The Fourth Age

Author: Byron Reese
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 1501158570
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
As we approach a great turning point in history when technology is poised to redefine what it means to be human, The Fourth Age offers fascinating insight into AI, robotics, and their extraordinary implications for our species. “If you only read just one book about the AI revolution, make it this one” (John Mackey, cofounder and CEO, Whole Foods Market). In The Fourth Age, Byron Reese makes the case that technology has reshaped humanity just three times in history: 100,000 years ago, we harnessed fire, which led to language; 10,000 years ago, we developed agriculture, which led to cities and warfare; 5,000 years ago, we invented the wheel and writing, which lead to the nation state. We are now on the doorstep of a fourth change brought about by two technologies: AI and robotics. “Timely, highly informative, and certainly optimistic” (Booklist), The Fourth Age provides an essential background on how we got to this point, and how—rather than what—we should think about the topics we’ll soon all be facing: machine consciousness, automation, changes in employment, creative computers, radical life extension, artificial life, AI ethics, the future of warfare, superintelligence, and the implications of extreme prosperity. By asking questions like “Are you a machine?” and “Could a computer feel anything?”, Reese leads you through a discussion along the cutting edge in robotics and AI, and provides a framework by which we can all understand, discuss, and act on the issues of the Fourth Age and how they’ll transform humanity.

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age

Author: Annalee Newitz
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 039365267X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR and Science Friday A quest to explore some of the most spectacular ancient cities in human history—and figure out why people abandoned them. In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes readers on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life. Investigating across the centuries and around the world, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the center of a sophisticated civilization: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation town of Pompeii on Italy’s southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia, and the indigenous metropolis Cahokia, which stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. Louis is today. Newitz travels to all four sites and investigates the cutting-edge research in archaeology, revealing the mix of environmental changes and political turmoil that doomed these ancient settlements. Tracing the early development of urban planning, Newitz also introduces us to the often anonymous workers—slaves, women, immigrants, and manual laborers—who built these cities and created monuments that lasted millennia. Four Lost Cities is a journey into the forgotten past, but, foreseeing a future in which the majority of people on Earth will be living in cities, it may also reveal something of our own fate.

A World of Kindness

Author: Ann Featherstone
Publisher: Pajama Press Inc.
ISBN: 1772780502
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 19

Book Description
Are you kind? In a series of simple yet evocative questions, this impactful book asks children how they will show kindness and consideration for others. Written by the editors of Pajama Press, and illustrated by celebrated Pajama Press artists, these stunning pages inspire meaningful discussion and storytelling about the understated yet powerful ways in which children might influence the world around them. A World of Kindess goes beyond mere rhetoric to examine, in a child-friendly way, everyday social interactions where a kind word or act could have a transformative affect on others. Royalties from the proceeds of this book will be donated to Think Kindness. thinkkindness.org Many of the original images in this book have been donated by the artists. The cover art was created and donated by award-winning author-illustrator Suzanne Del Rizzo.

The Fourth Amendment in an Age of Surveillance

Author: David Gray
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107133238
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 319

Book Description
This book is an originalist rereading of the Fourth Amendment that reveals when and how contemporary surveillance technologies should be subject to constitutional regulation.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Author: Klaus Schwab
Publisher: Crown Currency
ISBN: 1524758876
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolution, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wearable sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manufacturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individuals. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frameworks that advance progress.

A Fresh Map of Life

Author: Peter Laslett
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674323278
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Book Description
Today as never before, most people in the developed world at least, can expect to live to old age. How has society reacted to this shift of mortality? Much of the accepted account of ageing is simply the persistence into our own time of past perceptions. Laslett argues that the Third Age - beyond the breadwinning and child-rearing years - is that of greatest personal fulfilment, the apogee of life. Combining social history, sociology and philosophy, this book provokes new thinking on one of the crucial changes in the modern world.

Personhood, Identity and Care in Advanced Old Age

Author: Higgs, Paul
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447319052
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Book Description
How do we sustain agency and identity amidst the frailty of advanced old age? What role does care play in this process? Pushing forward new sociological theory, this book explores the theoretical and practical issues raised by age and infirmity. It begins with a theoretical examination of the fourth age, interrogating notions of agency, identity and personhood, as well as the impact of frailty, abjection and ‘othering’. It then applies this analysis to issues of care. Exploring our collective hopes and fears concerning old age and the ends of people’s lives, this is essential reading on one of the biggest social issues of our time.

The Fourth World War

Author: comte Alexandre de Marenches
Publisher: William Morrow
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
"As longtime head of French intelligence, Count de Marenches served as the confidant and adviser to the world's most powerful men. Charles de Gaulle, Henry Kissinger, and Ronald Reagan are among the statesmen, princes, and presidents from around the globe who sought and still seek his advice. Now, in this startling book, he describes his life in global intelligence from World War II to the present - including his reflections on world leaders from Churchill to Gorbachev - and delivers a chilling "state of the world" message." "De Marenches, together with foreign affairs commentator David A. Andelman, holds that we have passed through three world wars in this century - the First and Second World Wars and the Cold War - only to find ourselves now engaged in the deadliest conflict of all. The Fourth World War is pitting North against South, nations with continuous traditions against those with a history of cultural, religious, and military upheaval. It is a war waged by terrorist networks and drug cartels unassailable through conventional strategies. Intelligence, the authors hold, will be the crucial weapon in this Fourth World War, in which all parties will be forced to fight by terrorist rules." "Regarded as one of the great geopolitical seers of our time, Count de Marenches reveals in The Fourth World War his own prominent yet covert role in world politics, including his impact on American foreign policy, and details the inner workings of the world's most powerful intelligence agencies. The Fourth World War is a compelling memoir and a spellbinding warning for our times."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Return of the King

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007269722
Category : Baggins, Frodo (Fictitious character)
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description
Fantasy fiction. The first ever illustrated paperback of part three of Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, featuring 15 colour paintings by Alan Lee.

Work in the Digital Age

Author: Max Neufeind
Publisher: Policy Network
ISBN: 9781786609069
Category : Economic history
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
This book sets out to explore the emerging consequences of the so called '4th Industrial Revolution for the organisation of work and welfare.