chart a new path forward. * U.S. Senator Cory Booker *In Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves, Jeff Sebo argues forcefully that we have a responsibility to help everyone affected by human activity, including other animals. By reducing support for factory farming, deforestation, and the wildlife trade; increasing support for humane, healthful, and sustainable alternatives; and including the health and welfare of nonhuman animals in our advocacy and political agendas, we can create a better future for humans and nonhumans alike. This brilliant, wide-ranging book is essential for academics, advocates, policymakers, and anyone else with an interest in our shared future. * Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & U. N. Messenger of Peace *In Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves, Jeff Sebo draws together a wealth of evidence to make an overwhelming case that the way we treat animals today is not only a grave moral wrong, but also a serious threat to our health, our well-being, and possibly our very existence. Every meat-eater and every policy-maker needs to read and ponder the evidence Sebo presents. * Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University, and author of Animal Liberation *It makes a real contribution to understanding the problem of saving animals and ourselves. * Angus Taylor, Digitalcommons.calpoly *What I liked most about the book is the cautiousness, honesty and holism of Sebo's approach... It thereby lays valuable groundwork for more concrete and specific future investigations into how animals should be included in our ethical thinking about human-induced crises. * Thomas Pölzler, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice *Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction: Saving animals, saving ourselves Chapter 2. Animal ethics in a human world Chapter 3. Animals, pandemics, and climate change Chapter 4. Limits on inclusion for animals Chapter 5. Methods of inclusion for animals Chapter 6. Animals, conflict, and politics Chapter 7. Animals, well-being, and moral status Chapter 8. Animals, creation ethics, and population ethics Chapter 9. Conclusion: Of minks and men
£26.59
Oxford University Press Inc Mobilizing Hope Climate Change and Global Poverty
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewClimate change is occurring in a radically unjust world in which nearly 700 million people live in extreme poverty. Most people who write about climate change know this, but Moellendorf feels it. While insisting on hope, he does not traffic in false optimism. * Dale Jamieson, Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy, New York University *In this compelling book, Darrel Moellendorf paints a picture of mass mobilization as a potent route out of the climate crisis. He argues for a hopeful vision combining prosperity and sustainability to guide this mobilisation and finds 'hope-makers' in youth climate activism. * Catriona McKinnon, Professor of Political Theory, University of Exeter *Moblizing Hope is an illuminating, accessible, innovative response to the moral problems posed by the morally urgent task of limiting global warming and its harms... [It] is an outstanding example of how moral philosophy can advance a politics of hope in the face of a uniquely fearsome global danger. * Richard W. Miller, Hutchinson Professor in Ethics and Public Life Emeritus, Cornell University *Mobilizing Hope: Climate Change and Global Poverty is both a learned treatise and a highly accessible and inspiring assessment as to what we, the human race, need to accomplish, starting right now, to create a just and sustainable present and future for ourselves and generations to come. * Robert Pollin, Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute (PERI),University of Massachusetts Amherst *This valuable book's exceptionally wide range includes imaginative explorations of the implications of Martin Luther King Jr.'s theory of mass movements for challenging the political entrenchment of the fossil fuel industry, the technological assumptions of net zero carbon, and the meaning and grounds of hope in our current situation. * Henry Shue, Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Chapter 1: Hope for a Warming Planet Chapter 2: Uncertainty and Precaution Chapter 3: Intergenerational Justice Chapter 4: Global Poverty and Responsibility for Climate Change Mitigation Policy Chapter 5: Justice and Adaptation Chapter 6: Hope for the Paris Agreement Chapter 7: Supplementing Mitigation: A Pro-Poor Approach Chapter 8: Hope for the Anthropocene
£26.59
Oxford University Press Interplanetary Liberty Building Free Societies in
Book SynopsisCharles S. Cockell argues that beyond Earth, space is especially tyranny-prone. Yet rather than consign humanity to a dim future of extraterrestrial despotisms, he suggests that the construction of free societies is possible using uniquely blended and reformulated classical liberal ideas for the space frontier.Trade ReviewThis is a brilliant and compelling book, written with great knowledge and understanding. * ANTHONY PAGDEN, Professor of political science and history at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of The Enlightenment and Why It Still Matters *If you have ever thought about the future of humanity in outer space, this book should be very high on your list. * FRANS VON DER DUNK, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Research Professor at the Lazarski University, Warsaw and author of The Handbook of Space Law *Can classical liberal political theories prevent tyranny and despotism in space? This is the central question that is compellingly examined in this fascinating book. * SASKIA VERMEYLEN, Reader in Law, Law School, University of Strathclyde, Scotland *This is a book that should be read by anyone interested in the broader philosophical questions of human space exploration. * CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN, Professor of Space Law and Policy at Northumbria University *This is an important book for building our future in space. * MARTIN ELVIS, Astrophysicist and author of Asteroids: How Love, Fear, and Greed Will Determine Our Future in Space *Interplanetary Liberty offers an engaging exploration of liberal political thought applied to human space expansion, and in so doing provides a much-needed examination of the scope and fitness of democratic principles of governance for prospective space societies. * JAMES SCHWARTZ, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wichita State University and author of The Value of Science in Space Exploration *Table of ContentsPreface 1: Liberty on the space frontier 2: The causes of extraterrestrial tyranny 3: Building free societies in the cosmos 4: Dissent and welfare 5: The development of science and liberty 6: Engineering liberty 7: Art and liberty 8: Educating the free citizen 9: Justice and criminality in the free society 10: A free cosmos
£38.94
Oxford University Press Distrust Big Data DataTorturing and the Assault
Book SynopsisThis book argues that our growing distrust of science is fuelled by tools scientists themselves created, as technological advances and developments in data analysis have led to disinformation, data torturing, and data mining. Smith examines these issues and offers solutions for restoring the credibility of the scientific community.Trade ReviewGary Smith has done it again. Distrust is a wild ride that derails the Big Data hype train with force, style, and above all sardonic humour. Smith is a master of illustrating by example-examples that are fresh, unexpected, at times shocking, and at times hilarious. Come along on Smith's tour of statistical snake-oil and you'll never look at AI or data science the same way again. * Carl T. Bergstrom, Professor of Biology, University of Washington. Author of Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Digital World *Any fan of Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World will love this book. Like Sagan, Smith discusses the challenges to human progress that result from a lack of critical thinking skills, and he does so with a Sagan-esque keen eye and eloquent voice. Smith also makes clear how the threats to sound judgment and effective decisions are more formidable than those of Sagan's day, as faulty thinking is now aided and abetted by an internet-fuelled distrust of science, viral misinformation, and venomous conspiracy theories. The wisdom in this book is desperately needed. * Tom Gilovich, Irene Blecker Rosenfeld Professor of Psychology, Cornell University. Author of The Wisest One in the Room *It turns out that, unlike the mythical hero, AI has two Achilles' heels. Not only are the technologies not intelligent, more perniciously, neither are too much of the statistics and data use on which AI and big data rely. Gary Smith provides a brilliantly executed counter against pseudo-science and the accumulating garbage we misleadingly call information, including timely and important warnings and ways forward for policy-makers, practitioners, academics, and citizens alike. * Leslie Willcocks, Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics and Political Science *An immensely readable look at why we need science more than ever, but also why and how science needs to clean up its act. Recommended for anyone who occasionally wonders whether that 'outspoken' family member on Facebook might just have a point. * Nick Brown, PhD, scientific integrity researcher *Smith marvellously illustrates the evolution of disinformation. He richly demonstrates how blind faith in technology enables more misrepresentations of the truth. Distrust articulates a humbling view of how we should think critically about new findings from hyped technology trends. * Karl Meyer, Managing Director, Digital Alpha Advisors LLC and former Partner at Kleiner Perkins *The lessons of Distrust are very much needed. * Washington Post *Distrust is a veritable page-turner, and I finished it in a few sittings. On a higher level, it is a call for common sense, for scepticism, for methodological rigour and for epistemic modesty. I suspect most scientists will love it. * Nature *Meta Malcolm Gladwell fans will likely enjoy. * Library Journal *The book is great fun. It's lovely to watch Smith demolish the fraud in every medium. * The Straight Dope *Using a wide range of entertaining examples, this fascinating book examines the impacts of society's growing distrust of science, and ultimately provides constructive suggestions for restoring the credibility of the scientific community. * Campaign for the American Reader *Smith's Distrust is a strikingly readable exploration of several interrelated threats to the credibility of science...The book can serve as both a guide to helping readers better spot bogus scientifc claims and a warning as to the individual and institutional failings that threaten the credibility of science. * Keith Raymond Harris, Metascience *Distrust: Big Data, Data-Torturing, and the Assault on Science is a highly recommended book for anyone interested about current, and future, issues related to what science is and how it is done. * K. Kampourakis, Science & Education *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Disinformation, Data Torturing, and Data Mining Part I - Disinformation 1: The Paranormal Is Normal 2: Flying Saucers and Space Tourists 3: Elite Conspiracies 4: A Post-Fact World Part II - Data Torturing 5: Squeezing Blood from Rocks 6: Most Medicines Disappoint 7: Provocative, but Wrong Part III - Data Mining 8: Looking for Needles in Haystacks 9: Beat the Market 10: Too Much Data Part IV - The Real Promise and Peril of AI 11: Overpromising and Underdelivering 12: Artificial Unintelligence Part V - The Crisis 13: Irreproducible Research 14: The Replication Crisis 15: Restoring the Luster of Science
£25.17
Oxford University Press Feminist AI
Book SynopsisChapters 5, 12, and 18 of this work are available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International open access licence. These parts of the work are free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.Feminist AI: Critical Perspectives on Algorithms, Data and Intelligent Machines is the first volume to bring together leading feminist thinkers from across the disciplines to explore the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and related data-driven technologies on human society. Recent years have seen both an explosion in AI systems and a corresponding rise in important critical analyses of these technologies. Central to these analyses has been feminist scholarship, which calls upon the AI sector to be accountable for designing and deploying AI in ways that further, rather than undermine, the pursuit of social justice. This book aims to be a touchstone text for AI researchers concerned with the social impact of theiTrade ReviewA timely and critically important book which offers essential and original insights to deepen understandings around one of today's most pressing social concerns. * Rachel Adams, Research ICT Africa, South Africa *The contributors' list includes an impressive array of notable scholars in feminist science and technology studies. These writers offer thoughtful critiques of the hype around artificial intelligence and useful insights about our posthuman world, one that is increasingly likely to be shaped by machine learning, algorithmic bias, and robotic labor. * Elizabeth Losh, William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia *Includes a multiplicity of voices working from various axes of intersectional analysis. * Samantha Shorey, University of Texas at Austin *A very high-quality book. * Kerry Holden, Queen Mary University London *Table of Contents1: N. Katherine Hayles: Technosymbiosis: Figuring (Out) Our Relations to AI 2: Jason Edward Lewis, Noelani Arista, Archer Pechawis, and Suzanne Kite: Making Kin with the Machines 3: Apolline Taillandier: AI in a Different Voice: Rethinking Computers, Learning, and Gender Difference at MIT in the 1980s 4: Judy Wajcman and Erin Young: Feminism Confronts AI: The Gender Relations of Digitalisation 5: Stephen Cave, Kanta Dihal, Eleanor Drage and Kerry Mackereth: Shuri in the Sea of Dudes: the Cultural Construction of the AI Engineer 6: Lauren Wilcox: No Humans in the Loop: Killer Robots, Race and AI 7: Kerry Mackereth: Coding 'Carnal Knowledge' into Carceral Systems: A Feminist Abolitionist Approach to Predictive Policing 8: Lelia Marie Hampton: Techno Racial Capitalism: A Decolonial Black Feminist Marxist Perspective 9: Neda Atanasoski: Feminist Technofutures: Contesting the Ethics and Politics of Sex Robots and AI 10: Jennifer Rhee: From ELIZA to Alexa: Automated Care Labour and the Otherwise of Radical Care 11: Sareeta Amrute: Of Techno-Ethics and Techno-Affects 12: Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren Klein: The False Binary of Reason and Emotion in Data Visualisation 13: Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Margaret Mitchell, and Alexander Todorov: Physiognomy's New Clothes 14: Michele Elam: Signs Taken for Wonders: AI, Art and the Matter of Race 15: Caroline Bassett: The Cruel Optimism of Technological Dreams: Thinking AI through Lauren Berlant 16: Eleanor Drage and Federica Frabetti: AI that Matters: A Feminist Approach to the Study of Intelligent Machines 17: Os Keyes: Automating Autism 18: Rune Nyrup, Charlene Chu and Elena Falco: Digital Ageism, Algorithmic Bias and Feminist Critical Theory 19: Jude Browne: AI & Structural Injustice: A Feminist Perspective 20: Neema Iyer, Garnett Achieng and Chenai Chair: Afrofeminist Data Futures 21: Sasha Costanza-Chock: Design Practices: Nothing About Us Without Us
£81.72
Oxford University Press Future Politics
Book SynopsisFuture Politics confronts one of the most important questions of our time: how will digital technology transform politics and society? The great political debate of the last century was about how much of our collective life should be determined by the state and what should be left to the market and civil society. In the future, the question will be how far our lives should be directed and controlled by powerful digital systems - and on what terms? Jamie Susskind argues that rapid and relentless innovation in a range of technologies - from artificial intelligence to virtual reality - will transform the way we live together. Calling for a fundamental change in the way we think about politics, he describes a world in which certain technologies and platforms, and those who control them, come to hold great power over us. Some will gather data about our lives, causing us to avoid conduct perceived as shameful, sinful, or wrong. Others will filter our perception of the world, choosing what we know, shaping what we think, affecting how we feel, and guiding how we act. Still others will force us to behave certain ways, like self-driving cars that refuse to drive over the speed limit. Those who control these technologies - usually big tech firms and the state - will increasingly control us. They will set the limits of our liberty, decreeing what we may do and what is forbidden. Their algorithms will resolve vital questions of social justice, allocating social goods and sorting us into hierarchies of status and esteem. They will decide the future of democracy, causing it to flourish or decay. A groundbreaking work of political analysis, Future Politics challenges readers to rethink what it means to be free or equal, what it means to have power or property, what it means for a political system to be just or democratic, and proposes ways in which we can - and must - regain control.Trade ReviewThe most interesting exploration yet of the political realities in the digital era. * Matthew d'Ancona, Books of the Year 2018, Evening Standard *For all its grand implications, Future Politics is an accessible read, peppered with self-deprecating humour and pop cultural references throughout, and will make you only more curious about the road ahead. * Martin Coulter, Business Insider, 18 books to read in 2020 that puncture Silicon Valley utopianism *He steers a course to the future that is as convincing as it is shocking. * Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times *[Susskind] has tremendous talent and the book is very readable. * Tim Stanley, The Telegraph *An impressive feat of intellectual organization ... To have written it all down so lucidly, engagingly and succinctly is a formidable achievement. * Raphael Behr, The Guardian *The tone of this book is as refreshing as the originality of insight. Susskind contends that "that there are causes for both optimism and pessimism, but what the future requires above all is vigilance". * Paschal Donohoe, The Irish Times *Future Politics is a riveting book that sparkles with great ideas ... It is chock full of facts and the book combines knowledge of politics and technology in a unique and fascinating way. * Catherine Balavage, Frost *A work of clarity and effortless genius which is a must for anybody seeking to understand the impact of modern technology on our body politic now and in the future. * Robert Rinder, Evening Standard *Superb and necessary book. * Nick Cohen, The Observer *Future Politics should be essential reading for those with the will to anticipate the future challenges facing defence and society. * Wavell Room *Brilliant ... detailed research, colourful examples, and a pacy, upbeat style ... Future Politics will remain relevant for several years. All elected officials should read it as a matter of urgency. * Jamie Bartlett, Catholic Herald *'Future Politics' challenges readers to rethink what it means to be free or equal, what it means to have power or property, what it means for a political system to be just or democratic, and proposes ways in which we can - and must - regain control. This is no less than a call for a fundamental change in the way we think about politics. * Dominic Lenton, Engineering & Technology *... rigorous and thoughtful book ... * David Patrikarakos, Literary Review *A must-read for anyone interested in the great political debate of the 21st century: how will digital technology transform society and politics? Susskind approaches the debate with both the expertise of a lawyer and a deep understanding of the digital world. * Included in Derek Mooney's "My Summer Political Reading List", Broadsheet *Original and thought-provoking, this ground-breaking book challenges us to develop new policies for new times. * Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 2007-2010 *Few understand politics. Even fewer understand technology. Susskind is that rare soul who understands both - and more importantly, how the latter will change the former. Whether correct or not - and I believe he is correct - there is no better glimpse into our shared future than this book. * Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School *This book crackles with ideas, sparking new thoughts with every page. And it is superbly organised, too. It's difficult to help people understand the past, but to help understand the future is a real achievement. Terrific. * Lord Finkelstein, Associate Editor, The Times *From Arendt to artificial intelligence, from Machiavelli to machine learning, Susskind seamlessly weaves modern technology with classic theory to present a tour de force introduction to the future--explaining with erudition and humor the powerful digital systems that will govern our lives. * Beth Simone Noveck, Professor in Technology, Culture and Society, New York University Tandon School of Engineering *Only an elite can control the power of computation, dispersed in space, integrated in the cloud, and enabled to operate on ever bigger data. What are the implications for freedom, democracy, and justice? Jamie Susskind offers a pathbreaking exploration of the challenge that these issues pose for our political thinking and practice. It's a must-read. * Philip Pettit, L. S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values, Princeton University, and Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University *Table of ContentsIntroductionPart I. THE DIGITAL LIFEWORLD 1: Increasingly Capable Systems 2: Increasingly Integrated Technology 3: Increasingly Quantified Society 4: Thinking Like a TheoristPart II. FUTURE POWER 5: Code is Power 6: Force 7: Scrutiny 8: Perception-Control 9: Public and Private PowerPart III. FUTURE LIBERTY 10: Freedom and the Supercharged State 11: Freedom and the Tech FirmPart IV. FUTURE DEMOCRACY 12: The Dream of Democracy 13: Democracy in the FuturePart V. FUTURE JUSTICE 14: Algorithms of Distribution 15: Algorithms of Recognition 16: Algorithmic Injustice 17: Technological Unemployment 18: The Wealth CyclonePart VI. FUTURE POLITICS 19: Transparency and the New Separation of Powers 20: Post-Politics
£20.69
Oxford University Press Sustainability Beyond Technology Philosophy
Book SynopsisCurrent debates on sustainability are building on a problematic assumption that technological advancement is a desired phenomenon, creating positive change in human organizations. This transdisciplinary book develops a new way to conceptualize and examine technology, and outlines feasible alternatives for sustainability beyond technology.Trade ReviewThis is a thoughtful collection of essays that offer a much needed transdisciplinary critique of technological quick fixes to the challenges of sustainability. The authors provide some compelling insights into theories and practices of sustainability. * Bobby Banerjee, Professor of Management, City, University of London *There is much written about sustainability and business and capitalism, but too little about the interface of sustainability and technology. Yet, technology may hold the key to our collective future prosperity or failure. This important volume raises important and provocative issues. It is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the philosophical underpinnings of the relationship between sustainability and technology. * Pratima Bansal, Canada Research Chair in Business Sustainability, Ivey Business School *Sustainability beyond Technology offers a new philosophical perspective within the quickly growing field of philosophy of sustainable development. While philosophers of technology traditionally do not take environmental issues into account, such an uncritical stance is no longer possible in the age of global warming. The authors of this volume open a new and critical perspective on the great acceleration accompanying technological progress and fill a major gap in our understanding of sustainable technology and innovation. The book is a must read for philosophers of technology who are interested in the opportunities and limitations of 'Earthing Technology' in the Anthropocene. * Vincent Blok, Associate Professor in Philosophy of Technology and Responsible Innovation, Wageningen University *Humanity is facing a range of sustainability challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss, health pandemics to food insecurity. New technology is often portrayed as the silver bullet solution to these challenges: geoengineering, vaccines, lab-grown food, etc.; the list of technological innovations that promise to save the planet and humanity is long. Sustainability Beyond Technology critically engages with these debates, putting today's technological hopes into their philosophical and historical contexts. The authors are able to unpack the blinding optimism that is often connected with technology without being luddites. The book puts forward a critical evaluation of technological progress, offering its readers alternative pathways to the sustainability transition. * Steffen Böhm, Professor in Organisation and Sustainability, University of Exeter *In varied ways, the authors attune the reader to how technology organizes and mediates human action and thought, often in ways that continue to belittle and degrade the wider environments upon which they have been dependent for continued life. Whether framed as parasitical, ignorant, or arrogant, the essays tease out the paradoxical and problematic nature of this long-sedimented, one-way relationship, and they do so in provocative ways. Humanity has been augmented through technology, to a point of indistinction. As the effects of this technological mediation have spread, the question these essays then ask is whether there is anything like an 'exterior' left to colonize. Does the technological-industrial complex by which all human activity and thought is now governed find itself at a point of collapse, given there is now very little 'out there' to which it might relate? * Robin Holt, Professor, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School *Technology is at the centre of debates about sustainability, but paradoxically is a term that is severely undertheorized. Not anymore. This excellent volume offers profound thinking, from different angles, on the question of technology—what it is, what it does, and its role in sustainability transitions. * Giorgos Kallis, ICREA Professor at Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, author of Limits, and The Case for Degrowth *This timely volume brings together the latest work by an international group of experts on the role of technology in sustainability. It critically examines the connections between technology and sustainability from the viewpoint of different scholarly traditions to offer a synthesis on to what extent technology can alleviate adverse environmental and social impacts in the Anthropocene. It challenges the conventional understanding of technology as a mere set of tools, instruments and systems, and that it is 'the solution' to prevailing problems, suggesting that technology must also be examined as undesired and biased. It will be a definitive source on technology and sustainability in the new decade. * Jouni Paavola, Professor of Environmental Social Science, University of Leeds *These crystal-clear essays prime us for the political debate over technology and ecological sustainability—long overdue, now urgent in 2021. Among many other contributions, Pasi Heikkurinen's and Toni Ruuska's taxonomy of philosophic perspectives on technology provides an invaluable orientation to a diverse and nuanced intellectual terrain. * Ariel Salleh, activist and author of Eco-Sufficiency & Global Justice, and Pluriverse *Table of Contents1: Toni Ruuska and Pasi Heikkurinen: Technology and Sustainability: An Introduction Part I. Conceptualizing Technology 2: Thomas Wallgren and Niklas Toivakainen: The Question of Technology: From Noise to Reflection 3: Andreas Roos: Earthing Philosophy of Technology: A Case for Ontological Materialism 4: Pasi Heikkurinen: Atechnological Experience Unfolding: Meaning for the Post-Anthropocene Part II. Confronting Technology 5: Jani Pulkki and Veli-Matti Värri: Competition Within Technology: A Study on Competitive Thought and Moral Growth 6: Toni Ruuska: Conditions for Alienation: Technological Development and Capital Accumulation 7: Tere Vadén: What Does Fossil Energy tell us About Technology? 8: Alf Hornborg: Reversing the Industrial Revolution: Theorizing the Distributive Dimensions of Energy Transitions Part III. Changing Technology 9: Karl Johan Bonnedahl: An Economy Beyond Instrumental Rationality 10: Iana Nesterova: Small, Local, and Low-Tech Firm Firms as Agents of Sustainable Change 11: David Skrbina and Renee Kordie: Creative Reconstruction of the Technological Society: A Path to Sustainability 12: Pasi Heikkurinen and Toni Ruuska: Technology and Sustainability: A Conclusion
£102.50
Oxford University Press AI Morality
Book SynopsisA philosophical task force explores how AI is revolutionizing our lives - and what moral problems it might bring, showing us what to be wary of, and what to be hopeful for.There is no more important issue at present than artificial intelligence. AI has begun to penetrate almost every sphere of human activity. It will disrupt our lives entirely. David Edmonds brings together a team of leading philosophers to explore some of the urgent moral concerns we should have about this revolution. The chapters are rich with examples from contemporary society and imaginative projections of the future. The contributors investigate problems we''re all aware of, and introduce some that will be new to many readers. They discuss self and identity, health and insurance, politics and manipulation, the environment, work, law, policing, and defence. Each of them explains the issue in a lively and illuminating way, and takes a view about how we should think and act in response. Anyone who is wondering what ethical challenges the future holds for us can start here.
£14.99
The University of Chicago Press Tangled Diagnoses Prenatal Testing Women and Risk
Book SynopsisA history of prenatal testing that shows it to be more complicated than a simple medical advance, bringing with it a host of questions about ethics and responsibility.
£30.40
The University of Chicago Press Tangled Diagnoses Prenatal Testing Women and
Book SynopsisA history of prenatal testing that shows it to be more complicated than a simple medical advance, bringing with it a host of questions about ethics and responsibility.
£104.00
The University of Chicago Press How We Became Our Data
Book Synopsis
£24.70
Columbia University Press Genetic Justice
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIn Genetic Justice, the authors provide a thorough discussion of the concerns they believe the DNA revolution and the use of DNA databases in law enforcement pose. While I do not agree with all of their policy conclusions, I commend the authors for their bold and uncompromising positions. Providing discussion of these sensitive criminal justice matters is critical for generating the best tools to serve society while maintaining those precious rights that we enjoy. I recommend the book to all who seek a better understanding of the impact of the genomic age on the criminal justice process. -- Bruce Budowle, executive director, Institute of Investigative Genetics, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth Essential reading for anyone concerned with balancing public safety and personal freedom. The proliferation of DNA databases is not simply 'all good' or 'all bad.' Genetic Justice admirably deconstructs opposing arguments and then erects an inspiring yet realistic vision of justice. -- Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, codirectors of the Innocence Project Genetic Justice provides a lucid assessment of forensic DNA data banking that counters our CSI-infatuated culture in which DNA testing is assumed to be infallible. The authors reveal the serious threats that misuses of modern genetic technology and DNA databases can pose to cherished constitutional rights. This book is essential reading for all who care about pursuing justice while ensuring fairness to our diverse citizenry and the protection of our individual right to privacy. -- Nadine Strossen, New York Law School and former president, American Civil Liberties Union Genetic Justice illuminates every important controversy in the way DNA has entered the criminal justice system: from arguments about a universal DNA databank to the efficacy of DNA dragnets, from whether the state has the right to search your 'abandoned DNA' to the pros and cons of familial searching. Moreover, it accomplishes this in an engaging style that requires no technical background. A vital reference work for the next decade. -- Troy Duster, New York University Sheldon Krimsky is one of the most intelligent and creative multidisciplinary scholars working in bioethics, genetics and society, science studies, and biotechnology. He always knows how to pick topics that are socially significant and require careful public attention. -- Phil Brown, author of Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement Firmly grounded in science, this inquiry proves that while DNA can be dramatic in its disclosures, it is not to be used lightly, as is so often depicted in crime stories. Booklist A thoughtful and informative read -- James A. Cox Midwest Book Review For anyone concerned about DNA technology, evolving concepts of justice, or the erosion of the basic freedoms of our democracy, Genetic Justice is a book not to miss. -- Doug Pet Biopolitical Times The book offers a lucid and accurate presentation of DNA forensic technology that will be useful to any nonspecialist. -- Michael A. Goldman Science Genetic Justice constitutes the single most comprehensive articulation of the civil-liberties concerns associated with law-enforcement DNA databases and should, therefore, serve as a touchstone for debates about the spread of DNA profiling. -- Simon A. Cole American Scientist Engaging and informative. -- Charalambos P. Kyriacou Times Higher Education Thoroughly researched and well referenced, Genetic Justice distinguishes itself as an interesting and informative book on the history of the development of DNA testing, forensic DNA databanks, and the justice system's evolving approaches... -- Ananda M. Chakrabarty BioScience required reading -- Richard Lewontin New York Review of Books An important strength of this timely,engaging, and readable book-and what distinguishes it from some others-is the clarity with which it demonstrates how genomics findings in one discipline... are applied to others... -- Lundy Braun PsycCRITIQUES I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in and concerned about the balance between the protection of rights such as privacy and autonomy and public safely and criminal justice imperatives... -- Wilhelm Peekhaus Science and SocietyTable of ContentsForeword Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: DNA in Law Enforcement 1. Forensic DNA Analysis 2. The Network of U.S. DNA Data Banks 3. Community DNA Dragnets 4. Familial DNA Searches 5. Forensic DNA Phenotyping 6. Surreptitious Biological Sampling 7. Exonerations 8. The Illusory Appeal of a Universal DNA Data Bank Part II: Comparative Systems 9. The United Kingdom 10. Japan's Forensic DNA Data Bank 11. Australia 12: Germany 13. Italy Part III: Critical Perspectives 14. Privacy and Genetic Surveillance 15. Racial Disparities in DNA Data Banking 16. Fallibility in DNA Identification 17. The Efficacy of DNA Data Banks 18. Toward a Vision of Justice Appendix: A Comparison of DNA Databases in Six Nations Notes Selected Readings Index
£67.20
Columbia University Press Genetic Justice
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIn Genetic Justice, the authors provide a thorough discussion of the concerns they believe the DNA revolution and the use of DNA databases in law enforcement pose. While I do not agree with all of their policy conclusions, I commend the authors for their bold and uncompromising positions. Providing discussion of these sensitive criminal justice matters is critical for generating the best tools to serve society while maintaining those precious rights that we enjoy. I recommend the book to all who seek a better understanding of the impact of the genomic age on the criminal justice process. -- Bruce Budowle, executive director, Institute of Investigative Genetics, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth Essential reading for anyone concerned with balancing public safety and personal freedom. The proliferation of DNA databases is not simply 'all good' or 'all bad.' Genetic Justice admirably deconstructs opposing arguments and then erects an inspiring yet realistic vision of justice. -- Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, codirectors of the Innocence Project Genetic Justice provides a lucid assessment of forensic DNA data banking that counters our CSI-infatuated culture in which DNA testing is assumed to be infallible. The authors reveal the serious threats that misuses of modern genetic technology and DNA databases can pose to cherished constitutional rights. This book is essential reading for all who care about pursuing justice while ensuring fairness to our diverse citizenry and the protection of our individual right to privacy. -- Nadine Strossen, New York Law School and former president, American Civil Liberties Union Genetic Justice illuminates every important controversy in the way DNA has entered the criminal justice system: from arguments about a universal DNA databank to the efficacy of DNA dragnets, from whether the state has the right to search your 'abandoned DNA' to the pros and cons of familial searching. Moreover, it accomplishes this in an engaging style that requires no technical background. A vital reference work for the next decade. -- Troy Duster, New York University Sheldon Krimsky is one of the most intelligent and creative multidisciplinary scholars working in bioethics, genetics and society, science studies, and biotechnology. He always knows how to pick topics that are socially significant and require careful public attention. -- Phil Brown, author of Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement Firmly grounded in science, this inquiry proves that while DNA can be dramatic in its disclosures, it is not to be used lightly, as is so often depicted in crime stories. Booklist A thoughtful and informative read -- James A. Cox Midwest Book Review For anyone concerned about DNA technology, evolving concepts of justice, or the erosion of the basic freedoms of our democracy, Genetic Justice is a book not to miss. -- Doug Pet Biopolitical Times The book offers a lucid and accurate presentation of DNA forensic technology that will be useful to any nonspecialist. -- Michael A. Goldman Science Genetic Justice constitutes the single most comprehensive articulation of the civil-liberties concerns associated with law-enforcement DNA databases and should, therefore, serve as a touchstone for debates about the spread of DNA profiling. -- Simon A. Cole American Scientist Engaging and informative. -- Charalambos P. Kyriacou Times Higher Education Thoroughly researched and well referenced, Genetic Justice distinguishes itself as an interesting and informative book on the history of the development of DNA testing, forensic DNA databanks, and the justice system's evolving approaches... -- Ananda M. Chakrabarty BioScience required reading -- Richard Lewontin New York Review of Books An important strength of this timely,engaging, and readable book-and what distinguishes it from some others-is the clarity with which it demonstrates how genomics findings in one discipline... are applied to others... -- Lundy Braun PsycCRITIQUES I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in and concerned about the balance between the protection of rights such as privacy and autonomy and public safely and criminal justice imperatives... -- Wilhelm Peekhaus Science and SocietyTable of ContentsForeword Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: DNA in Law Enforcement 1. Forensic DNA Analysis 2. The Network of U.S. DNA Data Banks 3. Community DNA Dragnets 4. Familial DNA Searches 5. Forensic DNA Phenotyping 6. Surreptitious Biological Sampling 7. Exonerations 8. The Illusory Appeal of a Universal DNA Data Bank Part II: Comparative Systems 9. The United Kingdom 10. Japan's Forensic DNA Data Bank 11. Australia 12: Germany 13. Italy Part III: Critical Perspectives 14. Privacy and Genetic Surveillance 15. Racial Disparities in DNA Data Banking 16. Fallibility in DNA Identification 17. The Efficacy of DNA Data Banks 18. Toward a Vision of Justice Appendix: A Comparison of DNA Databases in Six Nations Notes Selected Readings Index
£23.80
Columbia University Press Experiments in Democracy Human Embryo Research
Book SynopsisExperiments in Democracy presents a history of American debates over human embryo research from the late 1960s to the present, exploring their crucial role in shaping norms, practices, and institutions of deliberation governing the ethical challenges of modern bioscience.Trade ReviewWhere is American democracy made? In this path-breaking study of bioethics bodies, Hurlbut finds answers in an unexpected place. Tracing the contorted history of US debates on human embryo research, he brilliantly reveals the power accorded to scientific authority in establishing the preconditions, and even the right language, for valid moral reasoning. Full of original insights, and supported by a wealth of archival research, this is political theory remade with the tools of science and technology studies. It deserves a place beside John Rawls' seminal works on democratic deliberation and public reason. -- Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School In this book, Hurlbut takes the social analysis of public bioethics to the next and higher level. With a focus on how bioethics claims are justified in liberal democratic societies and with a keen interpretive eye on debates about human embryos, I found many of his analyses to be profoundly insightful. This book is a must read for anyone interested in bio-policy in general and public bioethics in particular. -- John H. Evans, University of California, San Diego A well-documented and rigorously argued book that analyzes the modes of public reason that have guided U.S. debates about the human embryo. Hurlbut shows how prevailing modes of reasoning gave science a constitutional role in configuring the terms of ethical discourse. Experiments in Democracy offers a fascinating study of the role of scientific authority in deliberation about bioethical issues in the United States. Important for understanding bioethical debates and the contemporary politics of American democracy. -- Stephen Hilgartner, Department of Science & Technology Studies, Cornell UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: The Politics of Experiment 1. New Beginnings 2. Producing Life 3. Representing Reason 4. Cloning, Knowledge, and the Politics of Consensus 5. Confusing Deliberation 6. In the Laboratories of Democracy 7. Religion, Reason, and the Politics of Progress 8. The Legacy of Experiment Notes Index
£49.60
Columbia University Press Experiments in Democracy
Book SynopsisExperiments in Democracy presents a history of American debates over human embryo research from the late 1960s to the present, exploring their crucial role in shaping norms, practices, and institutions of deliberation governing the ethical challenges of modern bioscience.Trade ReviewWhere is American democracy made? In this pathbreaking study of bioethics bodies, Hurlbut finds answers in an unexpected place. Tracing the contorted history of U.S. debates on human embryo research, he brilliantly reveals the power accorded to scientific authority in establishing the preconditions, and even the right language, for valid moral reasoning. Full of original insights and supported by a wealth of archival research, this is political theory remade with the tools of science and technology studies. It deserves a place beside John Rawls’s seminal works on democratic deliberation and public reason. -- Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy SchoolIn this book, Hurlbut takes the social analysis of public bioethics to the next and higher level. With a focus on how bioethics claims are justified in liberal democratic societies and with a keen interpretive eye on debates about human embryos, I found many of his analyses to be profoundly insightful. This book is a must read for anyone interested in bio-policy in general and public bioethics in particular. -- John H. Evans, University of California, San DiegoA well-documented and rigorously argued book that analyzes the modes of public reason that have guided U.S. debates about the human embryo. Hurlbut shows how prevailing modes of reasoning gave science a constitutional role in configuring the terms of ethical discourse. Experiments in Democracy offers a fascinating study of the role of scientific authority in deliberation about bioethical issues in the United States. Important for understanding bioethical debates and the contemporary politics of American democracy. -- Stephen Hilgartner, Department of Science & Technology Studies, Cornell UniversityScience historian Benjamin Hurlbut offers a wide-angle history of US attempts at democratic deliberation on the ethics of human-embryo research. Painstakingly researched and spanning more than four decades — from the advent of in vitro fertilization in the 1970s to contemporary developments such as germline editing — the book draws attention to an intricate interplay between science and democracy. * Nature *Hurlbut provides an important new line of inquiry for histories of bioethics in the United States and elsewhere. * Isis *This is a great book on issues of bioethics, and the roles played by, and the inter-relationships among people of authority in government, in law, and in science * BizIndia *A fascinating and necessary review of the multifaceted issues cultivated by these revolutionary breakthroughs. Essential. All readers. * Choice *An important contribution to the science technology studies (STS) literature on the mechanisms of governance of emerging biotechnologies. * Bioethical Inquiry *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Politics of Experiment1. New Beginnings2. Producing Life3. Representing Reason4. Cloning, Knowledge, and the Politics of Consensus5. Confusing Deliberation6. In the Laboratories of Democracy7. Religion, Reason, and the Politics of Progress8. The Legacy of ExperimentNotesIndex
£21.25
Penguin Books Ltd ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Book SynopsisNo recent scientific enterprise has been so alluring, terrifying, and filled with extravagant promise and frustrating setbacks as artificial intelligence. How intelligent are the best of today's AI programs? To what extent can we entrust them with decisions that affect our lives? How human-like do we expect them to become, and how soon do we need to worry about them surpassing us in most, if not all, human endeavours? From leading AI researcher and award-winning author Melanie Mitchell comes a knowledgeable and captivating account of modern-day artificial intelligence. Flavoured with personal stories and a twist of humour, Artificial Intelligence illuminates the workings of machines that mimic human learning, perception, language, creativity and common sense. Weaving together advances in AI with cognitive science and philosophy, Mitchell probes the extent to which today's 'smart' machines can actually think or understand, and whether AI requires such elusiTrade ReviewIf you think you understand AI and all of the related issues, you don't. By the time you finish this exceptionally lucid and riveting book you will breathe more easily and wisely -- Michael Gazzaniga, author of The Consciousness InstinctMelanie Mitchell writes about AI with a warm, friendly voice and an unpretentious brilliance that no machine could hope to match... for now -- Steven Strogatz, author of The Joy of XComputers are capable of feats of astonishing intelligence, while at the same time lacking any semblance of common sense. Melanie Mitchell takes us through an enlightening tour of how artificial intelligence currently works, and how it falls short of true human understanding -- Sean Carroll, author of The Big PictureA must read for anyone interested in the emerging revolution of AI, machine learning and big data. Mitchell lays bare the hyperbole and misconceptions that are being propagated in the media. This book can be, and should be, read by the proverbial man or woman-on-the-street, the Silicon Valley guru, members of Congress, or a student of the humanities, as well as by professional scientists and engineers. They will all profit enormously from it -- Geoffrey West, author of ScaleMitchell cuts through the hype that the field of A.I. is often prone to and lays out what it does well, where it fails, and how it might do better -- George Musser, author of Spooky Action at a DistanceMelanie Mitchell deftly provides the reader with a keen, clear-sighted account of the history of AI and neural networks. A wonderfully informative book -- John Allen Paulos, author of InnumeracyMitchell is one of the finest minds in computation today, and one of the clearest-spoken. She understands the power of a metaphor — and why nearly all of the ones we have for AI are either simply poor, in the best of cases, or dangerously misleading. If you want to know where our current mayhem came from, read this account of the field -- Cat Bohannon author of EveThe recent resurgence of AI has led to predictions of everything from the end of the world to immortality. Melanie Mitchell’s very intelligent, clear and sensible book is a welcome corrective to the exaggerated fears and hopes for AI, and the prefect primer to start understanding how the systems actually work -- Alison Gopnik, author of The Philosophical BabyMitchell knows what she’s talking about. Even better, she’s a clear, cogent and interesting writer . . . It has significantly improved my knowledge when it comes to automation technology, but the greater benefit is that it has also enhanced my appreciation for the complexity and ineffability of human cognition * Chicago Tribune *Without shying away from technical details, this survey provides an accessible course in neural networks, computer vision, and natural-language processing, and asks whether the quest to produce an abstracted, general intelligence is worrisome . . . Mitchell’s view is a reassuring one * The New Yorker *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd MoneyGPT
Book SynopsisFinancial expert, investment advisor and New York Times bestselling author James Rickards shows how generative AI is reshaping the world of finance, explaining what smart investors can do to protect their assets.AI-powered programmes like ChatGPT have become valuable tools in the financial market, and proven to be incredibly beneficial to investors looking to identify investment opportunities and risks that might be overlooked by humans. Yet there is a darker side to these products, which we are only just beginning to fully understand.In this book, Rickards shows how models like ChatGPT work, and how they can be leveraged to capitalize on markets and avoid losses by providing accurate, up-to-date financial insights. Rickards' guide is essential reading for anyone looking to navigate this tumultuous new climate.James Rickards breaks down the best ways you can protect your wealth in the age of the shifting financial markets, busting the myths surrounding all the usual doomsday predictions around super intelligent AI.
£17.09
MIT Press Climate Justice
Book SynopsisThe social cost of carbon: The most important number you''ve never heard of?and what it means.If you''re injuring someone, you should stop?and pay for the damage you''ve caused. Why, this book asks, does this simple proposition, generally accepted, not apply to climate change? In Climate Justice, a bracing challenge to status-quo thinking on the ethics of climate change, renowned author and legal scholar Cass Sunstein clearly frames what?s at stake and lays out the moral imperative: When it comes to climate change, everyone must be counted equally, regardless of when they live or where they live?which means that wealthy nations, which have disproportionately benefited from greenhouse gas emissions, are obliged to help future generations and people in poor nations that are particularly vulnerable. Invoking principles of corrective justice and distributive justice, Sunstein argues that rich countries should pay for the harms that they have caused and that all of us are obliged to take steps to protect future generations from serious climate-related damage. He shows how ?choice engines,? informed by artificial intelligence, can enable people to save money and to reduce the harms they produce. The book casts new light on the ?social cost of carbon,? the most important number in climate change debates?and explains how intergenerational neutrality and international neutrality can help all nations, above all the United States and China, do what must be done.
£22.46
Pennsylvania State University Press Electromagnetism and the Metonymic Imagination
Book SynopsisIllustrates how the discovery of electromagnetism in 1820 not only led to technological inventions, such as the dynamo and the telegraph, but also legitimized modes of reasoning that manifested a sharper ability to perceive how metonymic relations could reveal the order of things.Trade Review“A fascinating and convincing argument that treats the notion of magnetism in an original way. It will become indispensable reading for cultural historians who are interested in the connections between science and the broader literary or social culture in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.”—David Bell,author of Real Time: Accelerating Narrative from Balzac to Zola“With its uncluttered prose and careful explications of thorny debates and esoteric philosophies, Electromagnetism and the Metonymic Imagination brings precision to a sometimes fuzzy field of interdisciplinary inquiry. Literary scholars will learn much from this book’s cogent analyses, not only about the long history of magnetism, from the sixth-century Aetius of Amida to today’s Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology, but also about how that history has been deeply intertwined with—and marked by—literary reconceptions of imaginative thought.”—Andrea Goulet Nineteenth-Century French Studies“Murphy contributes to ongoing studies on the “electric age” by convincingly demonstrating how electromagnetism drove conceptual and enduring changes in literary and scientific practices. Electromagnetic thinking, including the application of metonymic relations, revealed new ways of ordering and investigating the world. His comparative approach synthesizes electromagnetic analogies across discipline, genre, and national specificities.”—Kameron Sanzo The British Society for Literature and Science“By investigating the links between electricity and magnetism, Murphy uncovers forces that bind the natural and human sciences, literature and science, and analysis and creativity.”—Lindsey Grubbs Poe StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. (Electro-) Magnetic Chains2. Induction Apparatuses3. AutomataConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex
£60.26
Pennsylvania State University Press On Transhumanism
Book SynopsisExamines widespread myths about transhumanism and explores the most pressing ethical issues in the debate over technologically assisted human enhancement.Trade Review“Stefan Lorenz Sorgner is one of the world's leading experts in the fields of trans- and post-humanism. His new book is both thoughtful and forward-looking and will be a welcome addition to the literature on the subject.”—Wolfgang Welsch,Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena“Sorgner provides a detailed and distinct overview of what defines transhumanism and what is understood as transhumanism. His knowledge of the international state of scientific research and of the continental and utilitarian traditions of moral philosophy underline the fact that [this] book is a very informative and fascinating read.”—Thomas Damberger and Estella Hebert Journal of Evolution and Technology“Prof. Sorgner crafted a well-rounded, provocative philosophy piece that tends to challenge the established opinions on human boundaries and perspectives, by teaching and simultaneously allowing to be taught (that is, enhanced), which makes it a rare find and a noteworthy event within . . . posthuman scholarship.”—Aleksandar Talovic Journal of Posthumanism“If you care about the philosophical roots of technological progress, or ways in which these may manifest themselves in future policy, you should have this one on your shelf.”—Woody Evans Prometheus: Critical Studies in InnovationTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsTranslator’s Introduction: Transhumanism in TranslationIntroductory Remarks1. Is Transhumanism the Most Dangerous Idea in the World?2. A Roadmap of Enhancement Debates3. Pedigrees of Metahumanism, Posthumanism, and Transhumanism4. Nietzsche and Transhumanism5. Twelve Pillars of Transhumanist DiscourseConcluding ThoughtsNotesWorks CitedIndex
£64.56
Pennsylvania State University Press Arguing with Numbers
Book SynopsisA collection of essays which deploy rhetorical lenses to explore how mathematics influences the values and beliefs with which we assess the world and make decisions, as well as how our values and beliefs influence the kinds of mathematical instruments we construct and accept. Trade Review“Arguing with Numbers is a major contribution to the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine and is full of important resources for teaching communication to math and engineering students. We can only hope, too, that it will become a foundational book, fostering the further growth of a rhetorical subfield investigating mathematics, related formal systems, and the disciplines that study them.”—Randy Allen Harris,editor of Rhetoric and Incommensurability
£63.71
Pennsylvania State University Press Arguing with Numbers
Book SynopsisA collection of essays which deploy rhetorical lenses to explore how mathematics influences the values and beliefs with which we assess the world and make decisions, as well as how our values and beliefs influence the kinds of mathematical instruments we construct and accept. Trade Review“Arguing with Numbers is a major contribution to the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine and is full of important resources for teaching communication to math and engineering students. We can only hope, too, that it will become a foundational book, fostering the further growth of a rhetorical subfield investigating mathematics, related formal systems, and the disciplines that study them.”—Randy Allen Harris,editor of Rhetoric and Incommensurability
£30.56
Pennsylvania State University Press The Evolution of Mathematics A Rhetorical
Book SynopsisApplies contemporary rhetorical analysis to mathematical discourse, calling into question the commonly held view that math equals truth. Explores how mathematical innovation has historically relied on rhetorical practices of making meaning, such as analogy, metaphor, and invention. Trade Review“Offering a translative resource for the chaos of that bonding and severing, strengthening and weakening, weaving and unraveling, The Evolution of Mathematics leaves no doubt that both dire consequences and dynamic possibilities are at stake in rhetoric’s ongoing confrontation and engagement with the mathematical realities of the world.”—Crystal Broch Colombini The Quarterly Journal of Speech“Certainly, one of the most incisive books published in 2022.”—Cliff Cunningham Sun News Austin“Reyes’s knowledge of and engagement with mathematics are breathtaking in scope. The Evolution of Mathematics is rhetorically engaging as it winds its way through the rabbit hole of mathematical philosophy, history, and technological innovation. Mathematicians will learn about the stakes of their invention and translation practices while rhetoricians will find yet another plane within which rhetoric functions and can be engaged and assessed.”—Catherine Chaput,author of Inside the Teaching Machine: Rhetoric and the Globalization of the U.S. Public Research University
£78.16