From Booklist
The premise for this stellar essay collection is the observation that although technology is clearly a double-edged sword, an exponentially increasing force rich in promise and rife with peril, we rarely question the necessity or consider the consequences of technological innovations. A group of remarkably penetrating, frank, and expert scientists, technowizards, activists, and writers raise provocative questions about what is gained and what is lost in a world enthralled by technology in this wonderfully soulful forum on life in the "wired world." Novelist Richard Powers offers a brilliant, witty, and unnerving journey into AI. Multitalented Ray Kurzweil analyzes the implications of rapidly evolving computational and miniaturization technologies in genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics. Richard Rhodes ponders the link between technology and violence. Others, including Christina Dresser, warn against reducing the human endeavor to mere information and intellect, thus devaluing sensory experience, feelings, memory, and dreams. Coeditor Lightman, a physicist and a novelist, reminds us of our deep need for silence, solitude, and stillness. There is much to contemplate here, which means that the book has accomplished its mission to kindle critical thinking about our relationship with our technologies, each other, and the natural world. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


From Book News, Inc.
Contributors from various shades of science and technology, literature, philosophy, and social sciences consider the struggle between humans and their technology over which will control the other. Among them are a few familiar names such as Ray Kurzweil, Mark Shapiro, and Richard Rhodes.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Book Description

"A group of remarkably penetrating, frank, and expert scientists, techno-wizards, activists, and writers raise provocative questions about what is gained and what is lost in a world enthralled by technology in this wonderfully soulful forum on life in the 'Wired World.' " -BOOKLIST

Biotechnology, Cloning, Robotics, Nanotechnology...

At a time when scientific and technological breakthroughs keep our eyes focused on the latest software upgrades or the newest cell-phone wizardry, a group of today's most innovative thinkers are looking beyond the horizon to explore both the promise and the peril of our technological future.

Human ingenuity has granted us a world of unprecedented personal power -- enabling us to communicate instantaneously with anyone anywhere on the globe, to transport ourselves in both real and virtual worlds to distant places with ease, to fill our bellies with engineered commodities once available to only a privileged elite.

Through our technologies, we have sought to free ourselves from the shackles of nature and become its master. Yet science and technology continually transform our experience and society in ways that often seem to be beyond our control. Today, different areas of research and innovation are advancing synergistically, multiplying the rate and magnitude of technological and societal change, with consequences that no one can predict.

Living with the Genie explores the origins, nature, and meaning of such change, and our capacity to govern it. As the power of technology continues to accelerate, who, this book asks, will be the master of whom?

In Living with the Genie, leading writers and thinkers come together to confront this question from many perspectives, including: Richard Powers's whimsical investigation of the limits of artificial intelligence; Philip Kitcher's confrontation of the moral implications of science; Richard Rhodes's exploration of the role of technology in reducing violence; Shiv Visvanathan's analysis of technology's genocidal potential; Lori Andrews's insights into the quest for human genetic enhancement; Alan Lightman's reflections on how technology changes the experience of our humanness.

These and ten other provocative essays open the door to a new dialogue on how, in the quest for human mastery, technology may be changing what it means to be human, in ways we scarcely comprehend.


About the Author
Alan Lightman, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a physicist and novelist. His books include Einstein's Dreams, The Diagnosis, and Reunion. Daniel Sarewitz was founding director of Columbia University's Center for Science, Policy, and Outcomes, and is author of Frontiers of Illusion. Christina Desser directs the Funder's Working Group on Emerging Technologies, an association of foundations concerned about the environmental, cultural, and political implications of new technology.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Science and technology continually transform our experience and society in ways that often seem to be beyond our control. Today different areas of research and innovation are advancing synergistically and multiplying the rate and magnitude of technological and societal change. As the power of technology continues to accelerate, who will be the master of whom?

In Living with the Genie, leading writers and thinkers come together to confront this question from many perspectives, through provocative essays that open the door to a new dialogue on how technology may be changing what it means to be human, in ways we scarcely comprehend.

SYNOPSIS