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Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues
*A GUARDIAN BEST FORTHCOMING BOOK OF 2023* The #1 bestselling economist opens our eyes to the new power that is reshaping our lives and the world. 'Utterly accessible, deeply humane and startlingly original' NAOMI KLEIN on Talking To My Daughter --- No one noticed when capitalism was ... replaced. Perhaps we were too distracted by the pandemic, or the endless financial crises, or all those cute cats on TikTok. But under cover of them all, a new and more exploitative system has been taking hold: technofeudalism. Drawing on stories from Greek Myth and pop culture, from Homer to Mad Men, world-famous economist Yanis Varoufakis explains this game-changing transformation and how it holds the key to understanding our times. He shows that the key pillars of capitalism - profit and markets - no longer run the show. Instead, with every click and scroll, we cement the dominance of a new monster, cloud capital, birthed by big tech and central banks, which underlies the technofeudal regime. But by equipping us to see this new power for what it is, Technofeudalism answers the burning question: how it might also be replaced, and with what, so that we may recover our autonomy and perhaps even our freedom too. --- 'A book for anybody who wants to understand this mess we are in - and since we are all in this mess, it is a book for everybody' Slavoj Zizek
When was the last time you spoke to a stranger? In our cities, we barely acknowledge one another on public transport, even as rates of loneliness skyrocket. Online, we carefully curate who we interact with. In our politics, we are increasingly consumed by a fear of people we've never met. But what if strangers, long believed to be the cause of many of our problems, were actually the solution? In The Power of Strangers, Joe Keohane discovers the surprising benefits that come from talking to strangers, examining how even passing interactions can enhance empathy, happiness and cognitive development, ease loneliness and isolation, and root us in the world, deepening our sense of belonging. Warm, witty, erudite and profound, this deeply researched book will make you reconsider how you perceive and approach strangers, showing you how talking to strangers isn't just not a way to live, it's a way to survive.
Data Ethics of Power takes a reflective and fresh look at the ethical implications of transforming everyday life and the world through the effortless, costless, and seamless accumulation of extra layers of data. By shedding light on the constant tensions that exist between ethical principles and the interests invested in this socio-technical transformation, the book bridges the theory and practice divide in the study of the power dynamics that underpin these processes of the digitalization of the world. Gry Hasselbalch expertly draws on nearly two decades of experience in the field, and key literature, to advance a better understanding of the challenges faced by big data and AI developers. She provides an innovative ethical framework for studying and governing Big-Data and Artificial Intelligence. Offering both a historical account and a theoretical analysis of power dynamics and their ethical implications, as well as incisive ideas to guide future research and governance practices, the book makes a significant contribution to the establishment of an emerging data and AI ethics discipline. This timely book is a must-read for scholars studying AI, data, and technology ethics. Policymakers in the regulatory, governance, public administration, and management sectors will find the practical proposals for a human-centric approach to big data and AI to be a valuable resource for revising and developing future policies.
'Her stories have the power to transform your life' Lori Gottlieb, bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone 'Radically changes the way we think about mental illness, pleasure, pain, reward and stress' Daniel Levitin, bestselling author of The Organized Mind 'Brilliant . . . riveting, scary, cogent and cleverly argued' Beth Macy, author of Dopesick We are a wired generation. In these fast-paced times we are constantly bombarded by high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli. From texting to social media, food to drugs, gambling to shopping, we have become addicted to fleeting and distracting pleasures that are making us sick. In Dopamine Nation, psychiatrist and bestselling author Dr Anna Lembke reveals why our relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain and what we can do about it. Bringing together cutting-edge neuroscience with the gripping real life experiences from her clinical practice, Lembke explores how contentment and connectedness are essential tools in keeping dopamine in check. This is an essential book for anyone wanting to find a balance for a happier life.
THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A SPECTATOR AND FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022 'If you read just one book about how the modern world is driving us crazy, read this one' TELEGRAPH 'This book is exactly what the world needs right now' OPRAH WINFREY 'A beautifully researched and argued exploration of the breakdown of humankind's ability to pay attention' STEPHEN FRY 'A really important book . . . Everyone should read it' PHILIPPA PERRY Why have we lost our ability to focus? What are the causes? And, most importantly, how do we get it back? For Stolen Focus, internationally bestselling author Johann Hari went on a three-year journey to uncover the reasons behind our shortening attention spans. He interviewed the leading experts in the world on attention, and learned that everything we think about this subject is wrong. We think our inability to focus is a personal failing - a flaw in each one of us. It is not. This has been done to all of us by powerful external forces. Our focus has been stolen. Johann discovered there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, all of which have robbed some of our attention. He shows us how in a thrilling journey that ranges from Silicon Valley dissidents, to a favela in Rio where attention vanished, to an office in New Zealand that found a remarkable way to restore our attention. Crucially, he learned how - as individuals, and as a society - we can get our focus back, if we are determined to fight for it.
In The Power of Habit , award-winning New York Times business
reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific
discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed.
Sapiens showed us where we came from. In uncertain times, Homo Deus shows us where we’re going. Yuval Noah Harari envisions a near future in which we face a new set of challenges. Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century and beyond – from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: how can we protect this fragile world from our own destructive power? And what does our future hold? 'Homo Deus will shock you. It will entertain you. It will make you think in ways you had not thought before’ Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow
How will artificial intelligence change our world within twenty years?
CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY SUNDAY TIMES AND HISTORY TODAY 'Absolutely stunning. . . a formidable achievement. A six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen' Kai Bird Best-selling historian Serhii Plokhy returns with an illuminating exploration of the atomic age through the history of six nuclear disasters In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. . . In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Based on wide-ranging research and witness testimony, Plokhy traces the arc of each crisis, exploring in depth the confused decision-making on the ground and the panicked responses of governments to contain the crises and often cover up the scale of the catastrophe. As the world increasingly looks to renewable and alternative sources of energy, Plokhy lucidly argues that the atomic risk must be understood in explicit terms, but also that these calamities reveal a fundamental truth about our relationship with nuclear technology: that the thirst for power and energy has always trumped safety and the cost for future generations.
Poverty and superstition go hand in hand, When you have nothing, you cling to whatever gives you hope. Tracy King was raised in a house of contradictions. Her home was happy and creative but it was marked by debt, by her father's alcoholism and her mother's agoraphobia. When her father died at the hands of a local teenage gang on the streets of their Midlands council estate, superstition gave way to a deeper and more dysfunctional reliance on the born-again Christian church to which Tracy and her family belonged. In the chaos of loss, the paranormal became paranoia. In a bid to find definitive answers, Tracy followed one belief system after another until, accidentally, she stumbled across a book by scientist Carl Sagan. It opened the door to scientific thinking. Ultimately, it taught her to think for herself. And it was only when she applied the tools of critical thinking to this exploration of her past that she uncovered a very different kind of story. Learning to Think is a memoir about belief. It's about poverty, religion and superstition, grief and healing. But most of all, it's about the liberating power of a scientific view of the world.
For a decade, Ecco has published the most outstanding science writing in America, collected in highly acclaimed annual volumes edited by some of the most impressive and most important names in science and science writing today: James Gleick, Timothy Ferris, Matt Ridley, Oliver Sacks, Dava Sobel, Alan Lightman, Atul Gawande, Gina Kolata, Sylvia Nasar, and Natalie Angier. Now series editor Jesse Cohen invites the previous guest editors to select their favorite essays for this one-of-a-kind anthology. The result is an outstanding compendium--the best science writing of the new millennium, featuring an introduction by the series' 2010 editor and "New York Times" bestselling author of "How Doctors Think," Jerome Groopman.
This insightful Handbook scrutinizes alternative concepts and approaches to the dominant economic or industrial theories of innovation. Providing an assessment of these approaches, it questions the absence of these neglected types of innovation and suggests diverse theories. International contributors provide a historical and critical analysis of all aspects of innovation, answering important questions such as 'are we just reinventing the wheel?'. Examining concepts that have existed for over a decade, chapters provide clarity on answering this question and investigate whether progress is actually being made. Split into seven parts, starting with the visions of innovation and reviewing multiple approaches and types of innovation, as well as utilising case studies to illustrate theories, this timely book provides an excellent update to this field. This Handbook will be an invaluable resource for scholars and researchers of business management and public policy as well as policy makers and stakeholders.
Bringing his cosmic perspective to civilization on Earth, Neil deGrasse Tyson, bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, shines new light on the crucial fault lines of our time–war, politics, religion, truth, beauty, gender, race, and tribalism–in a way that stimulates a deeper sense of unity for us all. In a time when our political and cultural perspectives feel more divisive than ever, Tyson provides a much-needed antidote to so much of what divides us, while making a passionate case for the twin engines of enlightenment–a cosmic perspective and the rationality of science. After thinking deeply about how a scientist views the world and about what Earth looks like from space, Tyson has found that terrestrial thoughts change as our brain resets and recalibrates life's priorities, along with the actions we might take in response. As a result, no outlook on culture, society, or civilisation remains untouched. In Starry Messenger, Tyson reveals just how human the enterprise of science is. Far from a cold, unfeeling undertaking, scientific methods, tools, and discoveries have shaped modern civilisation and created the landscape we've built for ourselves on which to live, work, and play. Tyson shows how an infusion of science and rational thinking renders worldviews deeper and more informed than ever before–and exposes unfounded perspectives and unjustified emotions. With crystalline prose and an abundance of evidence, Starry Messenger walks us through the scientific palette that sees and paints the world differently. From lessons on resolving global conflict to reminders of how precious it is to be alive, Tyson reveals, with warmth and eloquence, ten surprising, brilliant, and beautiful truths of human society, informed and enlightened by knowledge of our place in the universe.
Ithiel de Sola Pool was a pioneering social scientist, a distinguished scholar of the political process, and one of the most original thinkers in the development of the social sciences. Passionately engaged in politics, he continued his role of leadership throughout his life, building the MIT Political Science Department into an outstanding group. He organized international teams of social scientists and collaborated widely to develop the understanding of social change. He was a frequent adviser to governments as consultant and in-house critic, and a successful advocate of limits on government regulation. "Politics in Wired Nations" presents his writings on the social and political impact of different communication systems and new telecommunications technology. Included in this volume is the first study of trends in a global information society, and the first study of social networks and the "small world" phenomenon that creates new relationships and routes of informal influence and political power, both domestic and international. Pool's essays on the politics of foreign trade, the influence of American businessmen on Congress, and changeable "unnatural" institutions of the modern world (e.g., bureaucracies, mega-cities, and nation-states) are herein contained. Pool describes a nonviolent revolution in freedom and political control that is possible as the world changes from the era of one-way mass communications--targeted to national audiences--to a new era of abundant, high-capacity, low-cost, interactive, and user-controlled communications on a global scale. He discusses policy choices for freedom, the battlegrounds ahead, and the risks of government involvement in the regulation of new telecommunication technologies.
Artificial intelligence is smarter than humans. It can process information at lightning speed and remain focused on specific tasks without distraction. AI can see into the future, predict outcomes and even use sensors to see around physical and virtual corners. So why does AI frequently get it so wrong and cause harm? The answer is us: the human beings who write the code and teach AI to mimic our behaviour. Scary Smart explains how to fix the current trajectory now, to make sure that the AI of the future can preserve our species. This book offers a blueprint, pointing the way to what we can do to safeguard ourselves, those we love and the planet itself.
Digital transformation continues to accelerate change in all aspects of modern life. This book examines when, where, how, and why artificial intelligence and digital change can boost innovation and transform the economy, society and democracy. It provides a holistic approach to the promotion of the knowledge economy, knowledge society and knowledge democracy. The book is developed based on the Cyber-D4 nexus, which is a conceptual framework of Cyber-Defense, Cyber-Development, Cyber-Democracy, and Cyber-Diplomacy, and it adopts a Quadruple/Quintuple Innovation Helix (Q2IH) approach. This nexus ties new national and industrial cyber strategies, including business strategies for smart cities and the Internet of Things, with the local, national, regional, and global security and economic objectives. Academics, policy makers, practitioners, researchers and students in combined fields of science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, digital transformation, artificial intelligence and the future of industry will appreciate the lens through which the chapter authors explore both the minutiae and expansive influence of digital transformation.
#1 Amazon.com Book of the Year8 * #1 TIME magazine Novel of the Year * GoodReads Winner for Best Fiction * APPLE Book of the Year * The 2022 book that everyone should read' PANDORA SYKES * This is not a romance, but it is about love. 'One of the best books I've ever read' JOHN GREEN Sam and Sadie meet in a hospital in 1987. Sadie is visiting her sister, Sam is recovering from a car crash. The days and months are long there, but playing together brings joy, escape, fierce competition -- and a special friendship. Then all too soon that time is over, and they must return to their normal lives. When the pair spot each other eight years later in a crowded train station, they are catapulted back to that moment. The spark is immediate, and together they get to work on what they love - creating virtual worlds to delight, challenge and immerse, finding an intimacy in the digital realm that eludes them in their real lives. Their collaborations make them superstars. This is the story of the perfect worlds Sadie and Sam build, the imperfect world they live in, and of everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow takes us on a dazzling imaginative quest, examining identity, creativity and our need to connect. 'A book that spawns great conversations' MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD, Guardian 'A must-read' NEIL DRUCKMANN, creator of The Last of Us 'Brilliant' KAREN JOY FOWLER, Guardian
'A fascinating, in-depth investigation into the complex landscape of misinformation from someone who has spent his career trying to combat fake news' Angela Saini One of the world's top experts on fighting misinformation reveals the psychology behind its power - and how we can protect ourselves. From fake news to conspiracy theories, from pandemics to politics, misinformation may be the defining problem of our era. Like a virus, misinformation infects our minds - altering our beliefs and replicating at astonishing rates. Once the virus takes hold, our primary strategies of fact-checking and debunking are an insufficient cure. In Foolproof Sander van der Linden describes how to inoculate yourself and others against the spread of misinformation, discern fact from fiction and push back against methods of mass persuasion. Everyone is susceptible to fake news. There are polarising narratives in society, conspiracy theories are rife, fake experts dole out misleading advice and accuracy is often lost in favour of sensationalist headlines. So how and why does misinformation spread if we're all aware of its existence? And, more importantly, what can we do about it? Sander van der Linden takes us through the psychology of conspiratorial thinking and equips us with the eleven antigens needed to help stop the spread of misinformation once and for all.
Spark scientific curiosity from a young age with this six-level course through an enquiry-based approach and active learning. Collins International Primary Science fully meets the requirements of the Cambridge Primary Science Curriculum Framework from 2020 and has been carefully developed for a range of international contexts. The course is organised into four main strands: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth and Space and the skills detailed under the 'Thinking and Working Scientifically' strand are introduced and taught in the context of those areas. For each Workbook at Stages 1 to 6, we offer: A write-in Workbook linked to the Student's Book New language development activities help build science vocabulary Earth and Space content covers the new curriculum framework Thinking and Working Scientifically deepens and enhances the delivery of Science skills Actively learn through practical activities that don't require specialist equipment or labs Scaffolding allows students of varying abilities to work with common content and meet learning objectives Supports Cambridge Global Perspectives (TM) with activities that develop and practise key skills Provides learner support as part of a set of resources for the Cambridge Primary Science curriculum framework (0097) from 2020 This series is endorsed by Cambridge Assessment International Education to support the new curriculum framework 0097 from 2020.
The dazzling promise of stem cell medicine: does it work and will it save us? Two experts look at the hype For decades, we've been anticipating the dawn of regenerative medicine. Again and again, we've been promised that stem cells will soon cure just about every ill imaginable. If not tomorrow, then the next day, or the day after that, and so on. We're still waiting. This book is an antidote to hype and a salve to soothe the itch for stem-cell salvation. In it, Professor John Rasko, a leading physician-scientist, and writer-historian Carl Power take us on a wild historical tour of this scandal-prone field. They expose all the dirty little secrets that the hype merchants prefer to ignore - the blunders and setbacks, confusions and delusions, tricks and lies. You'll meet Alexis Carrel, who discovered how to cultivate cells in a test tube: celebrity surgeon, scientific genius and suspected Nazi sympathiser, he opened the field of modern cell science with an experiment so bogus it blocked the way forward for the next 50 years. You'll meet Don Thomas, who developed bone marrow transplantation - the first successful stem-cell therapy - but only after a miserable decade in which most of his patients died. Alongside true stem-cell pioneers, you'll meet charlatans who cooked their data and claimed fake cures - sometimes with fatal consequences. Is there any good news? Which of the many promises of stem-cell research have been kept? And what of the future? Rasko and Power insist that we can only know where we're going if we have a sense of where we've been. Their study tears down the hype surrounding stem cells in order to reveal what's still worth hoping for. PRAISE 'If you love some scandal with your science - or some science with your scandal - this is THE book for you. Brilliant stuff' Adam Spencer, University of Sydney 'Science, skulduggery and snake oil salesmen ... it is a revolution in medicine but who knew the story of stem cell science was such a ripping yarn!' Fran Kelly, ABC Radio National Breakfast 'Science isn't magic: it's a human enterprise. This enthralling book tells of high achievement and astonishing blunders in a vital field of research' Robyn Williams, science journalist and broadcaster 'A masterpiece in myth-busting which helps separate fact from fiction in the world of regenerative medicine. It shines a light on some episodes in medical history many would rather forget but also shows a way forward for stem cell research breakthroughs grounded in solid science' Sophie Scott, national medical reporter, ABC 'The stem cell revolution: myths, mistakes but mighty medical masterpiece' Sir Gustav Nossal, AC CBE FRS FAA, Australian of the Year 2000 'A compelling (and compulsory) read for anyone entranced by the latest media-promoted breakthroughs in medical research, or planning translation of new biomedical research into clinical practice' Ian Frazer, AC, FRCPE, FRCPA, FAA, FTSE Australian of the Year 2006, Australian Living Treasure 2012 'Is it really stem cells' turn to revolutionise health care? When you come across a train wreck, keep reading! You'll discover that stem cells reveal medicine in its most provocative and challenging light' Antony Basten AO FAA FTSE 'Flesh Made New is a revelation for the general reader about what lies beneath the surface of exciting scientific advances ... The book shows the value of patience and trust in robust evidence-based scientific research, and where things go off the rail, for whistleblowers and experts like the authors of this book' Lucy Turnbull AO, businesswoman, urbanist and philanthropist |
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