Showing titles in Technology & Society

Communication has always been at the heart of human progress. From smoke signals on mountaintops to the invisible Wi-Fi networks that surround us today, every leap forward has reshaped how we share ideas, stay safe, build relationships, and understand the world. From Morse Code to Wi-Fi is a clear, captivating journey through the ten biggest breakthroughs that transformed human connection forever.

Innovation. Meritocracy. The possibility of overnight success. What's not to love about Silicon Valley? These days, it's hard to be unambiguously optimistic about the growth-at-all-costs ethos of the tech industry. Public opinion is souring in the wake of revelations about Cambridge Analytica, Theranos, and the workplace conditions of Amazon workers or Uber drivers. It's becoming clear that the tech industry's promised "innovation" is neither sustainable nor always desirable.

The internet has transformed our world in amazing ways. With just a few clicks, we can talk to friends on the other side of the globe, discover new music, explore our favorite hobbies, shop for just about anything, and even take entire college courses from the comfort of our couch. It’s no exaggeration to say that the internet is one of the greatest tools ever invented. But just like in the real world, not everyone you meet online has good intentions. Hidden among the games, chats, and cute cat videos are people who spend their time trying to trick others.

Do you feel like you are wasting too much time on your smartphone? Do you feel like your digital technology use is becoming too habitual? Don’t worry. You’re not alone. If you feel like your gadgets are stealing a lot of your time, focus, and energy, then this book, Digital Minimalism in Everyday Life, may have the solution for you. If you get lost in a maze of gadgets, apps, and digital technology, then the concepts, tools, and tips you will learn from this book, Digital Minimalism in Everyday Life, will help you set things straight.

Dark Data explores the many ways in which we can be blind to missing data and how that can lead us to conclusions and actions that are mistaken, dangerous, or even disastrous. Examining a wealth of real-life examples, from the Challenger shuttle explosion to complex financial frauds, Hand gives us a practical taxonomy of the types of dark data that exist and the situations in which they can arise, so that we can learn to recognize and control for them.

An “informative and highly readable” (Foreign Affairs) breakdown of the history of electricity and the impact of global energy use on the world and the environment Global demand for power is doubling every two decades, but electricity remains one of the most difficult forms of energy to...

Compelling and incisive, Autocracy 2.0 is a must-listen for anyone seeking to understand China's meteoric rise and how today's autocrats are reshaping the technological frontier, governance, and the global balance of power.

In The Glass Cage, bestselling author Nicholas Carr digs behind the headlines about factory robots and self-driving cars, wearable computers and digitized medicine, as he explores the hidden costs of granting software dominion over our work and our leisure. Even as they bring ease to our lives, these programs are stealing something essential from us.

Internationally renowned privacy expert Daniel J. Solove draws from a range of fields, from law to philosophy to the humanities, to illustrate the profound changes technology is wreaking upon our privacy, why they matter, and what can be done about them. Solove provides incisive examinations of key concepts in the digital sphere, including control, manipulation, harm, automation, reputation, consent, prediction, inference, and many others.

A field guide to the visionaries and the fans who are reinventing the art of storytelling. Not long ago we were spectators, passive consumers of mass media. Now, on YouTube and blogs and Facebook and Twitter, we are media. And while we watch more television than ever before, how we watch it is changing in ways we have barely slowed down to register. No longer content in our traditional role as couch potatoes, we approach media as experiences to immerse ourselves in at will.

When Pete Etchells was 13, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify "game addiction" as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea. In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games via scientific study....

‘Original and thought provoking’ Gordon Brown ‘Challenging and hopeful: a groundbreaking guide to the future’ Valerie Amos To thrive in the twenty-first century, we all need to understand the challenges coming our way. And start adapting, now. We all know there are major, overlapping...

Today, not only is everything digital getting faster, cheaper, and smaller at an exponential rate, we also have the Internet. When these two revolutions - one in technology and the other in communications - joined, an explosive force was unleashed that changed the very nature of innovation. And with any change, we have seen many strategic blunders and extraordinary learning curves along the way.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolutionby Klaus Schwab and Nicholas Davis, read by Nicholas Guy Smith. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing everything - from the way we relate to each other, to the work we do, the way our economies...

Radio 4's Book of the Week A Financial Times Book of the Year Shortlisted for the 2020 Financial Times / McKinsey Business Book of the Year Longlisted for the National Book Award 'The story of the original data science hucksters of the 1960s is hilarious, scathing and sobering - what you might...

Former physicist Andrew Maynard threads together his love of science-fiction movies with his expertise on emerging technologies to engage, entertain, and make you think about the relationship between technology and society. Through the imagination and creativity of science-fiction movies, Maynard introduces listeners to the profound capabilities presented by new and emerging technologies, and the complex personal and societal challenges they present. 

The idea that human history is approaching a "singularity" - that ordinary humans will someday be overtaken by artificially intelligent machines or cognitively enhanced biological intelligence, or both - has moved from the realm of science fiction to serious debate. Some singularity theorists predict that if the field of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop at its current dizzying rate, the singularity could come about in the middle of the present century.

The People Vs Tech is an enthralling account of how our fragile political system is being threatened by the digital revolution. Bartlett explains that by upholding six key pillars of democracy, we can save it before it is too late. We need to become active citizens; uphold a shared democratic culture; protect free elections; promote equality; safeguard competitive and civic freedoms; and trust in a sovereign authority. 

A Financial Times 'Best Thing I Read This Year' 2017 LONGLISTED FOR THE FT & MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD Google. Amazon. Facebook. The modern world is defined by vast digital monopolies turning ever-larger profits. Those of us who consume the content that feeds them are farmed for...

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?