Future Rising - A Journey from the Past to the Edge of Tomorrow

Andrew Maynard

Summary

A scientist offers compelling visions and potential pitfalls of the future—in “a journey through time, space, and the human experience” (Dr. Tanya Harrison, coauthor of For All Humankind). Humanity has gained the ability not only to imagine the future, but to design and engineer it. At times entertaining, and at others profound, Future Rising provides an original perspective on our relationship with the future. As a species, we’ve become talented architects of our future—yet we often struggle to come to terms with what this means. As innovation and rapidly shifting norms and expectations drive our world at breakneck speed, we sometimes need to find a still, quiet place to pause and think. Future Rising creates such a place, where we can take advantage of our species’ knowledge of world history and the importance of science to piece together a positive future. To create a good future, we must rediscover the past. Our relationship with the future is inextricably intertwined with where we’ve come from, who we are, and what we aspire to. Future Rising starts at the beginning of all things with the Big Bang and traces a pathway along the emergence of intelligent life, through what makes humans uniquely capable of imagining and creating different futures. In a series of sixty short reflections, Andrew Maynard, a former physicist and nationally recognized expert in technology and society, will take you on a journey into: What “the future” actually isHow it molds and guides our livesHow we can use the history of the world to change our future “A thoughtful and thought-provoking response to the moment we’re in, chronicling how we got here, where we’re going, and what role we have in that journey.” —Ramona Pringle, Director of Creative Innovation Studio and Associate Professor, Ryerson University

Available since: 10/27/2020.

Print length: 179 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Excel - The Ultimate...

Kevin Clark

Do you need a spreadsheet that offers calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables and more? 
Is this an essential tool for your business or home? 
Are you new to this concept and need a step-by-step guide to get going? 
Millions of us, whether in business or our daily lives, like to be able to keep track of expenditure, jobs and other things we do. Having everything in one handy spreadsheet that can instantly tell us what we are spending or the status of our current project, is invaluable. 
If you are new to the idea then Excel is a great place to get started and with Excel: The Ultimate Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide to the Basics of Excel Programming you can learn some of the fundamentals like:An introduction to VBAHow to Use Data From ExcelHow to Manipulate Data In ExcelWorking With Loops, Strings and Conditional StatementsError Handling and DebuggingCommon Mistakes for You to AvoidAnd much more… 
This book is the perfect place for any beginner to get started and with examples and simple and basic tutorials you will soon be on the way to using Excel for all your tasks, making you wonder how you ever got on without it. 
Get a copy now and see how it will change the way you work and live!

Show book

Irrationally Yours - On Missing...

Dr. Dan Ariely

Three-time New York Times bestselling author Dan Ariely teams up with legendary The New Yorker cartoonist William Haefeli to present an expanded, illustrated collection of his immensely popularWall Street Journal advice column, “Ask Ariely”. 
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely revolutionized the way we think about ourselves, our minds, and our actions in his books Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and The Honest Truth about Dishonesty. Ariely applies this scientific analysis of the human condition in his “Ask Ariely” Q & A column in the Wall Street Journal, in which he responds to readers who write in with personal conundrums ranging from the serious to the curious:   What can you do to stay calm when you’re playing the volatile stock market?   What’s the best way to get someone to stop smoking?   How can you maximize the return on your investment at an all-you-can-eat buffet?   Is it possible to put a price on the human soul?   Can you ever rationally justify spending thousands of dollars on a Rolex? 
In Ask Ariely, a broad variety of economic, ethical, and emotional dilemmas are explored and addressed through text and images. Using their trademark insight and wit, Ariely and Haefeli help us reflect on how we can reason our way through external and internal challenges.  Readers will laugh, learn, and most importantly gain a new perspective on how to deal with the inevitable problems that plague our daily life.

Show book

A Christian Field Guide to...

Ethan J. Brue, Derek C....

Our technology shapes the way we live, interact, work, play, and even worship. Technology and its power are both old and new—as is the wisdom we need to envision, design, build, and use it well. For Christians passionate about developing technology, it's not always clear how their faith and work intersect. How can designing and using technology actually be a way of loving God and our neighbors? Veteran engineers and teachers Ethan Brue, Derek Schuurman, and Steve VanderLeest provide a field guide for fellow explorers working with technology. Using numerous case studies, historical examples, and personal stories, they explore issues such as:

- biblical themes and passages that relate to technology
- the ethics and norms involved in technology design
- how engineering and technology tap into human dreams for a better worldAlong the way they acknowledge the challenges arising from technology but also point to the wonderful possibilities it offers us and its ability to contribute to the common good. For Christians studying and working in engineering, computer science, technical design, architecture, and related fields, this book is packed with wisdom and practical guidance. By sharing what they have learned, the authors encourage readers to ask harder questions, aspire to more noble purposes, and live a life consistent with their faith as they engage with technology.

Show book

Stock Market Investing For...

Garth McCalister

Many people are looking for ways to invest their money. They want to be able to earn more than what they can get at their regular jobs. But, with any kind of investment, there are some risk factors, and often these keep people away from even looking at all the opportunities that are out there. The stock market is different. There are a ton of options that you can go with, you can choose the amount of risk that you want to take one, and you can still earn a profit from your money.
Stock Market Investing for Beginners is going to take some time to explore how to start investing in the stock market. We will look at all the strategies, tips, and tricks that a beginner can follow to see some great results. Some of the topics that we will explore in this guidebook include:
What the stock market is and why you should invest in itThe importance of finding a broker to help you make smart decisions on the market.Some of the different options you can choose from to invest in when you enter the stock marketHow to perform fundamental analysisHow to do technical analysisThe steps you can take to enter the stock marketOther great trading strategies including income investing, Dogs of the Dow, and moreSome of the best tips and tricks that a beginner can use to start making money on the stock market today
There are many great reasons why you would want to enter the stock market. With all of the options, the ways to control your risks, and more, it is no wonder that so many people decide to use this as their way to invest. When you are ready to learn more about how to invest in the stock market as a beginner, make sure to check out this guidebook to help you get started.

Show book

Solomon's Code

Olaf Groth, Mark Nitzberg

As thinking machines make more decisions on our behalf, they can enrich, enable, and influence our lives. Whether in medicine, money, or love, technologies powered by forms of artificial intelligence are playing an increasingly prominent role in our lives. How do we ensure they make the most beneficial choices for us? And if one person benefits at another's expense, who gets to decide what's best? The increasing use of AI raises critical questions about our values, cultures, economies, and power relationships. And the answers may depend upon your race, gender, age, behavior, and nationality. In clear and accessible prose, Olaf Groth and Mark Nitzberg explore the history of intelligent technology, revealing how close we are to designing machines that have some sort of consciousness—and that we must now decide how to give those machines a conscience. Simultaneously thrilling and provocative, Solomon’s Code raises difficult questions that need to be considered given the speed of technological development.

Show book

Tough and Competent - Leadership...

Eugene F. Kranz

Tough and Competent documents the leadership and teamwork principles which emerged from an organization of novice, part-time engineers in NASA Mercury Control. By July 1969, when faced with the stress of the Apollo 11 mission to land Americans on the moon, they had matured into a group of hardened individuals empowered to make the split-second decisions to land with only seventeen seconds of fuel remaining. What had changed? Team chemistry, IT!, is the unifying soul of operations that emerged from the leadership, working, and social environment to achieve organizational excellence. Mission Control could address quickly the risks and complexity of spaceflight operations. The intangible element, IT!, elevates performance to where the impossible becomes commonplace.IT! was born in a bare-bones warehouse floor work environment, where learning by doing developed the materials for flight. Controllers spanned diverse backgrounds: Philco tech reps, farm boys, Native Americans, and junior college grads who became self-made engineers. A free exchange of knowledge developed expertise among colleagues. Everyone brought unique viewpoints and skills which coalesced into IT! In relaying his long tenure at NASA, Kranz narrates the development of IT! His views on lessons learned through decades of Mission Control are valuable for any innovation-based organization.

Show book