Everyone has a natural instinct to be concerned about the future and virtually everyone at various points and in various ways tries to wrestle with the question, “What will the future bring?” Living in a world of apparently rapid change, we are more concerned than ever with the future. So, let’s
We are closer now to 2030 than we are to the start of the new millennium (2000). The technologies we are exploring today are radically going to redefine the next age of humanity. This next age is called the Augmented Age, because of how radically embedded and personal technology will augment
Instilling emotions into computers is the next leap in our centuries-old obsession with creating machines that replicate humans. But for every benefit this progress may bring to our lives, there is a possible pitfall. Emotion recognition could lead to advanced surveillance, and the same technology that can manipulate our feelings could
Digital Human is a visionary roadmap for the future, a timely guide on how to navigate the world of finance as we create the next generation of humanity. It explores the digital evolution’s impact and offers clear insights on thriving in this new era. Human and business relationships are evolving, and existing
Collective intelligence is the capacity of groups to make good decisions—to choose what to do, and who to do it with—through both human and machine capabilities. The ways intelligence is organized are fractal in nature with similar patterns occurring on multiple scales, from groups of friends to organizations and whole societies. Understanding
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow examines what might happen to the world when these old myths are coupled with new godlike technologies such as artificial intelligence and genetic engineering. What will happen to democracy when Google and Facebook come to know our likes and our political preferences better than we
Everybody Lies offers fascinating, surprising, and sometimes laugh-out-loud insights into everything from economics to ethics to sports to race, gender and more, all drawn from the world of big data. What percentage of white voters didn’t vote for Barack Obama because he’s black? Does where you go to school affect how
What does the future hold for the human race? It’s inevitable that the progress of AI technology will impact every area of our lives, whether it’s healthcare, finance, or politics. In Max Tegmark’s thoughts-provoking book, he unravels a lot of these possibilities and refers to several researches that can give us
What good is a museum or heritage site in this city of gold, driven by development and aspiration, where history is for some just another word for outdated, while for others it is so deeply personal and familial that it has no place in the public realm?
All over the world, cities and towns are challenged with sudden and significant increases in population that tax their ability to meet the needs of residents. A great migration is underway. Some 20 million people move to cities every year, a human transmigration unprecedented in history. From 1950 to 1990 the
Every morning when you put your cell phone in your pocket, you’re making an implicit bargain with the carrier: “I want to make and receive mobile calls; in exchange, I allow this company to know where I am at all times.” In this book, we get to know about the here’s
Too many of the customs, practices, and institutions of society were designed for a time that has passed. The Internet and its corollaries are revolutionizing much of our lives. The Western world seems to have gone into retirement mode, settling for a cautious life after the financial scares of the last
The world is blowing up. Every day a new blaze seems to ignite: the bloody implosion of Iraq and Syria, the East-West standoff in Ukraine; abducted schoolgirls in northern Nigeria. Is there some thread tying these frightening international security crises together? In a riveting account that weaves history with fast-moving reportage
In a brilliant conclusion drawing together the threat of nuclear blackmail, global warming and the growing commodification of life represented by video games, voice mail, and VCRs, Visions of the Future issues a call to face the challenges of the twenty-first century with a new resolve strengthened by the inspiration of
Cities worldwide are deploying technology to address both the timeless challenges of government and the mounting problems posed by human settlements of previously unimaginable size and complexity. In Smart Cities, urbanist and technology expert Anthony Townsend takes a broad historical look at the forces that have shaped the planning and design
We live in a world of rapid and unprecedented change. There’s growing evidence that the massive scale and extent of human activities such as transport and release of novel chemicals are undermining the capacity of nature to generate key ecosystem services on which we depend. A variety of novel and unpredictable
The coming era of globalization will unleash a wave of technological, economic, and sociological change that shook West Virginia in the 20th century and the challenges brought on by the Internet and digitalization as I was leaving college 20 years ago. In business areas as far afield as life sciences, finance,
“Inevitable” is a strong word. It sends up red flags for some people because they object that nothing is inevitable. They claim that human willpower can deflect and control any mechanical trend. And when the notion of the inevitable is forged with fancy technology, the objections to a preordained destiny are
The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene militarily against failed states around the globe. In this much-anticipated follow-up to his international bestseller Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky turns the tables, showing how the United States itself shares features with other failed states-suffering from a severe democratic deficit, eschewing
One widely held belief that is certain to be challenged is the assumption that automation is primarily a threat to workers who have little education and lower-skill levels. That assumption emerges from the fact that such jobs tend to be routine and repetitive. Before you get too comfortable with that idea,
There is a power in crowd wisdom, and this power is harnessed through technology and social media. This book addresses the power of “Mindsharing.” It is a simple way to use the tools and technology already at hand to access and share our greatest human resource. Only this type of mind
This book has two purposes. First, to feature companies that are highly innovative in finding solutions to the world’s most malignant difficulties as a means to build the corporations’ long-term success and value. Second, and most importantly, to show that the most serious issues facing humanity and our planet can only
Jaron Lanier is the father of virtual reality and one of the world’s most brilliant thinkers. Who Owns the Future? is his visionary reckoning with the most urgent economic and social trend of our age: the poisonous concentration of money and power in our digital networks.
The global financial crisis has already inspired over a thousand books, not to mention myriad articles, blogs, and other commentary. Some are simply expressions of anger. Others document the hole we find ourselves in or perform forensics on how we nearly buried ourselves alive. Fewer focus on what is to be
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