Machine Politics

Today, there are over 100 nuclear reactors operating in our backyards, from Indian Point in New York to Diablo Canyon in California. Proponents claim that nuclear power is the only viable alternative to fossil fuels, and due to rising energy consumption and the looming threat of global warming, they are pushing for an even greater investment.

Virtually Human explores what the not-too-distant future will look like when cyberconsciousness - simulation of the human brain via software and computer technology - becomes part of our daily lives. Meet Bina48, the world's most sentient robot, commissioned by Martine Rothblatt and created by Hanson Robotics.

The first robot to walk the earth was a bronze giant called Talos. This wondrous machine was created not by MIT Robotics Lab, but by Hephaestus, the Greek god of invention, more than 2,500 years ago. In this groundbreaking account of the earliest expressions of the timeless impulse to create artificial life, Adrienne Mayor tells the fascinating story of how ancient Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese myths envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices, and human enhancements - and how these visions relate to and reflect the ancient invention of real animated machines.

Despite reform efforts that have grown in scope and intensity over the last two decades, the machine of American mass incarceration continues to flourish. In this powerful polemic, formerly incarcerated activist, essayist, and organizer Emile Suotonye DeWeaver argues that the root of the problem is white supremacy.

In Work Mate Marry Love, Harvard Business School professor and former Barnard College president Debora L. Spar offers an incisive and provocative account of how technology has transformed our intimate lives in the past, and how it will do so again in the future. Surveying the course of history, she shows how marriage as we understand it resulted from the rise of agriculture, and that the nuclear family emerged with the industrial revolution. In their day, the street light, the car, and later the pill all upended courtship and sex.

In Body Politic, David Shields looks at contemporary America and its mythology through the lens of professional and college sports. The result is an unusually insightful and provocative book about an empire in denial. Shields relentlessly examines the way we tell our sports stories (both fictional and nonfictional), considers the kinds of athletes we choose as heroes, and delineates the lessons and values we glean from sports.

In The Paradox of Progress, Dr. Michael M. Karch delves into the ethical complexities of AI’s rapid evolution. Drawing from a career spanning three decades in robotics, orthopedic surgery, and international disaster response, Dr. Karch investigates AI’s far-reaching impact and initiates critical discussion about its duality. This is a compelling exploration through historical precedents of progress and AI’s challenges today, including fears of data bias, deep fakes, technological hegemony, and job displacement.

In The Republican Noise Machine, David Brock, a former right-wing insider and the author of the New York Times best seller Blinded by the Right, uses his keen understanding of the strategies, tactics, financing, and personalities of the American right wing to demonstrate how the once-fringe phenomenon of right-wing media has all but subsumed the regular media conversation, shaped the national consciousness, and turned American politics sharply to the right.

Here is comprehensive overview of the tumultuous career of former Fox News president Roger Ailes and a must-read for anyone looking to understand his legacy and impact on news media. Based on the meticulous research of the news watchdog organization Media Matters for America, David Brock and...

AI and other high-tech tools embed and reinforce America’s history of prejudice and exclusion — even when they are used with the best intentions. Patrick K. Lin’s Machine See, Machine Do: How Technology Mirrors Bias in Our Criminal Justice System takes a deep and thorough look into the use of technology in the criminal justice system, and investigates the instances of coded bias present at every level.

In addition to these classic novels, the sents a captivating anthology of novels and stories from the visionary author. Renowned as one of the pioneers of science fiction, Wells's works continue to enthrall readers with their imaginative storytelling and thought-provoking themes. At the forefront of this anthology are some of Wells's most iconic works, including The Time Machine, a groundbreaking tale of time travel and its consequences, and The War of the Worlds, a gripping account of a Martian invasion that brings humanity to the brink of extinction.

Künstliche Intelligenz ist die Coming Wave, der nächste technologische Sprung, der sich nicht aufhalten lässt. Wir nähern uns einem kritischen Punkt in der Menschheitsgeschichte. Die Künstliche Intelligenz steht noch am Anfang, doch die Welle baut sich auf, und wir sind darauf nicht vorbereitet. Mustafa Suleyman ist Mitbegründer von DeepMind, dem KI-Pionier, der nun Teil von Alphabet ist, dem Google-Mutterkonzern. Er ist der ultimative KI-Insider. Sein Buch zeigt, was auf dem Spiel steht, und fragt, wie wir von den neuen Technologien profitieren können, ohne die Kontrolle zu verlieren.

Following the massive international success "The Netocrats" and its ambitious follow-up "The Global Empire", in this third installment of the "Futurica Trilogy", Bard and Söderqvist approach something far more personal - the fragile human being herself and, most of all, her brain. "The Body Machines", with a title borrowed from René Descartes, explains what a brain is, how it has developed and how it functions, and why it spends such an incredible amount of time and energy on fooling itself.

Klassische Agenten-Spionage trifft Zukunftstechnologien: Der Blade Runner einer neuen Generation. 200 Jahre in der Zukunft. Androiden leben als gewöhnliche Bürger unter den Menschen, außer in der isolierten Diktatur der Kaspischen Republik: Hier hat man jegliche künstliche Intelligenz verboten. Als Lily Xirau, die Witwe des ermordeten politischen Propagandisten Paulo Xirau, ins Land kommt, um seine Überreste zu identifizieren, bekommt Agent Nikolai South den Auftrag, sie zu eskortieren.

Nell'agosto 2014 lo scienziato Alessandro Vesespignani riceve una chiamata: un'epidemia senza precedenti sta distruggendo la Guinea, presto contagerà il resto del mondo. Il nome del virus è ormai noto a tutti: Ebola. Vespignani e il suo team si collegano a un supercomputer e, grazie ad algoritmi e simulazioni, riescono a prevedere la diffusione del virus con mesi di anticipo. Predire il futuro è la nostra ossessione sin dall'alba dei tempi.

As we're compelled to capture, store and share more and more of our personal information, there's something we often forget. All that data doesn't just disappear when our physical bodies shuffle off this mortal coil. If the concept of remaining socially active after you're no longer breathing sounds crazy, you might want to get used to the idea. Digital afterlives are a natural consequence of the information age, a reality that barely anyone has prepared for - and that 'anyone' probably includes you.

In 1996, Linda Cruse, a stressed-out single mum working in a job she hated, was driving along a motorway in the middle of the night, when she suffered temporary blindness. This terrifying episode led to a blinding insight: What is the point of living if living has no point? Determined to make a difference, Linda began a new life. This was the start of a scary, lonely, but always emotionally fulfilling job: teaching skills and bringing aid - and, above all, love - to war-torn refugees, the poverty-stricken, and the victims of disaster.

AI for Defense and Intelligence is a timely and compelling listen for graduate students interested in this rapidly-growing field, mid-career professionals looking to rebrand, and senior leaders in federal agencies who want to get smart on the latest tech. This approachable and focused book provides an overview of AI basics, a review of powerful machine learning models, and a discussion of applications across natural language processing (NLP), computer vision (CV), optimization, agent-based modeling and more.

This book presents a timely and significant addition to the ongoing discourse around the ethical implications of AI in general, as well as the new and disruptive AI technologies, such as generative AI platforms like ChatGPT.

You are probably not aware, because of their hidden nature, but artificial intelligence systems are all around you affecting some of the biggest areas of your life - jobs, loans, kids, mental health, relationships, freedoms, and even healthcare decisions that can determine if you live or die.