Download or read book The Ex Human written by Michael Bérubé and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2024-05-28 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Facing threats like climate change and nuclear warfare, science fiction authors have conjured apocalyptic scenarios of human extinction. Can such gloomy fates help us make sense of our contemporary crises? How important is the survival of our species if we wind up battling for an Earth that has become an unhabitable hellscape? What other possible futures do narratives of the end of humanity allow us to imagine? Michael Bérubé explores the surprising insights of classic and contemporary works of SF that depict civilizational collapse and contemplate the fate of Homo sapiens. In a lively, conversational style, he considers novels by writers including Ursula K. Le Guin, Margaret Atwood, Liu Cixin, Philip K. Dick, and Octavia Butler, as well as films that feature hostile artificial intelligence, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and the Terminator and Matrix franchises. Bérubé argues that these works portray a future in which we have become able to see ourselves from the vantage point of something other than the human. Though framed by the possibility of human extinction, they are driven by a vision of the “ex-human”—a desire to imagine that another species is possible. For all science fiction readers worried about the fate of humanity, The Ex-Human is an entertaining yet sobering account of how key novels and films envision the world without us.
Download or read book Tales of the Ex Apes written by Jonathan Marks and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do we think about when we think about human evolution? With his characteristic wit and wisdom, anthropologist Jonathan Marks explores our scientific narrative of human origins—the study of evolution—and examines its cultural elements and theoretical foundations. In the process, he situates human evolution within a general anthropological framework and presents it as a special case of kinship and mythology. Tales of the Ex-Apes argues that human evolution has incorporated the emergence of social relations and cultural histories that are unprecedented in the apes and thus cannot be reduced to purely biological properties and processes. Marks shows that human evolution has involved the transformation from biological to biocultural evolution. Over tens of thousands of years, new social roles—notably spouse, father, in-laws, and grandparents—have co-evolved with new technologies and symbolic meanings to produce the human species, in the absence of significant biological evolution. We are biocultural creatures, Marks argues, fully comprehensible by recourse to neither our real ape ancestry nor our imaginary cultureless biology.
Download or read book Ex Patriots written by Peter Clines and published by Crown. This book was released on 2013-04-23 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second novel in Peter Clines' bestselling Ex series. It's been two years since the plague of ex-humans decimated mankind. Two years since the superheroes St. George, Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth gathered Los Angeles’s survivors behind the walls of their fortress, the Mount. Since then, the heroes have been fighting to give the Mount’s citizens hope, and something like a real life. But now supplies are growing scarce, the zombies are pressing in . . . and the heroes are wondering how much longer they can hold out. Then hope arrives in the form of a surviving US Army battalion--and not just any battalion. The men and women of the Army's Project Krypton survived the outbreak because they are super-soldiers, created before mankind's fall to be better, stronger, faster than normal humans--and their secure base in Arizona beckons as a much needed refuge for the beleaguered heroes and their charges. But a dark secret lies at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it wield an awesome and terrifying power.
Download or read book Deus Ex Black Light Deus Ex Mankind Divided prequel written by James Swallow and published by Titan Books (US, CA). This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ILLUMINATE THE SHADOWS The year is 2029, and the shining promise of a new age of human augmentation is in ruins in the wake of the devastating ‘Aug Incident’ – a horrific catastrophe triggered by a cabal of shadowy power brokers, where millions of cybernetically-enhanced people suffered a forced psychotic break. Awakening in the aftermath of a changed world, with gaps in his memories and suspicion on all sides, augmented ex-cop and former security operative Adam Jensen struggles to piece his life back together, in a new reality where ‘Augs’ have become the targets of hatred, fear and violent discrimination. Now the dark forces behind the Incident are gathering once again, reaching out to manipulate the course of global events through terror and intimidation. To find the answers that he seeks and the people who destroyed everything he knew, Jensen must return to the ashes of the past, reconnect with old allies, and risk all to expose a deadly conspiracy – but in a world shattered by secrets, can the truth be brought into the light? A brand-new official Deus Ex novel, bridging events between Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the brand-new game Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
Download or read book Deus Ex Human Revolution the Official Guide written by Future Press and published by Future Press Verlag Und Marketing Gmbh. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Choice is everything in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Choosing your own approach is at the heart of the game, and the official guide reflects this in every way. Multiple route walkthroughs are provided for each and every section of the game, so wherever you are you’ll be able to see all of the possible approaches and their rewards and consequences. See what the game truly has to offer and get the complete Deus Ex: Human Revolution experience. Multi-route Walkthrough The walkthrough features a unique multi-route structure. Whether you play stealthily, hack your way through, or simply shooting everyone down, there’s a route to follow that suits your playstyle. Augmentations Exposed Understanding and combining the Augmentations is where the real fun lies in Deus Ex. The dedicated Augmentation chapter covers each Augmentation in exhaustive detail. Quick-look Item Maps For each section in the game we provide highly detailed maps. The Optional Exploration sections of the guide ensure you’ll never miss an item or secret. Use of Weapons Learn everything there is to know about the game’s arsenal of weapons, grenades and mines. A staggering amount of information is divulged about each one. Side Quest Mastery Ensure that you don’t miss a single Side Quest and experience the complete Deus Ex: Human Revolution story. We provide a separate walkthrough for each Side Quest and all rewards are outlined. Everything Uncovered Our comprehensive Completion Guide is designed with a single goal in mind: unlocking every single Achievement/Trophy in a single play through.
Download or read book Lingua Ex Machina written by William H. Calvin and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A neuroscientist and a linguist show how evolution could have given rise to structured language. A machine for language? Certainly, say the neurophysiologists, busy studying the language specializations of the human brain and trying to identify their evolutionary antecedents. Linguists such as Noam Chomsky talk about machinelike "modules" in the brain for syntax, arguing that language is more an instinct (a complex behavior triggered by simple environmental stimuli) than an acquired skill like riding a bicycle. But structured language presents the same evolutionary problems as feathered forelimbs for flight: you need a lot of specializations to fly even a little bit. How do you get them, if evolution has no foresight and the intermediate stages do not have intermediate payoffs? Some say that the Darwinian scheme for gradual species self-improvement cannot explain our most valued human capability, the one that sets us so far above the apes, language itself. William Calvin and Derek Bickerton suggest that other evolutionary developments, not directly related to language, allowed language to evolve in a way that eventually promoted a Chomskian syntax. They compare these intermediate behaviors to the curb-cuts originally intended for wheelchair users. Their usefulness was soon discovered by users of strollers, shopping carts, rollerblades, and so on. The authors argue that reciprocal altruism and ballistic movement planning were "curb-cuts" that indirectly promoted the formation of structured language. Written in the form of a dialogue set in Bellagio, Italy, Lingua ex Machina presents an engaging challenge to those who view the human capacity for language as a winner-take-all war between Chomsky and Darwin.
Download or read book Deus Ex written by James Swallow and published by Random House Worlds. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. BUT YOU CAN SEE IT FROM HERE. In the near future, with physical augmentation gaining ground and nano-cybernetics only years away, the dawn of limitless human evolution is just beyond the horizon, and a secret corporate cabal of ruthless men intends to make sure that humankind stays under its control. But two people on opposite sides of the world are starting to ask questions that could get them killed. Secret Service agent Anna Kelso has been suspended for investigating the shooting that claimed her partner's life. Anna suspects that the head of a bio-augmentation firm was the real target, and against orders she's turned up a few leads concerning a covert paramilitary force and a cadre of underground hackers. But the cover-up runs deep, and now there's a target on her back. Meanwhile, Ben Saxon, former SAS officer turned mercenary, joins a shadowy special ops outfit. They say they're a force for good, but Saxon quickly learns that the truth is not so clear-cut. So begins a dangerous quest to uncover a deadly secret that will take him from Moscow to London, D.C. to Geneva, and to the dark truth--if he lives that long. The year is 2027; in a world consumed by chaos and conspiracy, two people are set on a collision course with the most powerful and dangerous organization in history--and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.
Download or read book Exaholics written by Lisa Marie Bobby and published by Union Square & Co.. This book was released on 2016-02-10 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Severing a cherished relationship is one of the most painful experiences in life—and cutting those emotional ties to a loved one can feel almost like ending an addiction. Up till now, people recovering from other problems were able to get real help—like AA and rehab—while those struggling in the aftermath of traumatic breaks dealt with platitudes and friends insisting they should "get over it already." But now Exaholics Anonymous treats getting over an ex like kicking a chemical habit. Written by counselor and therapist Dr. Lisa Bobby, Exaholics offers meaningful support and advice to anyone trapped in the obsessive pain of a broken, or dying, attachment. She helps the brokenhearted heal, showing them, on a deep level, how to develop a conceptual framework for their experience, understand the emotional processes at work inside themselves, find the path to recovery, and free themselves of shame, injured ego, and remorse. In-depth case studies of others' journeys will illuminate the way to future happiness.
Download or read book Ex Purgatory written by Peter Clines and published by Crown. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fourth novel in Peter Clines' bestselling Ex series. When he’s awake, George Bailey is just an ordinary man. Five days a week he coaxes his old Hyundai to life, curses the Los Angeles traffic, and clocks in at his job as a handyman at the local college. But when he sleeps, George dreams of something more. George dreams of flying. He dreams of fighting monsters. He dreams of a man made of pure lightning, an armored robot, a giant in an army uniform, a beautiful woman who moves like a ninja. Then one day as he’s walking from one fix-it job to the next, a pale girl in a wheelchair tells George of another world, one in which civilization fell to a plague that animates the dead…and in which George is no longer a glorified janitor, but one of humanity’s last heroes. Her tale sounds like madness, of course. But as George’s dreams and his waking life begin bleeding together, he starts to wonder—which is the real world, and which is just fantasy?
Download or read book Ex Communication written by Peter Clines and published by Crown. This book was released on 2013-07-09 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third novel in Peter Clines' bestselling Ex series. “All of us try to cheat death. I was just better prepared to do it than most folks.” In the years since the wave of living death swept the globe, St George and his fellow heroes haven’t just kept Los Angeles’ last humans alive—they’ve created a real community, a bustling town that’s spreading beyond its original walls and swelling with new refugees. But now one of the heroes, perhaps the most powerful among them, seems to be losing his mind. The implacable enemy known as Legion has found terrifying new ways of using zombies as pawns in his attacks. And outside the Mount, something ancient and monstrous is hell-bent on revenge. As Peter Clines weaves these elements together in yet another masterful, shocking climax, St. George, Stealth, Captain Freedom, and the rest of the heroes find that even in a city overrun by millions of ex-humans... …there’s more than one way to come back from the dead.
Download or read book Deus Ex Human Revolution Collector s Edition Guide written by Future Press and published by Future Press Verlag Und Marketing Gmbh. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This beautifully bound Collector's hardcover guide has the iconic image of Adam Jensen on it's front cover reproduced with a special high quality gold treatment . An additional chapter not found in the standard guide offers an amazing collection of artwork revealing the origins of Deus Ex: Human Revolution's world and characters, as well as a hugely informative interview with key developers at Eidos Montreal who answer our many questions.Choice is everything in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Choosing your own approachis at the heart of the game, and the official guide reflects this in every way.Multiple route walkthroughs are provided for each and every section of the game,so wherever you are you_ll be able to see all of the possible approaches and theirrewards and consequences. See what the game truly has to offer and get thecomplete Deus Ex: Human Revolution experience.Multi-route WalkthroughThe walkthrough features a unique multi-route structure. Whether you play stealthily, hack your way through, or simply shooting everyone down, there_s a route to follow that suits your playstyle.Augmentations ExposedUnderstanding and combining the Augmentations is where the real fun lies in Deus Ex. The dedicated Augmentation chapter covers each Augmentation in exhaustive detail.Quick-look Item MapsFor each section in the game we provide highly detailed maps. The Optional Exploration sections of the guide ensure you_ll never miss an item or secret.Use of WeaponsLearn everything there is to know about the game_s arsenal of weapons, grenades and mines. A staggering amount of information is divulged about each one.Side Quest MasteryEnsure that you don_t miss a single Side Quest and experience the complete Deus Ex: Human Revolution story. We provide a separate walkthrough for each Side Quest and all rewards are outlined.Everything UncoveredOur comprehensive Completion Guide is designed with a single goal in mind: unlocking every single Achievement/Trophy in a single play through.
Download or read book Ex Isle written by Peter Clines and published by Crown. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “It is an easy thing to rule by fear.” It’s been years since the tidal wave of ex-humans washed over the world. Since then, thanks to St George and his fellow heroes, the community known as the Mount has been the last known outpost of safety, sanity, and freedom left to humanity. But even for the Mount, survival still balances on a razor’s edge—and after a disaster decimates the town’s food supply, the heroes must make a risky gamble to keep its citizens from starving. And then the news arrives of a strange, man-made island in the middle of the Pacific. An island populated not just by survivors, but by people who seem to be farming, raising children, living—people who, like the heroes, have somehow managed to keep the spark of civilization alive. Paying this place a visit should be a simple goodwill mission, but as the island reveals itself to be a sinister mirror-image of what the heroes have built at the Mount, the cost of their good intentions becomes dangerously high.
Download or read book The Ex Boyfriend Yard Sale written by Haley McGee and published by Doubleday Canada. This book was released on 2022-02-01 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this hilarious and heartfelt memoir, Haley McGee sets out to calculate—with mathematical precision—the exact cost of love, and whether all of her former relationships were worth it. Haley McGee is in debt. The solution? A yard sale of gifts from her ex-boyfriends. But when it comes to pricing, she gets stuck. Surely the ways we invest in our romantic relationships should be reflected in the price. But how? Is the mixtape from your first love worth more than the vintage typewriter from a philanderer? Does sitting on an X-Acto knife wedged between seats on a bus to see the boyfriend you lost your virginity to increase or decrease the value of the necklace he gave you? Should you be compensated for the miserable times or do they render an item worthless? Haley decides to gamble on a larger payout. She interviews her exes and enlists the help of a mathematician to create a formula—with eighty-six variables—for the cost of love. As she's searching for answers, the one that got away reappears with a new proposition. Female desire, heartbreak and the chance for integrity in the aftermath of both are held up in this whipsmart, original and daringly candid memoir. As Haley McGee interrogates her romantic triumphs and failures with unflinching detail and hilarity, her exquisite prose elevates this all too human conundrum: Is love worth it?
Download or read book My Ex Life written by Stephen McCauley and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Bestseller Best Book of the Year: NPR, Shelf Awareness “I didn't know how much I needed a laugh until I began reading Stephen McCauley's new novel, My Ex-Life. This is the kind of witty, sparkling, sharp novel for which the verb ‘chortle’ was invented.” —Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air “McCauley fits neatly alongside Tom Perrotta and Maria Semple in the category of ‘Novelists You’d Most Like to Drive Across the Country With.’” —The New York Times Book Review David Hedges’s life is coming apart at the seams. His job helping San Francisco rich kids get into the colleges of their (parents’) choice is exasperating; his younger boyfriend has left him; and the beloved carriage house he rents is being sold. His solace is a Thai takeout joint that delivers 24/7. The last person he expects to hear from is Julie Fiske. It’s been decades since they’ve spoken, and he’s relieved to hear she’s recovered from her brief, misguided first marriage. To him. Julie definitely doesn’t have a problem with marijuana (she’s given it up completely, so it doesn’t matter if she gets stoned almost daily) and the Airbnb she’s running out of her seaside house north of Boston is neither shabby nor illegal. And she has two whole months to come up with the money to buy said house from her second husband before their divorce is finalized. She’d just like David’s help organizing college plans for her seventeen-year-old daughter. That would be Mandy. To quote Barry Manilow, Oh Mandy. While she knows she’s smarter than most of the kids in her school, she can’t figure out why she’s making so many incredibly dumb and increasingly dangerous choices? When David flies east, they find themselves living under the same roof (one David needs to repair). David and Julie pick up exactly where they left off thirty years ago—they’re still best friends who can finish each other’s sentences. But there’s one broken bit between them that no amount of home renovations will fix. In prose filled with hilarious and heartbreakingly accurate one-liners, Stephen McCauley has written a novel that examines how we define home, family, and love. Be prepared to laugh, shed a few tears, and have thoughts of your own ex-life triggered. (Throw pillows optional.)
Download or read book Ex Heroes written by Peter Clines and published by Random House. This book was released on 2020-03-05 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Book One in the EX Series The Mighty Dragon. Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap. They were superheroes fighting to make Los Angeles a better place. Then the plague of living death spread. Billions died, civilization fell, and the City of Angels was left a desolate zombie wasteland. But the ex-humans aren’t the only threats the heroes face. Another group is amassing power . . . led by an enemy with the most terrifying ability of all.
Download or read book Realist Responses to Post Human Society Ex Machina written by Ismael Al-Amoudi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-07-27 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is the first of a trilogy which investigates, from a broadly realist perspective, the place, and challenges, of the human in contemporary social orders. The authors, all members of the Centre for Social Ontology, ask what is specific about humanity’s nature and worth, and what are their main challenges in contemporary societies? Examining the ways in which recent advances in technology threaten to blur and displace the boundaries constitutive of our shared humanity, Realist Responses to Post-Human Society: Ex Machina explores the philosophical and ethical questions raised by these developments, and discusses the dangers posed by the combination of transhumanism with post-humanist social theories and antihumanist practices, institutions and ideologies.
Download or read book My Ex Imaginary Friend written by Jimmy Matejek-Morris and published by Carolrhoda Books ®. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eleven-year-old Jack thought he had outgrown his imaginary friend, George—until his dad also disappears from his life. His mom's bipolar disorder isn't being properly treated, so while in the throes of a manic episode, she ditches Jack with his aunt, uncle, and cousins. Jack decides that only George can help him figure out where people go when others stop believing in them—and how Jack can put his family back together. Meanwhile, the imaginary George—half-walrus, half-human, all magic—has a problem of his own: with nobody to believe in him, he is slowly disappearing. Rejoining Jack is his only hope for survival. Or is it?
