Impact of science and technology on society Books

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Book SynopsisA Next Big Idea Club Must-ReadA compelling and accessible new perspective on the modern science of psychology, based on one of Yale’s most popular courses of all timeHow does the brain—a three-pound wrinkly mass—give rise to intelligence and conscious experience? Was Freud right that we are all plagued by forbidden sexual desires? What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude, and shame? Renowned psychologist Paul Bloom answers these questions and many more in Psych, his riveting new book about the science of the mind.Psych is an expert and passionate guide to the most intimate aspects of our nature, serving up the equivalent of a serious university course while being funny, engaging, and full of memorable anecdotes. But Psych is much more than a comprehensive overview of the field of psychology. Bloom reveals what psychology can tell us about the most pressing moral and political issues of our time—including belief in conspiracy theories, the role of genes in explaining human differences, and the nature of prejudice and hatred.Bloom also shows how psychology can give us practical insights into important issues—from the treatment of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety to the best way to lead happy and fulfilling lives. Psych is an engrossing guide to the most important topic there is: it is the story of us.

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Book SynopsisA fast-paced, gripping insider account of the entrepreneurs and renegades racing to bring lab-grown meat to the world.The trillion-dollar meat industry is one of our greatest environmental hazards; it pollutes more than all the world''s fossil-fuel-powered cars. Global animal agriculture is responsible for deforestation, soil erosion and more emissions than air travel, paper mills and coal mining combined. It also depends on the slaughter of more than 60 billion animals per year, a number that is only increasing as the global appetite for meat swells. The whole world seems to be sleepwalking into a food crisis.But a band of doctors, scientists, activists and entrepreneurs have been racing to end animal agriculture as we know it, hoping to fulfill a dream of creating meat without ever having to kill an animal. This is the story of a group of seven vegans quietly working to solve one the most pressing issues we face today, creating the biggest upheaval to the foTrade ReviewA thorough, thoughtful dive into the revolution coming for our plates. I learned so muchA wild ride to the far horizon of our food system. Chase Purdy breaks important new ground in this gripping account about the innovators, activists and big-money investors who are reinventing meat as we know it. Not only are they changing the world - they're doing it a lot faster than you thinkThis is a fast-paced, early peek into what will soon be the topic at dinner for the next two decades: lab-grown meat. What do we call it, is it good, should I eat it? Read this and get ahead of the curveBillion Dollar Burger is a journalistic feat, offering us the first real, behind-the-scenes look at the wild world of vegans, scientists and venture capitalists racing to upend our plates. A thoughtful, entertaining, well-researched and essential bookCan humanity move beyond the slaughterhouse? Billion Dollar Burger is a compulsive and well-researched account of the scientists, entrepreneurs and activists trying to save the world through high-tech meatA deeply reported account of the science, politics, and personalities behind cell-cultured meat that every eater needs to read. Chase Purdy brings the stuff of science fiction to life in this fascinating book Chase Purdy brilliantly chronicles the emergence of a new industry poised to set us on the path to a more humane future, with dramatic implications for agriculture, the environment and the way we think about food -- Martin Ford, author of Rise of the Robots and Architects of IntelligenceA thoroughly enjoyable read. Chase Purdy offers us a window into this nascent industry at a particularly interesting time in the growth of the early pioneer cultured meat companies. He delivers an insightful narrative into the future of our food system and navigates the politics and personalities that are shaping the scaling, regulation and consumer acceptance of cultured meat -- Illtud Dunsford, CEO, Cellular Agriculture LtdA very interesting read. This advance in technology could have a massive influence on our future. Whether or not you'd serve lab-grown meat on your dinner table, it has the power to save billions of animals from exploitation and could enable us to conserve the planet -- Lucy Watson, bestselling author of Feed Me VeganA well-researched and insightful narrative of the "edible space race" . . . Billion Dollar Burger is an exciting and unpredictable journey into the heart of a growing new sector that will have huge consequences for the future of the planet -- Gege Li * Chemistry World *

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Book SynopsisAt once a celebration of technology and a warning about its misuse, The Glass Cage will change the way you think about the tools you use every day.Trade Review"Nicholas Carr is among the most lucid, thoughtful, and necessary thinkers alive. He’s also terrific company. The Glass Cage should be required reading for everyone with a phone." -- Jonathan Safran Foer"Nick Carr is the rare thinker who understands that technological progress is both essential and worrying. The Glass Cage is a call for technology that complements our human capabilities, rather than replacing them." -- Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus"Carr's prose is elegant, and he has an exceptional command of the facts. He serves a varied menu of the ways that technology has failed us, and in every instance he is not only persuasive but undoubtedly right." -- Daniel Levitin - Wall Street Journal"[A] deeply informed reflection on computer automation." -- G. Pascal Zachary - San Francisco Chronicle"Smart, insightful…paint[s] a portrait of a world readily handing itself over to intelligent devices." -- Jacob Axelrad - Christian Science Monitor"Brings a much-needed humanistic perspective to the wider issues of automation." -- Richard Waters - Financial Times"One of Carr's great strengths as a critic is the measured calm of his approach to his material—a rare thing in debates over technology…Carr excels at exploring these gray areas and illuminating for readers the intangible things we are losing by automating our lives." -- Christine Rosen - Democracy"There have been few cautionary voices like Nicholas Carr’s urging us to take stock, especially, of the effects of automation on our very humanness—what makes us who we are as individuals—and on our humanity—what makes us who we are in aggregate." -- Sue Halpern - New York Review of Books

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Book SynopsisOne of the Washington Post's Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 A leading philosopher takes a mind-bending journey through virtual worlds, illuminating the nature of reality and our place within it.Trade Review"Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy, by the Australian philosopher David J. Chalmers, is a highly lucid and thought-provoking exploration of such matters—from René Descartes’s thought experiment about an evil demon controlling the inputs into his brain, to the modern “simulation hypothesis” that asks whether we are already living in an alien metaverse without knowing it. " -- Steven Poole - The Wall Street Journal"[A] stunning success. [Reality+] is well written, cleverly illustrated, and packed with useful distinctions and powerful arguments. It makes excellent use of both history and contemporary culture to help the general reader understand its key concepts." -- John Schwenkler - Commonweal". . . Reality+ is frequently weird, wild and wonderful; it captivates the common reader by refusing to condescend." -- Jess Keiser - The Washington Post"Far and away the most credible articulation of simulation theory to date." -- Jason Kehe - Wired"In this accessible yet thought-provoking book, readers will encounter everything from Plato's allegory of the cave and John Wheeler's it-from-bit hypothesis to how mind and body might interact in virtual worlds, whether reality is a mathematical structure, and whether we might just be Boltzmann brains floating in a dream world. Chalmers also tackles techno-centric questions like whether smartphones extend our minds, whether the Internet is making us smart or stupid, the threat of deepfakes and alternative facts, and whether there can be an objective reality in a multiverse of virtual worlds." -- Jennifer Ouellette - Ars Technica"[A] brain-bending new book by the philosopher David Chalmers—Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problem of Philosophy—has turned me into a hard-core simulationist. After reading and talking to Chalmers, I've come to believe that the coming world of virtual reality might one day be regarded as every bit as real as real reality. " -- Farhad Manjoo - The New York Times"[R]ich, scintillating . . . [Chalmers] wrestles with how age-old philosophical conundrums can be reinterpreted in the age of Reality+. " -- John Thornhill - Financial Times"[A] sprawling, brain-tenderising beast of a book—but a hugely entertaining one at that." -- Kit Wilson - The Times"Chalmers is a joy: an exuberant guide through challenging terrain, quick with anecdotes and arguments, wit and wild ideas. " -- Kieran Setiya - The Times Literary Supplement"Everyone should read this important book to understand where we may be heading and how it will be rationalized. " -- Josh Glancy - The Sunday Times"Chalmers' central idea, that "there is more to reality than we thought", is seductive, and I was surprised to find his arguments delightfully—or perhaps worryingly—convincing. He has taken a subject most people would dismiss as pure science fiction and produced a brilliant and very readable philosophical investigation." -- PD Smith - The Guardian"Crafted with the general reader in mind, this is an object lesson in philosophical reasoning and a bold, often awe-inspiring discussion of its implications. Philosophy-minded readers weaned on The Matrix and ready for the metaverse will want to take a look." -- Publishers Weekly"A David Chalmers book is a competition. On the one hand the writing is so clear and engaging that you want to keep turning pages; on the other, the ideas are so surprising and profound that you are continually stopping to think about them. Reality+ is a treasure trove of provocative reflections on cosmology, consciousness, artificial intelligence, ethics, and more. Reading it will change the way you think about the universe." -- Sean Carroll, author of Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime"Fasten your seatbelt and put your helmet on, David Chalmers is going to take you on an amazing trip. Reality+ is wild, profound, and playful, placing famous arguments from the history of philosophy next to surprising observations about video games. Cleverly disguised as light reading, this book carries a large payload of new ideas about existence, knowledge, and what makes life worth living." -- Jennifer Nagel, University of Toronto"As humanity enters a brave new world of artificial superintelligence and computer-generated virtual realities, how can we humble hunter-gatherers, descended from cavemen, begin to grasp our astonishing technological future? The answer lies in this book. We must think about the ultimate nature of reality. In Reality+ David Chalmers provides the roadmap to your future." -- Susan Schneider, NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation, and author of Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind"A stunning achievement. In effortless prose David Chalmers explores new ways to think about everything from consciousness to computation, deities to democracy. Reality+ shows time and again how familiar topics take on interesting new forms when viewed through the lens of virtual reality." -- Scott Sturgeon, author of The Rational Mind"What is real anyway? Exploring the deepest doubts about reality from Zhuangzi to Descartes, David J. Chalmers stirs our own doubts and leads us into the real worlds of future virtual reality. A gripping book." -- Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine and Seeing Myself

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Book SynopsisScience and Technology Studies has attained a strong international profile in recent decades. Science Studies incorporates work in the History and Philosophy of Science, but emphasizes the social, cultural, and political implications of developments in the natural sciences, mathematics, engineering, and medicine. The Sociology of Science remains a vital part of Science Studies, but many other key contributors in the field identify more strongly with core disciplines such as Anthropology, Political Science, and Communication Studies.Edited by a leading scholar in the field, this new four-volume collection from Routledge brings together classic work and the very best contemporary and cutting-edge scholarship. It provides researchersâand advanced studentsâwith easy access to the key items of scholarly literature, material that is otherwise inaccessible or scattered throughout a variety of specialist journals and books. In particular, the collection enables users to gain a deep understanding of the current controversies surrounding science. The materials gathered exemplify important arguments, empirical studies, perspectives, and controversies (such as âthe science warsâ of the 1990s).The collection also includes a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. Science and Technology Studies is an essential work of reference and will be welcomed as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

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Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The classic work that predicted the anxieties of a world upended by rapidly emerging technologies—and now provides a road map to solving many of our most pressing crises. “Explosive . . . brilliantly formulated.” —The Wall Street Journal Future Shock is the classic that changed our view of tomorrow. Its startling insights into accelerating change led a president to ask his advisers for a special report, inspired composers to write symphonies and rock music, gave a powerful new concept to social science, and added a phrase to our language. Published in over fifty countries, Future Shock is the most important study of change and adaptation in our time. In many ways, Future Shock is about the present. It is about what is happening today to people and groups who are overwhelmed by change. Change affects our products, communities, organizations—even our patterns of friendship and love. But Future Shock also illuminates the world of tomorrow by exploding countless clichés about today. It vividly describes the emerging global civilization: the rise of new businesses, subcultures, lifestyles, and human relationships—all of them temporary. Future Shock will intrigue, provoke, frighten, encourage, and, above all, change everyone who reads it.

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Book SynopsisAt 19, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was in charge, under his father, of an engineering work that is the wonder of Europe: the Thames tunnel, completed in 1843. This book traces Brunel''s life and career, the man of immense energy who came to dominate civil engineering in the 19th century and whose legacy can still be seen nearly two centuries later. L.T.C. Rolt was one of the first narrative historians, an industrial pioneer and preservationist. During his life he was fundamental in establishing and promoting canals, waterways and railways. He was one of the first people in modern Britain to draw attention to the value of our canals as a means of transport and a source of pleasure. As well as his interest in canals he also turned his attention to neglcted railways and set up the first organisation to save and run a railway with a mainly volunteer workforce.

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Book SynopsisThe American entrepreneurial spirit burns bright today. As of 2018, the US Patent & Trademark Office had granted its ten millionth patent. But with over 500,000 applications now being filed annually, fewer than half of these applicants will be granted patents and far fewer still will realize commercial success. Some are flawed by mistakes or missing details, others too ridiculous to take seriously, still others simply ahead of their time.From the best and worst to the wackiest and most bizarre inventions and products -- from the horse headlight and Viagra to a motorized spaghetti fork and Slinky -- this collection of 100 life-altering and entertaining patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office includes humorous and informative descriptions of each patent and dozens of original diagrams, figures, and illustrations. The guide also provides insight into the creation and execution of great and not-so-great ideas, what most successful patents have in common, and how great in

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Book SynopsisFor decades, cigarette companies helped to promote the impression that there was no scientific consensus concerning the safety of their product. The appearance of controversy, however, was misleading, designed to confuse the public and to protect industry interests. Created scientific controversies emerge when expert communities are in broad agreement but the public perception is one of profound scientific uncertainty and doubt. In the first book-length analysis of the concept of a created scientific controversy, David Harker explores issues including climate change, Creation science, the anti-vaccine movement and genetically modified crops. Drawing on work in cognitive psychology, social epistemology, critical thinking and philosophy of science, he shows readers how to better understand, evaluate, and respond to the appearance of scientific controversy. His book will be a valuable resource for students of philosophy of science, environmental and health sciences, and social and naturalTrade Review'Harker has produced a valuable book that introduces students to important insights from the philosophy of science and cognitive psychology in order to prepare them for grappling with major debates at the intersection of science and society.' Kevin Elliott, Michigan State University'This is a stimulating and engaging book that introduces some of the core issues in the philosophy of science by taking the reader through a variety of important scientific controversies. By means of this novel approach it offers a useful resource to not only philosophers of science and their students but also anyone concerned about rational decision making and critical thinking in general, including the scientifically literate public and scientists themselves.' Steven French, University of Leeds'This is a unique and important book that addresses a topic of pressing social and political importance with great care and clarity, and an excellent understanding of the relevant science. This is applied philosophy of science at its best.' James Ladyman, University of Bristol'This book has the look and feel of a classroom text, complete with topics for discussion at the end of each chapter. … Harker spends a good deal of time providing background on the history of the philosophy of science, elementary logic, and the literature on cognitive bias. Each of these topics in and of themselves is useful. Indeed, Harker's explanation of the problem of underdetermination of theory by evidence was extremely well done. The explanation of the literature on cognitive bias was also a nice compendium of diverse research findings.' Lee McIntyre, MetascienceTable of ContentsIntroduction: scientific authority and the created controversy; Part I. Lessons from the Philosophy of Science: 1. Defining science and the empiricist approach; 2. Two challenges for the naïve empiricist; 3. A revolution in how we think about sciences; 4. Sciences as historically and socially situated; Points to remember: Part I; Part II. Biases, Arguments and Created Controversies: 5. Inherent irrationality: cognitive biases and heuristics; 6. Thinking more clearly: arguments, reasoning and informal fallacies; 7. Created controversies and how to detect them; Points to remember: Part II; Part III. Exposing Created Controversies: 8. Environmental scare: the case of anthropogenic climate change; 9. Sciences, religion and an intelligently design controversy?; 10. Issues of public health: aids, autism and GMOs; Points to remember: Part III; Concluding remarks; References; Index.

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