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Mars and the Mind of Man

September 5, 2012

mars_and_the_mind_of_man

Author:
Carl Sagan
Publisher:
Harper & Row (1973)

On November 12, 1971, the day before NASA’s Mariner 9 mission reached Mars and became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Caltech Planetary Science professor Bruce Murray summoned a formidable panel of thinkers to discuss the implications of the historic event. Murray himself was to join the great Carl Sagan and science fiction icons Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke in a conversation moderated by New… read more

Topics: Singularity/Futures | Space

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Thirty Years that Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory

June 1, 2011

Thirty Years That Shook Physics book cover

Author:
George Gamow
Publisher:
Dover Publications (1985)

Goodreads | In 1900, German physicist Max Planck postulated that light, or radiant energy can exist only in the form of discrete packages or quanta. This profound insight, along with Einstein’s equally momentous theories of relativity, completely revolutionized man’s view of matter, energy, and the nature of physics itself.

In this lucid layman’s introduction to quantum theory, an eminent physicist and noted popularizer of science traces the… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Quantum

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Neuromancer

July 29, 2012

361px-Neuromancer_(Book)

Author:
William Gibson
Publisher:
Ace (1986)

The Matrix is a world within the world, a global consensus- hallucination, the representation of every byte of data in cyberspace…

Case had been the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employees crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Computers/Infotech/UI | Singularity/Futures | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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One Two Three . . . Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science

June 1, 2011

One Two Three Infinity book cover

Author:
George Gamow
Publisher:
Dover Publications (1988)

Goodreads | One of the world’s foremost nuclear physicists (celebrated for his theory of radioactive decay, among other accomplishments), George Gamow possesses the unique ability of making the world of science accessible to the general reader.

He brings that ability to bear in this delightful expedition through the problems, pleasures and puzzles of modern science. Among the topics scrutinized with the author’s celebrated good humor and pedagogical… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology | Space

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Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence

July 16, 2010

Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence

Author:
Hans Moravec
Publisher:
Harvard University Press (1990)

Erin Rhodes | What happens to memory and experience when it becomes a commodity? Can the mind really be freed from the physicality of the brain – and of the body? Wouldn’t multiple versions or copies of ourselves, and the prospect of immortality, cheapen the uniqueness of being human? Are consciousness, emotion, and intelligence particular only to humans (and perhaps other living things), or can they be instilled into… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Human Enhancement | Singularity/Futures

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Great Mambo Chicken And The Transhuman Condition: Science Slightly Over The Edge

July 16, 2010

Great Mambo Chicken And The Transhuman Condition: Science Slightly Over The Edge

Author:
Ed Regis
Publisher:
Basic Books (1991)

Amazon | Author of the delightful Who Got Einstein’s Office?, Regis here presents a hilarious but nevertheless sympathetic look at practitioners of “fin-de-siecle hubristic mania.” These are the scientific visionaries who are plotting “post-biological man,” scheming to build giant space colony/stations to orbit around the Earth, use microscopic robots (nanotechnology) to resurrect humans frozen in liquid nitrogen, raise chickens in higher gravity fields and project human minds via energy… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Nanotech/Materials Science | Space

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The Age of Intelligent Machines

September 8, 2009

9780262610797-f30

Author:
Ray Kurzweil
Publisher:
The MIT Press (1992)

Amazon | In a work the Association of American Publishers named the Most Outstanding Computer Science Book of 1990, Kurzweil and 23 other contributors explore the history and potential of artificial intelligence. What is artificial intelligence? At its essence, it is another way of answering a central question that has been debated by scientists, philosophers, and theologians for thousands of years: How does the human brain — three… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics

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Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation

April 9, 2009

Nanosystems book cover

Author:
K. Eric Drexler
Publisher:
Wiley (1992)

Devices enormously smaller than before will remodel engineering, chemistry, medicine, and computer technology. How can we understand machines that are so small? Nanosystems covers it all: power and strength, friction and wear, thermal noise and quantum uncertainty. This is the book for starting the next century of engineering.” — Marvin Minsky MIT.

Science magazine calls Eric Drexler “Mr. Nanotechnology.” For years, Drexler has stirred controversy by… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science | Quantum

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The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution

March 28, 2011

The Origins of Order book cover

Author:
Stuart Kauffman
Publisher:
Oxford University Press (1993)

Amazon | Stuart Kauffman here presents a brilliant new paradigm for evolutionary biology, one that extends the basic concepts of Darwinian evolution to accommodate recent findings and perspectives from the fields of biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics.

The book drives to the heart of the exciting debate on the origins of life and maintenance of order in complex biological systems. It focuses on the concept of… read more

Topics: Biomed/Longevity | Environment/Climate | Physics/Cosmology

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Metaman: The Merging of Humans and Machines into a Global Superorganism

October 12, 2012

Metaman

Author:
Gregory Stock
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster (1993)

The author of The Book of Questions claims that humankind and technology have merged into a new global entity, a living extension of humankind acting through a complex system of computers and offering a promise of ever-greater prosperity.

From Publishers Weekly

In this supremely optimistic futuristic survey, Stock (The Book of Questions) argues that a symbiotic union of smart machines and humans, combined with increasingly interdependent global communications, trade and travel,… read more

Topics: Human Enhancement | Singularity/Futures

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Permutation City

August 6, 2010

Permutation City

Author:
Greg Egan
Publisher:
Eos (1995)

Amazon | The good news is that you have just awakened into Eternal Life. You are going to live forever. Immortality is a reality. A medical miracle? Not exactly.

The bad news is that you are a scrap of electronic code. The world you see around you, the you that is seeing it, has been digitized, scanned, and downloaded into a virtual reality program. You are a Copy… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Biomed/Longevity | Computers/Infotech/UI | Human Enhancement | Singularity/Futures | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness

July 16, 2010

Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness

Author:
Roger Penrose
Publisher:
Oxford University Press (1996)

Amazon | A leading critic of artificial intelligence research returns to the attack, attempting to lay the groundwork for an analysis of the true nature of intelligence. Building on his arguments in The Emperor’s New Mind, Penrose (Mathematics/Oxford) begins by refuting the assertion that true intelligence can be attained–or even adequately simulated–by the strictly computational means to which current computers are ultimately limited. Much of his argument depends closely… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Physics/Cosmology | Quantum | Social Networking/Web/Education

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Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets

January 15, 2013

Mining the Sky

Author:
John S. Lewis
Publisher:
Helix Books (1996)

What would it be like if entrepreneurs could literally “mine the sky” to solve Earth’s three major fulfillment problems: energy, mineral resources, and food? That is the engaging premise of John S. Lewis’s visionary new book. What if we could chemically break down the atmosphere of Mars for substances that can be used as spacecraft propellants; hollow out asteroids to transform them into livable habitats for billions of space-bound… read more

Topics: Environment/Climate | Social/Ethical/Legal | Space

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The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

November 26, 2012

The Demon-Haunted World

Author:
Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
Publisher:
Ballantine Books (1997)

“A glorious book . . . A spirited defense of science . . . From the first page to the last, this book is a manifesto for clear thought.”
*Los Angeles Times

“POWERFUL . . . A stirring defense of informed rationality. . . Rich in surprising information and beautiful writing.”
*The Washington Post Book World

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives… read more

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Kinds of Minds: Toward an Understanding of Consciousness

January 18, 2010
Author:
Daniel Dennett
Publisher:
Basic Books (1997)

Publishers Weekly | Dennett (Darwin’s Dangerous Idea), director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University, avers that language is the “slingshot” that has “launched [humans] far beyond all other earthly species in the power to look ahead and reflect.” In this brief study, some of which is drawn from notes for the author’s various lectures, and which returns him to some of the themes of his controversial… read more

Topics: Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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