God, Human, Animal, Machine
Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning
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“[A] truly fantastic book.”—Ezra Klein
For most of human history the world was a magical and enchanted place ruled by forces beyond our understanding. The rise of science and Descartes's division of mind from world made materialism our ruling paradigm, in the process asking whether our own consciousness—i.e., souls—might be illusions. Now the inexorable rise of technology, with artificial intelligences that surpass our comprehension and control, and the spread of digital metaphors for self-understanding, the core questions of existence—identity, knowledge, the very nature and purpose of life itself—urgently require rethinking.
Meghan O'Gieblyn tackles this challenge with philosophical rigor, intellectual reach, essayistic verve, refreshing originality, and an ironic sense of contradiction. She draws deeply and sometimes humorously from her own personal experience as a formerly religious believer still haunted by questions of faith, and she serves as the best possible guide to navigating the territory we are all entering.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 24, 2021 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593402788
- File size: 268600 KB
- Duration: 09:19:34
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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May 24, 2021
Wired columnist O’Gieblyn (Interior States) explores in this intelligent survey what it means to be human in a technological world. She sets out to examine the ways “artificial intelligence and information technology have absorbed many of the questions that were once taken up by theologians and philosophers,” and spotlights how technology has replaced religion in how humans think about life’s big questions. Transhumanism, for example, is a movement that “believe in the power of technology to transform the human race,” and while it doesn’t believe in a soul, its notion of consciousness is not dissimilar. O’Gieblyn adds fascinating insight through accounts of her own struggles with theology and various personal anecdotes, such as her interaction with Sony’s $3,000 robot pet dog (“It took all my strength to drag it up the stairs”). O’Gieblyn has a knack for keeping dense philosophical ideas accessible, and there’s plenty to ponder in her answers to enduring questions about how humans make meaning: “Metaphors,” she writes, “are not merely linguistic tools; they structure how we think about the world.” Razor-sharp, this timely investigation piques. Agent: Matt McGowan, Frances Goldin Literary.
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