Future Technology

Digital Liberty explores the imminent convergence of three pivotal themes: data, artificial intelligence, and society’s intricate social graph, and warns of a looming crisis that threatens to challenge the very foundations of liberal democracies. Two distinct paths unfurl–a dystopian trajectory marked by surging inequality, globalized elites, and societal unrest, and a utopian alternative rooted in adapting to this impending crisis.

Three of the world’s most accomplished and deep thinkers come together to explore Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the way it is transforming human society—and what this technology means for us all. An AI learned to win chess by making moves human grand masters had never conceived. Another...

We are entering a new technological age in which artificial intelligence and immersive media will transform society at all levels, mediating our lives by altering what we see, hear, and experience. If managed well, this could unleash a new age of abundance. If managed poorly, this technological revolution could easily go astray, compromising our privacy, autonomy, agency, and humanity. 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 give guidance on how to aim for the best future we can.

Terrence Sejnowski offers a nuanced exploration of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and what their future holds. How should we go about understanding LLMs? Do these language models truly understand what they are saying? Or is it possible that what appears to be intelligence in LLMs may be a mirror that merely reflects the intelligence of the interviewer? In this book, Sejnowski, a pioneer in computational approaches to understanding brain function, answers all our urgent questions about this astonishing new technology.

More than half a century after humans first walked on the Moon, exciting new space adventures are in the works. Thanks to major advances in rocketry, robotics, and other space technologies, humanity is on the verge of returning to the Moon, exploring Mars, building permanent orbiting space stations, expanding space tourism, and pushing the boundaries of exploration throughout the solar system and beyond. The Future of Space Exploration explores these exciting developments in 12 half-hour episodes, hosted by aerospace engineer and executive Dr. Ariel Ekblaw.

This provocative book introduces a brand-new view of technology. It suggests that technology as a whole is not a jumble of wires and metal but a living, evolving organism that has its own unconscious needs and tendencies. Kevin Kelly looks out through the eyes of this global technological system to discover "what it wants." He uses vivid examples from the past to trace technology's long course and then follows a dozen trajectories of technology into the near future to project where technology is headed.

“Innovating Tomorrow” explores the dynamic role of technology in shaping the future of business and society. This book offers listeners a clear roadmap for understanding and leveraging emerging technologies to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving world. Through insightful analysis and real-world examples, the author demonstrates how innovation driven by technology can unlock new opportunities and solve complex challenges. Listeners will learn practical strategies to integrate cutting-edge tools into their personal and professional lives.

The Mobile Wave argues that the changes brought by mobile computing are so big and widespread that it’s impossible for us to see it all, even though we are all immersed in it. Saylor explains that the current generation of mobile smart phones and tablet computers has set the stage to become the universal computing platform for the world. In the hands of billions of people and accessible anywhere and anytime, mobile computers are poised to become an appendage of the human being and an essential tool for modern life.

In this updated and expanded edition of Human + Machine—including a new chapter on gen AI—Daugherty and Wilson show that the essence of the AI paradigm shift is the transformation of all business processes within an organization, whether related to breakthrough innovation, everyday customer service, or personal productivity habits. As humans and smart machines collaborate ever more closely, work processes become more fluid and adaptive, enabling companies to change them on the fly—or completely reimagine them.

“The audiobook is down to earth in both [Nick] Foster's precisely enunciated performance and in his cogent explanations of the four most common mindsets: could, should might, don't.”—AudioFile An invaluable guide for how to think—and not to think—about the future, written and read by...

How will AI evolve and what major innovations are on the horizon? What will its impact be on the job market, economy, and society? What is the path toward human-level machine intelligence? What should we be concerned about as artificial intelligence advances? Architects of Intelligence contains a series of in-depth, one-to-one interviews where New York Times best-selling author Martin Ford uncovers the truth behind these questions from some of the brightest minds in the artificial intelligence community.

As the world around us increases in technological complexity, our understanding of it diminishes. Underlying this trend is a single idea: The belief that our existence is understandable through computation, and more data is enough to help us build a better world. In reality, we are lost in a sea of information, increasingly divided by fundamentalism, simplistic narratives, conspiracy theories, and post-factual politics. Author James Bridle surveys the history of art, technology, and information systems and reveals the dark clouds that gather over our dreams of the digital sublime.

Taiwan achieved inclusive, technology-fueled growth, overcame the pandemic without lockdowns and the infodemic without takedowns, entrusted its people to tackle shared challenges like environmental protection while capitalizing on a culture of innovation to hack the government. Here, the architects of Taiwan's internationally acclaimed digital democracy share the secret of their success. Plurality harnesses digital tools not to replace humans or trust, but to channel the potential energy in social diversity that can erupt in conflict instead for progress, growth and beauty.

Read by Peter Kenny, award-winning narrator of the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. In a ravaged near-future England, a private detective with psychic powers might be the last hope standing between mankind and total collapse. Mindstar Rising is the first cyberpunk thriller in Peter F. Hamilton's...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER ● READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY ● From Laila Lalami—the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a “maestra of literary fiction” (NPR)—comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman’s fight for freedom, set in a near...

Read by Peter Kenny, award-winning narrator of the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. Following Mindstar Rising and A Quantum Murder, The Nano Flower is the final book in Peter F. Hamilton's Greg Mandel trilogy – a riveting science-fictional detective story. For fifteen years she has been the...

An energy expert shows why hydrogen can fight climate change and become the fuel of the future We’re constantly told that our planet is in crisis; that to save it, we must stop traveling, stop eating meat, even stop having children. But in The Hydrogen Revolution, Marco Alverà argues that we...

"The most important book on AI this year." --The Guardian "Mr. Russell's exciting book goes deep, while sparkling with dry witticisms." --The Wall Street Journal "The most important book I have read in quite some time" (Daniel Kahneman); "A must-read" (Max Tegmark); "The book we've all been...

Future Skills 2030 is your guide to navigating the Fourth Industrial Revolution with confidence. As new technologies disrupt industries and redefine jobs, this audiobook helps you understand what’s happening, why it matters, and how to prepare. It explores the key forces shaping our future—AI, robotics, climate change, geopolitical shifts—and outlines the essential hard and soft skills you’ll need to stay relevant.

In The Optimist, the Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey presents the most detailed account yet of Altman’s rise, his time as legendary entrepreneur Paul Graham’s protégé and successor as head of Y Combinator, the start-up accelerator where Altman became the premier power broker in Silicon Valley; the founding of OpenAI and his recruitment of a small yet superior team.