Showing titles in Future Studies

Chris Impey conducts listeners across the vast, fast-developing field of astrobiology, surveying the dizzying advances carrying us ever closer to the discovery of life beyond Earth—and the prospect of humans living on another planet. With a view spanning astronomy, planetary science, geology, chemistry, and biology, Impey provides a state-of-the-art account of what's behind this accelerating progress, what's next, and what it might mean for humanity's future.

Artificial intelligence is driving workforce disruption on a scale not seen since the Industrial Revolution. In schools and universities, AI technology has forced a re-evaluation of the way students are taught and assessed. Meanwhile ChatGPT has become a cultural phenomenon, reaching 100 million users and attracting a $10 billion dollar investment in its parent company OpenAI. The race to dominate the generative AI market is accelerating at breakneck speed, inspiring breathless headlines and immense public interest.

The respected Italian economist and journalist offers a bold and provocative argument that the speed of technological transformation is threatening our future.

Science history is chock full of world-changing innovations that initially faced skepticism and ridicule for being too unconventional: light bulbs, cars, and home computers are just a few examples. In this audiobook, we take a look at the latest out-of-the-box ideas to tackle today’s biggest challenges, including so-called sponge cities designed to combat flooding, technology that mimics photosynthesis to produce fuel, modifying bacteria’s genetic circuits to treat genetic diseases, and much more.

Politics, manners, humor, sexuality, wealth, even our definitions of success are periodically renegotiated based on the new values society chooses to use as a lens to judge what is acceptable. Are these new values randomly chosen or is there a pattern? Pendulum chronicles the stuttering history of western society; that endless back-and-forth swing between one excess and another, always reminded of what we left behind.

Bestseller-Autor Harald Welzer stellt fest, dass unsere Kultur kein Konzept vom Aufhören hat. Deshalb baut sie Autobahnen und Flughäfen für Zukünfte, in denen es keine Autos und Flughäfen mehr geben wird. Und sie versucht, unsere Zukunftsprobleme durch Optimierung zu lösen, obwohl ein optimiertes Falsches immer noch falsch ist. Damit verbaut sie viele Möglichkeiten, das Leben durch Weglassen und Aufhören besser zu machen. Diese Kultur hat den Tod genauso zur Privatangelegenheit gemacht, wie sie die Begrenztheit der Erde verbissen ignoriert.

Über das letzte Jahrhundert hinweg hat sich die Menschheit erfolgreich Hunger, Seuchen und Kriegen gestellt. Aus Erfolg wird Ehrgeiz: Als nächstes stehen Unsterblichkeit, grenzenloses Glück und gottgleiche Schöpfungskräfte auf der To-Do-Liste. Die Verfolgung dieser Ziele wird die meisten Menschen allerdings überflüssig machen. Also bleiben Fragen: Wohin führt unser Weg? Wie können wir unsere Zukunft bestmöglich beeinflussen?

Since cities emerged 10,000 years ago, they have become one of the most impressive artifacts of humanity. But their evolution has been anything but linear - cities have gone through moments of radical change, turning points that redefine their very essence. In this book a renowned architect and urban planner who studies the intersection of cities and technology argues that we are in such a moment. The authors explain some of the forces behind urban change and offer new visions.

Baby boomers enjoyed the most benign period in human history: 50 years of relative peace, cheap energy, plentiful grain supply, and a warming climate due to the highest solar activity for 8,000 years. The party is over - prepare for the twilight of abundance.

Imagine stepping into a fully immersive game, socializing with friends from around the globe in a virtual lounge, or exercising in an environment tailored to your exact preferences—all from the comfort of your home. Smart Entertainment explores the incredible advancements in AR/VR technologies that are turning these fantasies into realities, and reveals the innovative applications that will shape how we relax, connect, and have fun in the future.

In The End of Life as We Know It, best-selling author Michael Guillen takes a penetrating look at how the scientific community is pushing the boundaries of morality. The End of Life as We Know It takes us into laboratories and boardrooms where these troubling advances are taking place and asks the question no scientists seem to be asking: What does this mean for the future of humanity?

History is always written from the perspective of the ruling or rising elite at the time of writing. Concepts like The Stone Age, The Bronze Age, et cetera, were of course unknown during those periods that used to be called the stone age and the bronze age. They were invented during the 19th century to make sense of a development that seemed to reach its climax with industrialisation and the modern factory.

Binnen weniger Jahre wird die digitale Revolution die Gesellschaft komplett verändern. Wenige werden reich, viele arm, und die Mittelschicht wird es nur noch in den Geschichtsbüchern geben. Gerald Hörhan, Harvard-Absolvent, Investmentbanker und Internet-Unternehmer, zeigt, was die künftigen Gewinner der digitalen Revolution jetzt tun müssen und warum alle anderen untergehen.

Large corporations, big governments, and other centralized organizations have long determined and dominated the way we work, access healthcare, get an education, feed ourselves, and generally go about our lives.

Look around you and think for a minute: Is America too crowded? For years, we have been warned about the looming danger of overpopulation: people jostling for space on a planet that's busting at the seams and running out of oil and food and land and everything else. It's all bunk. The population bomb never exploded. Instead, statistics from around the world make clear that since the 1970s, we've been facing exactly the opposite problem: people are having too few babies.

The challenges we face are daunting, but in Go Big, Ed Miliband shows that the scale of what is possible is far greater. We are at a rare moment in history when people everywhere see the need for big change. Meanwhile, practical and proven ways exist for tackling everything from inequality to the climate crisis - if you know where to look and have the courage to think big.

Cars are one of the most significant human creations. They changed our cities. They changed our lives. They changed everything. But in the next 30 years, this technology will itself change enormously. If Google gets its way, are we all going to be ferried around in tiny electric bubble-cars? Or will we watch robots race a bionic Lewis Hamilton? And what about the future of classic cars?

In AI for Good: Applications in Sustainability, Humanitarian Action, and Health, a team of veteran Microsoft AI researchers delivers an insightful and fascinating discussion of how one of the world's most recognizable software companies is tackling intractable social problems with the power of artificial intelligence (AI). In the book, you'll see real in-the-field examples of researchers using AI with replicable methods and reusable AI code to inspire your own uses.

Drawing on the example of post-WWII Britain and looking ahead at America in the 2020s, Jed Esty suggests that becoming a second-place nation is neither disastrous, as alarmists claim, nor avoidable, as optimists insist. Contemporary declinism often masks white nostalgia and perpetuates a conservative longing for Cold War certainty. But the narcissistic lure of "lost greatness" appeals across the political spectrum.

Today, Elon Musk's SpaceX is building one human-rated reusable spacecraft every week designed to send 100 colonists to Mars on each voyage. With this brilliant plan, SpaceX aims to colonize the Red Planet. This is not science fiction. These ships are in construction every day at a startling pace in order to make humanity a multiplanetary species, beginning this decade. Departing Earth Forever is the first manual written to and for Martian colonists—and for humankind back on the home planet witnessing this single most historic and momentous event in human history.