Book cover of Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence

Book description

Artist, technologist, and philosopher James Bridle’s Ways of Being is a brilliant, searching exploration of different kinds of intelligence―plant, animal, human, artificial―and how they transform our understanding of humans’ place in the cosmos.

What does it mean to be intelligent? Is it something unique to humans or shared with other…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Ways of Being as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Futurists often lament the current state of artificial intelligence and the harm it might do to us, our society, and our planet. So, I was thrilled to read Bridle’s thoughts on reengineering the future of AI.

The artificial intelligence of today is what it is because it was created by corporations with corporate goals in mind. But what if those goals were subverted?

What if we could reconstruct AI as an oracle tasked with listening to everything that speaks? What if we could use AI not to discover new oil fields or to spy on our enemies but to hear…

If you love Ways of Being...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more…

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In 1913, a 15-year-old pregnant girl was found dead of apparent suicide. Dr. James Wilson, a new graduate and the first doctor ever to start a practice in this rural town, feels guilty over her death because of his delayed intervention.

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