Download or read book Miracles and Machines written by Elizabeth King and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2023-08-22 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An abundantly illustrated narrative that draws from the history of art, science, technology, artificial intelligence, psychology, religion, and conservation in telling the extraordinary story of a Renaissance robot that prays. This volume tells the singular story of an uncanny, rare object at the cusp of art and science: a 450-year-old automaton known as “the monk.” The walking, gesticulating figure of a friar, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, is among the earliest extant ancestors of the self-propelled robot. According to legend connected to the court of Philip II of Spain, the monk represents a portrait of Diego de Alcalá, a humble Franciscan lay brother whose holy corpse was said to be agent to the miraculous cure of Spain’s crown prince as he lay dying in 1562. In tracking the origins of the monk and its legend, the authors visited archives, libraries, and museums across the United States and Europe, probing the paradox of a mechanical object performing an apparently spiritual act. They identified seven kindred automata from the same period, which, they argue, form a paradigmatic class of walking “prime movers,” unprecedented in their combination of visual and functional realism. While most of the literature on automata focuses on the Enlightenment, this enthralling narrative journeys back to the late Renaissance, when clockwork machinery was entirely new, foretelling the evolution of artificial life to come.
Download or read book Miracles and Machines written by Elizabeth King and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2023-08-15 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An abundantly illustrated narrative that draws from the history of art, science, technology, artificial intelligence, psychology, religion, and conservation in telling the extraordinary story of a Renaissance robot that prays. This volume tells the singular story of an uncanny, rare object at the cusp of art and science: a 450-year-old automaton known as “the monk.” The walking, gesticulating figure of a friar, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, is among the earliest extant ancestors of the self-propelled robot. According to legend connected to the court of Philip II of Spain, the monk represents a portrait of Diego de Alcalá, a humble Franciscan lay brother whose holy corpse was said to be agent to the miraculous cure of Spain’s crown prince as he lay dying in 1562. In tracking the origins of the monk and its legend, the authors visited archives, libraries, and museums across the United States and Europe, probing the paradox of a mechanical object performing an apparently spiritual act. They identified seven kindred automata from the same period, which, they argue, form a paradigmatic class of walking “prime movers,” unprecedented in their combination of visual and functional realism. While most of the literature on automata focuses on the Enlightenment, this enthralling narrative journeys back to the late Renaissance, when clockwork machinery was entirely new, foretelling the evolution of artificial life to come.
Download or read book Miracle and Machine written by Michael Naas and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Miracle and Machine is a sort of "reader's guide" to Jacques Derrida's 1994-95 essay "faith and knowledge," his most important work on the nature of religion in general and on the unprecedented forms it is taking today through science and the media. It provides essential background for understanding Derrida's essay, commentary on its unique style and its central figures (e.g., Kant, Hegel, Bergson, and Heidegger), and assessment of its principal philosophical claims about the fundamental duplicity of religion and the ineluctably autoimmune relationship among religion, science, and the media. Along the way it offers in-depth analysis of Derrida's treatment of everything from the nature of religious revelation, faith, prayer, sacrifice, testimony, messianicity, fundamentalism, and secularism to the way religion is today being transformed by globalization, technoscience, and worldwide telecommunications networks. But Miracle and Machine is much more than a commentary on a single Derrida text. Through references to scores of other works by Derrida, both early and late, it also provides a unique introduction to Derrida's work in general. It demonstrates that one of the very best ways to understand the terms, themes, claims, strategies, and motivations of Derridean deconstruction from the early 1960s through 2004 is to read critically and patiently, in its spirit and in its letter, an exemplary text such as "Faith and Knowledge." Finally, Miracle and Machine attempts to put Derrida's ideas about religion to the test by reading alongside "Faith and Knowledge" an already classic work of American fiction that is more or less contemporaneous with it, Don DeLillo's 1997 Underworld, a novel that explores the same relationship between faith and knowledge, religion and science, religious revelation and the World Wide Web, messianicity, and weapons of mass destruction--in a word, in two words, miracles and machines.
Download or read book What To Do When Machines Do Everything written by Malcolm Frank and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-01-18 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Refreshingly thought-provoking...” – The Financial Times The essential playbook for the future of your business What To Do When Machines Do Everything is a guidebook to succeeding in the next generation of the digital economy. When systems running on Artificial Intelligence can drive our cars, diagnose medical patients, and manage our finances more effectively than humans it raises profound questions on the future of work and how companies compete. Illustrated with real-world cases, data, and insight, the authors provide clear strategic guidance and actionable steps to help you and your organization move ahead in a world where exponentially developing new technologies are changing how value is created. Written by a team of business and technology expert practitioners—who also authored Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business—this book provides a clear path to the future of your work. The first part of the book examines the once in a generation upheaval most every organization will soon face as systems of intelligence go mainstream. The authors argue that contrary to the doom and gloom that surrounds much of IT and business at the moment, we are in fact on the cusp of the biggest wave of opportunity creation since the Industrial Revolution. Next, the authors detail a clear-cut business model to help leaders take part in this coming boom; the AHEAD model outlines five strategic initiatives—Automate, Halos, Enhance, Abundance, and Discovery—that are central to competing in the next phase of global business by driving new levels of efficiency, customer intimacy and innovation. Business leaders today have two options: be swallowed up by the ongoing technological evolution, or ride the crest of the wave to new profits and better business. This book shows you how to avoid your own extinction event, and will help you; Understand the untold full extent of technology's impact on the way we work and live. Find out where we're headed, and how soon the future will arrive Leverage the new emerging paradigm into a sustainable business advantage Adopt a strategic model for winning in the new economy The digital world is already transforming how we work, live, and shop, how we are governed and entertained, and how we manage our money, health, security, and relationships. Don't let your business—or your career—get left behind. What To Do When Machines Do Everything is your strategic roadmap to a future full of possibility and success. Or peril.
Download or read book Medieval Robots written by E. R. Truitt and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2015-06-11 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medieval robots took such forms as talking statues, mechanical animals, or silent metal guardians; some served to entertain or instruct while others performed surveillance or discipline. Medieval Robots explores the forgotten history of real and imagined machines that captivated Europe from the ninth through the fourteenth centuries.
Download or read book The Age of Miracles written by Karen Thompson Walker and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People ∙ O: The Oprah Magazine ∙ Financial Times ∙ Kansas City Star ∙ BookPage ∙ Kirkus Reviews ∙ Publishers Weekly ∙ Booklist NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A stunner.”—Justin Cronin “It’s never the disasters you see coming that finally come to pass—it’s the ones you don’t expect at all,” says Julia, in this spellbinding novel of catastrophe and survival by a superb new writer. Luminous, suspenseful, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles tells the haunting and beautiful story of Julia and her family as they struggle to live in a time of extraordinary change. On an ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia awakes to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer; gravity is affected; the birds, the tides, human behavior, and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. In a world that seems filled with danger and loss, Julia also must face surprising developments in herself, and in her personal world—divisions widening between her parents, strange behavior by her friends, the pain and vulnerability of first love, a growing sense of isolation, and a surprising, rebellious new strength. With crystalline prose and the indelible magic of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker gives us a breathtaking portrait of people finding ways to go on in an ever-evolving world. “Gripping drama . . . flawlessly written; it could be the most assured debut by an American writer since Jennifer Egan’s Emerald City.”—The Denver Post “Pure magnificence.”—Nathan Englander “Provides solace with its wisdom, compassion, and elegance.”—Curtis Sittenfeld “Riveting, heartbreaking, profoundly moving.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.
Download or read book Beneath Broken Machines written by PC Walker and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2016-10-06 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beneath Broken Machines is a cup of cold water to a dry, parched, and weary soul. In ministry, its easy to portray that I ONCE was lost...but now Ive got it all together. PC writes this book with humility and openness, which gives permission to confess that your machine is broken as well. - Travis Osborne, Pastor at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA As someone who has left the church, this book spoke to me. Im not talking about an awakening with pomp and circumstance, but something more simple, beautiful, and powerful. PC has always been a guiding force in my life, and this incredibly powerful book is no different. - Kyle Lacy, 3x Author and National Speaker We have a propensity to build machines out of our faith. We like to put in the right things in hopes it will churn out the right product. We become proud of the manufactured machines of faith we have built. The troubles with machines are they have no hearts and they break down. If your machine has broken down, you may have no idea what to do. Embark on a search for the heart that still beats for you. Embrace the wonder and awe of the ridiculous love of God that has always been for you. Encounter the heart of the gospel, which is the heart of Jesus beneath all of your pain, failure, and shame.
Download or read book Minds Machines and Evolution written by James P. Hogan and published by Pocket Books. This book was released on 1999-12 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of science fiction's foremost writers, James R Hogan here gives his thousands of readers a generous serving of high-quality SF, along with a look behind the scenes. Read how a young girl raised by robots learned her true destiny. Travel in time to learn that inventors are always misunderstood, even Og, the caveman. Worried about the idea of cloning? Hogan will really have you worrying. And much more.
Download or read book Machines for Making Gods written by Jon Bialecki and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mormon faith may seem so different from aspirations to transcend the human through technological means that it is hard to imagine how these two concerns could even exist alongside one another, let alone serve together as the joint impetus for a social movement. Machines for Making Gods investigates the tensions between science and religion through which an imaginative group of young Mormons and ex-Mormons have found new ways of understanding the world. The Mormon Transhumanist Association (MTA) believes that God intended humanity to achieve Mormonism’s promise of theosis through imminent technological advances. Drawing on a nineteenth-century Mormon tradition of religious speculation to reimagine Mormon eschatological hopes as near-future technological possibilities, they envision such current and possible advances as cryonic preservation, computer simulation, and quantum archeology as paving the way for the resurrection of the dead, the creation of worlds without end, and promise of undergoing theosis—of becoming a god. Addressing the role of speculation in the anthropology of religion, Machines for Making Gods undoes debates about secular transhumanism’s relation to religion by highlighting the differences an explicitly religious transhumanism makes. Charting the conflicts and resonances between secular transhumanism and Mormonism, Bialecki shows how religious speculation has opened up imaginative horizons to give birth to new forms of Mormonism, including a particular progressive branch of the faith and even such formations as queer polygamy. The book also reveals how the MTA’s speculative account of God and technology together has helped to forestall some of the social pressure that comes with apostasy in much of the Mormon Intermountain West. A fascinating ethnography of a group with much to say about crucial junctures of modern culture, Machines for Making Gods illustrates how the scientific imagination can be better understood when viewed through anthropological accounts of myth.
Download or read book Joseph Walser s Machine written by Gonçalo M. Tavares and published by Deep Vellum Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Continuing Tavares's award-winning "Kingdom" series (begun in Jerusalem, winner of the Saramago Prize), Joseph Walser's Machine recounts a life of bizarre routines and patterns. Routine humiliation at a factory; routine maintenance of the world's most esoteric collection; and the most important routine of all: the operation of a mysterious machine on a factory floor. Yet all of Joseph Walser's routines are violently disrupted when his city is occupied by an invading army, leaving him faced with political intrigues, marital discord, and finally, one last, catastrophic confrontation with his beloved machine.
Download or read book Miracles or Coincidences written by Geraldine Moran and published by BalboaPress. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you considered that you are constantly surrounded by miracles? Would you like to be? This book makes miracles accessible to all with amazing stories, lessons, and examples of everyday people, celebrities, and celebrated Aussies. Geraldines conversational style comes through whether you are in the best of times or not. Youll learn: Miracles happen. How to live life in the moment and experience miracles. What a miracle is and how can one happen to you. Seven steps to recognise and harness the power of miracles. That miracles are happening around us every day. How to recognise the blocks that are holding you back. Seven steps to empower the life of your dreams. I highly recommend this truly amazing book. It is a must read for everyone that wants to bring forth miracles into everyday life. Justine Pollard, bestselling author of Smart Trading Plans Geraldine explores in one book the secrets that have taken me years of searching to find. Read and follow the (M.I.R.A.C.L.E.) steps and watch the doors of your wildest dreams open wide. Fiona Jones, bestselling author of Mr. Millionaire
Download or read book Divine Machines written by Justin E. H. Smith and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-05 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "his book provides a comprehensive survey of G. W. Leibniz's deep and complex engagement with the sciences of life, in areas as diverse as medicine, physiology, taxonomy, generation theory, and paleontology. It is shown that these sundry interests were not only relevant to his core philosophical interests, but indeed often provided the insights that in part led to some of his most familiar philosophical doctrines, including the theory of corporeal substance and the theory of organic preformation"--
Download or read book Construction Equipment and Methods written by Leonhard E. Bernold and published by Wiley Global Education. This book was released on 2013-03-27 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Construction Equipment and Methods: Planning, Innovation, Safety fosters engineers who are information literate and able to approach complex engineering and managerial problems with confidence and skill. Students of this text will fully appreciate the practical aspects of being a construction engineer and manager, the dual nature—both technical and managerial—of the responsibilities. The text helps build these skills through: a cohesive view of construction technology, its safe use to maximize productivity, and how the principles of science are being applied; linking the material in this course to their previous courses (such as statics or geotechnical engineering); and pedagogy designed to promote knowledge, and skill acquisition, such as case studies and open-ended problems. Students will be engaged by relevant subject matter, informed by the author’s hands-on research in advanced technologies, mechatronics, robotics, ergonomics/safety, etc.The wide variety of pedagogical devices in the text will appeal to all different learning styles, and provide teachers with more opportunities and resources to get students to reflect about what they are learning, to connect the new to their past experiences, and to understand its relevance to their future.
Download or read book Without Miracles written by Gary Cziko and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Without Miracles describes many remarkable examples of the fit of various structures, behaviors, and products of living organisms to their environments in a broad synthesis of humankind's attempt to understand the emergence of complex, adapted entities.
Download or read book Gonzalo de Berceo and the Latin Miracles of the Virgin written by Robert Boenig and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Gonzalo de Berceo and the Latin Miracles of the Virgin, Patricia Timmons and Robert Boenig present the first English translation of a twelfth-century Latin collection of miracles that Berceo, the first named poet in the Spanish language, used as a source for his thirteenth-century Spanish collection Milagros de Nuestra Señora. Using the MS Thott 128, close to the one Berceo must have used, Timmons and Boenig provide both translation and analysis, exploring the Latin Miracles, suggesting how it was used as a sacred text, and placing it within the history of Christians' evolving understanding of the Virgin's role in their lives. In addition, this volume explores Berceo's reaction to the Latin Miracles, demonstrating that he reacted creatively to his source texts as well as to changes in Church culture and governance that occurred between the composition of Latin Miracles and the thirteenth century, translating it across both language and culture. Accessible and useful to students and scholars of medieval and Spanish studies, this book includes the original Latin text, translations of the Latin Miracles, including analyses of 'Saint Peter and the Lustful Monk,' 'The Little Jewish Boy,' and 'The Jews of Toledo.'
Download or read book Speculations and Physics written by Sam Vaknin and published by Narcissus Publishing. This book was released on 2010-01-07 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays and articles about modern physics, speculations in science, pseudo-science and the alleged incompatibility between God and modern science
Download or read book The Scientific Counter Revolution written by Michael John Gorman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-09-17 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jesuit engagement with natural philosophy during the late 16th and early 17th centuries transformed the status of the mathematical disciplines and propelled members of the Order into key areas of controversy in relation to Aristotelianism. Through close investigation of the activities of the Jesuit 'school' of mathematics founded by Christoph Clavius, The Scientific Counter-Revolution examines the Jesuit connections to the rise of experimental natural philosophy and the emergence of the early scientific societies. Arguing for a re-evaluation of the role of Jesuits in shaping early modern science, this book traces the evolution of the Collegio Romano as a hub of knowledge. Starting with an examination of Clavius's Counter-Reformation agenda for mathematics, Michael John Gorman traces the development of a collective Jesuit approach to experimentation and observation under Christopher Grienberger and analyses the Jesuit role in the Galileo Affair and the vacuum debate. Ending with a discussion of the transformation of the Collegio Romano under Athanasius Kircher into a place of curiosity and wonder and the centre of a global information gathering network, this book reveals how the Counter-Reformation goals of the Jesuits contributed to the shaping of modern experimental science.
