Download or read book THE EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO OUR EVOLUTIONARY FUTURE written by David Anderson and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2023-12-18 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CALL FOR A PHASE TRANSITION Only an Economic Social Political Philosophical Religious Mind-Change Can Save Us How could the most clever and brilliant primate ever to evolve on Planet earth be bringing this extinction dilemma upon itself? Do we biologically psychologically neurologically have the ability to remove our Neurotic Psychotic Imperfection and enter into a Phase Transition? Then will we have the strength and cohesiveness cooperatively to move on into an integrative societal form that will assure our continuation on Planet earth? For description of this societal form see Appendix # II Our Future??
Download or read book Overcoming the Threat to Our Future written by David Anderson and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2018-10-04 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about the social, political, philosophical, religious, and economic presuppositions we have believed to be inherent truths that we are now discovering were built on geo-ecological flaws. We are being faced with an existential threat. There is the possibility of human extinction. And unlike threats in the past to all forms of life on the planet, this one will not be determined by a random meteorite/asteroid or natural planetary happening. It will be self-inflicted. We are that species. Where have we all gone wrong? Could it be that certain elements in our thought process laboriously pieced together from the beginning of our bronze/iron/agricultural age are now working against us? And if so, what are those elements? Finally, the question is, How could we, the most clever and brilliant primate ever to evolve, be bringing this on ourselves? Is it that we have an evolutionary self-destructive neurotic/psychotic cranial imperfection? And if this is the reason, at what stage of our evolution did that imperfection occur? Finally, do you and I biologically/psychologically/neurologically have the ability to move away from that imperfection?
Download or read book The Precipice written by Toby Ord and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This urgent and eye-opening book makes the case that protecting humanity's future is the central challenge of our time. If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Our species could survive for billions of years - enough time to end disease, poverty, and injustice, and to flourish in ways unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, where we face existential catastrophes - those from which we could never come back. Since then, these dangers have only multiplied, from climate change to engineered pathogens and artificial intelligence. If we do not act fast to reach a place of safety, it will soon be too late. Drawing on over a decade of research, The Precipice explores the cutting-edge science behind the risks we face. It puts them in the context of the greater story of humanity: showing how ending these risks is among the most pressing moral issues of our time. And it points the way forward, to the actions and strategies that can safeguard humanity. An Oxford philosopher committed to putting ideas into action, Toby Ord has advised the US National Intelligence Council, the UK Prime Minister's Office, and the World Bank on the biggest questions facing humanity. In The Precipice, he offers a startling reassessment of human history, the future we are failing to protect, and the steps we must take to ensure that our generation is not the last. "A book that seems made for the present moment." —New Yorker
Download or read book On the Future written by Martin Rees and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative and inspiring look at the future of humanity and science from world-renowned scientist and bestselling author Martin Rees Humanity has reached a critical moment. Our world is unsettled and rapidly changing, and we face existential risks over the next century. Various outcomes—good and bad—are possible. Yet our approach to the future is characterized by short-term thinking, polarizing debates, alarmist rhetoric, and pessimism. In this short, exhilarating book, renowned scientist and bestselling author Martin Rees argues that humanity’s prospects depend on our taking a very different approach to planning for tomorrow. The future of humanity is bound to the future of science and hinges on how successfully we harness technological advances to address our challenges. If we are to use science to solve our problems while avoiding its dystopian risks, we must think rationally, globally, collectively, and optimistically about the long term. Advances in biotechnology, cybertechnology, robotics, and artificial intelligence—if pursued and applied wisely—could empower us to boost the developing and developed world and overcome the threats humanity faces on Earth, from climate change to nuclear war. At the same time, further advances in space science will allow humans to explore the solar system and beyond with robots and AI. But there is no “Plan B” for Earth—no viable alternative within reach if we do not care for our home planet. Rich with fascinating insights into cutting-edge science and technology, this accessible book will captivate anyone who wants to understand the critical issues that will define the future of humanity on Earth and beyond.
Download or read book Human Purpose and Transhuman Potential written by Ted Chu and published by Red Wheel/Weiser. This book was released on 2014-03-01 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For millennia, great thinkers have contemplated the meaning and purpose of human existence; but while most assumed that humanity was the end point of creation or the pinnacle of evolution, Ted Chu makes the provocative claim that the human race may in fact be a means rather than an end—that humankind will give rise to evolutionary successors. In this wide-ranging and authoritative work, Chu reexamines the question of human purpose in light of the extraordinary developments of science and technology. Arguing that a deep understanding of our place in the universe is required to navigate the magnitude of the choices that lie ahead, he surveys human wisdom from both East and West, traces the evolutionary trajectory that has led to this point, and explores the potentials emerging on the scientific frontier. The book addresses the legitimate fears and concerns of “playing God” but embraces the possibility of transcending biological forms and becoming or creating entirely new life-forms.
Download or read book World Without Mind written by Franklin Foer and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 • One of the best books of the year by The New York Times, LA Times, and NPR Franklin Foer reveals the existential threat posed by big tech, and in his brilliant polemic gives us the toolkit to fight their pervasive influence. Over the past few decades there has been a revolution in terms of who controls knowledge and information. This rapid change has imperiled the way we think. Without pausing to consider the cost, the world has rushed to embrace the products and services of four titanic corporations. We shop with Amazon; socialize on Facebook; turn to Apple for entertainment; and rely on Google for information. These firms sell their efficiency and purport to make the world a better place, but what they have done instead is to enable an intoxicating level of daily convenience. As these companies have expanded, marketing themselves as champions of individuality and pluralism, their algorithms have pressed us into conformity and laid waste to privacy. They have produced an unstable and narrow culture of misinformation, and put us on a path to a world without private contemplation, autonomous thought, or solitary introspection—a world without mind. In order to restore our inner lives, we must avoid being coopted by these gigantic companies, and understand the ideas that underpin their success. Elegantly tracing the intellectual history of computer science—from Descartes and the enlightenment to Alan Turing to Stewart Brand and the hippie origins of today's Silicon Valley—Foer exposes the dark underpinnings of our most idealistic dreams for technology. The corporate ambitions of Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, he argues, are trampling longstanding liberal values, especially intellectual property and privacy. This is a nascent stage in the total automation and homogenization of social, political, and intellectual life. By reclaiming our private authority over how we intellectually engage with the world, we have the power to stem the tide. At stake is nothing less than who we are, and what we will become. There have been monopolists in the past but today's corporate giants have far more nefarious aims. They’re monopolists who want access to every facet of our identities and influence over every corner of our decision-making. Until now few have grasped the sheer scale of the threat. Foer explains not just the looming existential crisis but the imperative of resistance.
Download or read book Improbable Destinies written by Jonathan B. Losos and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major new book overturning our assumptions about how evolution works Earth’s natural history is full of fascinating instances of convergence: phenomena like eyes and wings and tree-climbing lizards that have evolved independently, multiple times. But evolutionary biologists also point out many examples of contingency, cases where the tiniest change—a random mutation or an ancient butterfly sneeze—caused evolution to take a completely different course. What role does each force really play in the constantly changing natural world? Are the plants and animals that exist today, and we humans ourselves, inevitabilities or evolutionary flukes? And what does that say about life on other planets? Jonathan Losos reveals what the latest breakthroughs in evolutionary biology can tell us about one of the greatest ongoing debates in science. He takes us around the globe to meet the researchers who are solving the deepest mysteries of life on Earth through their work in experimental evolutionary science. Losos himself is one of the leaders in this exciting new field, and he illustrates how experiments with guppies, fruit flies, bacteria, foxes, and field mice, along with his own work with anole lizards on Caribbean islands, are rewinding the tape of life to reveal just how rapid and predictable evolution can be. Improbable Destinies will change the way we think and talk about evolution. Losos's insights into natural selection and evolutionary change have far-reaching applications for protecting ecosystems, securing our food supply, and fighting off harmful viruses and bacteria. This compelling narrative offers a new understanding of ourselves and our role in the natural world and the cosmos.
Download or read book Superintelligence written by Nick Bostrom and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This profoundly ambitious and original book picks its way carefully through a vast tract of forbiddingly difficult intellectual terrain.
Download or read book Why Are We Here written by Bruce Brodie and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2019-05-24 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the big bang, to the origin and evolution of intelligent life in a search for the meaning of human existence, Why are We Here?, by author Bruce Brodie, offers a look at evolution and the future of life on the planet. Through many years of research and study, Brodie addresses a host of questions: • How did chemistry come to life? • How did the release of oxygen by cyanobacteria change the natural history of life? • How did mass extinctions reset the clock and reshape the course of biological evolution? • Why are homo sapiens so dominant? • Why do humans build vast civilizations, while chimps, with whom we share more than 98 percent of our DNA, are confined to forests and experimental laboratories and zoos? • How will cultural and technological evolution, which have transcended the slow pace of biological evolution, shape the future of life on the planet? • Can we escape the many existential threats that hover over us? Why are We Here? offers a new perspective on how we think about the world, and our place and our purpose in the universe and the future of humanity. It presents a lasting sense of the amazing wonder and mystery of life.
Download or read book Cultural Existential Psychology written by Daniel Sullivan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-06 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bridging cultural and experimental existential psychology, this book offers a synthetic understanding of how culture shapes psychological threat.
Download or read book Calamity Theory written by Joshua Schuster and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the implications of how we talk about apocalypse? A new philosophical field has emerged. “Existential risk” studies any real or hypothetical human extinction event in the near or distant future. This movement examines catastrophes ranging from runaway global warming to nuclear warfare to malevolent artificial intelligence, deploying a curious mix of utilitarian ethics, statistical risk analysis, and, controversially, a transhuman advocacy that would aim to supersede almost all extinction scenarios. The proponents of existential risk thinking, led by Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, have seen their work gain immense popularity, attracting endorsement from Bill Gates and Elon Musk, millions of dollars, and millions of views. Calamity Theory is the first book to examine the rise of this thinking and its failures to acknowledge the ways some communities and lifeways are more at risk than others and what it implies about human extinction. Forerunners: Ideas First is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital publications. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.
Download or read book Ultrasocial written by John M. Gowdy and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-26 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Society is an ultrasocial superorganism whose requirements take precedence over individuals. What does this mean for humanity's future?
Download or read book Leadership Lessons from a Global Health Crisis written by Jo Nurse and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-05-18 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the key learning concepts for global leadership in the face of modern international health crises and argues the need for fundamental reform to governance paradigms, within the global security sphere and policymaking circles. Beginning with an analysis of the worldwide response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the book provides insights from evolution, history, and human behaviour to explain how our current leadership paradigms have contributed to today’s global health challenges and draws lessons for the much larger crisis of climate change with the threat of massive biodiversity collapse. The second part of the book outlines tangible solutions to transform leadership and policy to enhance global security for both people and the planet, with the aim of averting future pandemics and our planetary emergency. This book: Will be among the first published works to examine the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and draws valuable lessons for our climate crisis. Directly addresses the nexus between scientific advice and policymaking, highlighting recommendations for future leaders. Provides a bridge between public health, the environment, and leadership. This book will prove an insightful resource for current and future world leaders, politicians, and policymakers, as well as environmental and public health professional bodies, think tanks, and institutions shaping the next generation of leadership.
Download or read book Living with Darwin written by Philip Kitcher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-28 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Darwin has been at the center of white-hot public debate for more than a century. In Living With Darwin, Philip Kitcher stokes the flames swirling around Darwin's theory, sifting through the scientific evidence for evolution, Creation Science, and Intelligent Design, and revealing why evolution has been the object of such vehement attack. Kitcher first provides valuable perspective on the present controversy, describing the many puzzles that blocked evolution's acceptance in the early years, and explaining how scientific research eventually found the answers to these conundrums. Interestingly, Kitcher shows that many of these early questions have been resurrected in recent years by proponents of Intelligent Design. In fact, Darwin himself considered the issue of intelligent design, and amassed a mountain of evidence that effectively refuted the idea. Kitcher argues that the problem with Intelligent Design isn't that it's "not science," as many critics say, but that it's "dead science," raising questions long resolved by scientists. But Kitcher points out that it is also important to recognize the cost of Darwin's success--the price of "life with Darwin." Darwinism has a profound effect on our understanding of our place in the universe, on our religious beliefs and aspirations. It is in truth the focal point of a larger clash between religious faith and modern science. Unless we can resolve this larger issue, the war over evolution will go on.
Download or read book The Next 500 Years written by Christopher E. Mason and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument that we have a moral duty to explore other planets and solar systems--because human life on Earth has an expiration date. Inevitably, life on Earth will come to an end, whether by climate disaster, cataclysmic war, or the death of the sun in a few billion years. To avoid extinction, we will have to find a new home planet, perhaps even a new solar system, to inhabit. In this provocative and fascinating book, Christopher Mason argues that we have a moral duty to do just that. As the only species aware that life on Earth has an expiration date, we have a responsibility to act as the shepherd of life-forms--not only for our species but for all species on which we depend and for those still to come (by accidental or designed evolution). Mason argues that the same capacity for ingenuity that has enabled us to build rockets and land on other planets can be applied to redesigning biology so that we can sustainably inhabit those planets. And he lays out a 500-year plan for undertaking the massively ambitious project of reengineering human genetics for life on other worlds. As they are today, our frail human bodies could never survive travel to another habitable planet. Mason describes the toll that long-term space travel took on astronaut Scott Kelly, who returned from a year on the International Space Station with changes to his blood, bones, and genes. Mason proposes a ten-phase, 500-year program that would engineer the genome so that humans can tolerate the extreme environments of outer space--with the ultimate goal of achieving human settlement of new solar systems. He lays out a roadmap of which solar systems to visit first, and merges biotechnology, philosophy, and genetics to offer an unparalleled vision of the universe to come.
Download or read book Our Moment of Choice written by Robert Atkinson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE 2020 GOLD NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD * 2021 SILVER COVR VISIONARY AWARD * 2021 NEW YORK BOOK FESTIVAL AWARD * 2021 GOLD LIVING NOW AWARD “This innovative and revolutionary message of hope and wisdom from many of the greatest visionaries” (Anita Moorjani, New York Times bestselling author) is a rousing call-to-action for all of us to help transform the world into a just, peaceful, and thriving one—featuring creative and practical solutions to the many crises facing humanity today. Humanity is currently facing a series of interconnected emergencies that threaten our very survival—from climate change to economic inequality and beyond. And yet, at the same time, a global shift towards harnessing our collective power to create a life-affirming future is flourishing. Featuring chapters by forty-three leading-edge contributors, such as Gregg Braden, Lynne McTaggart, Bruce Lipton, Jean Houston, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Ervin Laszlo, Joan Borysenko, Larry Dossey, and many more, Our Moment of Choice provides eye-opening and inspirational visions for a unified, peaceful, and thriving world. The time has come for all humanity to be united in purpose. This is our collective moment of choice, upon which our future depends.
Download or read book Existential Threats written by Lisa Vox and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2017-07-03 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Existential Threats, Lisa Vox explores the growth of dispensationalist premillennialism alongside scientific understandings of the end of the world and contends that these two allegedly competing visions have converged to create an American apocalyptic imagination.
