What To Expect When You're Expecting Robots
What To Expect When You're Expecting Robots

Author: Laura Major

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2020-10-13

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1541699106

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The next generation of robots will be truly social, but can we make sure that they play well in the sandbox? Most robots are just tools. They do limited sets of tasks subject to constant human control. But a new type of robot is coming. These machines will operate on their own in busy, unpredictable public spaces. They'll ferry deliveries, manage emergency rooms, even grocery shop. Such systems could be truly collaborative, accomplishing tasks we don't do well without our having to stop and direct them. This makes them social entities, so, as robot designers Laura Major and Julie Shah argue, whether they make our lives better or worse is a matter of whether they know how to behave. What to Expect When You're Expecting Robots offers a vision for how robots can survive in the real world and how they will change our relationship to technology. From teaching them manners, to robot-proofing public spaces, to planning for their mistakes, this book answers every question you didn't know you needed to ask about the robots on the way.

Power Trip
Power Trip

Author: Michael E. Webber

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2019-05-07

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1541644387

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A global tour of energy--the builder of human civilization and also its greatest threat. Energy is humanity's single most important resource. In fact, as energy expert Michael E. Webber argues in Power Trip, the story of how societies rise can be told largely as the story of how they manage energy sources through time. In 2019, as we face down growing demand for and accumulating environmental impacts from energy, we are at a crossroads and the stakes are high. But history shows us that energy's great value is that it allows societies to reinvent themselves. Power Trip explores how energy has transformed societies of the past and offers wisdom for today's looming energy crisis. There is no magic bullet; energy advances always come with costs. Scientific innovation needs public support. Energy initiatives need to be tailored to individual societies. We must look for long-term solutions. Our current energy crisis is real, but it is solvable. We have the power.

Frost
Frost

Author: M. P. Kozlowsky

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Published: 2016-10-11

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0545833264

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Cinder meets The Walking Dead in a chilling futuristic fairy tale that will reboot everything you thought about family, love... and what it means to be human. Before he died, Frost's father uploaded his consciousness into their robot servant. But the technology malfunctioned, and now her father fades in and out. So when Frost learns that there might be medicine on the other side of the ravaged city, she embarks on a dangerous journey to save the only living creature she loves.With only a robot as a companion, Frost must face terrors of all sorts, from outrunning the vicious Eaters. . .to talking to the first boy she's ever set eyes on. But can a girl who's only seen the world through books and dusty windows survive on her own?

Blood in the Machine
Blood in the Machine

Author: Brian Merchant

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2023-09-26

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 0316487732

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"The most important book to read about the AI boom" (Wired): The "gripping" (New Yorker) true story of the first time machines came for human jobs—and how the Luddite uprising explains the power, threat, and toll of big tech and AI today Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker, Wired, and the Financial Times • A Next Big Idea Book Club "Must-Read" The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than starve at the hands of factory owners who were using automated machines to erase their livelihoods. The Luddites organized guerrilla raids to smash those machines—on punishment of death—and won the support of Lord Byron, enraged the Prince Regent, and inspired the birth of science fiction. This all-but-forgotten class struggle brought nineteenth-century England to its knees. Today, technology imperils millions of jobs, robots are crowding factory floors, and artificial intelligence will soon pervade every aspect of our economy. How will this change the way we live? And what can we do about it? The answers lie in Blood in the Machine. Brian Merchant intertwines a lucid examination of our current age with the story of the Luddites, showing how automation changed our world—and is shaping our future.

High Tech Harvest
High Tech Harvest

Author: Paul Lurquin

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2007-10-15

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0465009921

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Genetically engineered plant products line the shelves of our grocery stores but we don't know which ones they are because no label identifies them. Should we be concerned? Biotech companies claim that engineered corn and canola are safe, but are they telling the truth? Should we, like the Europeans, be engaging in violent protests against biotechnology? In High Tech Harvest , Paul Lurquin answers these questions and more, believing that the public has a right to know and understand how its food is manipulated at the most basic level, that of the DNA itself. With the goal to inform, and a mission to reinforce the importance of the scientific method, Paul Lurquin writes a comprehensive and user-friendly description of the scientific origins, the development, and the applications of genetically modified plants throughout the world today.

I, Robot
I, Robot

Author: Howard S. Smith

Publisher: Robot Binaries and Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1894689062

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In this technothriller, a Japanese detective stumbles onto deployment of military robots. With cutting-edge technology, I, Robot is a fast read.

I Heart Robot
I Heart Robot

Author: Suzanne van Rooyen

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-09-21

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9781985773479

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Sixteen-year-old Tyri wants to be a musician and wants to be with someone who gets her musical aspirations. Q-I-99, aka 'Quinn, ' lives in a scrap metal sanctuary with other rogue droids. While some use violence to make their voices heard, demanding equal rights for AI enhanced robots, Quinn just wants a moment on stage with his violin to show the humans that androids like him have more to offer than their processing power. Tyri and Quinn's worlds collide when they're accepted by the Baldur Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. As the rift between robots and humans deepens, Tyri and Quinn's love of music draws them closer together, forcing Tyri to question where her loyalties lie and Quinn to question his place in the world. With the city on the brink of civil war, will Tyri's and Quinn's passion for music be enough to hold them together while everything else crumbles down around them, or will the truth of who they are tear them apart?

A Robot in the Garden
A Robot in the Garden

Author: Deborah Install

Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published: 2016-05-10

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1492631272

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For fans of THE ROSIE PROJECT and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME, a broken man and his damaged robot build an unlikely friendship—with some assembly required. Ben's really great at failing at things—his job, being a husband, taking the garbage out. But then he finds a battered robot named Tang in his garden. And Tang needs Ben. More ornery and prone to tantrums than one would expect from something made of gears and springs, Tang desperately must be fixed—and he just might be the thing to fix what's broken in Ben. Together they will discover that friendship can rise up under the strangest of circumstances, and what it really means to be human. Funny, touching, charming, wise, and a bit unusual, A Robot in the Garden is a gem of a first novel, perfect for anyone who has ever found it difficult to connection with the world. "Our hero is a FANTASTIC and UNFORGETTABLE creation, and so is this absolute marvel of a novel."—Neil Smith, author of Bang Crunch and Boo "An inventive and utterly charming tale...heartwarming."—Booklist, Starred Review

What To Expect When You're Expecting Robots
What To Expect When You're Expecting Robots

Author: Laura Major

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2020-10-13

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1541699106

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The next generation of robots will be truly social, but can we make sure that they play well in the sandbox? Most robots are just tools. They do limited sets of tasks subject to constant human control. But a new type of robot is coming. These machines will operate on their own in busy, unpredictable public spaces. They'll ferry deliveries, manage emergency rooms, even grocery shop. Such systems could be truly collaborative, accomplishing tasks we don't do well without our having to stop and direct them. This makes them social entities, so, as robot designers Laura Major and Julie Shah argue, whether they make our lives better or worse is a matter of whether they know how to behave. What to Expect When You're Expecting Robots offers a vision for how robots can survive in the real world and how they will change our relationship to technology. From teaching them manners, to robot-proofing public spaces, to planning for their mistakes, this book answers every question you didn't know you needed to ask about the robots on the way.

Boy Robot
Boy Robot

Author: Simon Curtis

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-10-25

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1481459295

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Seventeen-year-old Isaak discovers the truth about his origin and the underground forces that must come together to fight against a secret government organization formed to eradicate those like him in this high-octane science fiction debut. There once was a boy who was made, not created. In a single night, Isaak’s life changed forever. His adoptive parents were killed, a mysterious girl saved him from a team of soldiers, and he learned of his own dark and destructive origin. An origin he doesn’t want to believe, but one he cannot deny. Isaak is a Robot: a government-made synthetic human, produced as a weapon and now hunted, marked for termination. He and the Robots can only find asylum with the Underground—a secret network of Robots and humans working together to ensure a coexistent future. To be protected by the Underground, Isaak will have to make it there first. But with a deadly military force tasked to find him at any cost, his odds are less than favorable. Now Isaak must decide whether to hold on to his humanity and face possible death…or to embrace his true nature in order to survive, at the risk of becoming the weapon he was made to be. In his debut, recording artist Simon Curtis has written a fast-paced, high-stakes novel that explores humanity, the ultimate power of empathy, and the greatest battle of all: love vs. fear.