Evil Machines


Book Description

How do you feel about your phone? Or your car? You probably don't think about them much, except when they go wrong. But what if they go really wrong and turn properly bad – evil, even? Join Terry Jones on a hilariously disturbing journey into the dark heart of machines that go wrong: meet the lift that takes people to places they don't want to go, the vacuum cleaner that's just too powerful, the apparently nice bomb, the truthful phone, the terrifying train to anywhere, and Mrs. Morris, a little old lady from Glasgow who turns out to be a very resourceful heroine... Brisk and cheerful on the outside, but as edgy and uncomfortable as any of Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected within, Terry Jones's collection of thirteen cautionary fables will make you look at the 'helpful' inventions that surround you in a very different way. A brilliantly-written and gleefully mischievous book, suitable for Luddites of all ages or anyone who likes a bit of Pythonesque edge to their silliness.




Evil Robots, Killer Computers, and Other Myths


Book Description

Are AI robots and computers really going to take over the world? Longtime artificial intelligence (AI) researcher and investor Steve Shwartz has grown frustrated with the fear-inducing hype around AI in popular culture and media. Yes, today’s AI systems are miracles of modern engineering, but no, humans do not have to fear robots seizing control or taking over all our jobs. In this exploration of the fascinating and ever-changing landscape of artificial intelligence, Dr. Shwartz explains how AI works in simple terms. After reading this captivating book, you will understand • the inner workings of today’s amazing AI technologies, including facial recognition, self-driving cars, machine translation, chatbots, deepfakes, and many others; • why today’s artificial intelligence technology cannot evolve into the AI of science fiction lore; • the crucial areas where we will need to adopt new laws and policies in order to counter threats to our safety and personal freedoms resulting from the use of AI. So although we don’t have to worry about evil robots rising to power and turning us into pets—and we probably never will—artificial intelligence is here to stay, and we must learn to separate fact from fiction and embrace how this amazing technology enhances our world.




Machines Behaving Badly


Book Description

Artificial intelligence is an essential part of our lives – for better or worse. It can be used to influence what we buy, who gets shortlisted for a job and even how we vote. Without AI, medical technology wouldn’t have come so far, we’d still be getting lost on backroads in our GPS-free cars, and smartphones wouldn’t be so, well, smart. But as we continue to build more intelligent and autonomous machines, what impact will this have on humanity and the planet? Professor Toby Walsh, a world-leading researcher in the field of artificial intelligence, explores the ethical considerations and unexpected consequences AI poses – Is Alexa racist? Can robots have rights? What happens if a self-driving car kills someone? What limitations should we put on the use of facial recognition? Machines Behaving Badly is a thought-provoking look at the increasing human reliance on robotics and the decisions that need to be made now to ensure the future of AI is as a force for good, not evil.




Evil's Fancy


Book Description

Willy Hanson, cagey entertainment czar who's seen his share of danger, is in the game again. But this time he's not the quarry, but the hunter. From the glitter of Las Vegas's casinos to the sleaziest dives in New Orleans, from Pacific Coast gin joints to the glitter and danger of Hong Kong, Willy won't rest till he finds his best friend's killer. Up against a gorgeous femme fatale whose turn-ons are kinky sex and murder, and whose partner is a sadistic killer who'd make Charlie Manson proud, Willy's luck may have finally run out. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.




Bosses, Machines, and Urban Voters


Book Description

Originally published in 1986. Political machines, and the bosses who ran them, are largely a relic of the nineteenth century. A prominent feature in nineteenth-century urban politics, political machines mobilized urban voters by providing services in exchange for voters' support of a party or candidate. Allswang examines four machines and five urban bosses over the course of a century. He argues that efforts to extract a meaningful general theory from the American experience of political machines are difficult given the particularity of each city's history. A city's composition largely determined the character of its political machines. Furthermore, while political machines are often regarded as nondemocratic and corrupt, Allswang discusses the strengths of the urban machine approach—chief among those being its ability to organize voters around specific issues.




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Insurance Engineering


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Engaging Evil


Book Description

Anthropologists have expressed wariness about the concept of evil even in discussions of morality and ethics, in part because the concept carries its own cultural baggage and theological implications in Euro-American societies. Addressing the problem of evil as a distinctly human phenomenon and a category of ethnographic analysis, this volume shows the usefulness of engaging evil as a descriptor of empirical reality where concepts such as violence, criminality, and hatred fall short of capturing the darkest side of human existence.