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An Optimist's Tour of the Future

An Optimist's Tour of the Future


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About the Book

'I'm not saying the future will be better but there's everything to play for.' When unexpectedly confronted with his own mortality, Mark Stevenson - a writer, deep-thinker, and stand-up comedian - began to ponder what the future holds for our species. Stevenson set out simply, asking, 'What's next?' and then traveled the globe in pursuit of the answers. His voyage of discovery took him to Oxford to meet Transhumanists (they intend to live forever), to Boston where he confronted a robot with mood swings, to an underwater cabinet meeting in the Indian Ocean, and Australia to question the Outback's smartest farmer. He clambered around space planes in the Mojave desert, got to grips with the potential of nanotechnology, delved deep into the possibilities of biotech, saw an energy renaissance on a printer, a revolution in communications, had his genome profiled, glimpsed the next stage of human evolution . and tried to make sense of wha' s in store. A meticulous researcher, Stevenson sifts the genuine concerns about new technologies from fear-mongering - offering up a balanced take on everything from nanotech 'grey goo' to worries about population and resource crises, pandemics, climate change and new forms of terrorism. 'I'm not saying the future will be better,' he says 'but I do know there's everything to play for.' Insightful and often very funny, An Optimist's Tour of the Future is a wonderfully readable and completely enthralling portrait of where we'll be when we grow up - and why it doesn't have to be scary.

About the Author :
Mark Stevenson's life is an exercise in balancing accessible entertainment and extreme geekiness. After graduating with a first class honours degree in Technology, he mixed two careers, one as an expert in prime number cryptography, the other fronting a pop band. He then took to stand-up comedy, deriving almost all of his material from science and maths. Mark also runs two companies committed to helping people find new ways of thinking: Flow Associates, a cultural learning consultancy, and ReAgency, for science communication talent. The Optimist's Tour of the Future is his first book.

Review :
Blind optimism is the last thing the world needs - a recipe for disappointment. But what about optimism based on careful reasoning? On digging below the surface for the ideas and the trends that really do add up to something promising? That's what's on offer here. Stevenson wears no blindfold. His tools are curiosity, open-mindedness, clarity and reason. That makes his journey intriguing ... and ultimately exhilarating Mark Stevenson is a futurist endowed with optimism. Where some people fear that robotics and artificial intelligence will dehumanize the world, he sees an enhancement of freedom; where some see nanotechnology as an army of sub-micron Lilliputians controlling our every action, he sees an invisible array of artisans performing miracles in tight spaces. It's refreshing to be led to the far side by someone who sees the bright side! This is a brilliant book, and Mark Stevenson is the perfect guide to a dizzying future that is already here. Genetic innovation. Social robots. Nano-factories. The ideas come so quickly, with such great humor - it's like the smartest dinner party you've ever attended. Uplifting and liberating. Mark Stevenson is the perfect tour guide: optimistic without being naive, fun but not silly, entertaining yet also an educator. By the end I was utterly convinced that, given the opportunity to flourish, human ingenuity can disperse the clouds that hang over us today. This is a book to gladden the gloomiest heart A rollicking roller-coaster ride around the cutting edge of science with dozens of laugh-out-loud moments Makes a good case for believing that we can have a future worth making an effort to reach Infectiously enthusiastic Refreshingly upbeat A refreshing reminder that the future will always belong to the optimists The future is here and all around us. It's just, as William Gibson puts it, not evenly distributed yet. And why not? This is the book's killer punch: we have 21st century tech, but our familiar world - from schooling, to work, to our ideas of retirement - hasn't changed since the industrial revolution. The future cannot happen until we change our minds to meet it


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9781846683565
  • Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
  • Publisher Imprint: Profile Books Ltd
  • Height: 216 mm
  • No of Pages: 256
  • Weight: 414 gr
  • ISBN-10: 1846683564
  • Publisher Date: 06 Jan 2011
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Language: English
  • Spine Width: 24 mm
  • Width: 135 mm


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