Computer Age

Today's teenagers spend about nine hours per day online. Parents of this ultra-connected generation struggle with decisions completely new to parenting: Should an 8-year-old be allowed to go on social media? How can parents help their children gain the most from the best aspects of the digital age? How can we keep kids safe from digital harm?

The late 19th century was a period of explosive technological creativity, but arguably the most important invention of all was Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulb. Unveiled in his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory in 1879, the light bulb overwhelmed the American public with the sense of the birth of a new age. More than any other invention, the electric light marked the arrival of modernity.

The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), designed to quickly deliver thermonuclear weapons to distant targets, was the central weapons system of the Cold War. ICBMs also carried the first astronauts and cosmonauts into orbit. More than a generation later, we are still living with the political, technological, and scientific effects of the space race, while nuclear-armed ICBMs remain on alert and in the headlines around the world. Christopher Gainor explores the US Air Force's decision, in March 1954, to build the Atlas, America's first ICBM.

In modern history, the story of capitalism has been a story of firms and financiers. That's all going to change thanks to the Big Data revolution. As Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, best-selling author of Big Data, and Thomas Ramge, who writes for The Economist, show, data is replacing money as the driver of market behavior. Big finance and big companies will be replaced by small groups and individual actors who make markets instead of making things: think Uber instead of Ford, or Airbnb instead of Hyatt. Will this be an age of prosperity or of calamity?

A new way of thinking that improves how we work, create and live, empowering listeners to outsmart AI—a tool that can never do what humans do.

From how to deal with cyberbullying to the strange, true stories behind Barbie and G.I. Joe, media insider Bill Ratner takes an inside look at our wired-up world in a fascinating book - part memoir, part parenting guide - for the digital age. Landing his first job in advertising at age fourteen, Ratner learned early that the media doesn't necessarily have our best interests at heart.

Rules in our traditional financial systems were once dictated by the powerful and the rich. However, this is all about to change. The crypto revolution is upon us, and it’s exponential rate of adoption is expected to lead humanity into a new age of wealth and utility. Unfortunately, blockchains and cryptocurrencies still remain to be among the most misunderstood technologies of the digital age.

Ninety-five percent of American kids have Internet access by age 11; the average number of texts a teenager sends each month is well over 3,000. More families report that technology makes life with children more challenging, not less, as parents today struggle with questions previous generations never faced: Is my 13-year-old responsible enough for a Facebook page? What will happen if I give my nine-year-old a cell phone?

Our screens offer us connection, especially now in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are certain depths of connection our screens can’t offer - to ourselves, to the natural world, and to each other. In this personal exploration of digital life’s impact on how we see the world, Howard Axelrod marshals science, philosophy, art criticism, pop culture, and his own experience of returning from two years of living in solitude in Northern Vermont. The Stars in Our Pockets is a timely reminder of the world around us and the worlds within us.

Cosa accadrebbe se l'intelligenza artificiale iniziasse a prendere decisioni morali al posto nostro? In 'L'altra faccia dell'intelligenza artificiale', Sindona esplora come l'IA stia ridefinendo i confini tra etica umana e decisioni automatizzate. Scoprirai come questi sistemi possono decidere efficacemente chi assumere durante i colloqui di lavoro benché sia impossibile capirne la logica. È giusto lasciare nelle mani di una scatola nera scelte così cruciali?

Drawing on years of work interpreting and explaining data about almost anything, renowned data journalist Kiko Llaneras offers practical tools and shortcuts to help you understand the numbers and make better decisions using a quantitative lens. Through a series of compelling examples, he reveals some of the surprising insights that a data-driven perspective can offer.

Today's parents are navigating a new frontier in child-rearing: raising "digital natives" in a world where "screen time" is ever-present. It's a journey strewn with questions, doubts, and persistent pings. But fear not. Parenting Unplugged turns these challenges into opportunities for humor, wisdom, and a screen savvy family life.

Twitter, Facebook, e-publishing, blogs, distance-learning and other social media raise some of the most divisive cultural questions of our time. Some see the technological breakthroughs we live with as hopeful and democratic new steps in education, information gathering, and human progress. But others are deeply concerned by the eroding of civility online, declining reading habits, withering attention spans, and the treacherous effects of 24/7 peer pressure on our young.

For decades, technology encouraged people to squander their time and intellect as passive consumers. Today, technology has finally caught up with human potential. In Cognitive Surplus, Internet guru Clay Shirky forecasts the thrilling changes we will all enjoy as new digital technology puts our untapped resources of talent and goodwill to use at last.

Are your kids unable to step away from the screens? Here is a practical, step-by-step guide that gives parents the tools to teach children, from toddlers to teens, how to gain control of their technology use.

Viral Voices: From TED Talks to TikTok, Persuasive Communication Skills for the Digital Age by Carmine Gallo is a forthcoming audio-original from Macmillan Audio.

The slippery online ecosystem is the perfect breeding ground for identities: true, false, and in between. The Internet shorthand IRL - "in real life" - now seems naïve. We no longer question the reality of online experiences but the reality of selfhood in the digital age. In The Secret Life, the essayist and novelist Andrew O'Hagan issues three bulletins from the porous border between cyberspace and IRL.

Gobiernos y cientos de empresas nos espían: a ti y a todos tus conocidos. Quieren predecir nuestro comportamiento e influir en él. Tienen demasiado poder. Su poder proviene de nosotros, de ti, de tus datos. Recuperar la privacidad es la única manera de que podamos asumir de nuevo el mando de nuestras vidas y de nuestras sociedades. Carissa Véliz explica cómo nuestros datos personales están cediendo demasiado poder a las grandes empresas tecnológicas y a los gobiernos, por qué esto es importante y qué podemos hacer al respecto.

Do you know that 60% of children around the world have experienced at least one cyber-risk such as cyber-bullying, technology addiction, misinformation, online sexual exploitation, and others? The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the digitalization of global society. Cyber-risks among children, digital skill gaps and societal instability due to fake news and cyber-threats, are rapidly increasing and widening inequality. Amidst these challenges, how can we move forward to realize a better future?

This audiobook narrated by Teri Schnaubelt explains how to put democracy at the heart of AI governance.