Showing titles in History & Culture

Software was supposed to radically improve society. Outdated mechanical systems would be easily replaced; social media platforms like Facebook would bring people together; and generative AI would solve the world’s greatest ills. Yet in practice, few of the systems we looked to with such high hopes have lived up to their fundamental mandate. In fact, in too many cases they've made things worse. How did we get to this point? In Fatal Abstraction, Darryl Campbell explains that the problem is "managerial software".

Artificial intelligence is driving workforce disruption on a scale not seen since the Industrial Revolution. In schools and universities, AI technology has forced a re-evaluation of the way students are taught and assessed. Meanwhile ChatGPT has become a cultural phenomenon, reaching 100 million users and attracting a $10 billion dollar investment in its parent company OpenAI. The race to dominate the generative AI market is accelerating at breakneck speed, inspiring breathless headlines and immense public interest.

"Captivating." —Kirkus | "Fascinating, deeply reported, and slightly eerie." —BookPage (Starred Review) | "The Quiet Zone will live on in your memory." —Bill McKibben A stunning portrait of an Appalachian community, the people who call it home, and the enduring human quest for quiet Deep...

Our increasing reliance on technology and the Internet has opened a window for mathematicians and data researchers to gaze through into our lives. Using the data they are constantly collecting about where we travel, where we shop, what we buy, what interests us, they can begin to predict our daily habits, and increasingly we are relinquishing our decision making to algorithms - are we giving up this up too easily?

We are entering a new technological age in which artificial intelligence and immersive media will transform society at all levels. If managed well, this could unleash a new age of abundance. If managed poorly, this technological revolution could easily go astray, deeply compromising our privacy, autonomy, agency, and even our humanity. In Our Next Reality, two industry veterans provide a data-driven debate on whether the new world we're creating will be a technological utopia or an AI-powered dystopia and gives guidance on how to aim for the best future we can.

As machines become capable of doing most of the work people have performed for centuries, we are headed for a massive social reorganization. In The Five Forces That Change Everything, Steve Hoffman, venture capitalist and CEO of Founders Space, takes you on a journey to see what the most brilliant minds of our age are dreaming up.  

Life Mode On is a revolutionary approach to living a better life with technology and our personal devices, from digital lifestyle expert Dr Joanne Orlando. These are no quick fixes; these are real, practical solutions for long-term fulfilment in our increasingly digital world. Dr Jo helps people to understand their technology use and make it better.

When turbulence is the new normal, an organization's survival depends on vigilant leadership that can anticipate threats, spot opportunities, and act quickly when the time is right. In See Sooner, Act Faster, strategy experts George Day and Paul Schoemaker offer tools for thriving when digital advances intensify turbulence.

 The Authority Gap provides a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, to reveal the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women. Marshalling a wealth of data with precision and insight, and including interviews with pioneering women such as Baroness Hale, Mary Beard and Bernadine Evaristo, this is a fresh feminist take on how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all.

In Robot-Proof, Northeastern University president Joseph Aoun proposes a way to educate the next generation of college students to invent, to create, and to discover - to fill needs in society that even the most sophisticated artificial intelligence agent cannot. A "robot-proof" education, Aoun argues, is not concerned solely with topping up students' minds with high-octane facts. Rather, it calibrates them with a creative mindset and the mental elasticity to invent, discover, or create something valuable to society.

In an age where connectivity has reached unprecedented heights, humanity paradoxically experiences intensified solitude. The Internet, social media, and digital communication tools promise constant interaction, yet beneath the veneer of perpetual engagement lies a profound sense of detachment. We have woven an expansive digital web, intricately threading through every dimension of our lives. Yet, far from binding us together in deeper and more meaningful ways, this net has fragmented our relationships, distorted our sense of self, and left us lonelier than ever.

2030: A Blueprint for Humanity’s Exponential Leap explores the transformative technologies poised to reshape our world over the next decade. Written for investors, executives, policymakers, educators, and curious individuals alike, this book delivers powerful insights into the technological revolution ahead, offering predictions and actionable strategies to thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape. From quantum computing, AI, robotics, to 3D printing, space travel, and beyond, 2030 examines how these advancements will impact every facet of life.

From an artist and TikTok creator, a critical look at the controversial app and its effect on cultural heritage, artificial intelligence, community organizing, and digital censorship. In Revolutionary Algorithms, Torey Akers approaches TikTok with a deep understanding of the app, as both a...

Restoring Our Sanity Online is the entertaining, informative, and frequently jaw-dropping social reset by Mark Weinstein, contemporary tech leader, privacy expert, and one of the visionary inventors of social networking. This book is for all of us. Casual and heavy users of social media, parents, teachers, students, techies, entrepreneurs, investors, and elected officials. Restoring Our Sanity Online is the catapult to an exciting, enriching, and authentic future. Listeners will embark on a captivating journey leading to an inspiring and actionable reinvention.

A Soul of the New Machine for our time, a gripping account of invention, commerce, and duplicity in the age of technology A worldwide race is on to perfect the next engine of economic growth, the advanced lithium-ion battery. It will power the electric car, relieve global warming, and catapult...

Based on the author’s experience in the world of inventing and promotion, Hardcore Inventing offers the kind of advice you can only learn from experience: how to developing an idea into an invention, how to build a prototype for show, how to safeguard intellectual property, how to market both strategically and in “guerilla" mode, how find investors, and much more. And all of that is based on his IP 3 Tacitical Method which breaks everything down to Invent, Protect, Promote, and Profit.

De toute éternité, les communications à distance, les télécommunications, se sont avérées essentielles pour les humains. Selon les époques, elles ont fait appel à l'imagination ou à l'ingénierie, et toujours de manière industrieuse. Ainsi, les trompettes, les tambours, la fumée ou le langage sifflé transmettaient des messages aux populations locales bien avant l'avènement du télégraphe optique, du télex ou de la téléphonie.

Sergey Brin e Larry Page sono i fondatori di Google, il motore di ricerca per Internet più famoso al mondo. I due cominciarono a lavorarci verso la metà degli anni Novanta. Al tempo i due studiavano presso la Stanford University, ed è proprio lì, a due passi dalla Silicon Valley, che hanno iniziato a cambiare la storia della tecnologia, della comunicazione e dell'uomo.

Technology is evolving faster than we are. As our BlackBerry devices, tablets, and digital capabilities become more and more complex we understand less and less about how they work. we no longer read the instruction manual before powering on, and we demand intuitive interfaces that get us up and running right away. But how many of us actually stop to think about potential threats to our privacy?Our passports broadcast our personal information and could allow terrorists to target us by nationality.

An illustrated history of American innovators—some well known, some unknown, and all fascinating—by the author of the bestselling The American Century. The real inventor of the steam engine. The creator of the bra. The man who invented modern banking. The creator of the computer operating...