Pines and Plains Libraries

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming human society fundamentally and profoundly. Three of our most accomplished and deep thinkers come together to explore how A.I. could affect our relationship with knowledge, impact our worldviews, and change society and politics as profoundly as the ideas of the Enlightenment.

"We are approaching a critical threshold in the history of our species. Everything is about to change. Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organise your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy. None of us are prepared. As co-founder of the pioneering AI company DeepMind,...

Because her mother is always on the move, sixteen-year-old Steph hasn't lived anywhere longer than six months. Her only constant is an online community called CatNet, a social media site where users upload cat pictures and the admin is CheshireCat, a sentient AI who loves cat pictures. When a threat from Steph's past catches up to her and CheshireCat's existence is discovered, it's up to Steph and her friends, both online and IRL, to save them....

"New technologies such as augmented reality, brain-computer interfaces, and lifelike robots will change the way humans interact with one another and their environment. Discover how people will communicate and use technology in the future"--

The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. Other animals have stronger muscles or sharper claws, but we have cleverer brains. If machine brains one day come to surpass human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become very powerful. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on us humans than on...

"A great turning point in the history of our species is at hand. AI and robotics are poised to redefine what it means to be human. So ... what exactly does that mean for you? In [this book], Byron Reese suggests that technology has fundamentally reshaped humanity just three times in history: 100,000 years ago, we harnessed fire, which led to language; 10,000 years ago, we developed agriculture, which led to cities and warfare; and 5,000 years ago,...

"Describes possible ethical concerns of Artificial Intelligence, including applications in medical fields, the military, criminal justice systems, or in hiring practices. Includes fun facts and 'Leading the Way' special features"--

Self-learning machines called AIs are popping up all around us. They will alter our lives as workers, consumers, investors, citizens, patients and students. We all need to get smart about AIs, now! That's Charles Jennings' message in his provocative new book, Artificial Intelligence: The Rise of the Lightspeed Learners.

Explores universal questions about humanity's capacity for living and thriving in the coming age of sentient machines and AI, examining debates from opposing perspectives while discussing emerging intellectual diversity and its potential role in enabling a positive life. "Whether it is self-driving cars, advancements in search engine technology, or the latest in voice-recognition software, AI, or artificial "machine" intelligence, is playing an ever-greater...

"We live in times of increasing inscrutability. Our news feeds are filled with unverified, unverifiable speculation, much of it automatically generated by anonymous software. As a result, we no longer understand what is happening around us. Underlying all of these trends is a single idea: the belief that quantitative data can provide a coherent model of the world, and the efficacy of computable information to provide us with ways of acting within...