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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: 0 / Total copies: 1
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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
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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
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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
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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.;
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The history of philosophy / by Grayling, A. C.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages [599]-610) and index."The first authoritative and accessible single-volume history of philosophy to cover both Western and Eastern traditions, from one of the world's most eminent thinkers The story of philosophy is the story of who we are and why. An epic tale, spanning civilizations and continents, it explores some of the most creative minds in history. But not since the long-popular classic Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy, published in 1945, has there been a comprehensive and entertaining single-volume history of this great, intellectual, world-shaping journey. With characteristic clarity and elegance, A. C. Grayling takes the reader from the worldviews and moralities before the age of the Buddha, Confucius and Socrates through Christianity's capture of the European mind, from the Renaissance and Enlightenment on to Mill, Nietzsche, Sartre and, finally, philosophy today. Bringing together these many threads that all too often run parallel, he surveys in tandem the great philosophical traditions of India, China and the Persian-Arabic world"--
Subjects: Philosophy;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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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
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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: 1 / Total copies: 1
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After the North Pole : a story of survival, mythmaking, and melting ice / by Kagge, Erling,author.; Dickson, Kari,translator.; translation of:Kagge, Erling.Nordpolen Natur, myter, eventyrlyst og smeltende is.English.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 325-343).Throughout recorded human time, few places on Earth have inspired as much fascination as the North Pole. This is an otherworldly place with no latitude and no longitude, a place where the sun rises and stays aloft for six months before setting, plunging the expanse of ice and water into darkness for half a year. Long before we ever journeyed to the North Pole, human beings have wondered what the northernmost point of our planet might be like. It became densely mythologized by writers, thinkers, historians and philosophers across civilizations. Perhaps it was the actual garden of Eden? Or the sunny land of the Hyperboreans, as Herodotus surmised? Only recently did we get to the North Pole -- fending off scurvy, polar bears and frostbite -- to report on its strange wonders. A memoir from the Norwegian explorer recounts his 58-day ski journey to the North Pole, offering a gripping adventure story and a deep reflection on nature, human resilience and the profound significance of this remote region.
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Kagge, Erling; Adventure and adventurers; Skis and skiing; Survival;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Days of light : a novel / by Hunter, Megan,1984-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Easter Sunday, 1938. Ivy is nineteen and ready for her life to finally begin. Her sprawling, bohemian family and their friends gather in the idyllic English countryside for lunch, arranging themselves around well-worn roles. They trade political views and artistic arguments as they impatiently await the arrival and first sight of Frances, the new beau of Ivy's beloved older brother, Joseph. In this auspicious atmosphere of springtime, Ivy's world feels on the cusp of something grand -- but neither she nor those closest to her predicts how a single, enchanted evening and an unexpected tragedy will alter the rest of their lives. A radiant, philosophical, and intimate journey through time, Days of Light chronicles six pivotal days across six decades to tell the story of Ivy's pursuit of answers -- to the events of this fateful Easter Sunday and to the shifting desires of her own heart. Moving through the Second World War up to the close of the 20th century, Hunter captures the galvanic love and transformative moments that define a winding, beautiful life."--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Desire; Faith; Families; Friendship; Life change events; Man-woman relationships; Missing persons;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Results 101 to 110 of 179 | « previous |