Better Humans?


Book Description

Developments in medical science have afforded us the opportunity to improve and enhance the human species in ways unthinkable to previous generations. Whether it's making changes to mitochondrial DNA in a human egg, being prescribed Prozac, or having a facelift, our desire to live longer, feel better and look good has presented philosophers, medical practitioners and policy-makers with considerable ethical challenges. But what exactly constitutes human improvement? What do we mean when we talk of making "better" humans? In this book Michael Hauskeller explores these questions and the ideas of human good that underpin them. Posing some challenging questions about the nature of human enhancement, he interrogates the logic behind its processes and examines the justifications behind its criteria. Questioning common assumptions about what constitutes human improvement, Hauskeller asks whether the criteria proposed by its advocates are convincing. The book draws on recent research as well as popular representations of human enhancement from advertising to the internet, and provides a non-technical and accessible survey of the issues for readers and students interested in the ethics and politics of human enhancement.




How to Build a Better Human


Book Description

Medicine has recently discovered spectacular tools for human enhancement. Yet to date, it has failed to use them well, in part because of ethical objections. Meanwhile, covert attempts flourish to enhance with steroids, mind-enhancing drugs, and cosmetic surgery—all largely unstudied scientifically. The little success to date has been sporadic and financed privately. In How to Build a Better Human, prominent bioethicist Gregory E. Pence argues that people, if we are careful and ethical, can use genetics, biotechnology, and medicine to improve ourselves, and that we should publicly study what people are doing covertly. Pence believes that we need to transcend the two common frame stories of bioethics: bioconservative alarmism and uncritical enthusiasm, and that bioethics should become part of the solution—not the problem—in making better humans.




Better Humans


Book Description

The world was turned upside down March 2020 by a virus no one expected to turn into a global pandemic. While millions experienced loss and disruption of life, the pandemic put lives on pause, making the nation turn inward to question the life Americans were living pre-pandemic and examine who and what really mattered in this time of financial, emotional, and interpersonal upheaval. Depression, anxiety, violence, substance abuse, and mental health illnesses soared in what became a mental health pandemic. Children lost parents, millions lost jobs, and thousands of teachers and health and wellness professionals abandoned their fields. This has been a tremendous time of reflection on how to be better to ourselves, and to humanity as a whole. What can we learn from this global disruption and how can we become better humans? To start, we can’t look away anymore. The suffering is vast, and the stakes are high. The voices of the pandemic have insightful lessons to teach each and every one of us. It’s time to silence our distractions, listen, and create transformative, sustainable strategies that prioritize the health and wellbeing of humanity.




Behave


Book Description

New York Times bestseller • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • One of the Washington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year “It’s no exaggeration to say that Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” —David P. Barash, The Wall Street Journal "It has my vote for science book of the year.” —Parul Sehgal, The New York Times "Immensely readable, often hilarious...Hands-down one of the best books I’ve read in years. I loved it." —Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post From the bestselling author of A Primate's Memoir and the forthcoming Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will comes a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do? Behave is one of the most dazzling tours d’horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted. Moving across a range of disciplines, Sapolsky—a neuroscientist and primatologist—uncovers the hidden story of our actions. Undertaking some of our thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, and war and peace, Behave is a towering achievement—a majestic synthesis of cutting-edge research and a heroic exploration of why we ultimately do the things we do . . . for good and for ill.




The Better Angels of Our Nature


Book Description

Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think this is the most violent age ever seen. Yet as bestselling author Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true.




Raising Good Humans


Book Description

“A wise and fresh approach to mindful parenting.” —Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance A kinder, more compassionate world starts with kind and compassionate kids. In Raising Good Humans, you’ll find powerful and practical strategies to break free from “reactive parenting” habits and raise kind, cooperative, and confident kids. Whether you’re running late for school, trying to get your child to eat their vegetables, or dealing with an epic meltdown in the checkout line at a grocery store—being a parent is hard work! And, as parents, many of us react in times of stress without thinking—often by yelling. But what if, instead of always reacting on autopilot, you could respond thoughtfully in those moments, keep your cool, and get from A to B on time and in one piece? With this book, you’ll find powerful mindfulness skills for calming your own stress response when difficult emotions arise. You’ll also discover strategies for cultivating respectful communication, effective conflict resolution, and reflective listening. In the process, you’ll learn to examine your own unhelpful patterns and ingrained reactions that reflect the generational habits shaped by your parents, so you can break the cycle and respond to your children in more skillful ways. When children experience a parent reacting with kindness and patience, they learn to act with kindness as well—thereby altering generational patterns for a kinder, more compassionate future. With this essential guide, you’ll see how changing your own “autopilot reactions” can create a lasting positive impact, not just for your kids, but for generations to come. An essential, must-read for all parents—now more than ever. “To raise the children we hope to raise, we have to learn to become the person we hoped to be…. This wonderful book will help you handle the ride.” —KJ Dell’Antonia, author of How to Be a Happier Parent “Hunter Clarke-Fields shares her wisdom and personal experience to help parents create peaceful families.” —Joanna Faber and Julie King, coauthors of How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen




The Humans


Book Description

The bestselling, award-winning author of The Midnight Library offers his funniest, most devastating dark comedy yet, a “silly, sad, suspenseful, and soulful” (Philadelphia Inquirer) novel that’s “full of heart” (Entertainment Weekly). When an extra-terrestrial visitor arrives on Earth, his first impressions of the human species are less than positive. Taking the form of Professor Andrew Martin, a prominent mathematician at Cambridge University, the visitor is eager to complete the gruesome task assigned him and hurry home to his own utopian planet, where everyone is omniscient and immortal. He is disgusted by the way humans look, what they eat, their capacity for murder and war, and is equally baffled by the concepts of love and family. But as time goes on, he starts to realize there may be more to this strange species than he had thought. Disguised as Martin, he drinks wine, reads poetry, develops an ear for rock music, and a taste for peanut butter. Slowly, unexpectedly, he forges bonds with Martin’s family. He begins to see hope and beauty in the humans’ imperfection, and begins to question the very mission that brought him there. Praised by The New York Times as a “novelist of great seriousness and talent,” author Matt Haig delivers an unlikely story about human nature and the joy found in the messiness of life on Earth. The Humans is a funny, compulsively readable tale that playfully and movingly explores the ultimate subject—ourselves.




There Is No B2B Or B2c


Book Description

As marketers, we've been trained to speak "business to business" (B2B) or "business to consumer" (B2C). But instead of this creating a simple framework for dialogue between humans, it set forth an unnatural language for marketers, using words like "synergy" and "speeds and feeds" to tell the stories of products and services to their buyers and partners. The fact is that businesses do not have emotion. Products do not have emotion. Humans do. Humans want to feel something. And humans make mistakes. In Human to Human #H2H, Bryan explores the many facets of why and how communication today needs to be adjusted to keep up with our ever-evolving and fast moving social and digital world. Through anecdotes from his own experiences as president of a Silicon Valley marketing firm, he both inspires new ways of finding commonality in our humanity, but also practical tools to think like a human marketer again. Specifically, you'll learn: - The Four Rules of Social Context - How Human Sensory Building will make you a better Marketer - The Secrets to Making Ideas Crowd Worthy, with real world examples - How to be "Delightfully Disruptive" - Insights into building a Social Business - What it means to have a "Focker Moment" and why they should be celebrated Embedded are short intimate video conversations with some of today's most forward-thinking humans; Jonathan Becher, CMO at SAP, Charlene Li, author and co-founder of The Altimeter Group, and KareAnderson, Emmy Award-winning journalist and founder of the Say It Better Center. If you're looking to bring back the human side of communication, in all its imperfection, empathy, and simplicity, Human to Human #H2H is for you.




Humans Need Not Apply


Book Description

An “intriguing, insightful” look at how algorithms and robots could lead to social unrest—and how to avoid it (The Economist, Books of the Year). After decades of effort, researchers are finally cracking the code on artificial intelligence. Society stands on the cusp of unprecedented change, driven by advances in robotics, machine learning, and perception powering systems that rival or exceed human capabilities. Driverless cars, robotic helpers, and intelligent agents that promote our interests have the potential to usher in a new age of affluence and leisure—but as AI expert and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jerry Kaplan warns, the transition may be protracted and brutal unless we address the two great scourges of the modern developed world: volatile labor markets and income inequality. In Humans Need Not Apply, he proposes innovative, free-market adjustments to our economic system and social policies to avoid an extended period of social turmoil. His timely and accessible analysis of the promises and perils of AI is a must-read for business leaders and policy makers on both sides of the aisle. “A reminder that AI systems don’t need red laser eyes to be dangerous.”—Times Higher Education Supplement “Kaplan…sidesteps the usual arguments of techno-optimism and dystopia, preferring to go for pragmatic solutions to a shrinking pool of jobs.”—Financial Times




Good Natured


Book Description

To observe a dog's guilty look. to witness a gorilla's self-sacrifice for a wounded mate, to watch an elephant herd's communal effort on behalf of a stranded calf--to catch animals in certain acts is to wonder what moves them. Might there he a code of ethics in the animal kingdom? Must an animal be human to he humane? In this provocative book, a renowned scientist takes on those who have declared ethics uniquely human Making a compelling case for a morality grounded in biology, he shows how ethical behavior is as much a matter of evolution as any other trait, in humans and animals alike. World famous for his brilliant descriptions of Machiavellian power plays among chimpanzees-the nastier side of animal life--Frans de Waal here contends that animals have a nice side as well. Making his case through vivid anecdotes drawn from his work with apes and monkeys and holstered by the intriguing, voluminous data from his and others' ongoing research, de Waal shows us that many of the building blocks of morality are natural: they can he observed in other animals. Through his eyes, we see how not just primates but all kinds of animals, from marine mammals to dogs, respond to social rules, help each other, share food, resolve conflict to mutual satisfaction, even develop a crude sense of justice and fairness. Natural selection may be harsh, but it has produced highly successful species that survive through cooperation and mutual assistance. De Waal identifies this paradox as the key to an evolutionary account of morality, and demonstrates that human morality could never have developed without the foundation of fellow feeling our species shares with other animals. As his work makes clear, a morality grounded in biology leads to an entirely different conception of what it means to he human--and humane.