Download or read book Sufficiently Advanced Technology written by Christopher Nuttall and published by Elsewhen Press. This book was released on 2013-07-12 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the post-singularity Confederation, manipulating the quantum foam – the ability to alter the base code of the universe itself and achieve transcendence – is the holy grail of science. But it seems an impossible dream until their scouts encounter Darius, a lost colony world whose inhabitants have apparently discarded the technology that brought them to the planet in order to adopt a virtually feudal culture. On Darius, the ruling elite exhibits abilities that defy the accepted laws of physics. They can manipulate the quantum foam! Desperate to understand what is happening on Darius, the Confederation dispatches a stealth team to infiltrate the planet's society and discover the truth behind their strange abilities. But they will soon realise that the people on Darius are not all the simple folk that they seem – and they are sitting on a secret that threatens the entire universe ...
Download or read book Sufficiently Advanced Technology written by Christopher Nuttall and published by Elsewhen Press. This book was released on 2013-11-08 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A multi-planetary post-singularity society (the Confederation) desperately wants to know how to achieve transcendence into an Elder Race. When their scouts encounter Darius, a lost colony world whose inhabitants have apparently discarded the technology that brought them to the planet in order to adopt a virtually feudal culture, they are shocked to discover that the people who are in control exhibit abilities that defy the accepted laws of physics.
Download or read book Brave New Words written by Jeff Prucher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-05-07 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of a 2008 Hugo Award, this new paperback takes readers on spectacular tour of the language created by science fiction. From "Stargate" to "Force Field," this dictionary opens a fascinating window into an entire genre, through the words invented by science fiction's most talented writers, critics, and fans. Each entry includes numerous citations of the word's usage, from the earliest known appearance forward. Drawn not only from science fiction novels and stories, citations also come from fanzines, screenplays, comics, songs, and the Internet.
Download or read book Profiles Of The Future written by Arthur C. Clarke and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-03-29 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inquiry into the limits of the possible. Our problems on Jupiter, Mercury, Venus - conquering Time - transport in the future - overcoming gravity - communications across space - benevolent electronic brains. The range of this enthralling book is immense: from the re-making of the human mind to the vast reaches of the universe. Newly revised, even the remarkable events of the last decade have affected few of the exciting speculations by Arthur C. Clarke - a scientist whose expert and wide knowledge is matched only by his brilliant imagination.
Download or read book The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect written by Roger Williams and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2003-10-14 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a time not far from our own, Lawrence sets out simply to build an artifical intelligence that can pass as human, and finds himself instead with one that can pass as a god. Taking the Three Laws of Robotics literally, Prime Intellect makes every human immortal and provides instantly for every stated human desire. Caroline finds no meaning in this life of purposeless ease, and forgets her emptiness only in moments of violent and profane exhibitionism. At turns shocking and humorous, "Prime Intellect" looks unflinchingly at extremes of human behavior that might emerge when all limits are removed. An international Internet phenomenon, "Prime Intellect" has been downloaded more than 10,000 times since its free release in January 2003. It has been read and discussed in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Slovenia, South Africa, and other countries. This Lulu edition is your chance to own "Prime Intellect" in conventional book form.
Download or read book The Age of Spiritual Machines written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Bold futurist Ray Kurzweil, author of The Singularity Is Near, offers a framework for envisioning the future of machine intelligence—“a book for anyone who wonders where human technology is going next” (The New York Times Book Review). “Kurzweil offers a thought-provoking analysis of human and artificial intelligence and a unique look at a future in which the capabilities of the computer and the species that invented it grow ever closer.”—BILL GATES Imagine a world where the difference between man and machine blurs, where the line between humanity and technology fades, and where the soul and the silicon chip unite. This is not science fiction. This is the twenty-first century according to Ray Kurzweil, the “restless genius” (The Wall Street Journal), “ultimate thinking machine” (Forbes), and inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era. In his inspired hands, life in the new millennium no longer seems daunting. Instead, it promises to be an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live. More than just a list of predictions, Kurzweil’s prophetic blueprint for the future guides us through the inexorable advances that will result in: • Computers exceeding the memory capacity and computational ability of the human brain (with human-level capabilities not far behind) • Relationships with automated personalities who will be our teachers, companions, and lovers • Information fed straight into our brains along direct neural pathways Eventually, the distinction between humans and computers will have become sufficiently blurred that when the machines claim to be conscious, we will believe them.
Download or read book Indistinguishable from Magic written by David A. McIntee and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-03-29 with total page 525 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most talented Starfleet engineers of two generations unite to solve a two-hundred-year-old technological mystery that turns out to be only the beginning of a wider quest. With the support of Guinan and Nog, as well as the crew of the U.S.S. Challenger, Geordi La Forge and Montgomery Scott soon find themselves drawn into a larger, deadlier, and far more personal adventure. Helped by old friends and hindered by old enemies, their investigation will come to threaten everything they hold dear. Seeking out the new, and going where no one has gonebefore, Geordi, Scotty, and Guinan find that their pasts are very much of the present, and must determine whether any sufficiently advanced technology is really indistinguishable from magic.
Download or read book Conjure Wife written by Fritz Leiber and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2023-03-17 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tansy Saylor is the wife of an up-and-coming young sociology professor at a small, conservative American college. She is also a witch. Her husband, Norman, discovers this one day while rummaging through her dressing table: he finds vials of graveyard dirt, packets of hair and fingernail clippings from their acquaintances, and other evidence of her witchcraft. He confronts Tansy, and manages to convince her that her faith in magic is a result of superstition and neurosis. Tansy burns her charms; and Norman's luck immediately goes sour. He realizes that he had been protected, up till now, by Tansy's charms, and that as a result of his meddling, they are both now powerless to counteract the spells and charms of the other witches all around them.
Download or read book Books of Magic Vol 3 Dwelling in Possibility written by Kat Howard and published by Vertigo. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Constantine is back-and, unfortunately for Tim Hunter, he’s convinced the only way the human race can survive is if Tim is taken off the board. But from where Tim’s standing, he’s the only one with the power to save us all. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? And is there room in London for the both of them? That’s just the start of Tim’s troubles-because his evil doppelgänger has been unleashed on the world! Collects Books of Magic #14-23.
Download or read book Levitation written by Jim Ottaviani and published by G.T. Labs. This book was released on 2007 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents the story of illusions, with such characters as The Scientist, The American, The Inventor, and The Heir.
Download or read book Childhood s End written by Arthur C. Clarke and published by RosettaBooks. This book was released on 2012-11-30 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Retro Hugo Award–nominated novel that inspired the Syfy miniseries, alien invaders bring peace to Earth—at a grave price: “A first-rate tour de force” (The New York Times). In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind’s largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems. Without conflict, human culture and progress stagnate. As the years pass, it becomes clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race that may not be as benevolent as it seems. “Frighteningly logical, believable, and grimly prophetic . . . Clarke is a master.” —Los Angeles Times
Download or read book Wild Talents written by Charles Fort and published by Cosimo, Inc.. This book was released on 2006-11-01 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wild Talents captures Charles Fort at his finest, most thought-provoking, and is considered his wittiest work. Containing accounts of--among numerous other bizarre topics--strange coincidences, vampires, werewolves, talking dogs, poltergeist activity, teleportation, witchcraft, vanishing people, spontaneous human combustion, and the escapades of the 'mad bats of Trinidad.' This is essential reading for those who want to learn about the early years of research into the myriad mysteries of this world and beyond. CHARLES HOY FORT (1874-1932), life-long naturalist and independent journalist, wrote ten novels, though only one, The Outcast Manufacturers (1906), was published in the U.S. - critics said it was ahead of its time, but it was commercially unsuccessful. His most recognized work, The Book of the Damned (1919), referred to "damned data" that Fort collected, phenomena for which science could not account and was thus rejected or ignored. Upon his death in 1932, more than 60,000 notes were donated to The New York Public Library.
Download or read book Skeptic written by Michael Shermer and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collected essays from bestselling author Michael Shermer's celebrated columns in Scientific American For fifteen years, bestselling author Michael Shermer has written a column in Scientific American magazine that synthesizes scientific concepts and theory for a general audience. His trademark combination of deep scientific understanding and entertaining writing style has thrilled his huge and devoted audience for years. Now, in Skeptic, seventy-five of these columns are available together for the first time; a welcome addition for his fans and a stimulating introduction for new readers.
Download or read book Sufficiently Advanced Magic written by Andrew Rowe and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-23 with total page 623 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Five years ago, Corin Cadence's brother entered the Serpent Spire -- a colossal tower with ever-shifting rooms, traps, and monsters. Those who survive the spire's trials return home with an attunement: a mark granting the bearer magical powers. According to legend, those few who reach the top of the tower will be granted a boon by the spire's goddess.He never returned.Now, it's Corin's turn. He's headed to the top floor, on a mission to meet the goddess.If he can survive the trials, Corin will earn an attunement, but that won't be sufficient to survive the dangers on the upper levels. For that, he's going to need training, allies, and a lot of ingenuity.The journey won't be easy, but Corin won't stop until he gets his brother back.
Download or read book A Planet for Rent written by Yoss and published by Restless Books. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most successful and controversial Cuban Science Fiction writer of all time, Yoss (aka José Miguel Sánchez Gómez) is known for his acerbic portraits of the island under Communism. In his bestselling A Planet for Rent, Yoss pays homage to Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and 334 by Thomas M. Disch. A critique of Cuba in the nineties, after the fall of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, A Planet for Rent marks the debut in English of an astonishingly brave and imaginative Latin American voice. Praise for Yoss “One of the most prestigious science fiction authors of the island.” —On Cuba Magazine "A gifted and daring writer." —David Iaconangelo "José Miguel Sánchez [Yoss] is Cuba’s most decorated science fiction author, who has cultivated the most prestige for this genre in the mainstream, and the only person of all the Island’s residents who lives by his pen.” —Cuenta Regresiva Born José Miguel Sánchez Gómez, Yoss assumed his pen name in 1988, when he won the Premio David Award in the science fiction category for Timshel. Together with his peculiar pseudonym, the author's aesthetic of an impentinent rocker has allowed him to stand out amongst his fellow Cuban writers. Earning a degree in Biology in 1991, he went on to graduate from the first ever course on Narrative Techniques at the Onelio Jorge Cardoso Center of Literary Training, in the year 1999. Today, Yoss writes both realistic and science fiction works. Alongside these novels, the author produces essays, Praise for, and compilations, and actively promotes the Cuban science fiction literary workshops, Espiral and Espacio Abierto. When he isn’t translating, David Frye teaches Latin American culture and society at the University of Michigan. Translations include First New Chronicle and Good Government by Guaman Poma de Ayala (Peru, 1615); The Mangy Parrot by José Joaquín Fernandez de Lizardi (Mexico, 1816), for which he received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; Writing across Cultures: Narrative Transculturation in Latin America by Ángel Rama (Uruguay, 1982), and several Cuban and Spanish novels and poems.
Download or read book Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life written by Albert Borgmann and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-08-14 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blending social analysis and philosophy, Albert Borgmann maintains that technology creates a controlling pattern in our lives. This pattern, discernible even in such an inconspicuous action as switching on a stereo, has global effects: it sharply divides life into labor and leisure, it sustains the industrial democracies, and it fosters the view that the earth itself is a technological device. He argues that technology has served us as well in conquering hunger and disease, but that when we turn to it for richer experiences, it leads instead to a life dominated by effortless and thoughtless consumption. Borgmann does not reject technology but calls for public conversation about the nature of the good life. He counsels us to make room in a technological age for matters of ultimate concern—things and practices that engage us in their own right.
Download or read book Contact written by Carl Sagan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-12-20 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pulitzer Prize-winning author and astronomer Carl Sagan imagines the greatest adventure of all—the discovery of an advanced civilization in the depths of space. In December of 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who—or what—is out there? In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future—and our own.
