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Nexus A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI [electronic resource] : by Harari, Yuval Noah.aut; cloudLibrary;
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world. For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive? Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence. Information is not the raw material of truth, nor is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Future Studies; Civilization;
© 2024., McClelland & Stewart,
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This one wild and precious life : the path back to connection in a fractured world / by Wilson, Sarah,1974-author.;
Will you sleep through the revolution? Or do you want to wake up and reclaim your one, wild and precious life? From New York Times bestselling author Sarah Wilson comes a spiritual guidebook for surviving and thriving during challenging times. Many of us are living with the sense that things are not right with the world, as global problems like the pandemic, the climate crisis, political polarization, and social injustice mount, leaving us in a state of spiritual PTSD. We have retreated, morally and psychologically; we are experiencing a crisis of disconnection--from one another, from our true values, from joy, and from life as we feel we are meant to be living it. Sarah Wilson argues that this sense of despair and disconnection is ironically what unites us--that deep down, we are all feeling that same itch for a new way of living. This One Wild and Precious Life opens our eyes to how we got here and offers a radically hopeful path forward. Drawing on science, literature, philosophy and the wisdom of some of the world's leading experts, and her personal journey, Wilson weaves a one-of-a-kind narrative that lights the way back to the life we love. En route, she shows us how to wake up and reconnect with life with "wild practices."
Subjects: Self-help publications.; Environmental psychology.; Nature and civilization.; Quality of life.; Loneliness.; Solitude.; Social isolation.; Social change.; Alienation (Social psychology); Self-realization.; Self-actualization (Psychology);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Magnificent rebels : the first romantics and the invention of the self / by Wulf, Andrea,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the best-selling author of The Invention of Nature comes an exhilarating story about a remarkable group of young rebels-poets, novelists, philosophers-who, through their epic quarrels, passionate love stories, heartbreaking grief, and radical ideas launched Romanticism onto the world stage, inspiring some of the greatest thinkers of the time. When did we begin to be as self-centered as we are today? At what point did we expect to have the right to determine our own lives? When did we first ask the question, How can I be free? It all began in a quiet university town in Germany in the 1790s, when a group of playwrights, poets, and writers put the self at center stage in their thinking, their writing, and their lives. This brilliant circle included the famous poets Goethe, Schiller, and Novalis; the visionary philosophers Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel; the contentious Schlegel brothers; and, in a wonderful cameo, Alexander von Humboldt. And at the heart of this group was the formidable Caroline Schlegel, who sparked their dazzling conversations about the self, nature, identity, and freedom. The French revolutionaries may have changed the political landscape of Europe, but the young Romantics incited a revolution of the mind that transformed our world forever. We are still empowered by their daring leap into the self, and by their radical notions of the creative potential of the individual, the highest aspirations of art and science, the unity of nature, and the true meaning of freedom. We also still walk the same tightrope between meaningful self-fulfillment and destructive narcissism, between the rights of the individual and our responsibilities toward our community and future generations. At the heart of this inspiring book is the extremely modern tension between the dangers of selfishness and the thrilling possibilities of free will"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Authors, German; Romanticism; Self in literature.; Self-realization.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Resistance in a Hostile Environment: Black Power. by Amponsah, George,film director.; Kulaaya, Daniel,actor.; BBC Studios (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Daniel KulaayaOriginally produced by BBC Studios in 2021.Charting the period between 1961 and 1971, this is a searing account of how members of the British Black Power movement challenged police oppression and political prejudice. At the heart of the documentary is a series of astonishing interviews with past activists, many of whom are speaking for the first time about what it was really like to be involved in the British Black Power movement, bringing to life one of the key cultural revolutions in the history of the nation.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Enthnology.; Social sciences.; Criminal law.; Balts (Indo-European people).; Foreign study.; Sociology.; Documentary films.; Ethnicity.; Current affairs.; History.; Violence.; Racism.; African diaspora.; Police brutality.; Race relations.; British Isles.; Africa--History.;
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October : the story of the Russian Revolution / by Miéville, China,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Acclaimed fantasy author China Mieville plunges us into the year the world was turned upside down The renowned fantasy and science fiction writer China Mieville has long been inspired by the ideals of the Russian Revolution and here, on the centenary of the revolution, he provides his own distinctive take on its history. In February 1917, in the midst of bloody war, Russia was still an autocratic monarchy: nine months later, it became the first socialist state in world history. How did this unimaginable transformation take place? How was a ravaged and backward country, swept up in a desperately unpopular war, rocked by not one but two revolutions? This is the story of the extraordinary months between those upheavals, in February and October, of the forces and individuals who made 1917 so epochal a year, of their intrigues, negotiations, conflicts and catastrophes. From familiar names like Lenin and Trotsky to their opponents Kornilov and Kerensky; from the byzantine squabbles of urban activists to the remotest villages of a sprawling empire; from the revolutionary railroad Sublime to the ciphers and static of coup by telegram; from grand sweep to forgotten detail. Historians have debated the revolution for a hundred years, its portents and possibilities: the mass of literature can be daunting. But here is a book for those new to the events, told not only in their historical import but in all their passion and drama and strangeness. Because as well as a political event of profound and ongoing consequence, Mieville reveals the Russian Revolution as a breathtaking story"--
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Rebel mother : my childhood chasing the revolution / by Andreas, Peter,author.;
"The adventure tale and intimate true story of a boy on the run with his mother, a housewife turned radical who kidnapped her son and set off for South America in search of the revolution. Carol Andreas was a traditional 1950s housewife from a small Mennonite town in central Kansas who became a radical feminist and Marxist revolutionary. From the late sixties to the early eighties, she went through multiple husbands and countless lovers while living in three states and five countries. She took her youngest son, Peter, with her wherever she went, even kidnapping him and running off to South America after his straitlaced father won a long and bitter custody fight. They were chasing the revolution together, though the more they chased it the more distant it became. They battled the bad "isms" (sexism, imperialism, capitalism, fascism, consumerism), and fought for the good "isms" (feminism, socialism, communism, egalitarianism). They were constantly running, moving, hiding. Between the ages of five and eleven, Peter attended more than a dozen schools and lived in more than a dozen homes, moving from the comfortably bland suburbs of Detroit to a hippie commune in Berkeley to a socialist collective farm in pre-military coup Chile to highland villages and coastal shantytowns in Peru. When they secretly returned to America they settled down clandestinely in Denver, where his mother changed her name to hide from his father. This is an extraordinary account of a deep mother-son bond and the joy and toll of growing up with a radical mother in a radical age. Andreas is an insightful and candid narrator whose unforgettable memoir gives new meaning to the old saying, "the personal is political.""--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Biographies.; Andreas, Peter, 1965-; Andreas, Carol.; Andreas, Peter, 1965-; Americans; Americans; College teachers; Feminists; Mothers and sons; Radicalism; Women political activists; Women revolutionaries;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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On nostalgia / by Berry, David(David M.),1984-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."From Mad Men to MAGA: how nostalgia came to be and why we are so eager to indulge it. A remake of Home Alone, the incessant anniversarizing of past events, the trendiness of the "artisanal," the fervor for Friends, the return of the LP, and more: nostalgia is all the rage. From movies to politics, this ceaseless looking backward is one of the most potent forces of our era. On Nostalgia is a panoramic cultural history of nostalgia, exploring how a force that started as a psychological diagnosis of soldiers fighting far from home has become a quintessentially modern condition. Drawing on everything from the modern science of memory to the romantic ideals of advertising, and traversing cultural movements from futurism to fascism to Facebook, cultural critic David Berry examines how the relentless search for self and overwhelming presence of mass media stokes the fires of nostalgia, making it as inescapable as it is hard to pin down. Holding fast against the pull of the past while trying to understand what makes the fundamental impossibility of return so appealing, On Nostalgia explores what it means to remember, how the universal yearning is used by us and against us, and it considers a future where the past is more readily available and easier to lose track of than it ever has been"--
Subjects: Nostalgia.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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How to be well : navigating our self-care epidemic, one dubious cure at a time / by Larocca, Amy,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A groundbreaking cultural, political, and personal exploration of the multi-billion dollar wellness industry and the ways it's shaping our thinking about health and self-care. Peleton. Pilates. Biohacking. Colonics. Ashweganda. Today, the wellness industry is a $3.7 trillion dollar behemoth that touches us all. In this urgently needed book, journalist Amy Larocca peels back the layers behind the movement and reckons with its promises and profits. How did we get here and how did the idea of wellness become integrated with women's lives? How to Be Well takes readers into the communities that swear by their activated charcoal toothpaste and green juice enemas, explaining what each of these practices really are -- and what the science says. Larocca holds a magnifying glass to alternative medicine and nouveau lifestyle prescriptions, delivering an incisive assessment of how the wellness industry embodies our (gendered, class-based, racialized) perceptions of care and self-improvement, and how it preys upon our unshakeable fear of the unknown. She traces the history of how the beauty and fashion industries has peddled snake oil to women for decades -- and why we keep coming back for more. A nuanced portrait of the weird world of wellness, How to Be Well lays bare the ways in which the simple notion of caring for oneself has become a seriously big business"--
Subjects: Health products; Health promotion; Women; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Dark age / by Brown, Pierce,1988-author.;
For a decade Darrow led a revolution against the corrupt color-coded Society. Now, outlawed by the very Republic he founded, he wages a rogue war on Mercury in hopes that he can still salvage the dream of Eo. But as he leaves death and destruction in his wake, is he still the hero who broke the chains? Or will another legend rise to take his place? Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile, has returned to the Core. Determined to bring peace back to mankind at the edge of his sword, he must overcome or unite the treacherous Gold families of the Core and face down Darrow over the skies of war-torn Mercury. But theirs are not the only fates hanging in the balance. On Luna, Mustang, Sovereign of the Republic, campaigns to unite the Republic behind her husband. Beset by political and criminal enemies, can she outwit her opponents in time to save him? Once a Red refugee, young Lyria now stands accused of treason, and her only hope is a desperate escape with unlikely new allies. Abducted by a new threat to the Republic, Pax and Electra, the children of Darrow and Sevro, must trust in Ephraim, a thief, for their salvation--and Ephraim must look to them for his chance at redemption. As alliances shift, break, and re-form-and power is seized, lost, and reclaimed-every player is at risk in a game of conquest that could turn the Rising into a new Dark Age.
Subjects: Science fiction.; Dystopian fiction.; Government, Resistance to; Space colonies;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The plague year : America in the time of Covid / by Wright, Lawrence,1947-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, whose best-selling thriller The End of the October all but predicted our current pandemic, comes another momentous account, this time of COVID-19: its origins, its myriad repercussions, and the ongoing fight to contain it. Beginning with the absolutely critical first moments of the outbreak in China, and ending with an epilogue on the vaccine rollout and the unprecedented events between the election of Joseph Biden and his inauguration, Lawrence Wright's The Plague Year surges forward with essential information--and fascinating historical parallels--examining the medical, economic, political, and social ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright takes us inside the CDC, where the first round of faulty test kits cost America precious time; inside the halls of the White House, where Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger's early alarm about the virus was met with great skepticism; into a COVID ward in a Charlottesville hospital, with an idealistic young woman doctor from Little Africa, South Carolina; into the precincts of prediction specialists at Goldman Sachs; and even inside the human body, diving deep into the science of just how the virus and vaccines function, with an eye-opening detour into the history of vaccination and of the modern anti-vaxxer movement. In turns steely eyed, sympathetic, infuriated, comical, and always precise, Wright is a formidable guide, slicing through the dense fog of misinformation to give us a 360-degree portrait of the catastrophe we thought we knew. His full accounting does honor to the medical professionals around the country who've risked their lives to fight the virus, revealing America in all its vulnerability, courage, and potential"--
Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease); COVID-19 (Disease); COVID-19 (Disease); COVID-19 (Disease);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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