Future Technology

As the world around us increases in technological complexity, our understanding of it diminishes. Underlying this trend is a single idea: The belief that our existence is understandable through computation, and more data is enough to help us build a better world. In reality, we are lost in a sea of information, increasingly divided by fundamentalism, simplistic narratives, conspiracy theories, and post-factual politics. Author James Bridle surveys the history of art, technology, and information systems and reveals the dark clouds that gather over our dreams of the digital sublime.

Charles Eisenstein explores the history and potential future of civilization, tracing the converging crises of our age to the illusion of the separate self. He argues that our disconnection from one another and the natural world has mislaid the foundations of science, religion, money, technology, economics, medicine, and education as we know them. It has fired our near-pathological pursuit of technological Utopias even as we push ourselves and our planet to the brink of collapse.

Artificial intelligence is forecasted to have trillions of dollars of impact on businesses and the economy, yet many marketers struggle to understand what it is and how to apply it in their marketing efforts. The truth is, AI possesses the power to change everything. Marketing Artificial Intelligence draws on years of research and dozens of interviews with AI marketers, executives, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Roetzer and Kaput present the current potential of AI, as well as a glimpse into the near future.

In The Second Machine Age, Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson predicted some of the far-reaching effects of digital technologies on our lives and businesses. Now they’ve written a guide to help listeners make the most of our collective future. Machine | Platform | Crowd outlines the opportunities and challenges inherent in the science fiction technologies that have come to life in recent years, like self-driving cars and 3D printers, online platforms for renting outfits and scheduling workouts, or crowd-sourced medical research and financial instruments.

From the written word to the cell phone, human communication has come a long way. What might the future hold? Listeners can discover how virtual reality, holograms, and a fully connected "internet of things" may affect how they communicate in the near and distant future.

As advances in AI spark fear and confusion, The Mind’s Mirror reminds us that in spite of the very real and pressing challenges, AI is a force with enormous potential to improve human life. Computer scientist and AI researcher Daniela Rus, along with science writer Gregory Mone, offers an expert perspective as a leader in the field who has witnessed many technological hype cycles. Rus and Mone illustrate the ways in which AI can help us become more productive, knowledgeable, creative, insightful, and even empathetic, as well as the many risks associated with misuse.

Voice is the next technology—remarkably similar in potential impact to the internet and mobile computing—poised to change the way the world works. Tobias Dengel is in the vanguard of this breakthrough, understanding the deep, wide-ranging implications voice will have for every industry. In The Sound of the Future, he connects the dots about this emerging paradigm to vividly illustrate how business leaders can stay ahead of the game, rather than scrambling to catch up, as voice technology gradually reveals its power, creating a host of new winners and losers.

“Kill it with fire”, the typical first reaction to a legacy system falling into obsolescence, is a knee-jerk approach that often burns through tons of money and time only to result in a less efficient solution. This book offers a far more forgiving modernization framework, laying out smart value-add strategies and proven incremental techniques that work equally well for ancient systems and brand-new ones.

Technology - at least in theory - is improving our productivity, efficiency, and communication. The one thing it's not doing is making us happier. We are experiencing historically high levels of depression and dissatisfaction. But it doesn't have to be that way. Technology can drive - not diminish - human happiness.

From immersive virtual reality games to social media with 3-D holograms, listeners can find out what cool new technologies might change the way they are entertained.

AI + The New Human Frontier: Reimagining the Future of Time, Trust + Truth by Erica Orange, a renowned futurist, offers a compelling exploration of generative AI's potential to enhance human creativity rather than replace it. This pivotal book navigates how AI tools will help shape the human experience, and aid in augmenting human ingenuity and imagination.

What will it take to restore balance to our world, repair past injustices, and support future generations' survival? Looking deeply into the web of life that created and supports us, and drawing inspiration from diverse cultural traditions and perspectives, spirited thinkers Michael Pawlyn and Sarah Ichioka propose a bold set of regenerative principles with potential to transform how we design, make, and manage our buildings; infrastructure; and communities.

"AI for Educators" will empower you to: 1) Navigate the ethical maze of AI with confidence and grace. 2) Prepare your students for jobs that don't even exist yet. 3) Become the cool teacher who "gets it" in the eyes of your tech-savvy students.

Are you tired of feeling misunderstood? Of seeing things coming but not being believed? Of being told you care too much? If you answered “yes,” you're not alone. In a world that elevates loud voices and three word chants, it can feel like your deep empathy and perception hold you back. But what if these qualities are your greatest strengths—and what if AI can help you harness them to bring your dreams to life?

Our world runs on energy! But traditional fossil fuels are doing great damage to the environment, and they will eventually run out. How might solar, water, wind and geothermal power come to our rescue? Listeners can discover how different the world could look in the future with energy sources that are clean and renewable.

Acclaimed futurist, author, and digital strategist Bernard Marr delivers a compelling and engaging discussion of the technologies driving the impending—and ongoing—transformation of the internet, including blockchain, augmented reality (AR), and more. In the book, you'll explore the risks and opportunities presented by these game-changing techs and how they might impact you, your organization, and community.

You’re not alone. Teachers everywhere face the same challenges. But there’s a solution. AI for Educators will help you enhance classroom engagement, cut down on admin tasks, and keep up with AI-driven trends in education.

Dive into AI Meets UX: Designing the Next Generation of User-Centered Products, the ultimate audiobook for designers, product managers, developers, and AI enthusiasts. This step-by-step guide explores how to craft ethical, innovative, and user-centered experiences powered by AI. Discover the basics of AI technologies like machine learning and natural language processing, learn how to design for trust and transparency, tackle ethical challenges, and collaborate effectively across teams.

Artificial intelligence surrounds us. More and more of the systems and services you interact with every day are based on AI technology. Most AI is narrowly specific; that is, it can only do a single thing, in a single context. Human intelligence is different. We can solve a variety of tasks, including those we have not seen before. In Artificial General Intelligence, Julian Togelius explores technical approaches to developing more general artificial intelligence and asks what general AI would mean for human civilization.

The New York Times best-selling author heralds the future of business in Free. In his revolutionary best seller, The Long Tail, Chris Anderson demonstrated how the online marketplace creates niche markets, allowing products and consumers to connect in a way that has never been possible before. Now, in Free, he makes the compelling case that, in many instances, businesses can profit more from giving things away than they can by charging for them.