Impact of science and technology on society Books
MIT Press Ltd Plato and the Nerd The Creative Partnership of
Book SynopsisHow humans and technology evolve together in a creative partnership.In this book, Edward Ashford Lee makes a bold claim: that the creators of digital technology have an unsurpassed medium for creativity. Technology has advanced to the point where progress seems limited not by physical constraints but the human imagination. Writing for both literate technologists and numerate humanists, Lee makes a case for engineering—creating technology—as a deeply intellectual and fundamentally creative process. Explaining why digital technology has been so transformative and so liberating, Lee argues that the real power of technology stems from its partnership with humans. Lee explores the ways that engineers use models and abstraction to build inventive artificial worlds and to give us things that we never dreamed of—for example, the ability to carry in our pockets everything humans have ever published. But he also attempts to counter the runaway enthusiasm of som
£14.39
MIT Press Ltd The Synthetic Age Outdesigning Evolution
Book SynopsisImagining a future in which humans fundamentally reshape the natural world using nanotechnology, synthetic biology, de-extinction, and climate engineering.We have all heard that there are no longer any places left on Earth untouched by humans. The significance of this goes beyond statistics documenting melting glaciers and shrinking species counts. It signals a new geological epoch. In The Synthetic Age, Christopher Preston argues that what is most startling about this coming epoch is not only how much impact humans have had but, more important, how much deliberate shaping they will start to do. Emerging technologies promise to give us the power to take over some of Nature's most basic operations. It is not just that we are exiting the Holocene and entering the Anthropocene; it is that we are leaving behind the time in which planetary change is just the unintended consequence of unbridled industrialism. A world designed by engineers and technicians means the birth of the plan
£13.29
MIT Press Ltd The Smart Enough City Putting Technology in Its
Book SynopsisWhy technology is not an end in itself, and how cities can be “smart enough,” using technology to promote democracy and equity.Smart cities, where technology is used to solve every problem, are hailed as futuristic urban utopias. We are promised that apps, algorithms, and artificial intelligence will relieve congestion, restore democracy, prevent crime, and improve public services. In The Smart Enough City, Ben Green warns against seeing the city only through the lens of technology; taking an exclusively technical view of urban life will lead to cities that appear smart but under the surface are rife with injustice and inequality. He proposes instead that cities strive to be “smart enough”: to embrace technology as a powerful tool when used in conjunction with other forms of social change—but not to value technology as an end in itself.In a technology-centric smart city, self-driving cars have the run of downtown and force out pedes
£19.55
MIT Press Ltd Kids Across the Spectrums
Book Synopsis
£36.10
MIT Press Ltd Good Reception
£24.65
MIT Press Ltd Shaping Things
Book Synopsis
£25.60
Legacy Lit Outrage Machine
Book Synopsis
£23.20
Little Brown and Company The Age of AI
£17.58
Random House USA Inc Quantum Supremacy
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? An exhilarating tour of humanity''s next great technological achievement?quantum computing?which may supercharge artificial intelligence, solve some of humanity''s biggest problems, like global warming, world hunger, and incurable disease, and eventually illuminate the deepest mysteries of science, by the bestselling author ofThe God Equation. ? ?Expertly describes and rectifies common misconceptions about quantum computing. ?Science[Kaku''s] lucid prose and thought process make abundant sense of this technological turning point.? ?The New York Times Book ReviewThe runaway success of the microchip may finally be reaching its end. As shrinking transistors approach the size of atoms, the phenomenal growth of computational power inevitably collapses. But this change heralds the birth of a revolutionary new type of computer, one that calculates on atoms themselves.Quantum computers promise unprecedented gains in computing power, enabling advancements that could overturn every aspect of our daily lives. While the media has mainly focused on their startling potential to crack any known encryption method, the race is already on to exploit their incredible power to revolutionize industry. Automotive makers, medical researchers, and consulting firms are all betting on quantum computing to design more efficient vehicles, create life-saving new drugs, and streamline businesses. But this is only the beginning. Quantum computing could be used to decode the complex chemical processes needed to produce cheap fertilizers and unleash a second Green Revolution; create a super battery that will enable the Solar Age; or design nuclear fusion reactors to generate clean, safe, renewable energy. It may even unravel the fiendishly difficult protein folding that lies at the heart of as-yet-incurable diseases like Alzheimer?s, ALS, and Parkinson?s. Already, quantum computers are being put to work to help solve the greatest mystery in science?the origin of the universe.There is no single problem humanity faces that might not be addressed by quantum computers. With his signature clarity and enthusiasm, Dr. Michio Kaku, who has spent his entire professional life working on the quantum theory, tells the thrilling story of this exciting scientific frontier and the race to claim humanity?s future.
£24.00
Random House USA Inc Broken Code
Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • By an award-winning technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, a behind-the-scenes look at the manipulative tactics Facebook used to grow its business, how it distorted the way we connect online, and the company insiders who found the courage to speak outBroken Code fillets Facebook’s strategic failures to address its part in the spread of disinformation, political fracturing and even genocide. The book is stuffed with eye-popping, sometimes Orwellian statistics and anecdotes that could have come only from the inside. —New York Times Book ReviewOnce the unrivaled titan of social media, Facebook held a singular place in culture and politics. Along with its sister platforms Instagram and WhatsApp, it was a daily destination for billions of users around the world. Inside and outside the company, Facebook extolled its products as bringing pe
£26.00
WW Norton & Co The Vanishing Neighbor
Book SynopsisA sweeping new look at the unheralded transformation that is eroding the foundations of American exceptionalism.Trade Review"Marc Dunkelman gets it. In The Vanishing Neighbor, he shows how the traditional web of relationships that makes up American life is undergoing fundamental change, why it matters, and what we need to do about it." -- President Bill Clinton"Important… provide[s] fresh thoughts about community in the United States that might win assent from left and right alike." -- E.J. Dionne Jr. - Washington Post"A highly ambitious, wide-ranging book that offers important new insights into why the bonds of community have unraveled in America in the past generation." -- Alan Ehrenhalt, author of The Great Inversion"In The Vanishing Neighbor, Marc Dunkelman conducts us insightfully through the work of astute sociologists and other observers of American social life, from the time in the 1950s when they described a conformist and confident society to the confused and more uncertain period of today. He focuses on one significant change: the transformation of the American 'township,' a defining characteristic of American society since Tocqueville first identified it, into something quite different. As Dunkelman ably shows, rapid economic change, the digital revolution, and other factors have fundamentally altered our social life, our political life, and our ability to solve the problems of a rapidly changing society." -- Nathan Glazer, professor emeritus of sociology and education, Harvard University"The Vanishing Neighbor is an urgent, challenging, strongly reasoned argument about the health of American society. Marc Dunkelman speaks directly to the communication gap between our local communities and the governments that serve them. How we bridge that gap—as working people, as political leaders, and as neighbors—will determine the care we provide to our loved ones and the opportunities we leave our children for years to come." -- Neera Tanden, president, Center for American Progress"After a panoramic view of how the United States has changed in so many ways, Marc Dunkelman argues that Americans are left with a sense of isolation from neighbors nearby: we keep 'inner-ring' relationships with family and close friends plus 'outer-ring' with Facebook friends we see infrequently, but we have lost middle-ring relationships with families down the street and a barber around the corner. Institutions, Dunkelman believes, must adapt to these new realities, nourishing a fresh sense of community. This is an insightful call for remembering what Tocqueville found best about America." -- David Gergen, codirector of the Center for Public Leadership and professor of public service at Harvard Kennedy School and senior political analyst, CNN"A meditation on the evaporation of American exceptionalism… thought-provoking [and] evenhanded." -- Kirkus Reviews"A rich and accessible diagnosis of contemporary mores and discontents." -- Publishers Weekly
£20.89
Penguin Putnam Inc Wonderland How Play Made the Modern World
Book Synopsis“A house of wonders itself. . . . Wonderland inspires grins and well-what-d'ya-knows” —The New York Times Book Review From the New York Times–bestselling author of How We Got to Now and Extra Life, a look at the world-changing innovations we made while keeping ourselves entertained. This lushly illustrated history of popular entertainment takes a long-zoom approach, contending that the pursuit of novelty and wonder is a powerful driver of world-shaping technological change. Steven Johnson argues that, throughout history, the cutting edge of innovation lies wherever people are working the hardest to keep themselves and others amused. Johnson’s storytelling is just as delightful as the inventions he describes, full of surprising stops along the journey from simple concepts to complex modern systems. He introduces us to the
£18.00
Penguin Random House India The War for Kindness
Book Synopsis
£16.15
Basic Books A Dangerous Master How to Keep Technology from
Book SynopsisWe live in an age of awesome technological potential. From nanotechnology to synthetic organisms, new technologies stand to revolutionize whole domains of human experience. But with awesome potential comes awesome risk: drones can deliver a bomb as readily as they can a new smartphone makers and hackers can 3D-print guns as well as tools and supercomputers can short-circuit Wall Street just as easily as they can manage your portfolio.One thing these technologies can''t do is answer the profound moral issues they raise. Who should be held accountable when they go wrong? What responsibility do we, as creators and users, have for the technologies we build? In A Dangerous Master , ethicist Wendell Wallach tackles such difficult questions with hard-earned authority, imploring both producers and consumers to face the moral ambiguities arising from our rapid technological growth. There is no doubt that scientific research and innovation are a source of promise and productivity, but, as Walla
£20.90
Basic Books Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data
Book Synopsis
£26.60
The University of Michigan Press Quantifying the Impact of Technical Barriers to
Book Synopsis
£999.99
Penguin Putnam Inc The Science of Can and Cant
Book Synopsis
£15.30
Penguin Putnam Inc Rationality
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER?In our uncertain age, which can so often feel so dark and disturbing, Steven Pinker has distinguished himself as a voice of positivity.? ? New York TimesCan reading a book make you more rational? Can it help us understand why there is so much irrationality in the world? Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now (Bill Gates?s new favorite book of all time?) answers all the questions here Today humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding--and also appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing?Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are simply irrational--cavemen out of time saddled with biases, fallacies, and illusions. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives, and set out the benchmarks for rationality itself. We actually think in ways that are sensible in the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we?ve discovered over the millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, correlation and causation, and optimal ways to update beliefs and commit to choices individually and with others. These tools are not a standard part of our education, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book--until now.Rationality also explores its opposite: how the rational pursuit of self-interest, sectarian solidarity, and uplifting mythology can add up to crippling irrationality in a society. Collective rationality depends on norms that are explicitly designed to promote objectivity and truth.Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with Pinker?s customary insight and humor, Rationality will enlighten, inspire, and empower.
£17.10
Penguin Random House LLC Your Face Belongs to Us
Book SynopsisNATIONAL BESTSELLER ? The story of a small AI company that gave facial recognition to law enforcement, billionaires, and businesses, threatening to end privacy as we know it?The dystopian future portrayed in some science-fiction movies is already uponus. Kashmir Hill?s fascinating book brings home the scary implications of this new reality.??John Carreyrou, author of Bad BloodA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, WiredWinner of the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award ?Longlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year AwardNew York Times tech reporter Kashmir Hill was skeptical when she got a tip about a mysterious app called Clearview AI that claimed it could, with 99 percent accuracy, identify anyone based on just one snapshot of their face. The app could supposedly scan afaceand, in just seconds, surface every detail of a person?s online life: their name, social media profiles, friends and family members, home address, and photos that they might not have even known existed. If it was everything it claimed to be, it would be the ultimate surveillance tool, and it would open the door to everything from stalking to totalitarian state control. Could it be true?In this riveting account, Hill tracks the improbable rise of Clearview AI, helmed by Hoan Ton-That, an Australian computer engineer, and Richard Schwartz, a former Rudy Giuliani advisor, and its astounding collection of billions of faces from the internet. The company was boosted by a cast of controversial characters, including conservative provocateur Charles C. Johnson and billionaire Donald Trump backer Peter Thiel?who all seemed eager to release this society-altering technology on the public.Google and Facebook decided that a tool to identify strangers was too radical to release, but Clearview forged ahead, sharing the app with private investors, pitching it to businesses, andoffering it to thousands of law enforcement agencies around theworld. Facial recognition technology has been quietly growing more powerful for decades. This technology has already been used in wrongful arrests in the United States. Unregulated, it could expand the reach of policing, as it has in China and Russia, to a terrifying, dystopian level. Your Face Belongs to Us is a gripping true story about the rise of a technological superpower and an urgent warning that, in the absence of vigilance and government regulation, Clearview AI is one of many new technologies that challenge what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once called ?the right to be let alone.?
£13.78
Diversified Publishing Quantum Supremacy
Book Synopsis
£28.80
Penguin Putnam Inc These Strange New Minds
£21.36
Penguin Putnam Inc Facebook
Book SynopsisOne of the Best Technology Books of 2020—Financial Times“Levy’s all-access Facebook reflects the reputational swan dive of its subject. . . . The result is evenhanded and devastating.”—San Francisco Chronicle “[Levy’s] evenhanded conclusions are still damning.”—Reason “[He] doesn’t shy from asking the tough questions.”—The Washington Post “Reminds you the HBO show Silicon Valley did not have to reach far for its satire.”—NPR.org The definitive history, packed with untold stories, of one of America’s most controversial and powerful companies: Facebook As a college sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to serve as a campus social network. Today, Facebook is nearly unrecognizable from its first, modest iterat
£18.00
Penguin Putnam Inc The Four
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER USA TODAY BESTSELLERAmazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are the four most influential companies on the planet. Just about everyone thinks they know how they got there. Just about everyone is wrong. For all that’s been written about the Four over the last two decades, no one has captured their power and staggering success as insightfully as Scott Galloway. Instead of buying the myths these companies broadcast, Galloway asks fundamental questions. How did the Four infiltrate our lives so completely that they’re almost impossible to avoid (or boycott)? Why does the stock market forgive them for sins that would destroy other firms? And as they race to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company, can anyone challenge them? In the same irreverent style that has made him one of the world’s most celebrated business professors, Galloway deconstructs the strategies of the Four that lurk beneath their shiny veneers. He shows how they manipulate the fundamental emotional needs that have driven us since our ancestors lived in caves, at a speed and scope others can’t match. And he reveals how you can apply the lessons of their ascent to your own business or career. Whether you want to compete with them, do business with them, or simply live in the world they dominate, you need to understand the Four.
£23.20
Penguin Putnam Inc The Four
Book Synopsis
£17.00
Johns Hopkins University Press Blip Ping Buzz
Book SynopsisA section on bioacoustic echolocation, with a focus on the superior sonar systems of bats and whales and a discussion of the advanced technology of next-generation airborne signal processors, opens the imagination to fascinating possibilities for the future.Trade ReviewThis is an impressive, enjoyable and unique book... The style is light and entertaining, without in any way trivializing the subject or appearing patronizing, and Blip, Ping, and Buzz achieves the rather special trick of being valuable both to the non-specialist and to the seasoned practitioner. -- Hugh Griffiths Physics World 2008 This well written book... is highly recommended for just about everyone including, dare I say it, experts. -- Richard J. Peppin International Journal of Acoustics and Vibration 2008 The writing style is clear and sometimes whimsical, making for easy reading... An excellent addition to the ever-popular genre of books about how things work. -- Colin Keay Australian Physics 2008 Denny largely sheds the complexity of mathematical constructs, distilling their most salient features into a more qualitative understanding of radar and sonar systems. Choice 2008 Indeed, Denny's writing is anything but dry and boring. He adeptly explains complex subject matter and does so with relatively simple language and minimal use of symbolic notation. -- Paul A. Faure Bat Research News 2008Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Hearing the Picture1. Early Days2. Remote Sensing Foundations3. Signal Processing Techniques4. Tactics: Skunks and Old Crows5. Mapping: Hearing the Picture6. Specialized Applications and Advanced TechniquesFinal ThoughtsTechnical NotesGlossaryIndex
£34.99
Johns Hopkins University Press Lawless Universe Science and the Hunt for Reality
Book SynopsisThought-provoking and controversial, Lawless Universe is a complement to, even an antidote for, books that create the misimpression that science can explain everything.Trade ReviewDr. Rosen knocks down the structure of good science and rebuilds it for the reader, brick by brick, beginning with the most basic differences between objectivity and subjectivity. And through topics that might otherwise leave readers feeling adrift-like quantum theory, metaphysics, and the anthropic principle-Dr. Rosen proves a calm, conscientious guide who sticks by the reader's side. GW Magazine/GW Today 2011Table of ContentsPreface1. Objective or Subjective: That Is the QuestionObjective and SubjectiveThe Objective Outer World: RealityOur Subjective Inner Worlds: FantasiesObjective or Subjective?Objective TruthSubjective TruthLogical TruthDealing with the SubjectiveDealing with the Objective2. The Science of Nature and the Nature of SciencePreliminariesScienceNatureReproducibilityPredictabilityLaw3. Theory: Explanation, Not SpeculationTheoryLogical Implication and Objective TruthGenerality and FundamentalityNaturalityCausationSimplicity and UnificationBeautyFalsifiabilityAn Archetypal Example4. Is Science the Whole Story?Science and MetaphysicsTranscendence and Nontranscendence5. Our Unique UniverseThe Lawless UniverseCosmology6. Nature's LawsRealism and IdealismReductionism and HolismObserver and ObservedQuasi-Isolated System and SurroundingsInitial State and Law of EvolutionExtended Mach PrincipleWhence Order?7. Facing the UniverseHuman ScienceAnthropic PrincipleWhence Order? (Again)Space and Time8. The Hunt for RealityMetaphysical PositionsObjective RealityPerceived RealityPartially Hidden RealityTranscendent RealityCodaGlossaryCombined BibliographyIndex
£63.18
Random House USA Inc The Hunt for Vulcan and How Albert Einstein
Book SynopsisThe captivating, all-but-forgotten story of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and the search for a planet that never existed For more than fifty years, the world’s top scientists searched for the “missing” planet Vulcan, whose existence was mandated by Isaac Newton’s theories of gravity. Countless hours were spent on the hunt for the elusive orb, and some of the era’s most skilled astronomers even claimed to have found it. There was just one problem: It was never there. In The Hunt for Vulcan, Thomas Levenson follows the visionary scientists who inhabit the story of the phantom planet, starting with Isaac Newton, who in 1687 provided an explanation for all matter in motion throughout the universe, leading to Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier, who almost two centuries later built on Newton’s theories and discovered Neptune, becoming the most famous scientist in the world. Le Verrier attempted to surpass that triumph by p
£11.71
Rutgers University Press The Three Axial Ages Moral Material Mental
Book SynopsisHow can historical developments and discoveries be used to affect future outcomes? Sociologist and historian John Torpey proposes that the “Axial Age,” a period in the first millennium BCE when major religious and intellectual developments emerged, can be used to directly affect present social problems, from economic inequality to ecological destruction. Trade Review"As usual, John Torpey's new book is concisely written, and filled with interesting bits of information and lucid observations … I'm sure it will attract interest and favorable attention." -- R. S. Ratner * Professor Emeritus, Sociology, University of British Columbia *"The boldness and contemporary relevance of arguments like these are what make this small book an enjoyable and 'teachable' tool for sociologists and historians." * Sociology of Religion *"For those wondering how recent work on economic and social history bears on the received wisdom of historical sociology, Torpey weaves together a compelling new narrative. [The book] seeks a balance between the pessimistic vision of human history that typically prevails within sociology and the more optimistic view that is characteristic of economics. Torpey does not downplay the perils of the present moment, but he is also attuned to its promise." * Sociological Forum *Interview with John Torpey on New Books Network * New Books Network *Table of ContentsPreface vii Introduction 1 1. The Moral Axial Age 7 2. The Material Axial Age 33 3. The Mental Axial Age 50 Notes 79 Index 97
£999.99
University of Minnesota Press Neofinalism
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Raymond Ruyer's work is remarkably prescient and provocative, providing a profound philosophy of life and evolution that deserves to be re-read today alongside contemporary vitalisms and new materialisms. This is a significant text in the history and philosophy of science, skillfully translated by Alyosha Edlebi."—Claire Colebrook, Pennsylvania State University"Raymond Ruyer is a rare, unsung genius, equally at home in the biological, physical, and technical sciences as he is in philosophy and the humanities. Neofinalism is one of those books that change the way we think. He draws our attention to the fact that matter and life are not just random collections but are matter directed by an ideal, a memory that informs all primary forms, all forms of consciousness. More than any other thinker, he opens up the concept of consciousness to all its inhuman ingredients and orientations."—Elizabeth Grosz, Duke UniversityTable of ContentsContentsIntroduction: Form and Phenomenon in Raymond Ruyer's PhilosophyMark B. N. Hansen1. The Axiological Cogito2. Description of Finalist Activity3. Finalist Activity and Organic Life4. The Contradictions of Biological Antifinalism5. Finalist Activity and the Nervous System6. The Brain and the Embryo7. Signification of Equipotentiality8. The Reciprocal Illusion of Incarnation and “Material” Existence9. “Absolute Surfaces” and Absolute Domains of Survey10. Absolute Domains and Bonds11. Absolute Domains and Finality12. The Region of the Transspatial and the Transindividual13. The Levels of the Transspatial and Finalist Activity14. The Beings of the Physical World and the Fibrous Structure of the Universe15. The Neo-Materialist Theories16. Neo-Darwinism and Natural Selection17. Neo-Darwinism and Genetics18. Organicism and the Dynamism of Finality19. Psycho-Lamarckism20. Theology of FinalitySummaryTranslator's Afterword: The Ends of ThoughtAlyosha EdlebiNotesIndex
£999.99
University of Minnesota Press Inanimation
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsContentsPrefaceIntroduction: Doubled LivesPart I. Autobiography1. Automatic Life, So Life: Descartes2. Order Catastrophically Unknown: Freud3. The Blushing Machine: DerridaPart II. Translation4. Living Punctuations: Cixous and Celan5. Naming the Mechanical Angel: Benjamin6. Raw War: Schmitt, Jünger, and JoycePart III. Resonance7. Bloodless Coup: Bataille, Nancy, and Barthes8. The Audible Life of the Image: Godard9. Meditations for the Birds: DescartesAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex
£21.59
The University of Alabama Press What are Stem Cells Definitions at the
Book SynopsisIdentifies the moral stalemate between the rights of the embryo and the rights of the patient and uses it as the framework for a larger discussion about the role of definitions as a key rhetorical strategy in the debate. Importantly, this work recognises definitions as central to issues, not only within stem cell research, but in all argumentation.Trade ReviewAlthough bioethical issues surrounding stem cell research during the Bush and Obama administrations form a backdrop, Lynch (communication, Univ. of Cincinnati) is more concerned here with how language is used than with ethical positions. He presents definitions not so much as reflections of reality, but more as malleable tools for shaping public debate and policy. He introduces the idea of "scientistic idioms" to describe how various proponents and opponents of stem cell research incorporate the language of science to bolster their positions. Ironically, critics of stem cell research often use scientific idioms to challenge and undermine the authority of stem cell researchers. Lynch also frames his analysis in terms of a 'Manichean idiom' that presents stem cell research in terms of struggles between good and evil. For proponents of stem cell research, the Manichean idiom may take the form of scientific progress versus benighted religious or political agendas. Opponents may use the same idiom to contrast overreaching science with protection of human values. Lynch's analysis is useful for understanding not only debates over stem cell research, but also contentious issues such as teaching evolution in schools--a topic briefly addressed in the conclusion. Part of the 'Rhetoric, Culture, and Social Critique' series. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals." —CHOICE
£999.99
Hoover Institution Press,U.S. Beyond Disruption
Book SynopsisPresents views from some of America's experts in the sciences, humanities, and military that scrutinize the rise of post-millennium technologies in today's global society. They contemplate both the benefits and peril carried by the unprecedented speed of these innovations.Trade ReviewI think we've got to have a balance between optimism about what we can do with this technology but also realism about the dark side." - Sam Nunn, American lawyer and politician
£21.20
Hoover Institution Press,U.S. A Hinge of History
Book SynopsisThe world is at an inflection point. Advancing technologies are creating new opportunities and challenges. Great demographic changes are occurring rapidly, with significant consequences. Governance everywhere is in disarray. A new world is emerging. These are some of the key insights to emerge from a series of interdisciplinary roundtables and global expert contributions hosted by the Hoover Institution. In these pages, George P. Shultz and James Timbie examine a range of issues shaping our present and future, region by region. Concrete proposals address migration, reversing the decline of K-12 education, updating the social safety net, maintaining economic productivity, protecting our democratic processes, improving national security, and more. Meeting these transformational challenges will require international cooperation, constructive engagement, and strong governance. The United States is well positioned to ride this wave of change-and lead other nations in doing the same.
£29.71
University of Pittsburgh Press Science Policy and the ValueFree Ideal
Book SynopsisDouglas challenges the traditional value-free ideal, and proposes a new ideal for values in science. She argues that the distinction between junk science and sound science lies in the roles values play at key points throughout science, and that constraining those roles is central to protecting the integrity and objectivity of science.
£38.95
Quest Books,U.S. Digital Dharma A Users Guide to Expanding
Book Synopsis
£12.34
MIT School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) Centerbook The Center for Advanced Visual
Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive history of MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS), told through personal accounts and groundbreaking artwork.In 1967, in a time of student unrest, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology did the unexpected: it established the first academic center for research and collaboration in art, science, and technology. The Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) brought artists to the MIT campus with radical expressions of a rapidly evolving technological era.The brainchild of founding director Gyorgy Kepes, CAVS sought to repair the distance between practitioners of art and engineering within the halls of MIT. The scientist may be an extra brain to the artist, and the engineer may be an extra arm to the artist, whereas the artist can be an extra eye to the scientist and engineer,” said long-time director Otto Piene in Centerbeam, a 1978 film about a CAVS collaboration. As a breeder of new art forms and future-oriented artistic
£43.00
John Wiley & Sons Inc The Tech That Comes Next
Book SynopsisChanging the way we use, develop, and fund technology for social change is possible, and it starts with you. The Tech That Comes Next: How Changemakers, Philanthropists, and Technologists Can Build an Equitable World outlines a vision of a more equitable and just world along with practical steps to creating it, appropriately leveraging technology along the way. In the book, you'll find: Strategies for changing culture and investments inside social impact organizationsWays to change technology development so it incorporates more of societyExamples of data, security, and privacy laws and policies that need to change to protect vulnerable populations and advance positive change Ideal for nonprofit leaders, social activists, policymakers, technologists, entrepreneurs, founders, managers, and other business leaders, The Tech That Comes Next belongs in the libraries of anyone who envisions a world in which technology helps advance, rather than hinders, positive social change.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction xi One Where We Are and How We Got Here 1 Two Where Are We Going? 15 Three Changing Technology Culture and Investments Inside Social Impact Organizations 29 Four Changing Technology Development Inside and for Social Impact 63 Five Changing Technology and Social Impact Funding 91 Six Changing Laws and Policies 127 Seven Changing Conditions for Communities 157 Eight Start Building Power for What’s Next 183 Nine Where Will You Go Next? 195 Ten Resources for What Comes Next 205 Notes 221 Index 231
£19.79
Picador USA Metazoa
Book SynopsisEnthralling . . . breathtaking . . . Metazoa brings an extraordinary and astute look at our own mind's essential link to the animal world. The New York Times Book Review (Editors'' Choice)A great book . . . [Godfrey-Smith is] brilliant at describing just what he sees, the patterns of behaviour of the animals he observes. Nigel Warburton, Five BooksThe scuba-diving philosopher who wrote Other Minds explores the origins of animal consciousnessDip below the ocean's surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals, and serpulid worms, whose rooted bodies, intricate geometry, and flower-like appendages are more reminiscent of plant life or even architecture than anything recognizably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins. As fellow members of the animal kingdomthe Metazoathey can teach us much about the evolutionary origins of not only
£17.10
St Martin's Press The New Breed
Book Synopsis
£16.99
St Martin's Press Starry Messenger
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERBringing his cosmic perspective to civilization on Earth, Neil deGrasse Tyson shines new light on the crucial fault lines of our timewar, politics, religion, truth, beauty, gender, and racein a way that stimulates a deeper sense of unity for us all.In a time when our political and cultural views feel more polarized than ever, Tyson provides a much-needed antidote to so much of what divides us, while making a passionate case for the twin chariots of enlightenmenta cosmic perspective and the rationality of science.After thinking deeply about how science sees the world and about Earth as a planet, the human brain has the capacity to reset and recalibrates life's priorities, shaping the actions we might take in response. No outlook on culture, society, or civilization remains untouched.With crystalline prose, Starry Messenger walks us through the scientific palette that sees and paints the world
£16.14
MacMillan Audio Starry Messenger
Book Synopsis
£22.49
Picador USA Close to the Machine
Book SynopsisWhen Ellen Ullman's memoir of her life as a software engineer was published in 1997, it was greeted as a revelatory meditation on the dawn of the digital era. Now, twenty-five years later, Close to the Machine is a true classic, a touchstone work that illuminates our time and our future life in technology.It is the story of a woman whose life is spinning out of control. Technology becomes her unlikely lifeline. As she navigates this socially flawed and male-dominated world, Ullman shows us the struggle of translating the messiness of human thought into algorithms, and also discovers unexpected beauty in the logic of code.
£15.30
Hay House Inc The Bigger Picture
Book SynopsisTrade Review‘Although they will perhaps always remain mysterious, psychedelics have also always invited us – and our ancestors – to heed the teachings they have to offer, to reconsider our place in the universe, and to recognize the enigma of our own existence. The Bigger Picture adds substantial new information to our understanding of psychedelics and their potentially momentous significance to the world today. I highly recommend this carefully and convincingly argued, deeply thought-provoking and beautifully written book.’ –Graham Hancock‘The Bigger Picture is an entertaining, insightful, and timely book. Beiner draws on the latest psychedelic science to explain how what we’re learning about these molecules can help us make sense of our social and political challenges in new ways, and he ties together research from a variety of different fields to present a compelling and nuanced argument as to why psychedelic science could change the world for the better.’ –Robin Carhart-Harris, Founder of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, and Director of Psychedelics Division, Neuroscape, UCSF‘Beiner is a wise and entertaining guide through the jungle of contemporary psychedelics, bringing much-needed critical thinking to the field’. –Jules Evans, author of Philosophy for Life and Director of the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project
£15.29
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Communications and Mobility
Book SynopsisCommunications and Mobility is a unique, interdisciplinary look at mobility, territory, communication, and transport in the 21st century with extended case studies of three icons of this era: the mobile phone, the migrant, and the container box. Urges scholars in media and communication to return to broader conceptions of the field that include mobility of all kindsinformation, people, and commodities Embraces perspectives from media studies, science and technology studies, sociology, media anthropology, and cultural geography Discusses ideas of virtual and embodied mobility, network geographies, de-territorialization, sedentarism, nomadology, connectivity, containment, and exclusion Integrates the often-neglected transport studies into contemporary communication studies and theories of globalization Trade Review“In sum, this book delivers a rich and nuanced illumination of the impact of the inseparable material and virtual dimensions of media and communications in our contemporary world.” -- Mobile Media and Communication Volume 8 (1) 2020 The book "weaves together perspectives on communication, mobility, territory and transport from various disciplines" and " offers a new and broader theoretical framework... historicizing and culturally contextualising communications, which will deepen and enrich readers` understanding of technologies and mobilities in the contemporary world" – European Journal of Cultural Studies, First Published 13 Jan 2020Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Redefining Communications 1 Part I The Return of Geopolitics 19 1 Communications, Transport, and Territory 21 2 Constituting Europe: Empires, Nations, and Techno]zones 37 Part II Reconceptualizing Communications: Mobilities and Geographies 57 3 Sedentarism, Nomadology, and “New Mobilities” 59 4 Disaggregating Mobilities: Zoning, Exclusion, and Containment 77 5 Geography, Topography, and Topology: Networks and Infrastructures 95 6 The Virtual and the Actual: Being There, Disembodiment, and Deterritorialization 113 Part III The Mobility of People, Information, and Commodities: Case Studies in Communications Geography 131 7 Migration: Changing Paradigms, Embodied Mobilities, and Material Practices 133 8 Mobile Communications and Ubiquitous Connectivity: Technologies of Transformation? 159 9 Containerization as Globalization: The Mobility of Commodities 199 Index 233
£30.95
Johns Hopkins University Press Liberation Technology
Book SynopsisHoward, Muzammil M. Hussain, Rebecca MacKinnon, Patrick Meier, Evgeny Morozov, Xiao Qiang, Rafal Rohozinski, Mehdi YahyanejadTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Liberation vs. Control in CyberspaceChapter 1. Liberation TechnologyChapter 2. Liberation vs. Control: The Future of CyberspaceChapter 3. International Mechanisms of Cyberspace ControlsChapter 4. Whither Internet Control?Part II: Liberation Technology in ChinaChapter 5. The Battle for the Chinese InternetChapter 6. China's "Networked Authoritarianism"Part III: Liberation Technology in the Middle EastChapter 7. Ushahidi as a Liberation TechnologyChapter 8. Egypt and Tunisia: The Role of Digital MediaChapter 9. Circumventing Internet Censorship in the Arab WorldChapter 10. Social Media, Dissent, and Iran's Green MovementPart IV: Policy RecommendationsChapter 11. Challenges for International PolicyIndex
£45.50
Johns Hopkins University Press Liberation Technology
Book SynopsisHoward, Muzammil M. Hussain, Rebecca MacKinnon, Patrick Meier, Evgeny Morozov, Xiao Qiang, Rafal Rohozinski, Mehdi YahyanejadTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Liberation vs. Control in CyberspaceChapter 1. Liberation TechnologyChapter 2. Liberation vs. Control: The Future of CyberspaceChapter 3. International Mechanisms of Cyberspace ControlsChapter 4. Whither Internet Control?Part II: Liberation Technology in ChinaChapter 5. The Battle for the Chinese InternetChapter 6. China's "Networked Authoritarianism"Part III: Liberation Technology in the Middle EastChapter 7. Ushahidi as a Liberation TechnologyChapter 8. Egypt and Tunisia: The Role of Digital MediaChapter 9. Circumventing Internet Censorship in the Arab WorldChapter 10. Social Media, Dissent, and Iran's Green MovementPart IV: Policy RecommendationsChapter 11. Challenges for International PolicyIndex
£29.36
Simon & Schuster This Is Your Brain on Sex
Book Synopsis
£16.15
Royal Collins Publishing Company Smart Cities Framework and Practice
Book Synopsis
£52.46
