Impact of science and technology on society Books

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Book SynopsisA sweeping inquiry that critiques modern science’s claims of objectivity, rationality, and truthTable of ContentsContentsPrefaceBook IV. Quantum Mechanics: The End of the Dream1. Atoms Exist!2. Abandon the Dream?3. Niels Bohr’s Lesson4. Quantum Irony5. The Physicists’ Double Standard6. The Silent Descendant of the Queen of HeavenBook V. In the Name of the Arrow of Time: Prigogine’s Challenge7. The Arrow of Time8. Boltzmann’s Successor9. Boltzmann’s Heir10. The Obligations of Chaos11. The Laws of Chaos?12. The Passion of the LawBook VI. Life and Artifice: The Faces of Emergence13. The Question of Emergence14. The Practices of Emergence15. Dissipative Coherence16. Artifice and Life17. The Art of Models18. Transition to the LimitBook VII. The Curse of Tolerance19. The Curse of Tolerance20. The Curse as Test21. Anxiety and Fright22. The Politics of Technical Inventions23. The Cosmopolitical Question24. Nomadic and Sedentary25. The Betrayal of the Diplomats26. The Diplomat’s Peace27. Calculemus28. The Final ChallengeNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisDu Sautoy's discussion of computer creativity is fascinating' ObserverCAN MACHINES BE CREATIVE?In The Creativity Code, Marcus du Sautoy examines the nature of creativity, asking how much of our emotional response to art is a product of our brains reacting to pattern and structure, and exactly what it is to be creative in mathematics, art, language and music.Exploring how long it might be before machines compose a symphony or paint a masterpiece, and whether they might jolt us into being more imaginative in turn, The Creativity Code is a fascinating and very different exploration into the essence of what it means to be human.Trade Review‘What a wonderful, brilliant, joyous read! Marcus makes it seem so easy, and such fun, to begin to understand that which appears complex, frightening and beautiful, and the magic of being human’ Philippe Sands ‘The Creativity Code is only partly a book about AI art. It is as much about how AI thinks and how it does mathematics — du Sautoy’s own special subject. And on these topics, he is thoughtful and illuminating’ The Times ‘Du Sautoy is […] the light-bearer, illuminating not only the work of coders and creators, but the mathematics of chaos that underpin art and our emotional responses to it’ Hans Ulrich Obrist ‘Why could a machine one day not create a truly original work of art, write a moving poem, compose an opera or even discover a mathematical theorem? The answers, in this compelling and thought-provoking book by mathematician and musician, Marcus du Sautoy, can be found by breaking down what it actually means to be creative’ Jim Al-Khalili ‘Fact-packed and funny, questioning what we mean by creative and unsettling the script about what it means to be human, The Creativity Code is a brilliant travel guide to the coming world of AI’ Jeanette Winterson ‘Fascinating book … if all the experiences, hopes, dreams, visions, lusts, loves and hatreds that shape the human imagination amount to nothing more than a “code”, then sooner or later a machine will crack it. Indeed, Du Sautoy assembles an eclectic array of evidence to show how that’s happening even now’ The Times ‘Absorbing study … eloquent and illuminating’ Nature Magazine

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Book SynopsisRoger Spitz is a futurist, author, and President of Techistential, a foresight strategy consultancy. He also chairs the Disruptive Futures Institute, a global education hub which empowers organizations and entrepreneurs. His work has been featured in numerous media outlets, such as Fast Company, WIRED, and MIT Technology Review. He is based in San Francisco, USA.

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Book SynopsisThis book is the first to examine the history of imaginative thinking about intelligent machines. As real Artificial Intelligence (AI) begins to touch on all aspects of our lives, this long narrative history shapes how the technology is developed, deployed and regulated. It is therefore a crucial social and ethical issue. Part I of this book provides a historical overview from ancient Greece to the start of modernity. These chapters explore the revealing pre-history of key concerns of contemporary AI discourse, from the nature of mind and creativity to issues of power and rights, from the tension between fascination and ambivalence to investigations into artificial voices and technophobia. Part II focuses on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in which a greater density of narratives emerge alongside rapid developments in AI technology. These chapters reveal not only how AI narratives have consistently been entangled with the emergence of real robotics and AI, but also how they of

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Book SynopsisFrom the pilot's seat in the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, to the site in Finland where highly radioactive waste will be buried, this is the incredible story of nuclear power.Providing a vivid account of the characters and events that have shaped this controversial energy source and our thinking around it, The Power of Nuclear weaves politics, culture and technology to explore the past and future of nuclear power. Investigating the dawn of the atomic age in the 1940s, it goes on to show how the world came to fear nuclear plants after Chernobyl.In his quest to disentangle myth from facts, Marco Visscher asks: How dangerous is radiation? What should you do after a nuclear accident? And have nuclear weapons really made the world less safe? And why do some still reject the evidence that the atom can provide unlimited clean energy and free countries of their dependence on fossil fuels , combatting climate change and offering energy securi

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Waterstones Best Science Book of the Year""A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year""Engaging and illuminating, al-Khalili argues that a scientific approach is 'one of humankind’s great riches and the birthright of everyone.'"---Hannah Beckerman, The Observer"A little book of calm that is very welcome in these strange times."---Simon Ings, New Scientist"An easily digestible, pocket-sized guide in how to think more scientifically, and how this can benefit us in everyday life."---Sara Rigby, BBC Science Focus"Professor Jim Al-Khalili of Surrey University is a distinguished theoretical physicist who has also worked wonders in making science accessible and engaging. This short book encapsulates his achievement in its combination of concision (under 200 pages), lucidity and rigour. . . . In practice, this is not just a book about science but a short guide to how we live now."---Matthew D’Ancona, Tortoise Media"Al-Khalili aims to empower readers to use critical thinking to evaluate the news, as well as their own knowledge and beliefs. He succeeds easily, with each chapter dedicated to a lesson readers can apply to their lives. . . . Readers overwhelmed by information overload will find this a balm." * Publishers Weekly *"An extremely readable account. . . .a good basic primer to the scientific way of thinking."---Gautam Gangopadhyay, Contemporary Physics

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Book SynopsisNeoliberalism isn't working. Austerity is forcing millions into poverty and many more into precarious work, while the left remains trapped in stagnant political practices that offer no respite.Inventing the Future is a bold new manifesto for life after capitalism. Against the confused understanding of our high-tech world by both the right and the left, this book claims that the emancipatory and future-oriented possibilities of our society can be reclaimed. Instead of running from a complex future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams demand a postcapitalist economy capable of advancing standards, liberating humanity from work and developing technologies that expand our freedoms.This new edition includes a new chapter where they respond to their various critics.Trade ReviewA powerful book: it not only shows us how the postcapitalist world of rapidly improving technology could make us free, but it also shows us how we can organise to get there. This is a must-read. * Paul Mason, author of Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future *Inventing the Future is exactly what we need right now. With immense patience and care, it sets out a clear and compelling vision of a postcapitalist society. Equally importantly, it lays out a plausible programme which can take us from 24/7 capitalist immiseration to a world free of work. -- Mark Fisher, author of Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?Neoliberalism and austerity seem to reign supreme - the idea of a society not run for profit seems impossible. Or does it? The fascinating Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams argues for a radical transformation of society. -- Owen Jones * New Statesman *Inventing the Future is unapologetically a manifesto, and a much-overdue clarion call to a seriously disorganized metropolitan left to get its shit together, to start thinking - and arguing - seriously about what is to be done.It is hard to deny the persuasiveness with which the book puts forward the positive contents of a new and vigorous populism; in demanding full automation and universal basic income from the world system, they also demand the return of utopian thinking and serious organization from the left. * Los Angeles Review of Books *Srnicek and Williams demonstrate how a sustainable economic future is less a question of means than of imagination. The postcapitalist world they envision is utterly attainable, if we can remember that we have been inventing the economy all along. -- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens NowNick Srnicek and Alex Williams' project dares to propose a different way of thinking and acting. Given the fizzling of the Occupy moment, a radical rethinking of the anarchic approach is badly needed but just not happening. This book could do a lot of work in getting that rethink going. -- Doug Henwood, author of Wall StreetA conceptual launch pad for a new socialist imagination. -- Mike Davis, author of Planet of SlumsThe most important book of 2015. -- Aaron Bastani, co-founder of Novara MediaThey argue that, in the future, the workplace won't exist in anything like the form we have now, and in any case it will have very few permanent workers. Assuming this position, they ask: What would be the social vision appropriate to a jobless future? * n+1 *Inventing the Future may be the shrewdest, sanest pipe dream of a book published since the recession. -- Nathan Heller * New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE 800-CEO-READ BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2015In the vein of Susan Cain's QUIET and Malcolm Gladwell's DAVID AND GOLIATH, HOW TO FLY A HORSE is a smart, empowering book that dispels the myths around genius and creativity.There is a myth about how something new comes to be;Trade ReviewAshton is persuasive … His well chosen examples reinforce the idea that there is no magic or myth to creation or discovery, making this an approachable, thought-provoking book that encourages everyone to be as good as they can be. * Observer *An inspiring vision of creativity that’s littered with practical advice, and is a cracking read to boot. * BBC Focus *Many of these anecdotes are rather lovely – a chapter on the credit denied female scientists is fascinating * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisSpark was previously published as Bored and Brilliant.'Crammed with practical exercises for anyone who wants to reclaim the power of spacing out' - Gretchen Rubin, author of #1 New York Times Bestseller The Happiness ProjectIt’s time to move ‘doing nothing’ to the top of your to-do list Have you ever noticed how you have your best ideas when doing the dishes or staring out the window? It's because when your body goes on autopilot, your brain gets busy connecting ideas and solving problems.However in the modern world it often feels as though we have completely removed boredom from our lives; we are addicted to our phones, we reply to our emails twenty-four hours a day, tweet as we watch TV, watch TV as we commute, check Facebook as we walk and Instagram while we eat. Constant stimulation has become our default mode. In this easy to follow, practical book, award-winning journalist Manoush Zomorodi explores the connection between boredom and original thinking, and will show you how to ditch your screens and start embracing time spent doing nothing. Spark will help you unlock the way to becoming your most productive and creative self.'Full of easy steps to make each day more effective' - Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of HabitTrade ReviewFull of easy steps to make each day more effective and every life more intentional. * Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of The Power of Habit *Spark shows the fascinating side of boredom. Manoush Zomorodi investigates cutting-edge research as well as compelling (and often funny) real-life examples to demonstrate that boredom is actually a crucial tool for making our lives happier, more productive, and more creative. * Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of The Happiness Project *Timely, political and liberating. * Emerald Street *This could do for unplugging what Marie Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up did for decluttering * Booklist *In this age of information, Zomorodi’s book seems revolutionary, almost subversive . . . an important reminder that we are not beholden to our devices. * Bookpage *If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the technology in your life, Manoush Zomorodi totally gets you. -- Tech Times

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Book Synopsis_______________‘One of the best books yet written on data and algorithms. . .deserves a place on the bestseller charts.’ (The Times) You are accused of a crime. Who would you rather determined your fate – a human or an algorithm?An algorithm is more consistent and less prone to error of judgement. Yet a human can look you in the eye before passing sentence.Welcome to the age of the algorithm, the story of a not-too-distant future where machines rule supreme, making important decisions – in healthcare, transport, finance, security, what we watch, where we go even who we send to prison. So how much should we rely on them? What kind of future do we want?Hannah Fry takes us on a tour of the good, the bad and the downright ugly of the algorithms that surround us. In Hello World she lifts the lid on their inner workings, demonstrates their power, exposes their limitations, and examines whether they really are an improvement on the humans they are replacing.A BBC RADIO 4: BOOK OF THE WEEKSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2018 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE AND 2018 ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZETrade ReviewA stylish, thoughtful, and scrupulously fair-minded account of what the software that increasingly governs our lives can and cannot do ... A beautifully accessible guide that leaps lightly from one story to the next without sparing the reader hard questions... deserves a place in the bestseller charts. -- Oliver Moody * The Times *With refreshing simplicity, Fry explains what AI, machine learning and complicated algorithms really mean, providing some succinct explanations of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, driverless cars and many other unnerving modern phenomena…This book illustrates why good science writers are essential. -- Katy Guest * Guardian *Brilliantly clear...Fry succinctly outlines the ethical issues that beset AI -- James McConnaiche * Sunday Times *Hello World is a gem of accessible science writing. With eloquence and charm, Hannah Fry outlines the maths of computer algorithms and explains how they are transforming fields such as health, justice, transport and the arts. She is a wise guide to the benefits - and horrors of our increasingly data-driven world. -- Alex Bellos, author of Alex's Adventures in NumberlandExpertly told, wise and with a lightness of touch, Hannah Fry's brilliant exploration of how we live our lives in the age of AI will prompt arguments in pubs and over dinner tables for years to come. -- Adam Rutherford

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Book SynopsisHow smart machines are transforming us all — and what we should do about it. The smart-machines revolution is re-shaping our lives and our societies. Here, Nigel Shadbolt, one of Britain’s leading authorities on artificial intelligence, and Roger Hampson dispel terror, confusion, and misconception. They argue that it is human stupidity, not artificial intelligence, that should concern us. Lucid, well-informed, and deeply human, The Digital Ape offers a unique approach to some of the biggest questions about our future.Trade Review‘[W]e should be grateful to Sir Nigel Shadbolt and Roger Hampson for pausing for breath and helping us to think through the true significance of our latest technological developments.’ * Financial Times *‘Numbed by dire warnings of technological Armageddon? Computer scientist Nigel Shadbolt and economist Roger Hampson dispel the miasma with this superb survey of the landscape we “digital apes” have wrought.’ -- Barbara Kiser * Nature *'Nigel Shadbolt is one of the most fascinating and important scientists alive today.' -- Professor Jim Al-Khalili'There has never been a more important time to discuss what it means to be human, in the past, now, and in the future. This is a book for anyone interested in getting behind the headlines and understanding how technology is impacting our world. The writers are two masters in their field who are not only erudite but immensely humane and compassionate.' -- Martha Lane Fox'This is a brilliantly readable, genuinely cutting-edge book that is also often very entertaining. Of all the recent studies of automation and AI, The Digital Ape stands head and shoulders above the rest. Shadbolt and Hampson have written a landmark book.' * Andrew Keen, author of How to Fix the Future and The Internet is Not the Answer *‘Rich in ideas and insights, the book is especially strong on our growing personal relationships with Alexa and other robots … An upbeat — even reassuring — take on what will be an AI-saturated future.’ STARRED REVIEW * Kirkus Reviews *‘All explore the relationship between the human animal and what might be its most momentous creation yet: artificial intelligence … In a series of wide-ranging chapters, the authors argue that human beings are not just distinguished by their ability to use tools but also largely shaped by it.’ * Weekend Australian *‘[An] interdisciplinary approach comes over in The Digital Ape, which has arresting sentences.’ * Computer Weekly *

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Book SynopsisA TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Engaging and visceral ... Reads like a thriller' Financial Times 'Riveting and often deeply disturbing ... A punch to the stomach' Sunday Times 'Ebner has done some gutsy, thought-provoking research' Sunday Telegraph 'Fascinating and important' Spectator By day, Julia Ebner works at a counter-extremism think tank, monitoring radical groups from the outside. But two years ago, she began to feel she was only seeing half the picture; she needed to get inside the groups to truly understand them. She decided to go undercover in her spare hours – late nights, holidays, weekends – adopting five different identities, and joining a dozen extremist groups from across the ideological spectrum. Her journey would take her from a Generation Identity global strategy meeting in a pub in Mayfair, to a Neo-Nazi Music Festival on the border of Germany and Poland. She would get relationship advice from ‘Trad Wives’ and Jihadi Brides and hacking lessons from ISIS. She was in the channels when the alt-right began planning the lethal Charlottesville rally, and spent time in the networks that would radicalise the Christchurch terrorist. In Going Dark, Ebner takes the reader on a deeply compulsive journey into the darkest recesses of extremist thinking, exposing how closely we are surrounded by their fanatical ideology every day, the changing nature and practice of these groups, and what is being done to counter them.Trade ReviewEbner has done some gutsy, thought-provoking research **** * Sunday Telegraph *Engaging and visceral ... At times, Ebner’s undercover work reads like a thriller ... Going Dark pulls back the facade of invulnerability and remorselessness that extremists promote with glossy propaganda, to understand those they recruit * Financial Times *Riveting and often deeply disturbing ... Her aim is to expose the way extremist groups manipulate their members in the hope that this will prevent others from being radicalised by them. Her book is a call, too, for policy-makers to rethink their response to extremism ... A punch to the stomach * The Sunday Times *Fascinating and important ... Going Dark shows how diverse groups feed off each other, using similar tactics to create social bubbles while exploiting the weakness — or reluctance — of social media firms to control their hate-filled content. It underlines the dangers of ignoring the threat of far-right terror, the normalisation of violence-inciting ideologies and the fearsome power of technology to inspire copycat attacks * Spectator *A chilling, compulsive investigation into online extremist groups * Standpoint *A thorough and shocking exploration of how the internet has facilitated the spread of extremism ... Ebner depicts the vast and rapid spread of online extremism, and the challenge we face in fighting it * City AM *Julia Ebner advises governments and organisations on online extremism and hate speech. To complete her investigations of online fanatics, she assumes a variety of identities and goes undercover in a dozen tech-savvy extremist groups ... Absorbing and intelligent ... Ebner doesn't just analyse these things, she takes real risks to witness them up close. The result is a work that is terrifying because it is non-fiction. * Irish News *Julia Ebner's description of infiltrating extremist groups – and her first hand account of how their ideology is turned into violent action – is chilling ... [she] deserves a medal * Lord Harris of Haringey, House Magazine *Julia Ebner has not only teased out and explained the common denominator in extremist movements, she has done so in a way that is humanising, engrossing and alarming. Going Dark is not just an overdue, almost exhaustive journey of research into the lives of extremists, it is a public service -- Nesrine Malik, author of We Need New StoriesA scintillating journey into a secret world that is impacting our everyday lives in ways we are only just starting to grasp. Simultaneously immersive and analytical, Ebner’s adventures in the dark crevasses of the internet shows how fascism works today – and what needs to be done to stop it -- Peter Pomerantsev, author of This is Not PropagandaGoing Dark makes for terrifying reading, but it’s all the more essential for that, exposing just how closely we’re surrounded by fanatical ideology every day of our lives, and how that ideology is being countered * Stylist *

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Book SynopsisA visionary novel about our interconnected world, about the collision of horror and humanity, from the Man Booker-shortlisted master of the spine-tingling tale A Guardian & Observer Best Fiction Book of 2020 * A Sunday Times Best Science Fiction Book of the Year * The Times Best Science Fiction Books of the Year * NPR Best Books of the Year World Literature Today's 75 Notable Translations of 2020 * Ebook Travel Guides Best 5 Books of 2020 * A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 They’re not pets. Not ghosts or robots. These are kentukis, and they are in your home. You can trust them. They care about you... They've infiltrated apartments in Hong Kong, shops in Vancouver, the streets of Sierra Leone, town squares of Oaxaca, schools in Tel Aviv, bedrooms in Indiana. Anonymous and untraceable, these seemingly cute cuddly toys reveal the beauty of connection between far-flung souls – but they also expose the ugly truth of our interconnected society. Samanta Schweblin's wildly imaginative new novel pulls us into a dark and complex world of unexpected love, playful encounters and marvellous adventures. But beneath the cuddly exterior, kentukis conceal a truth that is unsettlingly familiar and exhilaratingly real. This is our present and we’re living it – we just don’t know it yet. *Little Eyes comes with two different covers, and the cover you receive will be chosen at random*Trade Review'Ingenious... An artful exploration of solitude and empathy in a globalised world… In a nimble, fast-moving narrative, what’s most impressive is the way she foregrounds her characters’ inner hopes and fears.' * Guardian *'Disturbing... Schweblin enjoys hovering just above the normal. Inspired by Samuel Beckett, she is interested in exposing absurdities.' * Financial Times *‘Little Eyes makes for masterfully uneasy reading; it’s a book that burrows under your skin.’ * Telegraph *'I cannot remember a book so efficient in establishing character and propelling narrative; there’s material for a hundred novels in these deft, rich 242 pages... The writing, ably translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell, is superb, fully living up to the promise of Schweblin's stunning previous novel, Fever Dream... A slim volume as expansive and ambitious as an epic.' * New York Times *'A timely meditation on humanity and technology.' * Harper's Bazaar *'Little Eyes provides us with a powerful examination of the underlining disparities that persist. It is a fable for a society in which we are all made to feel simultaneously exposed and anonymous, connected and alone.' * Times Literary Supplement *‘Little Eyes acts as a clear warning that every digital decision we make has consequences... It does feel alarmingly real.’ * i *'This dazzling inquiry into loneliness and connection...has been given added resonance by the atomisation of lockdown.' * Guardian, '50 Brilliant Books to Transport You This Summer' *'A dark story, beautifully translated by Megan McDowell, it leaves the reader in a world from which there is no escape, as it questions our growing complicity in social media and neocapitalist technologies.' * Morning Star *'Creepy as hell.' * Weekend Sport *‘Enjoyable reading… riffing on everyday human foibles – jealousy, capriciousness, existential restlessness…the understatedly arch tone is well served by Megan McDowell’s translation, which is so slick that one hardly seems to be reading a translated work.’ * Literary Review *'Daring and original... Schweblin deftly explores both the loneliness and casual cruelty that can inform our attempts to connect in this modern world.' * Booklist *'If you want a spookily prescient vision of human isolation both assuaged and deepened by inscrutable, glitch-prone tech, then Little Eyes more than fits the brief... Adroitly served by Megan McDowell’s winningly deadpan translation, these stories deal not in 'truly brutal plots' but 'desperately human and quotidian' urges, fears and scams... In the middle of our stay-at-home, broadband-enabled apocalypse, that feels right.' * Spectator *'The 'toys' Schweblin has created are the perfect hybrid between a pet and a social network, enabling her to dissect problems that touch all of our lives: the dark side of the internet; the global epidemic of loneliness; the dumb inertia that leads us to jump on board with the latest trend… As always in the worlds Schweblin creates, the real monsters are to be found not in the outside world, but inside each of us.' * New York Times (Spanish edition) *'A dystopian novel that is necessary, hypnotic, irresistible.' * Elle Italia *'This brilliant and disturbing book resembles Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale in how it speculates…Schweblin unspools a disquieting portrait of the dark sides of connectivity and the kinds of animalistic cyborgs it can make of us, as we walk through barriers that even spirits cannot cross.' * Literary Hub *'The finest novel of the past five years. Quite exceptional. Little Eyes will certainly feature in future lists of the ten best novels of this century.' * Luisgé Martín, author of The Same City *'A nuanced exploration of anonymous connection and distant intimacy in our heavily accessible yet increasingly isolated lives...Capacious, touching, and disquieting, this is not-so-speculative fiction for an overnetworked and underconnected age.' * Kirkus Reviews *'Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell, is a chilling and often hilarious book on the pitfalls of living in a highly interconnected world. Schweblin has a true talent for getting to the centre of our fears and drawing them out. An intensely clever title that will have you examining your own relationship to the internet.' -- Daisy Johnson, author of Sisters'This has a propulsive, Dave Eggers-ish readability.' * Daily Mail *'Little Eyes is a short, powerful, disquieting novel. The story explores the grey area that constitutes an invasion of privacy, and the line between intimacy and exhibitionism. Samanta Schweblin guides the narrative with a skilful hand reminiscent of her very finest short stories. An excellent storyteller, but above all, a true writer.' * La Razón *'Readers will be fascinated by the kentuki-human interactions, which smartly reveal how hungry we are for connection in a technology-bent world. Of a piece with Schweblin’s elliptical Fever Dream and the disturbing story collection Mouthful of Birds...this jittery eye-opener will appeal to a wide range of readers.' * Library Journal *'Schweblin’s handling of tension and her viscously instantaneous ironic twists, familiar from her short story collection Mouthful of Birds, are delicious... An eerie sense of disjuncture characterises the entire reading experience...an indicator of the deep, discomforting place it has made itself under my skin.' * 3:AM magazine *'Schweblin unfurls an eerie, uncanny story… Daring, bold, and devious.' * Publishers Weekly *'Her most unsettling work yet – and her most realistic.' * New York Times *‘A master of the unsettling… the imaginary technology at the heart of Little Eyes feels all too real, and Schweblin persuasively elaborates its operations and implications… the novel’s breadth provides much of its pleasure, allowing an inventiveness that balances the bleakness of its characters’ lives.’ -- Hannah Rosefield * The New Statesman *'In Samanta Schweblin's fiendishly readable Little Eyes, the new must-have tech gadget allows users to leapfrog into the lives of strangers – a sharp idea that became even more pertinent with the isolation and atomisation of lockdown.' -- Guardian, Best Fiction of 2020'Schweblin's clear and brisk language, aided by a seemingly effortless translation from Spanish by Megan McDowell, drives home the accessibility of this outlandish story. Little Eyes is strange and addictive, an experience made even more frightening by how familiar this feels.' * Salon *‘Alluring and unsettling in equal measure… A subtle and scathing parody of modern communications technology and social media… Colourful and near-hypnotic prose… A rare, yet powerful, indictment of a society that tolerates and even encourages violations of one of our most precious moral commodities – privacy.’ * E&T *'She has a gift for fiction that is pure, original, revelatory.' * El País *'Little Eyes calls to mind the world of Black Mirror. The result is suffocating and addictive in equal measure; combining the minutiae of domestic life with a picture of the dark side of technology in a disconcertingly natural style. A story about voyeurism, and the pleasure of looking at the world through someone else’s eyes.' * El Mundo *'An insightful reflection on solitude and privacy.' * ABC *'[Schweblin is] a literary explorer of 21st century fears.' * La Vanguardia *'Schweblin plunges herself once again into the disturbing limits of what we think of as 'normal'.' * Letras Libres *'This isn’t science fiction; this is the here and now.' * El Diario *'Drawn in quotidian elegance, the novel is a string of nonstop, colorful vignettes… If Schweblin’s sci-fi thriller Fever Dream made sleep difficult, Little Eyes raises the unease quotient. The book seems to watch viewers creepily as it unfolds.' * BookPage *'Like a true master, Schweblin manages to lure us in with a story that leaves us both bruised and fascinated.' * Culturas *'The undisputed star of Latin American fiction.' * ABC Sevilla *'The fantastic and strange worlds of Samanta Schweblin’s work are described with wisdom and ferocity.' * La Repubblica *'[Little Eyes is] yet another unsettling glimpse of life...providing us with the disturbing psychological insights which we associate with her work... Once again Schweblin has produced a novel which is prescient and frightening in equal measure.’ * 1streading *'Embedded within this novel of international interconnectivity are questions of the exhibitionism and voyeurism tied up in our use of technology. Expect echoes of the Wachowskis' Sense8, except told with what has been characterized as Schweblin's "neurotic unease."' * The Millions, Most Anticipated Titles of 2020 *'Samanta Schweblin will injure you, however safe you may feel.' * Jesse Ball, author of Census *'Samanta Schweblin is one of the most promising voices in modern literature.' * Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature *'Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin was pure sorcery. Hands down, one of the best books of 2020 (so far)... I was intoxicated.' * The Book Satchel *'In accentuating so many of the dangers of online communities, as well as [the] advantages, Schweblin takes you on a psychological journey that feels like a Black Mirror episode and has you questioning actions that seemed mundane before.' * The Book Slut *'Brilliantly creepy.' -- New York Times, Notable Books of 2020'Little Eyes supposes a world that is our world, 5 minutes from now... It then introduces one small thing — one little change, one product, one tweaked application of a totally familiar technology — and tracks the ripples of chaos that it creates... Think for just a moment the kind of joy and the kind of horror something like that would create. Then read Little Eyes and see how whatever it was that you imagined was just the beginning of how awful it could be.' -- NPR, Best Books of the Year'A smart and timely meditation on what the internet is doing to the human soul... Funny, frightening and bound to make you turn off your mobile.' -- Tablet, Summer reads

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Book SynopsisThe New York Times bestselling author of Darwin’s Doubt, Stephen Meyer, presents groundbreaking scientific evidence of the existence of God, based on breakthroughs in physics, cosmology, and biology.Beginning in the late 19th century, many intellectuals began to insist that scientific knowledge conflicts with traditional theistic belief—that science and belief in God are “at war.” Philosopher of science Stephen Meyer challenges this view by examining three scientific discoveries with decidedly theistic implications. Building on the case for the intelligent design of life that he developed in Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt, Meyer demonstrates how discoveries in cosmology and physics coupled with those in biology help to establish the identity of the designing intelligence behind life and the universe. Meyer argues that theism—with its affirmati

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Book SynopsisIn the attention economy, online influencers are an emerging class of power brokers. How can you harness their potential? Break the Internet takes a deep dive into the influencer industry, tracing its evolution from blogging and legacy social media such as Tumblr to today’s world in which YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok dominate. Digital strategist Olivia Yallop goes undercover amongst content creators to understand how online personas are built, uncovering what it is really like to live a branded life and trade in a ‘social stock market’. The result is an insider account of a trend that is set to dominate our future — experts estimate that the economy of influence will be valued at $24 billion globally by 2025.Trade Review‘This is a book that looks deeply at the commodification of the self, and the increasingly blurred line between leisure and labour … Behind our small screens is an unimaginable vastness, which Break the Internet manages to shape into something understandable, even to the influencer-ignorant such as me … wryly funny.’ -- Eleanor Margolis * The Guardian *‘It is refreshing to read a book that eschews the usual sneering anti-influencer condescension. Break the Internet is devoid of snobbery, placing the emergence of influencers within a wider economic context … persuasive and well-written.’ -- James Bloodworth * The Times *‘Riveting. A dizzying and nuanced deep dive into the evolution of content creation, with extraordinary breadth of research.’ -- Pandora Sykes‘Olivia Yallop has written the definitive insider account of influencer culture. Break the Internet is erudite, smart, entertaining, and essential.’ -- Will Storr, author of Selfie‘In 2021 publishers are reckoning with a problem: how do you publish a book about internet culture that doesn’t immediately become outdated? ... Scribe may be the first to find an answer with Break the Internet … A pacy story that’s of the moment but goes beyond it, too.’ -- Sarah Manavis * New Statesman *‘Yallop is an authoritative guide, balancing her experience at a digital agency … with the necessary critical distance of someone with only a few hundred Instagram followers. Her analysis benefits from being grounded in rigorous, real-world reporting … a comprehensive account of a phenomenon that seems more likely to explode than to go away.’ -- Elle Hunt * New Scientist *‘Rigorous and authoritative.’ * The Week *‘An immersive study of the last decade’s most divisive profession.’ -- Lauren O’Neill * Vice *‘Lucid, readable, and sometimes alarming.’ -- Jane Shilling * Daily Mail *‘There was lots in it that I didn’t know ... The analysis I really enjoyed was about how we can’t hold back technology, and everything from printing presses to moving trains has freaked the hell out of people, but how fragile and open to misuse influencer follower count values really are.’ -- Alexandra Heminsley‘The result of Yallop’s immersive investigation is a comprehensive education on influencer culture, its evolution and future … essential reading material for anyone interested in internet culture and a masterclass in engaging non-fiction.’ -- Alice Crossley * Reaction *‘An engaging analysis of online culture, including insights into the dizzying amounts of money influencers make, the decline of traditional media, the philosophy of fame, and the excess and inequality of late capitalism. Consider us influenced.’ * Norton *‘In Olivia Yallop’s new exploration of this cultural phenomenon, she goes far beyond the typically superficial understandings of what an influencer is — and more importantly — how to become one. A fascinating and whip-smart read, Break the Internet is for anyone who wishes to understand influencer culture and its place within the modern context.’ -- Dan Shaw * HappyMag, starred review *‘[Olivia Yallop is] well placed to deliver on the premise of her fascinating debut book, Break the Internet … [She] takes seriously the often-dismissed “creator economy” while maintaining a journalistic scepticism. Her engaging, authoritative account thus considers the broad swathe of internet culture that falls “under the influencer umbrella”.’ -- Gemma Nisbet * The West Australian *‘Along with the advent of social media has come a divergent cohort of individuals who have harnessed its power to attain influence. In Break the Internet … [Olivia Yallop] has connected the dots for many who wish to understand how individual influencers have collectively made a seismic impact in society and commerce. Through extensive research and interviews, Yallop sheds light on what it’s like to have a monetisable internet presence — and more importantly — what it takes to maintain it. She goes to school with the next generation of aspiring influencers to learn what it takes to make it. All this is couched within a historical and cultural context, showing readers the very real-world repercussions of online influence.’ -- Dan Shaw * HappyMag *‘A digital strategist and tech commentator dives into the world of social media influencers … Yallop, who dabbled in influencing before moving to an agency that works in the online space, has plenty of stories involving fantastic numbers, and she writes with clarity and a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek humour … A capable guide takes us on an entertaining, authoritative, and sometimes scary journey.’ * Kirkus Reviews *‘Break the Internet will find a broad audience from social media marketers and strategists to teens and young adults.’ * Booklist *‘Yallop takes us inside the workings of influencers and the ways in which brands and companies can utilise this ready-and-willing corps to help boost their image, reach, and profits. Well-written, engaging, and accessible. This should appeal to anyone with an interest in modern online culture, life, and business/marketing.’ -- Stefan Fergus

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Book SynopsisFrom the telegraph to the touchscreen, how the development of binary switching transformed everyday life and changed the shape of human agency The Switch traces the sudden rise of a technology that has transformed everyday life for billions of people: the binary switch. By chronicling the rapid growth of binary switching since the mid-nineteenth century, Jason Puskar contends that there is no human activity as common today as pushing a button or flipping a switch—the deceptively simple act of turning something on or off. More than a technical history, The Switch offers a cultural and political analysis of how reducing so much human action to binary alternatives has profoundly reshaped modern society. Analyzing this history, Puskar charts the rapid shift from analog to digital across a range of devices—keyboards, cameras, guns, light switches, computers, game controls, even the “nuclear button”—to understand how nineteenth-century techniques continue to influence today’s pervasive digital technologies. In contexts that include musical performance, finger counting, machine writing, voting methods, and immersive play, Puskar shows how the switch to switching led to radically new forms of action and thought. The innovative analysis in The Switch makes clear that binary inputs have altered human agency by making choice instantaneous, effort minimal, and effects more far-reaching than ever. In the process, it concludes, switching also fosters forms of individualism that, though empowering for many, also preserve a legacy of inequality and even domination. Trade Review "In this deeply ambitious and sophisticated book, Jason Puskar invites us to think more seriously about what happens almost every time we touch one of our devices and turn it on or swipe or click. From the technologies at our fingertips to the vastly larger networks of politics and language that they operate and represent, The Switch provides a fascinating cultural history of how we have made the modern world, and been remade in turn, by the simplest of human actions and the connections they enable."—Mark Goble, author of Beautiful Circuits: Modernism and the Mediated Life "A dazzling, beautifully written history of a pervasive but seemingly unremarkable technology of modern life: the binary switch. Jason Puskar’s delightful and important book will fascinate historians of media and technology; it should be required reading for anyone curious about how fantasies of liberal agency are cultivated in the buttons, keyboards, triggers, and toys that make us human."—Justus Nieland, author of Happiness by Design: Modernism and Media in the Eames Era Table of Contents Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Awake at the Switch Part I. Start 1. Origin Stories 2. Designing the Button 3. Analogs and Analogies Part II. Digital Bodies 4. The Point of Touch 5. Counting on the Body 6. Darth Vader’s Nipples Part III. Keyboard Rationality 7. The Keyboard’s Checkered Past 8. Human Types 9. Chording and Coding 10. The Archaeology of Qwerty Part IV. Objects of Play 11. The Toys of Dionysus 12. Pinball Wizards Part V. Haptic Liberalism 13. The Control Panel of Democracy 14. Switching Philosophies 15. Pistolgraphs 16. First-Person Shooters Epilogue: Self-Destruct Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK TO READ _______________ ‘One of the foremost thinkers on the transformative impact of the technology revolution’ - TONY BLAIR ‘Original and hopeful . . . a unique guide to the great challenges of the digital age’ - ANNE APPLEBAUM ‘Lucid and persuasive’ - NIALL FERGUSON _______________ The Digital Republic is the definitive guide to the great political question of our time: how can freedom and democracy survive in a world of powerful digital technologies? Not long ago, the tech industry was widely admired and the internet was regarded as a tonic for freedom and democracy. Not anymore. Every day, the headlines blaze with reports of racist algorithms, data leaks, and social media platforms festering with falsehood and hate. In The Digital Republic, acclaimed author Jamie Susskind argues that these problems are not the fault of a few bad apples at the top of the industry. They are the result of our failure to govern technology properly, a failure derived from decades of muddled ideas and wishful thinking. The Digital Republic charts a new course, with new legal standards, new public bodies and institutions, new duties on platforms, new rights and regulators, and new codes of conduct for people in the tech industry. Inspired by the great political essays of the past, and steeped in the traditions of republican thought, it offers a vision of a different type of society: a digital republic in which human and technological flourishing go hand in hand.Trade ReviewJamie Susskind’s big book is a welcome arrival on the scene . . . The most refreshing thing about this fine book is its ideological stance . . . It’s time for a change, and The Digital Republic is a good place to start * Observer *Jamie Susskind has established himself as one of the foremost thinkers on the transformative impact of the technology revolution. The Digital Republic is as innovative in its ideas as it is sharp with its analysis, offering an important contribution to the future of technology regulation while bridging the gap between changemakers and policymakers -- Tony BlairA deeply engaging and thought-provoking book which should be read by everyone (including those with no technical knowledge) who wants to understand how AI can affect our lives, and how we could rise to the challenges this presents -- Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, President of the UK Supreme Court (2012-2017)In the shadow of algorithmic discrimination, Big Tech's overarching power, and menacing cyberwarfare, Susskind offers an alternative, enticing and convincing in equal parts: digital republicanism. I am sold. Read this book -- Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, co-author of BIG DATA and FRAMERSThe sprawling power of tech giants is one of the biggest, most complex and urgent challenges facing modern democracy. It takes rare clarity, focus and intellectual discipline to address the issue as lucidly and practically as Jamie Susskind has done in The Digital Republic -- Rafael BehrWhat to do with Big Tech is one of the enduring questions of today. In The Digital Republic, Jamie Susskind argues that it is time to deal with ‘the unaccountable power of digital technology’ and offers a primer of how law and governance could be harnessed to reshape Big Tech * Financial Times *This is the book America needs now. Susskind thinks deeply, and writes with powerful clarity, about how technology is reshaping society and what we should do about it -- Bruce Schneier, author of CLICK HERE TO KILL EVERYBODYThe Digital Republic highlights what is at stake amidst digital disruption: the very foundations of our open, rules-based democracies. By focusing back on core principles such as legitimacy, accountability and countervailing powers, Susskind finds inspiration to secure what should not be disrupted, and reimagines the role of laws in a digitized, global context -- Marietje Schaake, international policy director at Stanford University's Cyber Policy CenterThe digital revolution threatens to overturn democracy. But we can still do something about it. This book is the blueprint, philosophical and practical, on how to remake our online society to make sure democracy prevails -- Peter Pomerantsev, author of THIS IS NOT PROPAGANDAAn important, well-written and well-timed book. The extraordinary power held by a handful of vast digital companies affects everything from the dynamics of markets to the health of democracy. But political theorists have struggled to understand the technologies while the technologists have often been blind to the implications of their own actions. After a flood of books offering diagnosis and hand-wringing, we badly needed ideas about what to do: here Jamie Susskind does just that, linking vivid examples, thoughtful principles and, crucially, practical prescriptions to guide us in ensuring that powerful technologies really do serve us well -- Sir Geoff Mulgan CBE, CBE is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College LondonSusskind does a sophisticated job diagnosing the core problem of how many technologies affect our lives today: unaccountable power. And while there is no magical solution, he provides a compelling roadmap for taking that power back so we can reshape our digital world to better serve the public -- Yael Eisenstat, Future of Democracy Fellow at the Berggruen InstituteIn focussing on the potential solutions available to govern and regulate the digital realm, [Susskind's] book makes a truly novel contribution to the existing body of literature on the now well-documented harms and pitfalls of the existing data economy. This readable primer will appeal to policymakers, law students and lawyers, and technologists alike, and act as a roadmap for anyone wondering how law and governance can reshape Big Tech, harness platform power, end extractive data practices, and ground an ecosystem of new technologies that empowers, rather than exploits, people -- Carly Kind, director of the Ada Lovelace InstituteMore valuable and more attractive than a mere invitation to emulate the plans of foreign bureaucrats . . . This visionary yet practical book conveys its message with clarity and panache. Active and intellectually curious citizens everywhere should read it * The Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisLiving on a damaged planet challenges who we are and where we live. This timely anthology calls on twenty eminent humanists and scientists to revitalize curiosity, observation, and transdisciplinary conversation about life on earth.As human-induced environmental change threatens multispecies livability, Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet puts forward a bold proposal: entangled histories, situated narratives, and thick descriptions offer urgent “arts of living.” Included are essays by scholars in anthropology, ecology, science studies, art, literature, and bioinformatics who posit critical and creative tools for collaborative survival in a more-than-human Anthropocene. The essays are organized around two key figures that also serve as the publication’s two openings: Ghosts, or landscapes haunted by the violences of modernity; and Monsters, or interspecies and intraspecies sociality. Ghosts and Monsters are tentacular, windy, and arboreal arts that invite readers to encounter ants, lichen, rocks, electrons, flying foxes, salmon, chestnut trees, mud volcanoes, border zones, graves, radioactive waste—in short, the wonders and terrors of an unintended epoch.Contributors: Karen Barad, U of California, Santa Cruz; Kate Brown, U of Maryland, Baltimore; Carla Freccero, U of California, Santa Cruz; Peter Funch, Aarhus U; Scott F. Gilbert, Swarthmore College; Deborah M. Gordon, Stanford U; Donna J. Haraway, U of California, Santa Cruz; Andreas Hejnol, U of Bergen, Norway; Ursula K. Le Guin; Marianne Elisabeth Lien, U of Oslo; Andrew Mathews, U of California, Santa Cruz; Margaret McFall-Ngai, U of Hawaii, Manoa; Ingrid M. Parker, U of California, Santa Cruz; Mary Louise Pratt, NYU; Anne Pringle, U of Wisconsin, Madison; Deborah Bird Rose, U of New South Wales, Sydney; Dorion Sagan; Lesley Stern, U of California, San Diego; Jens-Christian Svenning, Aarhus U.Trade Review"Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet exposes us to the active remnants of gigantic past human errors—the ghosts—that affect the daily lives of millions of people and their co-occurring other-than-human life forms. Challenging us to look at life in new and excitingly different ways, each part of this two-sided volume is informative, fascinating, and a source of stimulation to new thoughts and activisms. I have no doubt I will return to it many times."—Michael G. Hadfield, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa"Facing the perfect storm strangely named the Anthropocene, this book calls its readers to acknowledge and give praise to the many entangled arts of living which made this planet liveable and which are now unravelling. Grandiose guilt will not do, we need to learn noticing what we were blind to, a humble but difficult art. The unique welding of scholarship and affect achieved by the texts here assembled tells us that learning this art also means allowing oneself to be touched and induced to think and imagine by what touches us."—Isabelle Stengers, author of Cosmopolitics I and Cosmopolitics II"What an inventive, fascinating book about landscapes in the anthropocene! Between these book covers, rightside-up, upside-down, a concatenation of social science and natural science, artwork and natural science, ghosts of departed species and traces of our own human shrines to memory... Not a horror-filled glimpse at destruction but also not a hymn to romantic wilderness. Here, guided by a remarkable and remarkably diverse set of guides, we enter into our planetary environments as they stand, sometimes battered, sometimes resilient, always riveting in their human—and non-human—richness. Arts of Living On a Damaged Planet is truly a book for our time."—Peter Galison, Harvard University"Calling a book ‘mandatory reading’ usually feels hyperbolic, but it's justified in the case of Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. A stunning collection of essays from scientists, writers and artists on humankind's impact on the planet, and how we all can survive it."—Shelf Awareness"This vibrant, moving, and philosophical two-sided essay collection reminds us of all the ways that human beings and the natural world are interconnected. Deborah Bird Rose’s piece on the “shimmer of life” alone makes the book worth reading."—Chicago Review of Books"There’s a poetry in facts. And as this book reveals, there is an increasing amount of courage and acceptance to be found in understanding even the most destructive changes in plant and wildlife that the overheated Anthropocene will bring us."—Santa Fe New Mexican"Well worth reading: a frank, luminous set of dispatches from future worlds and fractured pasts."—Full Stop"Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet is a strikingly aesthetic object, carefully curated at the level of form as well as content. It makes a convincing case for the relevance of ‘hard science’ to art and politics."—Glasgow Review of Books"The Anthropocene is characterised by extreme and irreversible changes to the environment, resulting in an exponential scarcity of living beings and threats to most life systems on earth. In response to this precarity, the editors and contributors to Arts suggest that we must collectively observe and study the world around us to attune our co-existence more authentically to these ecologies, through increased knowledge about both the impacts of past actions and our embeddedness in multispecies webs."—Environmental Values"By focusing on entanglement and haunting in this double-sided book, the contributors in Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet demand a reconceptualisation of what it means to be active participants in the Anthropocene. They also want us to recognise that our standing is not at all separate from nature, time, or matter."—Gothic Nature Journal"The editors of Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet set out to illustrate through storytelling the ambivalent entanglements of ghosts and monsters in the Anthropocene as a practical means toward broadening our knowledge-creation of the challenges of a world in the making. If the scientific community takes to heart their offering (and the offerings of those who came before them), the scientific paradigm-shift (that started with feminist science studies, the civil rights movement, and environmentalism) from objectivity to subjectivity might just take hold as a dominant epistemology."—Hypatia Reviews"Arts of Living is a provocative dispatch from the edges of humanity’s new condition."—Sedimenta Table of ContentsContentsGhosts on a Damaged PlanetIntroduction: Haunted Landscapes of the AnthropoceneElaine Gan, Nils Bubandt, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, and Heather Anne Swanson1. A Garden or a Grave?: The Canyonic Landscape of the Tijuana-San Diego RegionLesley SternIn the Midst of Damage2. Marie Curie's Fingerprint: Nuclear Spelunking in the Chernobyl ZoneKate Brown3. Shimmer: When All You Love Is Being TrashedDeborah Bird RoseFootprints of the Dead4. Future Megafaunas: A Historical Perspective on the Scope for a Wilder AnthropoceneJens-Christian Svenning5. Ladders, Trees, Complexity, and Other Metaphors in Evolutionary ThinkingAndreas Hejnol6. No Small Matter: Mushroom Clouds, Ecologies of Nothingness, and Strange Topologies of SpacetimematteringKaren Barad7. Haunted Geologies: Spirits, Stones, and the Necropolitics of the AnthropoceneNils BubandtWhat Remains8. Ghostly Forms and Forest HistoriesAndrew S. Mathews9. Establishing New Worlds: The Lichens of PetershamAnne PringleCoda: Concept and ChronotopeMary Louise PrattContributorsIndexContentsMonsters and the Arts of LivingAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Bodies Tumbled into BodiesHeather Anne Swanson, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Nils Bubandt, and Elaine Gan1. Deep in AdmirationUrsula K. Le Guin Inhabiting Multispecies Bodies2. Symbiogenesis, Sympoiesis, and Art Science Activisms for Staying with the TroubleDonna Haraway 3. Noticing Microbial Worlds: The Post Modern Synthesis in BiologyMargaret McFall-NgaiBeyond Individuals4. Holobiont by Birth: Multilineage Individuals as the Concretion of Cooperative ProcessesScott F. Gilbert5. Wolf, or Homo Homini LupusCarla Freccero6. Unruly Appetites: Salmon Domestication “All the Way Down”Marianne Elisabeth Lien7. Without Planning: The Evolution of Collective Behavior in Ant ColoniesDeborah M. GordonAt the Edge of Extinction8. Synchronies at Risk: The Intertwined Lives of Horseshoe Crabs and Red Knot BirdsPeter Funch9. Remembering in Our Amnesia, Seeing in Our BlindnessIngrid M. ParkerCoda. Beautiful Monsters: Terra in the Cyanocene Dorion SaganContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisEND OF MILLENNIUM This final volume in Manuel Castells' trilogy studies the key defining processes taking place in the last decade of the twentieth century as an expression of the crises resulting from the transition between the old industrial society and the emerging global network society. Every now and then one reads a book of social science that is uplifting and mind expanding. These books are ambitious and lustrous, teaching us much about our world. Such is this work from the brilliant sociologist Manuel Castells. There is no other sociological work today that brings together in one panoramic expanse so many of the changes now occurring. This is a story not simply of global economic change, but of cultural upheavals. It is a tale not simply of the decline of sovereign states, but of the emergence of the new bases of power. And it is a narrative not merely about computer technology or the media, but of the very terms in which those agents work. Anthony M. Orum, Table of ContentsList of Tables xi List of Figures xii List of Charts xiii Preface to the 2010 Edition of End of Millennium xiv Acknowledgments 1997 xxvii A Time of Change 1 1 The Crisis of Industrial Statism and the Collapse of the Soviet Union 5 The Extensive Model of Economic Growth and the Limits of Hyperindustrialism 10 The Technology Question 26 The Abduction of Identity and the Crisis of Soviet Federalism 37 The Last Perestroika 46 Nationalism, Democracy, and the Disintegration of the Soviet State 56 The Scars of History, the Lessons for Theory, the Legacy for Society 62 2 The Rise of the Fourth World: Informational Capitalism, Poverty, and Social Exclusion 69 Toward a Polarized World? A Global Overview 74 The De-humanization of Africa 85 Marginalization and selective integration of Sub-Saharan Africa in the informational-global economy 85 Africa’s technological apartheid at the dawn of the Information Age 93 The predatory state 97 Zaïre: the personal appropriation of the state 100 Nigeria: oil, ethnicity, and military predation 103 Ethnic identity, economic globalization, and state formation in Africa 106 Africa’s plight 116 Africa’s hope? The South African connection 123 Out of Africa or back to Africa? The politics and economics of self-reliance 128 The New American Dilemma: Inequality, Urban Poverty, and Social Exclusion in the Information Age 130 Dual America 131 The inner-city ghetto as a system of social exclusion 142 When the underclass goes to hell 150 Globalization, Over-exploitation, and Social Exclusion: the View from the Children 154 The sexual exploitation of children 159 The killing of children: war massacres and child soldiers 162 Why children are wasted 164 Conclusion: the Black Holes of Informational Capitalism 166 3 The Perverse Connection: the Global Criminal Economy 171 Organizational Globalization of Crime, Cultural Identification of Criminals 173 The Pillage of Russia 185 The structural perspective 189 Identifying the actors 190 Mechanisms of Accumulation 193 Narcotrafico, Development, and Dependency in Latin America 198 What are the economic consequences of the drugs industry for Latin America? 202 Why Colombia? 204 The Impact of Global Crime on Economy, Politics, and Culture 209 4 Development and Crisis in the Asian Pacific: Globalization and the State 215 The Changing Fortunes of the Asian Pacific 215 Heisei’s Japan: Developmental State versus Information Society 223 A social model of the Japanese developmental process 225 Declining sun: the crisis of the Japanese model of development 236 The end of ‘‘Nagatacho politics’’ 248 Hatten Hokka and Johoka Shakai: a contradictory relationship 251 Japan and the Pacific 258 Beheading the Dragon? Four Asian Tigers with a Dragon Head, and their Civil Societies 259 Understanding Asian development 261 Singapore: state nation-building via multinational corporations 262 South Korea: the state production of oligopolistic capitalism 266 Taiwan: flexible capitalism under the guidance of an inflexible state 270 Hong Kong model versus Hong Kong reality: small business in a world economy, and the colonial version of the welfare state 274 The breeding of the tigers: commonalities and dissimilarities in their process of economic development 279 The developmental state in East Asian industrialization: on the concept of the developmental state 286 The rise of the developmental state: from the politics of survival to the process of nation-building 288 The state and civil society in the restructuring of East Asia: how the developmental state succeeded in the development process 293 Divergent paths: Asian ‘‘tigers’’ in the economic crisis 297 Democracy, identity, and development in East Asia in the 1990s 303 Chinese Developmental Nationalism with Socialist Characteristics 311 The new Chinese revolution 312 Guanxi capitalism? China in the global economy 317 China’s regional developmental states and the bureaucratic (capitalist) entrepreneurs 321 Weathering the storm? China in the Asian economic crisis 325 Democracy, development, and nationalism in the new China 328 Conclusion: Globalization and the State 337 5 The Unification of Europe: Globalization, Identity, and the Network State 342 European Unification as a Sequence of Defensive Reactions: a Half-century Perspective 344 Globalization and European Integration 352 Cultural Identity and European Unification 361 The Institutionalization of Europe: the Network State 365 European Identity or European Project? 368 Conclusion: Making Sense of our World 371 Genesis of a New World 372 A New Society 376 The New Avenues of Social Change 387 Beyond this Millennium 389 What is to be Done? 394 Finale 395 Summary of Contents of Volumes I and II 397 References 399 Index 433

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Book SynopsisTechnology has fractured democracy, and now there’s no going back. All around the world, the fringes have stormed the palace of the elites and unleashed data miners, dark ads and bots on an unwitting public. After years of soundbites about connecting people, the social media giants are only just beginning to admit to the scale of the problem. We stand on the precipice of an era where switching your mobile platform will have more impact on your life than switching your government. Where freedom and privacy are seen as incompatible with social well-being and transparency. Where your attention is sold to the highest bidder. Our laws don’t cover what is happening and our politicians don’t understand it. But if we don’t fight to change the system now, we may not get another chance.Trade Review‘Excellent.’ * New Statesman *‘Democracy Hacked gets beyond the headlines – a compelling, informed and highly readable account of how democracy is being disrupted by the tech revolution, and what can be done to get us back on track. One of the best expositions I’ve read yet of what is the biggest political challenge of our generation.’ -- Jamie Bartlett, author of The People Vs Tech and The Dark Net‘Enormously wide-ranging and deeply researched, this is the definitive account of how digital technology has changed the entire political landscape, with profound consequences for democracy. From Brexit to Trump, and from Estonia to the Philippines, Martin Moore uncovers the real stories behind the fake ones. You’ll discover that the truth is often stranger than fiction and that the future is more open than you think.’ -- David Runciman, author of How Democracy Ends‘The world is belatedly waking up to some frightening realities about the intersection of digital technologies and the health of democracies. Martin Moore’s book is a sharp wake-up call – ambitious in its sweep and urgent in its important message.’ -- Alan Rusbridger, author of Breaking News‘Eye-opening… An important, timely, and clearly written look at a crucial subject.’ * Booklist *‘Moore demonstrates how data has affected elections across the world, in the Philippines, Turkey, India, Iran, Britain and beyond... Engrossing, instructive, and urgently necessary.’ * Kirkus *

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Book SynopsisMichelle Murphy examines the ways in which efforts at population control since World War II have tied reproduction to neoliberal capitalism, showing how data collection practices have been used to quantify the value of a human life in terms of its ability to improve the nation-state's gross domestic product.Trade Review"Though this book be concise, it is fierce. It can be read, and reread, with profit by undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers. Highly recommended." -- T. E. Sullivan * Choice *"The Economization of Life convincingly links experimentality to what has been one of the most popular developmental trends of the past two decades. . . . Michelle Murphy’s bold and sharp book opens many new lines of inquiries." -- Stephen Macekura * Diplomatic History *"This is a valuable book that should be read by anyone who is interested in the mid-twentieth-century population control movement, including its history and socioeconomic context, or anyone who still adheres to the neoliberal view that population growth (or 'overpopulation,' as it is often called) has been and continues to be one of the greatest problems facing human society." -- Garland E. Allen * Isis *"Murphy weaves helpful threads of history, literature, and economics, guides the reader through complicated ideas, and leaves enough notes so research can continue beyond the book’s borders. . . . The Economization of Life is a useful and an instructive tool for policy makers and researchers on population and reproductive health, and for scholars and students in gender, women, and sexuality studies, or anyone who may be concerned with matters of reproductive rights." -- Kira Frank * Wagadu *"It takes a study as rigorous as Murphy’s to expose the double-edged nature of human capital: galvanizing self-improvement of, and popular support for, underprivileged populations, even as it does so according to metrics that have investor interests—rather than general well-being—as their goal." -- Hadas Weiss * Public Books *"The Economization of Life is a book that sticks. Author Michelle Murphy delicately surfaces the history and persistence of racist and eugenicist logics as they comprise global economies and state governance practices, and, in a bold and self-reflexive gesture, describes how these same logics operate in feminist organizations and academic research. Murphy's work forced me to grapple with unresolvable tensions, particularly between long term liberation and short term survival, which were simultaneously troubling and eye-opening. I can see these now in places where they used to be hidden." -- Lourdes Vera * Somatosphere *"The Economization of Life gives us important tools to bring the work of reproductive justice from the world of feminist social justice organizing to the world of feminist scholarship. It shows us that the economy is an effect that materializes its own causes, supported by a structure of belief that holds together otherwise disparate data and calculations. With enough effort, it urges us, we should be able to divest from that enabling belief, and instead follow models for a regenerative politics, committing instead to reproductive justice as an infrastructure of regeneration." -- Kalindi Vora * Somatosphere *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction. Bottles and Curves 1 Arc 1. Phantasmagrams of Population and Economy 1. Economy as Atmosphere 17 2. Demographic Transitions 35 3. Averted Birth 47 4. Dreaming Technoscience 55 Arc II. Reproducing Infrastructures 5. Infrastructures of Counting and Affect 59 6. Continuous Incitement 73 7. Experimental Exuberance 78 8. Dying, Not Dying, Not Being Born 95 9. Experimental Otherwise 105 Arc III. Investable Life 10. Invest in a Girl 113 11. Exhausting Data 125 12. Unaligned Feeling 133 Coda. Distributed Reproduction 135 Notes 147 Bibliography 179 Index 211

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Book SynopsisWe are living in a world full of games.More than 31 million people in the UK are gamers. The average young person will spend 10,000 hours gaming by the age of twenty-one. The future belongs to those who play games.In this ground-breaking book, visionary game designer Jane McGonigaI challenges conventional thinking and shows that games - far from being simply escapist entertainment - have the potential not only to radically improve our own lives but to change the world.Trade ReviewInspiring and engaging * Daily Telegraph *An intriguing and thought-provoking book * New Statesman *Despite her expertise, McGonigal's book is never overly technical, and as with a good computer game, anyone, regardless of gaming experience, is likely to get sucked in * New Scientist *McGonigal is persuasive and precise in explaining how games can transform our approach to those things we know we should do. McGonigal is also adept at showing how good games expose the alarming insubstantiality of much everyday experience. McGonigal is a passionate advocate... Given the power and the darker potentials of the tools she describes, we must hope that the world is listening -- Tom Chatfield * Observer *McGonigal brilliantly deconstructs the components of good game design before parlaying them into a recipe for changing the offline, 'real' world' * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisThe Origins of Modern Science is the first synthetic account of the history of science from antiquity through the Scientific Revolution in many decades. Providing readers of all backgrounds and students of all disciplines with the tools to study science like a historian, Ofer Gal covers everything from Pythagorean mathematics to Newton''s Principia, through Islamic medicine, medieval architecture, global commerce and magic. Richly illustrated throughout, scientific reasoning and practices are introduced in accessible and engaging ways with an emphasis on the complex relationships between institutions, beliefs and political structures and practices. Readers gain valuable new insights into the role that science plays both in history and in the world today, placing the crucial challenges to science and technology of our time within their historical and cultural context.Trade Review'Ofer Gal is a superb guide to the history of science. Students will appreciate his clarity, well-chosen illustrations and strong thematic exposition. Instructors will delight in his erudition, synthetic power and fresh historical vision. All can read this book with pleasure and profit. It is the gold standard in texts on science from antiquity to Newton.' John W. Servos, Amherst College'Densely packed throughout with provocative analyses and a wealth of powerful concepts, The Origins of Modern Science is a history on a grand scale that is destined to become a standard work. Gal's narrative exemplifies a rare balance between history and historiography, sophistication and accessibility, text and context, while consistently emphasizing the human component at the heart of this millennia-long saga.' Victor Boantza, University of Minnesota'In The Origins of Modern Science: From Antiquity to the Scientific Revolution, Dr. Ofer Gal has presented the history of science through scientific ideas, concurrent practices and principles of knowledge. The book presents a trove of information on science as 'particular, local and historical,' a remarkable source and perspective certain to inspire the interests of readers as well as those of instructors in their history of science classes.' Caterina Agostini, Rutgers University (formerly North Carolina State)'A fascinating book detailing the rise of modern science in a broader perspective as a human intellectual achievement, one that was contingent on the fallible thoughts and actions of real people, rather than the inevitable triumph of disembodied ideas. Beginning with antiquity, the book does not shy away from difficult questions of the relation of religion and magic to early modern science, and produces a rich account of the development of science through the high Middle Ages to the publication of Newton's Principia. Of particular interest is the original integration of the various ways in which knowledge was thought to be made during these periods. This book deserves to be widely read, not only by historians of science but by a much broader audience interested in the generation of knowledge as a human phenomenon.' Andrew Gregory, University College London'In this very wide-ranging and superbly illustrated account, Ofer Gal offers an original and instructive survey of the development of the sciences from classical and medieval periods to early modernity. In well-organized histories of medicine and mechanics, astronomy and experiment, this work cleverly shows in persuasive detail the intricate relations between the sciences and their history. Designed to provide a usable textbook for students with background in history and in the sciences, the work explains clearly the relationship between theoretical knowledge and practical know-how, and between the complex and fascinating emergence of modern sciences and the long development of different techniques and understandings of nature.' Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge'This book is an excellent overview of the early history of science and covers the ideas and personalities of the time in a highly readable format. Particularly useful are the references, primary sources, and suggestions for further reading. It deserves to be well thumbed by all with an interest in the history of science and medicine.' Arpan K. Banerjee, Hektoen International JournalTable of Contents1. Cathedrals; 2. Greek Thought; 3. The Birth of Astronomy; 4. Medieval Learning; 5. The Seeds of Revolution; 6. Magic; 7. The Moving Earth; 8. Medicine and the Body; 9. The New Science; 10. The Road to the Principia.

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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

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Book SynopsisA shocking look at the ways governments and organisations track and control us and the ways we can fight back.Trade Review"In "Data and Goliath" Bruce Schneier, a computer-security expert, does a fine job of laying out the problems caused by this compulsive collection of personal data...Some recent books on digital privacy have been written by journalists, with an emphasis on sugary narrative instead of original analysis. This one comes from a practitioner, and offers a deep but accessible look at surveillance in the post-Snowden, big-data era." -- The Economist"Bruce Schneier...grasps this revolution's true dimensions...Schneier paints a picture of the big-data revolution that is dark, but compelling; one in which the conveniences of our digitized world have devalued privacy." -- Nature"He [Schneier] is passionate about the subject—and he shows exactly why and how it matters. The combination of qualitative analysis and detailed examples is compelling and the conclusions are stark. Surveillance matters, and not just at a theoretical level. Schneier shows how it causes damage even when it's used "properly", and also offers examples of how it can be and is abused. And he is at his best when demolishing the case for mass surveillance from a security perspective: it's here that his expertise really kicks in. His understanding of encryption, cyberattacks and vulnerabilities, and his ability to explain them in a relatively accessible way, is impressive and admirable." -- Times Higher Education"...excellent new book…" -- The Observer"...important book..." -- New Internationalist

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Book SynopsisThis text offers an understanding of the nature of scientific, mathematical and engineering practice, and the production of scientific knowledge. The author presents an approach to the unpredictable nature of change in science, taking into account a number of factors.

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Book SynopsisA fascinating look at the cutting-edge science and technologies that are on the cusp of changing everything from where we’ll live, how we’ll look, and who we’ll be, by the popular science broadcaster and bestselling author Jay Ingram.Where will we live? How will we get around? What will we look like? These are just some of the questions bestselling author and popular science broadcaster Jay Ingram answers in this exciting examination of the science and technologies that will affect every aspect of human life. In these pages, Ingram explores the future of our technological civilization. He reports on cutting-edge research in organ and limb regeneration, advances in prosthetics, the merging of the human and the synthetic, and gene editing. Vertical farming and lab-grown food might help feed millions and alleviate pressure on the planet. Cities could accommodate green space and the long-awaited flying car. Finally, he speculates on the futur

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Book SynopsisA brilliant examination into how the internet is profoundly changing the way we think.In this groundbreaking book, Wired' writer Clive Thompson argues that the internet is boosting our brainpower, encouraging new ways of thinking, and making us more not less intelligent as is so often claimed.Our lives have been changed utterly and irrevocably by the rise of the internet and it is only now that we can begin to analyse this extraordinary phenomenon. The author argues that as we rely more and more for machines to help us think, our thinking itself is becoming richer and more complex. We're able to learn more, retain it longer, to write in curious new forms, and even to think entirely new types of thoughts.Outsmart is filled with stories of people who are living through these profound technological changes. In a series of postcards from the near future, we meet characters such as Gordon Bell, an ageing millionaire who is saving a digital copy of everything that happens to him, and Eric HoTrade Review‘Judicious and insightful … Thompson avoids both the hype and the hand-wringing so common among digital age pontificators’ Walter Isaacson, New York Times ‘Almost without noticing it, the internet has become our intellectual exoskeleton. Rather than just observing this evolution, Clive Thompson takes us to the people, places and technologies driving it, bringing deep reporting, storytelling and analysis to one of the most profound shifts in human history’ Chris Anderson ‘[An] enjoyable study of the digital world … both fascinating and thought-provoking … [Thompson] remains admirably sober about the limits of technology’s’ edifying influence on us: technology, he reminds us, is only ever as smart as the person using it’ Sunday Times ‘Thompson is a talented storyteller … The world outside … is, on balance, much weirder than you think’ The Times ‘Thompson has started an important debate in this lively and accessible book’ Scotsman ‘We should be grateful to have such a clear-eyed and lucid interpreter of our changing technological culture as Clive Thompson. Smarter Than You Think is an important, insightful book about who we are, and who we are becoming’Joshua Foer, New York Times bestselling author of Moonwalking with Einstein

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Book SynopsisIn You are Not a Gadget digital guru and virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier reveals how the internet is deadening personal interaction, stifling genuine inventiveness and even changing us as people. Something went wrong around the start of the twenty-first century. The crowd was wise. Social networks replaced individual creativity. There were more places to express ourselves than ever before... yet no one really had anything to say. Does this have to be our future? Showing us the way to a future where individuals mean more than machines, this is a searing manifesto against mass mediocrity, a creative call to arms - and an impassioned defence of the human. ''A provocative and sure-to-be-controversial book ... Lucid, powerful and persuasive''  The New York Times ''There is hardly a page that does not contain some fascinating provocation''   Guardian ''Short and frighteniTrade ReviewFabulous - I couldn't put it down and shouted out Yes! Yes! on many pages . . . This is a landmark book that will have people talking and arguing for years into the future. * Lee Smolin *Lucid, powerful and persuasive . . . Necessary reading for anyone interested in how the Web and the software we use every day are reshaping culture and the marketplace * Michiko Kakutani, New York Times *There is hardly a page that does not contain some fascinating provocation * Guardian *Mind-bending, exuberant, brilliant * Washington Post *A pioneer in the development of virtual reality and a Silicon Valley veteran, Mr. Lanier is a digital-world insider concerned with the effect that online collectivism and the current enshrinement of "the wisdom of the crowd" is having on artists, intellectual property rights and the larger social and cultural landscape. In taking on such issues, he's written an illuminating book that is as provocative as it is impassioned. -- Michiko Kakutani's Top 10 Books of the Year 2010 * New York Times *In the world of technologists, Jaron Lanier is that rare combination: a pioneer and a skeptic. A legendary computer scientist, he did crucial early work in the field of virtual reality (the phrase is his). But he now recoils at the way Web 2.0 and social media sell us short as human beings, both in our relationships and in our sense of who we are. In purposeful, reasoned steps, always informed by a profound understanding of how software really works, he lays out his vision of where it all went wrong and champions the power of the human brain in an age of ever smarter machines. -- Lev Grossman * Time Magazine Top 10 Non-Fiction Books of 2010 *

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Book SynopsisMarshall McLuhan was a Canadian educator, philosopher and scholar - a professor of English Literature, a literary critic and a communications theorist. McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. McLuhan is known for coining the expressions 'the medium is the message' and the 'global village'.

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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

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Book SynopsisFrom FSGO x Logic: a revealing examination of digital advertising and the internet's precarious foundation.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Jennifer Gabrys deftly synthesizes fields and lines of inquiry in weaving a signature story of our age, working across intellectual planes and variegated systems and networks. Program Earth is a tantalizing account of digital, citizen-sensing worlds in the making."—Kevin McHugh, Arizona State University"Impressive and original, Program Earth is not just concerned with the collection and dissemination of data, but also—and more crucially—with the transformation of these data and with their effects."—Steven Shaviro, author of The Universe of Things: On Speculative Realism"Full of stimulating ideas and provocative reframings of environmental concerns that are sure to spark further research."—American Journal of Sociology "Readers will revel in extensively written case studies as well as the contemplative opportunity to challenge, with renewed conceptual tools, the urgent notion of the environment."—Cultural Geographies"Jennifer Gabrys' book is a timely publication that combines empirical insights with a necessary speculative attitude in an emerging field."—Tecnosciencza"This sociological treatise is a valuable contribution for historians of technology... Program Earth succeeds in raising multiple epistemological and political issues intertwining sensing technologies, infrastructures, democracy, and power."—Technology and Culture Table of ContentsContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Environment as Experiment in Sensing TechnologyPart 1. Wild Sensing1. Sensing an Experimental Forest: Processing Environments and Distributing Relations 2. From Moss Cam to Spillcam: Technogeographies of Experience3. Animals as Sensors: Mobile Organisms and the Problem of MilieusPart 2. Pollution Sensing4. Sensing Climate Change and Expressing Environmental Citizenship5. Sensing Oceans and Geo-Speculating with a Garbage Patch6. Sensing Air and Creaturing Data Part 3. Urban Sensing7. Citizen Sensing in the Smart and Sustainable City: From Environments to Environmentality8. Engaging the Idiot in Participatory Digital Urbanism 9. Digital Infrastructures of Withness: Constructing a Speculative CityConclusion. Planetary Computerization, RevisitedNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable progress in algorithms for machine and deep learning have opened the doors to new opportunities, and some dark possibilities. However, a bright future awaits those who build on their working methods by including HCAI strategies of design and testing. As many technology companies and thought leaders have argued, the goal is not to replace people, but to empower them by making design choices that give humans control over technology.In Human-Centered AI, Professor Ben Shneiderman offers an optimistic realist''s guide to how artificial intelligence can be used to augment and enhance humans'' lives. This project bridges the gap between ethical considerations and practical realities to offer a road map for successful, reliable systems. Digital cameras, communications services, and navigation apps are just the beginning. Shneiderman shows how future applications will support health and wellness, improve education, accelerate business, and connect people in reliable, safe, and trustworthy ways that respect human values, rights, justice, and dignity.Trade ReviewThe book will be of interest to anyone interested in AI-including software engineers, designers, computer scientists, policymakers and philosophers -- and our future. Its writing style is accessible, and consequently can be read by both experts and novices. It may also be useful for pedagogical purposes. * Gloria Andrada, Metascience *does a great job in promoting HCAI, putting human and societal needs center stage in the design and application of AI, and in presenting and discussing several very practical ideas * Marc Steen, Prometheus *Your new book, Human-Centered AI, is the most balanced, pragmatic and optimistic analysis of artificial intelligence that I've read. You lay out a comprehensive guide to building reliable, safe, and trustworthy applications that feature both high levels of human control and high levels of automation. A critical part of your argument is that if we want to achieve a flourishing and humane future it's essential for us to understand that computers are not in fact people, and vice versa. * John Dalton, Fidelity Center for Applied Technology Newsletter *The authors approach could not be more important as a moral and normative position on the development of the field, and should be taken as a starting point for public policy discussion... the book is essential reading and its fundamental argument constitutes a moral imperative. * David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer *A focus on developing AI that helps people will dissolve much of the fear of lost jobs and machine control... Few books on AI discuss the importance to good design of applying the right sort of pressure to the corporate owners of AI systems to push them into social fairness. This one does. * Wendy Grossman, ZDNet *This book combines persuasive arguments with catchy lists and phrases it also is meticulously researched with extensive citations and well-written for a broad audience , HCI NewsThis expert believes we can create AI systems that can have both high levels of automation and human control... Shneiderman provides guidelines covering visual design, previews of expected actions, audit trails, near-miss and failure reviews, and others that can help ensure reliability, safety, and trustworthiness. Basically, by acknowledging the limits of both human and artificial intelligence, designers and developers of automated products can find the right division of labor between humans and AI. * Ben Dickson, thenextweb.com *the book [is] especially relevant to AI researchers and developers...Expanding the variety of inputs into AI design will be essential to achieving Shneiderman's transformative vision of a more human-and humane-future. * Angelique Taylor, Issues in Science & Technology *The book is well-structured and a delight to read. The coverage is comprehensive. But it will be controversial. AI scientists and engineers, and anyone concerned about the scientific, social, ethical, legal or philosophical impacts of AI should engage with the theses of Human-Centered AI, even if it is to contest them at times. * Alan Mackworth, University of British Columbia, Canada *From design metaphors to the much needed governance structures, this new book by Ben Shneiderman is a tour de force into the increasingly important topic of human-centred AI. Going beyond the many benefits and dark possibilities, the book provides a fresh vision of AI as a supertool for human wellbeing. A must read. * Virginia Dignum, Umeå University, Sweden *Intellectually re-positioning the practice of AI is the most important social movement of our age. Human-Centered AI is a moral imperative. The graveyard of AI products is replete with well-intended systems centered on the technology. Don't make the same mistake—adopt an HCAI mindset. * Sean McGregor, Founder and Project Lead, the AI Incident Database (Partnership on AI), USA *For many years, the debate surrounding AI has been all about a dystopian or utopian-driven future. Ben Shneiderman, in his informative and timely new book presents a fresh look on the future of AI; one that considers how to empower and augment humans rather than automate and replace them. Throughout the book, that is illustrated with convincing case studies, he presents a new discourse that rethinks the benefits of AI advances from a human perspective. A truly trailblazing work that is both provocative and persuasive, inviting academics, policy-makers, industry researchers and the general public to engage with a new, forward-thinking paradigm of where humans meet AI. * Yvonne Rogers, University College London, UK *A critical call for AI to be human-centered...offers insightful lessons and practical takeaways. * Avi Parush, Management and Business Review *Human-Centered AI makes a case for AI systems that amplify and extend human abilities and performance. * Gloria Andrada, Metascience *Table of ContentsPart I: What Is Artificial Intelligence? 1: Dreams and Nightmares 2: Alchemy, Astrology, and AI: Lessons from the Past 3: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! 4: Stories that Shape the Future: Self-Efficacy and Control 5: Getting Beyond AI to Human-Centered Thinking Part II: Human-Centered AI: Empowering People, Expanding Possibilities 6: Introduction 7: Defining Reliable, Safe And Trustworthy Systems 8: Two-Dimensional Framework for RST Systems 9: Prometheus Principles and Examples 10: Skeptic's Corner Part III: AI's Two Grand Goals: Human Emulation and Useful Applications 11: Introduction 12: Two Goals for AI Researchers and Developers 13: Intelligent Agent and Powerful Tool 14: Simulated Teammate and Tele-Operated Device 15: Autonomous System and Supervisory Control 16: Humanoid Robots and Mechanical-Like Appliances 17: Skeptic's Corner Part IV: Governance Structures for Human-Centered AI 18: Introduction 19: Reliable Systems Based on Software Engineering Practices 20: Safety Culture Through Business Management Strategies 21: Trustworthy Certification by Independent Oversight 22: Skeptic's Corner Part V: Where Do We Go from Here? 23: Stopping AI-Driven Misinformation and Criminals 24: Supporting Environmental Protection, Social Justice And Human Rights 25: Compassion in Caring for Our Older Adults 26: Beyond Robots: Notbots and Newbots 27: Frontier Thinking to Chart the Future Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn Virgin Mary and the Neutrino, first published in French in 2006 and here appearing in English for the first time, Isabelle Stengers experiments with the possibility of addressing modern practices not as a block but through their divergence from each other. Drawing on thinkers ranging from John Dewey to Gilles Deleuze, she develops what she calls an ecology of practices into a capacious and heterogeneous perspective that is inclusive of cultural and political forces but not reducible to them. Stengers first advocates for an approach to sciences that would emphasize the way each should be situated by the kind of relationships demanded by what it attempts to address. This approach turns away from the disabling scientific/nonscientific binary-like the opposition between the neutrino and the Virgin Mary. An ecology of practices instead stimulates an appetite for thinking reality not as an arbiter but as what we can relate to through the generation of diverging concerns and obligations.Trade Review“Virgin Mary and the Neutrino is an extraordinary exploration of the events that have shaped the relationship between scientific practices and the public—the devastating effects of which we see today, especially in ecological situations. It is also the best introduction to Isabelle Stengers’s body of work, which is undoubtedly one of the most important and original in contemporary thought.” -- Didier Debaise, author of * Nature as Event: The Lure of the Possible *“Virgin Mary and the Neutrino counts among the contemporary classics written by one of the most creative and boldest philosophers of science. Isabelle Stengers’s proposals have the inevitable quality of inducing thought. This book will initiate anyone, no matter the stage of their career, who wants to become familiar with Stengers’s inspiring brilliance.” -- Marisol de la Cadena, author of * Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice across Andean Worlds *Table of ContentsTranslator’s Preface vii 1. Scientists in Trouble 1 2. The Force of Experimentation 17 3. Dissolving Amalgams 38 4. The Sciences in Their Milieus 61 5.Troubling the Public Order 86 Intermezzo: The Creation of Concepts 111 6. On the Same Plane? 119 7. We Are Not Alone in the World 144 8. Ecology of Practices 169 9. The Cosmopolitical Test 197 Appendix: The First Experimental Apparatus? 207 Notes 217 Bibliography 235 Index 241

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Book SynopsisA New Edition of the Phenomenal #1 BestsellerOne mark of a great book is that it makes you see things in a new way, and Mr. Friedman certainly succeeds in that goal, the Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote in The New York Times reviewing The World Is Flat in 2005. In this new edition, Thomas L. Friedman includes fresh stories and insights to help us understand the flattening of the world. Weaving new information into his overall thesis, and answering the questions he has been most frequently asked by parents across the country, this third edition also includes two new chapters--on how to be a political activist and social entrepreneur in a flat world; and on the more troubling question of how to manage our reputations and privacy in a world where we are all becoming publishers and public figures.The World Is Flat 3.0 is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting milli

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Book SynopsisAfter a decade designing technologies meant to address education, health, and global poverty, award-winning computer scientist Kentaro Toyama came to a difficult conclusion: Even in an age of amazing technology, social progress depends on human changes that gadgets can't deliver.Computers in Bangalore are locked away in dusty cabinets because teachers don't know what to do with them. Mobile phone apps meant to spread hygiene practices in Africa fail to improve health. Executives in Silicon Valley evangelize novel technologies at work even as they send their children to Waldorf schools that ban electronics. And four decades of incredible innovation in America have done nothing to turn the tide of rising poverty and inequality. Why then do we keep hoping that technology will solve our greatest social ills?In this incisive book, Toyama cures us of the manic rhetoric of digital utopians and reinvigorates us with a deeply people-centric view of social change. Contrasting the outlandish claims of tech zealots with stories of people like Patrick Awuah, a Microsoft millionaire who left his engineering job to open Ghana's first liberal arts university, and Tara Sreenivasa, a graduate of a remarkable South Indian school that takes impoverished children into the high-tech offices of Goldman Sachs and Mercedes-Benz, Geek Heresy is a heartwarming reminder that it's human wisdom, not machines, that move our world forward.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2016 PROSE Award in Business, Finance & Management "It is notable...when a techie insider steps outside the tent to chastise his tribe at book length -- and has the gall to both criticize and dedicate the book to his former boss, Bill Gates. Kentaro Toyama, a computer scientist who once ran a lab for Microsoft Research, seems determined to burn his bridge to the technology world with Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology... The book takes a spike-studded tire iron to the efforts by technology entrepreneurs and their enablers to reimagine how we eat, learn, heal, govern and battle poverty."--Anand Giridharadas, New York Times "In this incisive book, Toyama cures us of the manic rhetoric of digital utopians and reinvigorates us with a deeply people-centric view of social change. ...Geek Heresy is a heartwarming reminder that it's human wisdom, not machines, that move our world forward." --National Geographic Online "Everyone working in any facet of education and educational nonprofits needs to read Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change From the Cult of Technology; put down whatever other books you're reading--you are reading, right?--and get a copy of this one." --Seliger & Associates "Toyama lays down eloquently his bone of contention that technology merely amplifies the human condition." --New Indian Express "Toyama's research reminds us that there are very few one-size-fits-all solutions. If technology is going to improve the lives of the world's poorest, it must be grounded in a deep understanding of human behavior and an appreciation for cultural differences." --Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation "Read this book! With engaging stories and penetrating insight, Toyama reveals that even the most powerful technologies can't cure our social ills, and he inspires us toward a more deeply human kind of progress."--Ben Mezrich, author of Accidental Billionaires "Controversial yet inspiring...Geek Heresy is a must read for anyone who is passionate about social change...Everyone from field staff and managers to researchers and funders will benefit from his unique perspective; geeks and non-geeks, alike. Finally, we have a book that can help temper our technology addiction with an approach guided by critical thought and practical application."--Global South Development Magazine

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Book SynopsisIn The Nature of Technology, ground-breaking economist W. Brian Arthur explores the extraordinary way in which the technology that surrounds us and allows us to live our modern lives has actually been developed. Rather than coming from a series of one-off inventions, almost all the technology we use today comes from previous developments: these technologies are not being created, but are instead evolving.With fascinating examples, from laser printers to powerplants, Arthur reveals how our own problem-solving skills and creative vision can evolve alongside these technologies, and how this understanding can even improve our understanding of the wider world.Trade ReviewA profoundly social view of innovation * The New York Times *Deeply analytical and thought-provoking * Good Book Guide *Entertaining and informative ... a thought-provoking book * Literary Review *

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