Download or read book Redefining Human Life written by Robert H Blank and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-08-16 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines critical social-policy issues emerging from recent developments in human reproductive technology. Although considerable attention has been focused on the ethical dimensions of these developments, the policy dimension has largely been obscured.Dr. Blank now provides a far-ranging overview of the cumulative impact on society of a wide array of new reproductive technologies and the social patterns that accompany or precede their application.The book begins with a description of the current context of reproductive decision making. Dr. Blank demonstrates how emerging technologies are producing complex and intense social-policy concerns,then reviews in detail human reproductive technologies, and illustrates the significant consequences of technological innovations for political and legal concepts of rights and obligations. (Examples include recent cases involving torts for wrongful life.) He analyzes possible alterations in the moral and legal status of the fetus in light of apparent technological and social-policy trends and presents a paradigm of fetal rights that reflects these changes. A final case is made for a comprehensive assessment of reproductive technologies, as well as for the urgent need to refine concepts of human life that in the past have been taken for granted, but that now are being challenged.
Download or read book The Digital Mind written by Arlindo Oliveira and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-03-09 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How developments in science and technology may enable the emergence of purely digital minds—intelligent machines equal to or greater in power than the human brain. What do computers, cells, and brains have in common? Computers are electronic devices designed by humans; cells are biological entities crafted by evolution; brains are the containers and creators of our minds. But all are, in one way or another, information-processing devices. The power of the human brain is, so far, unequaled by any existing machine or known living being. Over eons of evolution, the brain has enabled us to develop tools and technology to make our lives easier. Our brains have even allowed us to develop computers that are almost as powerful as the human brain itself. In this book, Arlindo Oliveira describes how advances in science and technology could enable us to create digital minds. Exponential growth is a pattern built deep into the scheme of life, but technological change now promises to outstrip even evolutionary change. Oliveira describes technological and scientific advances that range from the discovery of laws that control the behavior of the electromagnetic fields to the development of computers. He calls natural selection the ultimate algorithm, discusses genetics and the evolution of the central nervous system, and describes the role that computer imaging has played in understanding and modeling the brain. Having considered the behavior of the unique system that creates a mind, he turns to an unavoidable question: Is the human brain the only system that can host a mind? If digital minds come into existence—and, Oliveira says, it is difficult to argue that they will not—what are the social, legal, and ethical implications? Will digital minds be our partners, or our rivals?
Download or read book Looking Up Looking Down written by Barbara Danazeisen Rotz and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Elderhood written by Louise Aronson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction A New York Times Bestseller Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Winner of the WSU AOS Bonner Book Award Winner of the 2022 At Home With Growing Older Impact Award As revelatory as Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, physician and award-winning author Louise Aronson's Elderhood is an essential, empathetic look at a vital but often disparaged stage of life. For more than 5,000 years, "old" has been defined as beginning between the ages of 60 and 70. That means most people alive today will spend more years in elderhood than in childhood, and many will be elders for 40 years or more. Yet at the very moment that humans are living longer than ever before, we've made old age into a disease, a condition to be dreaded, denigrated, neglected, and denied. Reminiscent of Oliver Sacks, noted Harvard-trained geriatrician Louise Aronson uses stories from her quarter century of caring for patients, and draws from history, science, literature, popular culture, and her own life to weave a vision of old age that's neither nightmare nor utopian fantasy--a vision full of joy, wonder, frustration, outrage, and hope about aging, medicine, and humanity itself. Elderhood is for anyone who is, in the author's own words, "an aging, i.e., still-breathing human being."
Download or read book A Significant Life written by Todd May and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-04-02 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosopher Todd May s latest book helps readers to find meaning in their lives, especially those readers who, like Camus, do not look to God. As Camus says of daily life, But then one day the why arises and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement. To move beyond that weariness tinged with amazement, we must look, May argues, toward a realm of values that inheres in our practices but that we rarely reflect on systematically: narrative values. Narrative values offer thematic meaning and a sense of worth to the trajectory of our lives. The book proceeds in five stages. In the first chapter, May raises the question of meaningfulness, and then rejects the answers he thinks are too easyGod and the universe. The second chapter considers and rejects the possibility that happiness is good enough. For a life to be meaningful in the sense many of us seek, it cannot only feel good to us: it must also meet certain, more objective criteria of meaningfulness. In the third chapter, the heart of the book, May proposes narrative values as offering those criteria or standards of meaning, values such as steadfastness, adventurousness, or gracefulness. In chapter four, May contrasts narrative values with both moral values and aesthetic ones, and in chapter five May defends the idea that we can have standards or criteria of meaning that are objectivenot simply a matter of personal opinioneven in the absence of God or some foundation upon which to rest our beliefs. May reflects on what it is to have a meaningful life, and how much or how little comfort we can take from the meaning our lives might express. Narrative values do not offer us an assurance that our lives have a cosmic significance, and they do not redeem all humankind. Instead, they give us a framework for reflecting on ourselves that allow us to make sense of and give value to the particular bent of the arc of our lives."
Download or read book The Digital Mind written by Arlindo Oliveira and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-03-17 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How developments in science and technology may enable the emergence of purely digital minds—intelligent machines equal to or greater in power than the human brain. What do computers, cells, and brains have in common? Computers are electronic devices designed by humans; cells are biological entities crafted by evolution; brains are the containers and creators of our minds. But all are, in one way or another, information-processing devices. The power of the human brain is, so far, unequaled by any existing machine or known living being. Over eons of evolution, the brain has enabled us to develop tools and technology to make our lives easier. Our brains have even allowed us to develop computers that are almost as powerful as the human brain itself. In this book, Arlindo Oliveira describes how advances in science and technology could enable us to create digital minds. Exponential growth is a pattern built deep into the scheme of life, but technological change now promises to outstrip even evolutionary change. Oliveira describes technological and scientific advances that range from the discovery of laws that control the behavior of the electromagnetic fields to the development of computers. He calls natural selection the ultimate algorithm, discusses genetics and the evolution of the central nervous system, and describes the role that computer imaging has played in understanding and modeling the brain. Having considered the behavior of the unique system that creates a mind, he turns to an unavoidable question: Is the human brain the only system that can host a mind? If digital minds come into existence—and, Oliveira says, it is difficult to argue that they will not—what are the social, legal, and ethical implications? Will digital minds be our partners, or our rivals?
Download or read book Redefining Success in America written by Michael Kaufman and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Work hard in school, graduate from a top college, establish a high-paying professional career, enjoy the long-lasting reward of happiness. This is the American Dream—and yet basic questions at the heart of this competitive journey remain unanswered. Does competitive success, even rarified entry into the Ivy League and the top one percent of earners in America, deliver on its promise? Does realizing the American Dream deliver a good life? In Redefining Success in America, psychologist and human development scholar Michael Kaufman develops a fundamentally new understanding of how elite undergraduate educations and careers play out in lives, and of what shapes happiness among the prizewinners in America. In so doing, he exposes the myth at the heart of the American Dream. Returning to the legendary Harvard Student Study of undergraduates from the 1960s and interviewing participants almost fifty years later, Kaufman shows that formative experiences in family, school, and community largely shape a future adult’s worldview and well-being by late adolescence, and that fundamental change in adulthood, when it occurs, is shaped by adult family experiences, not by ever-greater competitive success. Published research on general samples shows that these patterns, and the book’s findings generally, are broadly applicable to demographically varied populations in the United States. Leveraging biography-length clinical interviews and quantitative evidence unmatched even by earlier landmark studies of human development, Redefining Success in America redefines the conversation about the nature and origins of happiness, and about how adults develop. This longitudinal study pioneers a new paradigm in happiness research, developmental science, and personality psychology that will appeal to scholars and students in the social sciences, psychotherapy professionals, and serious readers navigating the competitive journey.
Download or read book A Human Algorithm written by Flynn Coleman and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking narrative on the urgency of ethically designed AI and a guidebook to reimagining life in the era of intelligent technology. The Age of Intelligent Machines is upon us, and we are at a reflection point. The proliferation of fast–moving technologies, including forms of artificial intelligence akin to a new species, will cause us to confront profound questions about ourselves. The era of human intellectual superiority is ending, and we need to plan for this monumental shift. A Human Algorithm: How Artificial Intelligence Is Redefining Who We Are examines the immense impact intelligent technology will have on humanity. These machines, while challenging our personal beliefs and our socioeconomic world order, also have the potential to transform our health and well–being, alleviate poverty and suffering, and reveal the mysteries of intelligence and consciousness. International human rights attorney Flynn Coleman deftly argues that it is critical that we instill values, ethics, and morals into our robots, algorithms, and other forms of AI. Equally important, we need to develop and implement laws, policies, and oversight mechanisms to protect us from tech’s insidious threats. To realize AI’s transcendent potential, Coleman advocates for inviting a diverse group of voices to participate in designing our intelligent machines and using our moral imagination to ensure that human rights, empathy, and equity are core principles of emerging technologies. Ultimately, A Human Algorithm is a clarion call for building a more humane future and moving conscientiously into a new frontier of our own design. “[Coleman] argues that the algorithms of machine learning––if they are instilled with human ethics and values––could bring about a new era of enlightenment.” —San Francisco Chronicle
Download or read book Embrace Life Humanity and Diversity written by Suda Paul and published by Balboa Press. This book was released on 2021-05-20 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life and humanity are integral parts of being a human. Living a human life as an individual interacting with others in a dynamic and rapidly-changing world is not easy. There is often more confusion than clarity and more unknown than known. Complacency can take opportunities to learn away swiftly from one's attention, leaving one puzzling why one is left behind. There are so many areas, issues, and perspectives that one may have to deal with along one's own life trajectory. The majority of them manifest as challenges that may turn into a fortune or misfortune or simply learning experiences depending on how one could deal with them. The conceptual integration of pinpoint moments and illustrative factual illuminations may help one imagine or visualize the processes of image formations and reality manifestations. Metaphorically, the mandalas herein are the imagery displays of a human's cognition concerning beings and life-livings of humans in the context of natural, symbolic, and social environments. The written part of this book includes many aspects of humans' lives accumulated from the writer's learning experiences and observations that may or may not completely resonate with others. It covers only a little fraction, neither comprehensive nor exhaustive, of the reality. It's merely an attempt to lighten the important linkages between (among) humans and societal developments, thereby leading to a wishful promotion of everyone's natural rights and courage to live a meaningful life with dignity, liberty, and peace. Navigation and application of humans' collective intelligence can constructively change the impossible to the possible and the hopeless to the hopeful. A chance to learn and realize the immeasurable values of life and humanity is so important that everyone should have it; humans' love, kindness, empathy, compassion, intelligence, collaborative efforts, and effective actions can make it affordable.
Download or read book The Reality of Human Life written by Bedrich V. Hettich and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2012 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Universe goes round and round, as does the Earth and Life on it! What is the reality behind the ever-changing activities within each of these? The eight essays included in The Reality of Human Life present an overall vision of the diversity of human life. Based upon author Bedrich Hettich's life experiences and observations, this collection offers a modern perception of the invisible existence of God, a Spirit revealed behind the reality of the power existing throughout the Universe right down to planet Earth in it with the diversity of human life on it. These essays address the questions of why and how we got here, what we are supposed to do while we are here, and what happens to us when we die. The topics of these essays relate human activities directly to God, serving as an extension of the essays in Hettich's first collection, The Reality of God in the Universe. Human life creates its own diversity, including the diversity of integration with other life forms that still exist on the Earth. These essays seek to build an understanding of how this diversity relates to the process by which we learn, collectively and individually, to work and live together in harmony referred to as the tuning of human life.
Download or read book The 100 Year Life written by Lynda Gratton and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-05-28 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What will your 100-year life look like? A new edition of the international bestseller, featuring a new preface 'Brilliant, timely, original, well written and utterly terrifying' Niall Ferguson Does the thought of working for 60 or 70 years fill you with dread? Or can you see the potential for a more stimulating future as a result of having so much extra time? Many of us have been raised on the traditional notion of a three-stage approach to our working lives: education, followed by work and then retirement. But this well-established pathway is already beginning to collapse – life expectancy is rising, final-salary pensions are vanishing, and increasing numbers of people are juggling multiple careers. Whether you are 18, 45 or 60, you will need to do things very differently from previous generations and learn to structure your life in completely new ways. The 100-Year Life is here to help. Drawing on the unique pairing of their experience in psychology and economics, Lynda Gratton and Andrew J. Scott offer a broad-ranging analysis as well as a raft of solutions, showing how to rethink your finances, your education, your career and your relationships and create a fulfilling 100-year life. · How can you fashion a career and life path that defines you and your values and creates a shifting balance between work and leisure? · What are the most effective ways of boosting your physical and mental health over a longer and more dynamic lifespan? · How can you make the most of your intangible assets – such as family and friends – as you build a productive, longer life? · In a multiple-stage life how can you learn to make the transitions that will be so crucial and experiment with new ways of living, working and learning? Shortlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award and featuring a new preface, The 100-Year Life is a wake-up call that describes what to expect and considers the choices and options that you will face. It is also fundamentally a call to action for individuals, politicians, firms and governments and offers the clearest demonstration that a 100-year life can be a wonderful and inspiring one.
Download or read book Redefining Life Chaos to Consciousness written by Yashashri Yadunathji Goswami and published by Book Bazooka Publication. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book--'Redefining Life--Chaos to Consciousness' targets the understanding of human psychology and it's skillful application for transforming life into a beautiful blossom by consciously becoming aware and making efforts in the right direction to bring the desired Change, contentment and peace . The basic idea is moulded from the granth--'Vivek Dhairya Aashray' written by Shrimad Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhuji, put in a summarised form for better understanding of his teachings which helps to transform life into a divine bliss. Prudence patience and total surrender are the qualities which if adopted with right perspective can transform the chaotic mind to a conscious blissful state.
Download or read book Redefining Realness written by Janet Mock and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller • Winner of the 2015 WOMEN'S WAY Book Prize • Goodreads Best of 2014 Semi-Finalist • Books for a Better Life Award Finalist • Lambda Literary Award Finalist • Time Magazine “30 Most Influential People on the Internet” • American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book In her profound and courageous New York Times bestseller, Janet Mock establishes herself as a resounding and inspirational voice for the transgender community—and anyone fighting to define themselves on their own terms. With unflinching honesty and moving prose, Janet Mock relays her experiences of growing up young, multiracial, poor, and trans in America, offering readers accessible language while imparting vital insight about the unique challenges and vulnerabilities of a marginalized and misunderstood population. Though undoubtedly an account of one woman’s quest for self at all costs, Redefining Realness is a powerful vision of possibility and self-realization, pushing us all toward greater acceptance of one another—and of ourselves—showing as never before how to be unapologetic and real.
Download or read book Thrive written by Arianna Huffington and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Thrive, Arianna Huffington makes an impassioned and compelling case for the need to redefine what it means to be successful in today's world. Arianna Huffington's personal wake-up call came in the form of a broken cheekbone and a nasty gash over her eye--the result of a fall brought on by exhaustion and lack of sleep. As the cofounder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group--one of the fastest growing media companies in the world--celebrated as one of the world's most influential women, and gracing the covers of magazines, she was, by any traditional measure, extraordinarily successful. Yet as she found herself going from brain MRI to CAT scan to echocardiogram, to find out if there was any underlying medical problem beyond exhaustion, she wondered is this really what success feels like? As more and more people are coming to realize, there is far more to living a truly successful life than just earning a bigger salary and capturing a corner office. Our relentless pursuit of the two traditional metrics of success--money and power--has led to an epidemic of burnout and stress-related illnesses, and an erosion in the quality of our relationships, family life, and, ironically, our careers. In being connected to the world 24/7, we're losing our connection to what truly matters. Our current definition of success is, as Thrive shows, literally killing us. We need a new way forward. In a commencement address Arianna gave at Smith College in the spring of 2013, she likened our drive for money and power to two legs of a three-legged stool. They may hold us up temporarily, but sooner or later we're going to topple over. We need a third leg--a third metric for defining success--to truly thrive. That third metric, she writes in Thrive, includes our well-being, our ability to draw on our intuition and inner wisdom, our sense of wonder, and our capacity for compassion and giving. As Arianna points out, our eulogies celebrate our lives very differently from the way society defines success. They don't commemorate our long hours in the office, our promotions, or our sterling PowerPoint presentations as we relentlessly raced to climb up the career ladder. They are not about our resumes--they are about cherished memories, shared adventures, small kindnesses and acts of generosity, lifelong passions, and the things that made us laugh. In this deeply personal book, Arianna talks candidly about her own challenges with managing time and prioritizing the demands of a career and raising two daughters--of juggling business deadlines and family crises, a harried dance that led to her collapse and to her "aha moment." Drawing on the latest groundbreaking research and scientific findings in the fields of psychology, sports, sleep, and physiology that show the profound and transformative effects of meditation, mindfulness, unplugging, and giving, Arianna shows us the way to a revolution in our culture, our thinking, our workplace, and our lives.
Download or read book Redefining Normal Embracing and Celebrating Your Individuality written by Anila Singh and published by Writers Corner Publication. This book was released on 2024-01-25 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Readers are invited to take this transformative journey - a journey encompassing authenticity, resilience, creativity, well-being, celebrating individuality, cultivating innovation, and contributing to the positive ripple effect. The conclusion emphasizes the ongoing nature of the narrative, encouraging readers to embrace their unique stories and continue exploring the multifaceted aspects of redefining normal. It serves as a call to action, inspiring individuals to craft their own narrative of redefined normalcy. A narrative marked by authenticity, purpose, and unwavering commitment to a life lived on their terms.
Download or read book Redefining Normal written by Alexis Black and published by . This book was released on 2019-11-09 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing up, they didn't believe they had a future. Together, they are building forever. Alexis Black persevered through her mother's death and her father's imprisonment. And after escaping a long and abusive relationship, the college junior promised her foster parents not to date for at least a year. But when she meets an incoming freshman on the first day of their scholarship program, she feels the world melt away, as though it were only the two of them in the room. Justin Black lived in the poorest section of Detroit before his parents surrendered him to the foster care system at the age of nine. But when he grabs the chance for better opportunities by pursuing higher education, he can't help but be drawn to a beautiful third-year student. At first, their past traumas--and their age difference--conspired to complicate their attraction. But the joy each took in the other and eventually conquered those obstacles, and these two survivors journeyed together toward healing. In a stark and wholehearted true story that shares how two individuals on separate paths found each other, Alexis and Justin merge their course into one full of hope and purpose. And hand-in-hand, with a desire to help others, they learned to reject the abusive patterns of their past, thereby intentionally breaking the cycle of generational violence and unhealthy behaviors. Written in an engaging novelistic style, the authors put forward a thoughtful exchange of ideas and personal experiences illustrating how anybody, no matter their backgrounds, can have a life of self-empowerment and joy. Broken down into four sections that cover crucial topics such as "Worthiness" and "Mental Health," this compelling narrative will help any who are learning to love themselves and want to end the line of toxic relationships. Redefining Normal: How Two Foster Kids Beat The Odds and Discovered Healing, Happiness, and Love is a page-turning memoir that will open your eyes to possibilities and dreams. If you like honest tales of triumph, refreshing transparency, and resilient faith in God, then you'll adore Justin and Alexis' inspirational story. This story contains mentions of domestic violence, trauma, sexual assault, and other difficult issues faced on the road to healing. Buy Redefining Normal to claim victory over harmful pasts today!
Download or read book Radically Human written by Paul Daugherty and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Technology advances are making tech more . . . human. This changes everything you thought you knew about innovation and strategy. In their groundbreaking book, Human + Machine, Accenture technology leaders Paul R. Daugherty and H. James Wilson showed how leading organizations use the power of human-machine collaboration to transform their processes and their bottom lines. Now, as new AI powered technologies like the metaverse, natural language processing, and digital twins begin to rapidly impact both life and work, those companies and other pioneers across industries are tipping the balance even more strikingly toward the human side with technology-led strategy that is reshaping the very nature of innovation. In Radically Human, Daugherty and Wilson show this profound shift, fast-forwarded by the pandemic, toward more human—and more humane—technology. Artificial intelligence is becoming less artificial and more intelligent. Instead of data-hungry approaches to AI, innovators are pursuing data-efficient approaches that enable machines to learn as humans do. Instead of replacing workers with machines, they're unleashing human expertise to create human-centered AI. In place of lumbering legacy IT systems, they're building cloud-first IT architectures able to continuously adapt to a world of billions of connected devices. And they're pursuing strategies that will take their place alongside classic, winning business formulas like disruptive innovation. These against-the-grain approaches to the basic building blocks of business—Intelligence, Data, Expertise, Architecture, and Strategy (IDEAS)—are transforming competition. Industrial giants and startups alike are drawing on this radically human IDEAS framework to create new business models, optimize post-pandemic approaches to work and talent, rebuild trust with their stakeholders, and show the way toward a sustainable future. With compelling insights and fresh examples from a variety of industries, Radically Human will forever change the way you think about, practice, and win with innovation.
