In response to the damage caused by centuries of colonial ravaging and the current ecological, political and social crises, the leading Indigenous thinker and activist Ailton Krenak warns against the power of corporate capitalism and its destructive impact. Capitalism encroaches on every corner of the planet and orients us toward a future of promised progress, achievement and growth, but this future doesn't exist - we just imagine it.  This orientation to the future also blinds us to what exists around us, to the plants and animals with which we share the Earth and to the rivers that flow through our lands.  Rivers are not just resources to be exploited by us or channels to carry away our waste, they are beings that connect us with our past.  If there is a future to imagine, it is ancestral, since it is already present in the here and now and in that which exists around us, in the rivers and mountains and trees that are our kin. In a spoken language that has the mark of ancestral oral wisdom, Krenak offers a new perspective that challenges and disrupts some of the assumptions that underpin Western attitudes and mentalities.  His work will be of great interest to anyone concerned about the climate crisis and the worsening plight of our planet.

 

 

 

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The "artfully written...splendid history of classical and quantum physics" (Science) that "rightfully highlights the limitations of current physics" (Wall Street Journal) and argues for a revolutionary new understanding of quantum mechanics  The received wisdom in quantum physics is that, at the deepest levels of reality, there are no actual causes for atomic events. This idea led to the outlandish belief that quantum objects--indeed, reality itself--aren't real unless shaped by human measurement. Einstein mocked this idea, asking whether his bed spread out across his room unless he looked at it. And yet it remains one of the most influential ideas in science and our culture.    In Escape from Shadow Physics, Adam Forrest Kay takes up Einstein's torch: reality isn't mysterious or dependent on human measurement, but predictable and independent of us. At the heart of his argument is groundbreaking research with little drops of oil. These droplets behave as particles do in the long-overlooked quantum theory of pilot waves; crucially, they showcase quantum behavior while being described by classical physics. And that classical-quantum interface points to a true understanding of quantum mechanics and a reasonable universe.  A bold and essential reset of the field, Escape from Shadow Physics describes the kind of true scientific revolution that comes along just once--or less--in a century.

An expansive investigation into the most unifying and enduring structure in the history of life--and a story of biological richness at a moment when so much of our precious biodiversity hangs in the balance. Eggs are the origins of 90 percent of the Earth's organisms. They can be found as far apart as deep-sea volcanoes and in space. Yet despite their fundamental importance, eggs often find themselves an afterthought in the discussion of evolution of life on Earth as the interests of scientists congregate around the things that emerge from eggs rather than the eggs themselves. In his new book Infinite Life: The Revolutionary Story of Eggs, Evolution, and Life on Earth, Jules Howard explains--with great passion, authority, expertise, and infectious enthusiasm--why it's time to give eggs their moment in the spotlight: it is the eggs that can teach us new and surprising lessons about Earth's history, the trials of life, and the exceptional ways in which natural selection operates to propagate the survival of individual species. Infinite Life: The Revolutionary Story of Eggs, Evolution, and Life on Earth, offers a wholly new perspective on the animal kingdom, and, indeed, life on Earth. By examining eggs from their earliest histories to the very latest fossilized discoveries--encompassing the myriad changes and mutations of eggs from the evolution of yolk, to the hard eggshells of lost dinosaurs, to the animals that have evolved to simultaneously give birth to eggs and live young--Howard reveals untold stories of great diversity and majesty to shed light on the huge impact that egg science has on our lives.

 

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A Fortune magazine journalist draws on his expertise and extensive contacts among the companies and scientists at the forefront of artificial intelligence to offer dramatic predictions of AI's impact over the next decade, from reshaping our economy and the way we work, learn, and create to unknitting our social fabric, jeopardizing our democracy, and fundamentally altering the way we think. Within the next five years, Jeremy Kahn predicts, AI will disrupt almost every industry and enterprise, with vastly increased efficiency and productivity. It will restructure the workforce, making AI copilots a must for every knowledge worker. It will revamp education, meaning children around the world can have personal, portable tutors. It will revolutionize health care, making individualized, targeted pharmaceuticals more affordable. It will compel us to reimagine how we make art, compose music, and write and publish books. The potential of generative AI to extend our skills, talents, and creativity as humans is undeniably exciting and promising. But while this new technology has a bright future, it also casts a dark and fearful shadow. AI will provoke pervasive, disruptive, potentially devastating knock-on effects. Leveraging his unrivaled access to the leaders, scientists, futurists, and others who are making AI a reality, Kahn will argue that if not carefully designed and vigilantly regulated AI will deepen income inequality, depressing wages while imposing winner-take-all markets across much of the economy. AI risks undermining democracy, as truth is overtaken by misinformation, racial bias, and harmful stereotypes. Continuing a process begun by the internet, AI will rewire our brains, likely inhibiting our ability to think critically, to remember, and even to get along with one another--unless we all take decisive action to prevent this from happening. Much as Michael Lewis's classic The New New Thing offered a prescient, insightful, and eminently readable account of life inside the dot-com bubble, Mastering AI delivers much-needed guidance for anyone eager to understand the AI boom--and what comes next.

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This collection pays unique attention to the highly challenging problems of addressing inequality within decarbonisation - particularly under-explored aspects, such as high consumption, degrowth approaches and perverse outcomes. Contributors point out means and possibilities of the transition from high carbon inequalities to post-carbon inclusion. They apply a variety of conceptual and methodological approaches in all-inclusive ways to diverse challenges, such as urban heating and retrofitting. Richly illustrated with case studies from the city to the household, this book critically examines 'just transitions' to achieve sustainable societies in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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