Ethical issues: scientific and medical developments Books
Emerald Publishing Limited AI and Popular Culture
Book SynopsisAI and Popular Culture explores the development and social significance of artificial intelligence by looking at representations in fiction, film and television, as well as examining the effect of AI technologies on the way we consume culture. Lee Barron traces the evolution of AI – from the Turing Machine to deep learning, to interrogate the key issues and debates. He uses examples of AI from pop culture to help us understand how the technology is changing aspects of society from surveillance and work to human relationships with technology. AI and Popular Culture sheds light on how artificial intelligence has changed our world and helps you to understand where it might take us next. It also makes significant contributions to Media and Cultural Studies, Humanities, and Social Sciences, as well as to subjects such as AI Ethics and Society and Computing.Table of ContentsIntroduction- The Age of AI Technics Chapter 1. The Development of Artificial Intelligence and AI Debates Chapter 2. AI and Literature Chapter 3. AI and Film Chapter 4. AI and Television Chapter 5. AI Culture: Living with Artificial Intelligence Conclusion- AI Futures: The Terminator, Kurzweil or Machine Learning Scenario?
£17.09
Emerald Publishing Limited Technology and (Dis)Empowerment: A Call to
Book SynopsisThe complex relationship between technology and social outcomes is well known and has recently seen significant attention due to the deepening of technology use in many domains. This includes issues such as the reproduction of inequality due to the digital divide, threats to democracy due to misinformation propagated through social networking platforms, algorithmic biases that can perpetuate structural injustices, hardships caused to citizens due to misplaced assumptions about the gains expected from the use of information technology in government processes, and simplistic beliefs that technology can easily lead to social development. This timely work draws attention to the varying factors by which technology often leads to disempowerment effects. Featuring a Foreword by Tim Unwin, UNESCO Chair in ICT4D, Seth makes a call to technologists to burst the technology optimism bubble, build an ethos for taking greater responsibility in their work, collectivize to similarly shape the internal governance of their organizations, and engage with the rest of society to strengthen democracy and build an acceptance that the primary goal of technology projects should be to bring equality by overturning unjust societal structures.Trade ReviewIf you want to use information technology to make a positive difference in the world, then you need to read this book. Aadi Seth combines careful analysis of the interplay between technology design and socio-political processes with a wealth of practical experience to identify key challenges that efforts around IT for Good will always have to face. -- - Andy Dearden: Professor (Emeritus) Interactive Systems Design, Sheffield Hallam UniversityGiven the enormous influence and control of technologies over our lives, an ethical enquiry into their development, use and ownership is of vital importance. This book provides an incisive account of how state and market-led technologies have exacerbated socio-economic and environmental injustice, and conversely, how technologies based on the ethics of plurality, diversity, power-based equality, freedom and participation can help the movement towards justice and sustainability. Seth's call is not for rejecting technology, but for paradigm shifts towards more socially engaged technology and technologists. -- Ashish Kothari: Kalpavriksh, Vikalp Sangam and Global Tapestry of AlternativesProfessor Aaditeshwar Seth has spent years developing technologies through Gram Vaani, a social enterprise delivering a voice-based social media platform in northern India. Based on wide-ranging scholarship and hard-won experience, he counters market values with an approach to social impact that takes ethics and socio-technical theories seriously. If you're a technologist hoping to contribute to social good, this book will keep you honest! -- Kentaro Toyama: Professor, School of Information, University of MichiganWhat comes out most importantly in the text is Aadi's two-fold firm conviction – one, that a technological community committed towards social good is indeed possible; and two, that dividing lines across technologists and ordinary people can be bridged, and this is what he has argued for. I hope that the technological community engages with these arguments. -- Rahul Varman: Professor, Department of Industrial & Management Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology KanpurTable of ContentsForeword; Tim Unwin Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Contemporary Problems Chapter 3. Understanding Social Good Chapter 4. Ethics Based Foundations Chapter 5. The Limits of Design Chapter 6. Ensuring Power-based Equality Chapter 7. Constraining Structures and Ideologies Chapter 8. Overcoming Paradigms that Disempower Chapter 9. Societal Participation Chapter 10. Conclusions Chapter 11. Epilogue
£70.29
Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd New Horizons for Innovation Studies: Doing
Book SynopsisThis timely book takes an insightful look at rethinking innovation and how lessons can be learnt from what is a major turning point in our contemporary societies: the urgent need to reduce the use or consumption of certain substances and technologies due to the dangers they pose to our environments and current way of life. Using theoretical reflection and empirical work in a broad range of sectors including agriculture, food, health, religion, energy, packaging, markets and digital technology, eminent scholars utilise new perspectives to enrich our understanding of innovation processes and how these can be transformed.New Horizons for Innovation Studies provides a deep dive into what our production and consumption processes are, how they could be innovated differently and how those innovations could interrogate social science concepts and in particular science and technology studies. Chapters explore key case studies and topics for innovation studies, such as the reduced use of antibiotics and pesticides, car-free cities, bans on plastic use and decreasing meat consumption. Further, the book challenges both the partial and complete withdrawal of certain substances and technologies that currently sit at the heart of our contemporary lifestyles, and explores the emergence of alternatives as well as the potential resistance, risks and outcomes.This engaging book will provide a thought-provoking read for scholars and graduate students in innovation policy, science and technology studies and public policy.Trade Review‘With social and environmental imperatives for transformation now taken for granted even at the most elite levels of international governance, there could hardly be a more timely and topical subject: the rethinking of innovation to be as much about how to withdraw from technologies as how to grow them. The result is a refreshingly deeply researched, wide-ranging and ambitious collection of accessible chapters both new and old – all highly practical and policy-relevant. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in taking seriously the responsibilities to steer innovation in directions that deliver peace, social justice and ecological flourishing.’ -- Andy Stirling, University of Sussex, UK‘This is a wonderful and timely contribution to innovation studies, and to science, technology and society studies. Everyone in those fields should read it, and profit from it.’ -- Arie Rip, University of Twente, the NetherlandsTable of ContentsContents: Beyond withdrawal, rethinking innovation in society: introductory considerations 1 Frédéric Goulet and Dominique Vinck PART I FRAMEWORKS 1 Withdrawal in the light of a historical analysis of innovation 18 Benoît Godin 2 Governing the discontinuation of large socio-technical systems 29 Pierre-Benoît Joly, Marc Barbier and Bruno Turnheim 3 How do technologies die? Studies of decline in literature on technological change 47 Zahar Koretsky PART II MECHANISMS FOR DETACHMENT 4 Going gluten-free: individual trajectories of avoidance 71 Grégori Akermann and Paul Coeurquetin 5 Reducing plastic use: from problems and solutions to problematisation 88 Gay Hawkins and Anisah Madden 6 Food without animals: substitution and exclusion 106 Sébastien Mouret and Jocelyne Porcher 7 The value of the Negawatt: load-shifting electricity consumption 120 Thomas Reverdy PART III INTENSITY OF DETACHMENT 8 Preventive moderation: vaccine hesitancy and vaccine selection in Quebec, 1960s–1990s 136 Laurence Monnais 9 Strong withdrawal or weak withdrawal? Problematization of pesticides and categorization of their alternatives in Argentina, Brazil and France 153 Frédéric Goulet, Alexis Aulagnier and Matthieu Hubert 10 Reducing antibiotic use in livestock farming 168 Nicolas Fortané, Florence Hellec, Florence Beaugrand, Nathalie Joly, and Mathilde Paul 11 White paper in a greening world: a journey through struggles over substitutes for chlorine bleaching 182 Nicolas Baya-Laffite PART IV DE-INTERMEDIATION AND REAGENCEMENT 12 Breaking with the assumption of centralization: an attempt to set up a peer-to-peer digital network for sharing agricultural data 201 Léa Stiefel and Dominique Vinck 13 Withdrawing as a matter of re-agencing: the case of bulk sales 216 Franck Cochoy, Alexandre Mallard and Cyrus Eugenio PART V RESISTANCE AND LOCKING 14 When industry holds back the withdrawal of an endocrine disruptor 230 Henri Boullier 15 Pharmaceutical markets and drug withdrawals 245 Nils Kessel 16 Uninventing the bomb 258 Donald MacKenzie 17 Aftercare, or doing less with discontinuation niche governance 268 Peter Stegmaier Conclusion: New Horizons for Innovation Studies 289 Frédéric Goulet and Dominique Vinck Index 300
£114.00
Verso Books Systems Ultra: Making Sense of Technology in a
Book SynopsisSystems Ultra explores how we experience complex systems: the mesh of things, people, and ideas interacting to produce their own patterns and behaviours.What does it mean when a car which runs on code drives dangerously? What does massmarket graphics software tell us about the workplace politics of architects? And, in these human-made systems, which phenomena are designed, and which are emergent? In a world of networked technologies, global supply chains, and supranational regulations, there are growing calls for a new kind of literacy around systems and their ramifications. At the same time, we are often told these systems are impossible to fully comprehend and are far beyond our control.Drawing on field research and artistic practice around the industrial settings of ports, air traffic control, architectural software, payment platforms in adult entertainment, and car crash testing, Georgina Voss argues that complex systems can be approached as sites of revelation around scale, time, materiality, deviance, and breakages. With humour and guile, she tells the story of what 'systems' have come to mean, how they have been sold to us, and the real-world consequences of the power that flows through them.Systems Ultra goes beyond narratives of technological exceptionalism to explore how we experience the complex systems which influence our lives, how to understand them more clearly, and, perhaps, how to change them.Trade ReviewGeorgina Voss thoughtfully explores the dizzying operations and implications of the vast machineries that dominate contemporary life, without ever losing sight of their everyday physicality: their meat and flesh, silicon and steel. A brilliant and hugely enjoyable read. -- James Bridle, author of Ways of BeingWith an ethnographer's eye, a comedian's wit, and a travel guide's sense of adventure, Georgina Voss steers us through the docks and control rooms, the convention halls and design studios, the interfaces and archives from which we can glimpse the global systems that constitute and actuate our contemporary world. Along the way, we gather a set of critical tools for looking at, listening to, mapping, diagramming, scaling, sensing, and feeling our place within these sublime structures - not merely to understand them, but also to equip ourselves to resist, break, hack, and hustle when things need to change. -- Shannon Mattern, author of The City Is Not A ComputerStep inside this book and suddenly, you've got a golden ticket to a Willy Wonka wonderland where everything is connected to everything else. You'll never see systems - of any kind - the same way again -- Fred Turner, Harry & Norman Chandler Professor of Communication, Stanford UniversityUnpacks the hidden complexities of the way we live today, and shows why it is essential for us to understand their means and characteristics. From the networks that control payments systems, vast global shipping routes as well as the ways our cities are designed, she explores their history and why they matter. Too often, we only realise these extraordinary powers that dictate our everyday lives when they go wrong, this is an essential manual to modern life. -- Bruce Schneier, author of A Hacker's Mind: How the Rich and Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend Them BackIt can be surprisingly hard to articulate what a "system" actually is, but thank goodness we have Georgina Voss whose humorous and thought-provoking book vibrantly unpacks the nuances of systems and system thinking. As we follow her through a gargantuan electronics fair in Vegas, one of the largest shipping container ports in Rotterdam, a slick makerspace in Silicon Valley, and a pornography industry trade show, Voss draws on her unusual expertise as both creative practitioner and a researcher to distill what a systems worldview does, what it overlooks and where it breaks. -- Tega Brain, author of Code as Creative MediumTable of Contents1. Systems2. Scale3. Legacy4. Matter5. Deviance6. Breakage
£16.14
Verso Books The Politics of Immunity: Security and the
Book SynopsisOur contemporary political condition is obsessed with immunity. The immunity of bodies and the body politic; personal immunity and herd immunity; how to immunize the social system against breakdown. The obsession intensifies with every new crisis and the mobilization of yet more powers of war and police, from quarantine to border closures and from vaccination certificates to immunological surveillance.Engaging four key concepts with enormous cultural weight - Cell, Self, System and Sovereignty - Politics of Immunity moves from philosophical biology to intellectual history and from critical theory to psychoanalysis to expose the politics underpinning the way immunity is imagined. At the heart of this imagination is the way security has come to dominate the whole realm of human experience. From biological cell to political subject, and from physiological system to the social body, immunity folds into security, just as security folds into immunity. The book thus opens into a critique of the violence of security and spells out immunity's tendency towards self-destruction and death: immunity, like security, can turn its aggression inwards, into the autoimmune disorder. Wide-ranging and polemical, Politics of Immunity lays down a major challenge to the ways in which the immunity of the self and the social are imagined.Trade ReviewIt is difficult to do justice to the breadth and depth of this book. The sheer multidisciplinary variety of insights offered here, ranging from neurology and immunology to psychoanalysis and international law, is frequently dazzling. While the title might lead one to expect it to operate primarily as a conjunctural intervention, it is also a valuable archaeology illuminating various aspects of modern political power. -- Richard SeymourNeocleous' provocative interventions into the politics of the present is guaranteed to make readers think anew about the body-material and body-politic, our selves as well as sovereignty. He tells a fascinating (and nervous) story. -- Joanna BourkeA masterful survey of one of the key metaphors of our time: the medical biopicture of the body as a battleground, and the extension of this metaphor to the "body politic." The twin discourses of immunity as a literal feature of organic bodily systems, its counterpart in discussions of sovereignty, warfare, and police power in the terms of the immune system are brought together here in a compelling account grounded in the broader concept of security. The fundamental paradigm of the "Self/Non-Self" as a biopolitical analogy between medical and social bodies is called into question by this incisive critique. -- W. J. T. Mitchell, author of Cloning Terror: The War of Images, 9-11 to the PresentIn this scholarly and wide-ranging engagement with one of the most topical issues of our time, Neocleous provides both an informative history of the idea of immunity and an astute analysis of the concept itself and its interweaving usage in medical, legal and social contexts. But what is most distinctive and revealing in his study is the axis around which it is shown to revolve: the imbrication of immunity and security concerns, and their mutually reinforcing political logics. -- Kate Soper
£22.50
Emerald Publishing Limited The Philosophy of Transhumanism: A Critical
Book SynopsisTranshumanism is an international cultural movement which seeks to fundamentally transform the human condition through radical technological enhancement. Transhumanists claim that we are already in transition to a new phase of humanity where the limitations of mortality, ignorance, and suffering will soon be altered or even completely erased. The Philosophy of Transhumanism: A Critical Analysis presents the central ideas of transhumanist philosophy and offers a lens through which to reflect on the meaning of being human in anticipation of radical technology. The radical technologies in question variously include greater-than-human machine intelligence, mind-computer interfaces, gene-editing, and nanotechnology. The continued funding and interest generated by those associated with these projects suggest transhumanism is continued migration from a fringe concern to a central way of conceiving the future. Though a variety of positions exist within transhumanism, the unifying theme is a belief that the techno-engineering of a new type of upgraded human is both beneficial and inevitable. These ambitions raise serious questions about the appearance of a transhuman or even posthuman being, and warrants a critical analysis from alternative philosophical and religious perspectives. This book seeks to present the philosophy of transhumanism in a way that is both timely and accessible, and to challenge what will be seen as the core argument of transhumanist philosophy: that there is nothing about human beings that cannot be reconceived as a technical problem.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Redesigning Humans Chapter 2. Engaging with Transhumanism Chapter 3. Living Forever:Transhumanism and Mortality Chapter 4. Unlimited; Intelligence and Well-Being Chapter 5. The Role of The Philosopher in Transhumanism Chapter 6. Transhumanism and Buddhist Philosophy: Two Approaches to Suffering
£43.69
Cornerstone The Future of Medicine (WIRED guides): How We
Book SynopsisBy the end of this century, living beyond 100 will be the rule rather than the exception. What medical breakthroughs and new technologies will make this possible?In this brilliantly wide-ranging, one-stop guide WIRED journalist James Temperton outlines the medical revolutions that are transforming healthcare. He looks at the burgeoning immune therapies that could one day cure such life-threatening diseases as cancer. He explores the science - and ethics - of genetic engineering and its potential to create 'designer babies'. He considers the role that cutting-edge medical research could play in the treatment of mental and neurological disorders ranging from depression to autism. And he addresses the fundamental question: could medical technology become so sophisticated that we witness the end of ageing?
£8.99
Temple Lodge Publishing In The Shadow of the Machine: The Prehistory of
Book SynopsisContemporary life is so deeply reliant upon digital technology that the computer has come to dominate almost every aspect of our culture. What is the philosophical and spiritual significance of this dependence on electronic technology, both for our relationship to nature and for the future of humanity? And, what processes in human perception and awareness have produced the situation we find ourselves in? As Jeremy Naydler elucidates in this penetrating study, we cannot understand the emergence of the computer without seeing it within the wider context of the evolution of human consciousness, which has taken place over millennia. Modern consciousness, he shows, has evolved in conjunction with the development of machines and under their intensifying shadow. The computer was the product of a long historical development, culminating in the scientific revolution of the 17th century. It was during this period that the first mechanical calculators were invented and the project to create more complex `thinking machines’ began in earnest. But the seeds were sown many hundreds of years earlier, deep in antiquity. Naydler paints a vast panorama depicting human development and the emergence of electronic technology. His painstaking research illuminates an urgent question that concerns every living person today: What does it mean to be human and what, if anything, distinguishes us from machines?Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements PART ONE: THE ANCIENT WORLD – CHAPTER ONE Participative Consciousness in Deep Antiquity; CHAPTER TWO The Gods and Technological Consciousness in the Ancient Near East; CHAPTER THREE Poets, Visionaries and the Rise of the Clever Man; CHAPTER FOUR Harnessing Logic to the Pursuit of Wisdom; CHAPTER FIVE Technology in the Greco-Roman Age; CHAPTER SIX The Eclipse of the Mystery Knowledge of Electricity; PART TWO: THE MIDDLE AGES – CHAPTER SEVEN Grammar and Logic in the Middle Ages; CHAPTER EIGHT The Logic Machine and the Cam Logical Devices; CHAPTER NINE The Mechanical Clock and Human Consciousness; CHAPTER TEN The Quantification of the World The Denial of Ideas in Nature; CHAPTER ELEVEN The Renunciation of the Upper Border; Notes, Index
£20.25
Legend Press Ltd The Influence of Civil Society on Japanese
Book SynopsisJapan is the only country in the world to have been attacked with nuclear weapons. Her anti-nuclear Civil Society Organisations - with their experiences of coping with the fallout of the atom bomb blasts - are passionately committed to their cause. While international treaties are final objectives, there is another effective diplomatic approach towards nuclear disarmament: CSO diplomacy might open the window of deadlocked inter-state negotiations.The role of civil society in the field of security is relatively new, coming to prominence during the establishment of the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines, the so-called Ottawa Treaty.The Treaty signalled that the role, presence and decision of governments are essential. This is an investigation into how Japanese CSOs have influenced the Japanese official policy with regards to nuclear disarmament. It focuses on the private diplomacy of CSOs; on the mitigation of inter-state conflicts that lie behind nuclear issues; and on the involvement of governments in social movements of nuclear disarmament.Dr Kazuhiro Tobisawa suggests that developing a solid understand of the pertinent issues surrounding Japaneses CSOs could lead to the resolution of half-a-century of failed attempts at nuclear disarmament.
£24.00
aSys Publishing Constructive Interference: Developing the brain’s
Book Synopsis
£16.14
PCCS Books Online Counselling: An essential guide
Book SynopsisAfter many years on the fringe, online counselling has rapidly become mainstream practice, propelled by the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet too often practitioners assume they can transition from in-person counselling without need for further training. In this essential book, Sarah Worley-James brings her many years' experience of online counselling and supervision to explore with the reader the practical and technical requirements of the work and also, importantly, the relational issues that working online brings. The book covers video, audio and text-based counselling, using vivid vignettes and case examples to bring to life its contents. All aspects, from transitioning and setting up the room and the equipment needed through to contracts, data storage and, above all, risk, are covered, with practical exercises to help you gain confidence in using these emerging media to their full creative potential.Trade Review'Reading Online Counselling made me realise just of how far online therapy has matured as a profession over the past 10 years. Sarah's warm and inviting style of writing nails the subject of online therapy from page one. Any online therapist, whether experienced or not, will find so much in this book that will benefit them and, consequently, their online clients.' Pip Weitz, Training Director, Academy for Online Therapy - 'This is sure to be a core text for counselling courses.' Adrian Rhodes, Chair, ACTO; President, European Confederation of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies (ECPP) - 'Sarah Worley-James has written the book we have been waiting for. It is up-to-date and has a clear, inclusive, user-friendly style.' Anne Stokes, Patron of ACTO; Director (retired) of Online Training Ltd - 'The book is an excellent resource for those new to online therapy and practitioners who are fine-tuning their existing online knowledge and skills.' Jane Evans MA, BACP (Senior Accred), author of Online Counselling and Guidance Skills (2009).Table of ContentsIntroduction, 1. What is online counselling? 2. Transitioning to online counselling, 3. Getting started, 4. Ethical practice online, 5. Developing a therapeutic relationship through video, 6. Developing a therapeutic relationship in audio and telephone counselling, 7. Developing a therapeutic relationship in text-based counselling, 8. Assessing risk online, 9. Working with risk online, 10. Supervision for online counsellors, 11. Self-care for online counselling
£18.99
Threshold Editions Tech Panic
Book Synopsis
£15.19
De Gruyter Familiengründung mittels Eizellspende
Book Synopsis
£123.50
De Gruyter The Biopolitics of Human Enhancement
Book SynopsisThe study of the social implications of human enhancement is an interdisciplinary work that draws from the fields of political science, sociology, philosophy, and bioethics, among others. It is also a complex and rapidly evolving subject that raises important questions about the potential benefits and risks of these technologies, as well as how society should govern and regulate their development and use. An in-depth exploration of current and future human enhancement technologies, this book delves into the specifics of current and emerging human enhancement technologies, such as cognitive enhancers, brain-computer interfaces, and genetic engineering, discussing the state of the art, the limitations and also the technological developments that one can expect in the future and how they can be regulated and used responsibly.
£61.50
Springer International Publishing AG The Ethics of Research with Human Subjects:
Book SynopsisThis book provides a framework for approaching ethical and policy dilemmas in research with human subjects from the perspective of trust. It explains how trust is important not only between investigators and subjects but also between and among other stakeholders involved in the research enterprise, including research staff, sponsors, institutions, communities, oversight committees, government agencies, and the general public. The book argues that trust should be viewed as a distinct ethical principle for research with human subjects that complements other principles, such as autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. The book applies the principle of trust to numerous issues, including informed consent, confidentiality, risk minimization, risks and benefits, protection of vulnerable subjects, experimental design, research integrity, and research oversight.This work also includes discussions of the history of research involving human subjects, moral theories and principles, contemporary cases, and proposed regulatory reforms. The book is useful for undergraduate and graduate students studying ethical policy issues related to research with human subjects, as well as for scientists and scholars who are interested in thinking about this topic from the perspective of trust.Table of ContentsDedication.- Acknowledgments.- List of Abbreviations.- Chapter One: Introduction.- Chapter Two: Historical Background.- Chapter Three: Moral Theory.- Chapter Four: A Trust-Based Approach to Research with Human Subjects.- Chapter Five: Informed Consent.- Chapter Six: Privacy and.-Confidentiality.- Chapter Seven: Risks.- Chapter Eight: Benefits.- Chapter Nine: Vulnerable Subjects.- Chapter Ten: Research Integrity.- Chapter Eleven: Regulatory Reform.- Chapter Twelve: Conclusion.- References.- Index.
£94.99
Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft Das Neue Infektionsschutzrecht
Book Synopsis
£68.25
DruckVerlag Kettler Food Revolution 5.0
Book SynopsisFood is a social phenomenon: it keeps us alive, influences our identity and creates social codes and values. Food and food preparation is no longer simply a question of sustenance, but of lifestyle as well. At the same time, however, agriculture and the current standards of food production are among the main drivers of climate change. What does the future of our food look like in the light of dwindling resources and the globalisation of the food industry? How can we produce enough food for the rapidly increasing global population in a way that respects the earth's ecosystems? Food Revolution 5.0 tries to find answers to these questions. The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg has invited the Dutch design studio Makkink & Bey to create a multidisciplinary laboratory dedicated to the future of food, including four stages - farm, supermarket, kitchen and table as visual representations of the food cycle from start to finish. The book takes a critical look at the global food industry and presents visions of designers, architects, scientists and photographers. Text in English and German.
£27.00
Trivent Publishing Sex Robots: Love in the Age of Machines
Book SynopsisThe scientific and technological innovations that will take place over the next decade will transform our society in profound ways. Sex robots, or robots made for sex, are already becoming a reality as a substitute for human beings in bed: although current prototypes are relatively simple and crude, future technological capabilities will render sex robots capable of interacting with humans in more human-like ways. They will be able to recognize their partner, understand their state of mind, and learn their tastes and preferences.Professor Maurizio Balistreri introduces us to the fascinating world of sex of the future by addressing all the ethical issues that the large-scale commercialization of sex robots will raise without taboos and judgements. What will become of love if all our sexual relationships are conducted with machines? What will happen to the world of paid sex and pornography? Will sex robots increase or decrease sexual violence? In addition to confronting the international debate on the moral acceptability of sex robots, this book examines the most recent studies on violent video games and pornography, questioning the widespread belief that playing violent games or witnessing violent representations corrupts people and makes them violent. Not only could sex robots be an essential tool for expressing and exploring our most forbidden sexual fantasies, but they could also be used to treat sex offenders and paedophiles. Sex Robots is a book that questions our prejudices towards sex robots with clarity and simplicity, helping us reason and reflect on a future that is already present, in the awareness that robots will change the world and our lives.
£61.75
Trivent Publishing The Morality Pill
Book Synopsis
£31.35