Everyone in Silico


Book Description

In Vancouver in 2036, people are tired of the rain. They're willing to give up a lot for guaranteed sunshine, a life with no wasted hours. A life free of crime and disease. A life that ends when you want it to, not when some faceless entity decides it's your time. Those who don't buy in - the poor, the old, the paranoid - have to watch as their loved ones, their friends, and their jobs leave the city. They have to watch as the latest prestige technology, Self, changes everything - not just the world but humanity itself. On the bright side, the rents have dropped. And in several unexpected ways, resistance is growing. This fascinating work of fiction tells what can happen when the cyberworld becomes more important than the real world.Munroe is a Canadian science fiction author, who publishes his works independently under the imprint No Media Kings. He was managing editor at the magazine Adbusters in the 1990s, before publishing his debut novel Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask in 1999. The following he release Angry Young Spaceman through his No Media Kings imrpint and, in the U.S., Four Walls Eight Windows. A couple of years later he published Everyone in Silico, which was promoted partly by Munroe's attempt to invoice corporations mentioned in the novel for product placement. Munroe's most recent books are graphic novels set in post-Rapture Chicago and Detroit.Munroe was the founder of Perpetual Motion Roadshow, a North American indie touring circuit that sent 100 writers, performers and musicians on the road between 2003-2007. A former video games columnist for Eye Weekly, he is a founding board member of the Hand Eye Society and has produced projects such as the Torontron.




Therefore, Repent!


Book Description

"Once the Christians have floated bodily into the sky, life goes on pretty much as usual for the immoral majority... . except that magic works . . . "-Publisher.




Angry Young Spaceman


Book Description

Recent college graduate Sam Breen takes his diploma and class of 2959 ring and heads for the underwater civilization of the planet Octavia to teach English. Original.




Computers and Creativity


Book Description

This interdisciplinary volume introduces new theories and ideas on creativity from the perspectives of science and art. Featuring contributions from leading researchers, theorists and artists working in artificial intelligence, generative art, creative computing, music composition, and cybernetics, the book examines the relationship between computation and creativity from both analytic and practical perspectives. Each contributor describes innovative new ways creativity can be understood through, and inspired by, computers. The book tackles critical philosophical questions and discusses the major issues raised by computational creativity, including: whether a computer can exhibit creativity independently of its creator; what kinds of creativity are possible in light of our knowledge from computational simulation, artificial intelligence, evolutionary theory and information theory; and whether we can begin to automate the evaluation of aesthetics and creativity in silico. These important, often controversial questions are contextualised by current thinking in computational creative arts practice. Leading artistic practitioners discuss their approaches to working creatively with computational systems in a diverse array of media, including music, sound art, visual art, and interactivity. The volume also includes a comprehensive review of computational aesthetic evaluation and judgement research, alongside discussion and insights from pioneering artists working with computation as a creative medium over the last fifty years. A distinguishing feature of this volume is that it explains and grounds new theoretical ideas on creativity through practical applications and creative practice. Computers and Creativity will appeal to theorists, researchers in artificial intelligence, generative and evolutionary computing, practicing artists and musicians, students and any reader generally interested in understanding how computers can impact upon creativity. It bridges concepts from computer science, psychology, neuroscience, visual art, music and philosophy in an accessible way, illustrating how computers are fundamentally changing what we can imagine and create, and how we might shape the creativity of the future. Computers and Creativity will appeal to theorists, researchers in artificial intelligence, generative and evolutionary computing, practicing artists and musicians, students and any reader generally interested in understanding how computers can impact upon creativity. It bridges concepts from computer science, psychology, neuroscience, visual art, music and philosophy in an accessible way, illustrating how computers are fundamentally changing what we can imagine and create, and how we might shape the creativity of the future.




I Am a Strange Loop


Book Description

Argues that the key to understanding ourselves and consciousness is the "strange loop," a special kind of abstract feedback loop that inhabits the brain.




An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil


Book Description

Ever walked in on a roommate in, uh, the middle of something? When Kate interrupts Lilith's demonic ritual, it's pretty awkward, but it gives her a great idea for a new online journal: roommatefromhell.com. Whether her roommate is unholy or just unhinged, Kate's not sure. But she knows a good show when she sees it, and she convinces her bombshell pal to perform her strange ceremony at their art gallery launch. Then she gets a booker at the local rock club to let them open for a metal band, and the kids love it. They decide to take the show on the road, and somewhere along the way Kate's role changes from tour manager to go-go dancer. It's fun, but she can't ignore the creepy people from Lilith's past that are coming to their shows. And as the rituals get more intense and more bloody, Kate starts to wonder if she's gotten in a little too deep. It's not quite rock and roll, but she could still lose her soul.




The Feeling of Life Itself


Book Description

A thought-provoking argument that consciousness—more widespread than previously assumed—is the feeling of being alive, not a type of computation or a clever hack In The Feeling of Life Itself, Christof Koch offers a straightforward definition of consciousness as any subjective experience, from the most mundane to the most exalted—the feeling of being alive. Psychologists study which cognitive operations underpin a given conscious perception. Neuroscientists track the neural correlates of consciousness in the brain, the organ of the mind. But why the brain and not, say, the liver? How can the brain—three pounds of highly excitable matter, a piece of furniture in the universe, subject to the same laws of physics as any other piece—give rise to subjective experience? Koch argues that what is needed to answer these questions is a quantitative theory that starts with experience and proceeds to the brain. In The Feeling of Life Itself, Koch outlines such a theory, based on integrated information. Koch describes how the theory explains many facts about the neurology of consciousness and how it has been used to build a clinically useful consciousness meter. The theory predicts that many, and perhaps all, animals experience the sights and sounds of life; consciousness is much more widespread than conventionally assumed. Contrary to received wisdom, however, Koch argues that programmable computers will not have consciousness. Even a perfect software model of the brain is not conscious. Its simulation is fake consciousness. Consciousness is not a special type of computation—it is not a clever hack. Consciousness is about being.




The Precipice


Book Description

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




American Values


Book Description

With rich detail, compelling honesty, and a storyteller’s gift, RFK Jr. describes his life growing up Kennedy in a tumultuous time in history that eerily echoes the issues of nuclear confrontation, religion, race, and inequality that we confront today. “With emotion and striking detail, RFK Jr. recalls both the private joys and very public pain of his childhood.”— Independent Catholic News In this powerful book that combines the best aspects of memoir and political history, the third child of Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of JFK takes us on an intimate journey through his life, including watershed moments in the history of our nation. Stories of his grandparents Joseph and Rose set the stage for their nine remarkable children, among them three U.S. senators—Teddy, Bobby, and Jack—one of whom went on to become attorney general, and the other, the president of the United States. We meet Allen Dulles and J. Edgar Hoover, two men whose agencies posed the principal threats to American democracy and values. We live through the Cuban Missile Crisis, when insubordinate spies and belligerent generals in the Pentagon and Moscow brought the world to the cliff edge of nuclear war. At Hickory Hill in Virginia, where RFK Jr. grew up, we encounter the celebrities who gathered at the second most famous address in Washington, members of what would later become known as America’s Camelot. Through his father’s role as attorney general we get an insider’s look as growing tensions over civil rights led to pitched battles in the streets and 16,000 federal troops were called in to enforce desegregation at Ole Miss. We see growing pressure to fight wars in Southeast Asia to stop communism. We relive the assassination of JFK, RFK’s run for the presidency that was cut short by his own death, and the aftermath of those murders on the Kennedy family. RFK Jr. also shares his own experiences, not just with historical events and the movers who shaped them but also with his mother and father, with his own struggles with addiction, and with the ways he eventually made peace with both his Kennedy legacy and his own demons. A lyrically written book that provides insight, hope, and steady wisdom for Americans as they wrestle, as never before, with questions about America’s role in history and the world and what it means to be American.




Growing Inequality


Book Description

"This book begins the process of unraveling some of the most 'wicked' problems in public health." - Tony Iton, MD, JD, MPH-The California Endowment Growing evidence indicates that no single factor-but a system of intertwined causes-explains why America's health is poorer than the health of other wealthy countries and why health inequities persist despite our efforts. Teasing apart the relationships between these many causes to find solutions has proven extraordinarily difficult. But now researchers are uncovering groundbreaking insights using computer-based systems science tools to simulate how these determinants come together to produce levels of population health and disparities and test new solutions. The culmination of over five years of work by experts from a more than a dozen disciplines, this book represents a bold step forward in identifying why some populations are healthy and others are not. Describing a series of studies that apply the techniques of systems science, it shows how these tools can be used to increase our understanding of the individual, group, and institutional factors that generate a wide range of health and social problems. Most importantly, it demonstrates the utility and power of these techniques to both wisely guide our understanding and help policy makers know what works. ... an intellectually courageous undertaking. It faces up to the reality of complexity in the social determinants of health. Its achievements and its documentation of difficulties will serve as a valuable foundation for the next generation of scientists and scholars who aim to understand the determinants of health and of health disparities." - Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD, President, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Former President, the Institute of Medicine ...goes beyond the search for a simplistic answer to health disparities and instead embraces the complexity. This is exactly what is needed if we are to improve population health and eliminate disparities." - Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD, Chairman, Department of Health Policy & Management, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University It is increasingly likely that in the non-distant future that population health policy will be fully informed by a coherent computational decision-support system that integrates data, analytics, systems modeling, forecasting, and cost-effectiveness. This book marks a serious movement toward that future." - Donald S. Burke, MD, Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Health, Dean, Graduate School of Public Health UPMC, Jonas Salk Professor of Global Health, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh Recent review of Growing Inequality by Interdisciplinary Association of Population Health Science (IAPHS): https: //iaphs.org/book-review-complex-systems-population-health-insights-network-inequality-complexity-health/