Search:

Results 101 to 110 of 173 | « previous |

Deep utopia : life and meaning in a solved world / by Bostrom, Nick,1973-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Suppose that we develop superintelligence safely, govern it well, and make good use of the cornucopian wealth and near magical technological powers that this technology can unlock. If this transition to the machine intelligence era goes well, human labor becomes obsolete. We would thus enter a condition of "post-instrumentality", in which our efforts are not needed for any practical purpose. Furthermore, at technological maturity, human nature becomes entirely malleable. Here we confront a challenge that is not technological but philosophical and spiritual. In such a solved world, what is the point of human existence? What gives meaning to life? What do we do all day? Deep Utopia shines new light on these old questions, and gives us glimpses of a different kind of existence, which might be ours in the future.
Subjects: Artificial intelligence; Computers and civilization.; Meaning (Philosophy); Artificial intelligence;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Stories we tell ourselves : making meaning in a meaningless universe / by Holloway, Richard,1933-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Throughout history we have told ourselves stories to try and make sense of what it all means: our place in a small corner of one of billions of galaxies, at the end of billions of years of existence. In this new book Richard Holloway takes us on a personal, scientific and philosophical journey to explore what he believes the answers to the biggest of questions are. He examines what we know about the universe into which - without any choice in the matter - we are propelled at birth and from which we are expelled at death, the stories we have told about where we come from, and the stories we tell to get through this muddling experience of life. Thought-provoking, revelatory, compassionate and playful, Stories We Tell Ourselves is a personal reckoning with life's mysteries by one of the most important and beloved thinkers of our time.
Subjects: Meaning (Philosophy); Religion and science.; Self-actualization (Psychology); Social history; Theological anthropology;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

All the queen's spies / by Clements, Oliver,1972-author.;
"The "lively" (The New York Times) Agents of the Crown series continues with this thriller about Queen Elizabeth I's advisor John Dee in a race to save the Empire with the help of a mysterious manuscript that offers global power. With rumors of the end times swirling, philosopher and astronomer John Dee travels to Prague in an effort to prevent one of Catherine de Medici's seductive ladies-in-waiting from luring the Holy Roman Emperor into a crusade against England. To convince the famously occult-loving Emperor to join his side, Dee entices him with the esoteric Book of Secrets, a volume that, if decoded, could provide the chance to control the levers of heaven and earth. But Dee faces enemies at every turn, including a female codebreaker who could be the undoing of Dee and the British Empire"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Historical fiction.; Spy fiction.; Novels.; Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603; Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, 1552-1612; Dee, John, 1527-1608;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

If cats disappeared from the world / by Kawamura, Genki,1979-author.; Selland, Eric,translator.; translation of:Kawamura, Genki,1979-Sekai kara neko ga kieta nara.English.;
"The young postman's days are numbered. Estranged from his family and living alone, with only his cat, Cabbage, to keep him company, he was unprepared for the doctor's diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can tackle his bucket list, the devil shows up to make him an offer: In exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, our narrator will get one extra day of life. And so begins a very strange week that brings the young postman and his beloved cat to the brink of existence. With each object that disappears, the postman reflects on the life he's lived, his joys and regrets, and the people he's loved and lost."--Dust jacket flap.
Subjects: Magic realist fiction.; Philosophical fiction.; Terminally ill; Loss (Psychology); Cats;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Going to Mars. by Brewster, Joe,film director.; Stephenson, Michèle,film director.; Giovanni, Nikki,actor.; Kino Lorber (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Nikki GiovanniOriginally produced by Kino Lorber in 2023.Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the Sundance U.S. Documentary Competition, this beguiling documentary portrait follows poet and activist Nikki Giovanni as she approaches 80. The film explores Giovanni’s Afrofuturist-feminist philosophical outlook as well as her poignant relationship with her family, her political audacity, and her poetic eloquence, all knit together with a constant eye and ear for its subject’s own aesthetic verve. Looking back at a personal life and history cast in the long shadow of American racism, and forward to hopeful, possible futures, Giovanni acts as our guide and narrator, with refreshingly unorthodox filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson refraining from traditional chronologies or talking-head conventions. GOING TO MARS is fueled by constant intellectual engagement and radical imagination in the search for emotional and political fulfillment in a world of disenfranchisement.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Enthnology.; Social sciences.; Literature.; Arts.; History, Modern.; Human rights.; Sociology.; Homosexuality.; Documentary films.; Ethnicity.; LGBTQ.; Artists.; Current affairs.; History.; Poetry.; African Americans.; Biography.;
unAPI

Stray dogs : stories / by Hage, Rawi,author.;
"From the internationally acclaimed, award-winning author of De Niro's Game and Beirut Hellfire Society, a riveting, cosmopolitan collection of stories set in places around the world. In Montreal, a failed photographer's surprise encounter with Sophia Loren leads to a revelation about his dead mother. In Baghdad, a translator is held captive while facilitating work on a secret deal between Iraq and the United States. In Beirut, a disillusioned geologist eagerly awaits the impending destruction of a tsunami. And in Tokyo, in the mesmerizing title story of this collection, a young Palestinian graduate of an American university is shaken by news from the Persian Gulf. Rawi Hage's Stray Dogs travels between states--both nation states and states of mind--to vividly explore the sometimes shocking ways our fragile modern identities are born, die, and live again in our fragmented, globalized world. Politically astute, philosophically wise, compassionate and observant, startlingly relevant and caustically funny, these stories reveal the unique vision of Rawi Hage at his very best."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Short stories.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Autonomy : a novel / by Hetherington, Victoria,1989-author.;
"As 2037 Canada is ravaged by illness, one woman and her AI companion enter a dangerous bubble of the superrich. Montreal, 2035: a fledging synthetic consciousness "wakes up" in a lab. Jenny, the lead developer, determined to nurture this synthetic being like a child, trains it for work with people at the border of the Canadian Protectorate. She names it Julian. Toronto, 2037: Canada has been annexed by a tightly conservative United States. Slaton, a therapist at a university, is framed by a student for arranging an illegal abortion. She follows the student to America and is detained at the border. In virtual space she meets Julian, and he becomes her constant companion. Meanwhile, a mysterious plague spreads across the world. Only the far seeing and well-connected Julian can protect Slaton from the impending societal collapse. Reminiscent of Don DeLillo's contemplative hyperrealities and Margaret Atwood's frightening future worlds, Autonomy is an ambitious philosophical novel about the possibilities for love in a world in which human bodies are either threatened or irrelevant."--
Subjects: Dystopian fiction.; Artificial intelligence; Plague; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Pure colour / by Heti, Sheila,1976-author.;
"Here we are, just living in the first draft of creation, which was made by some great artist, who is now getting ready to tear it apart. In this first draft, a woman named Mira leaves home for school. There, she meets Annie, whose tremendous power opens Mira's chest like a portal--to what, she doesn't know. When Mira is older, her beloved father dies, and she enters the strange and dizzying dimension that true loss opens up. Pure Colour tells the story of a life, from beginning to end. It is a galaxy of a novel: explosive, celestially bright, huge, and streaked with beauty. It is a contemporary bible, an atlas of feeling, and a shape-shifting epic. Sheila Heti is a philosopher of modern experience, and she has reimagined what a book can hold."--
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Philosophical fiction.; Death; Grief; Loss (Psychology); Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Two-step devil : a novel / by Quatro, Jamie,author.;
In Two-Step Devil, Quatro delivers a striking and formally inventive story of the unlikely relationship between two strangers on the margins of society and the shadowy forces that threaten their futures. It's 2014 in Lookout Mountain, Alabama, where the Prophet -- a seventy-year-old man who paints his visions -- lives off the grid in a cabin near the Georgia border. While scrounging for materials at the local dump, the Prophet sees a car pull up to an abandoned gas station. In the back seat is a teenage girl with zip ties on her wrists, a girl he realizes he must rescue from her current life. Her name is Michael and the Prophet feels certain that she is his Big Fish, a messenger preordained by God to take his collection of end-times warnings to the White House. Moving through the worlds of the Prophet, the girl, and the devil who presides over both of them, Two-Step Devil is a propulsive, philosophical examination of fate and faith that dares to ask what salvation, if any, can be found in our modern world"--
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Prophets; Visions; Faith; Girls;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Dinosaurs : a novel / by Millet, Lydia,1968-author.;
"A stunning new novel from the author of A Children's Bible, a National Book Award finalist and one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2020. Over twelve novels and two collections Lydia Millet has emerged as a major American novelist. Hailed as "a writer without limits" (Karen Russell) and "a stone-cold genius" (Jenny Offill), Millet makes fiction that vividly evokes the ties between people and other animals and the crisis of extinction. Her exquisite new novel is the story of a man named Gil who walks from New York to Arizona to recover from a failed love. After he arrives, new neighbors move into the glass-walled house next door and his life begins to mesh with theirs. In this warmly textured, drily funny, and philosophical account of Gil's unexpected devotion to the family, Millet explores the uncanny territory where the self ends and community begins-what one person can do in a world beset by emergencies. Dinosaurs is both sharp-edged and tender, an emotionally moving, intellectually resonant novel that asks: In the shadow of existential threat, where does hope live?"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Satirical literature.; Novels.; Friendship; Neighbors; Walking;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Results 101 to 110 of 173 | « previous |