BOOKS
Get ready to transform your notions of friendship, work, home life, warfare, education and nearly every nook and cranny of modern life.
If there’s one universal trait among humans, it’s our social nature. The craving to connect is universal, compelling and frequently irresistible. While we like to think of ourselves as eminently rational beings, our social and emotional wiring says something different. This concept is at the center of Robots and the People Who Love Them: Holding On to Our Humanity in an Age of Social Robots.
Drawing upon recent research in the development of AI-enabled, socially interactive robots, including how people react to them; how, in our minds, the boundaries between the real and unreal are routinely blurred when we interact with them; and how their feigned emotions evoke our real ones, this book takes readers through the gamut of what it will be like to live with social robots and still hold on to our humanity.
“Captivating…This is sure to spark conversation.”
— Publisher’s Weekly
Links to Publisher’s Weekly Articles
New Book Announcement | Interview of Author Eve Herold
Never before in the history of medicine has mankind faced such hope and peril as those of us poised to embrace the radical medical technologies in development today. Beyond Human: How Cutting-Edge Science is Extending Our Lives examines the technologies taking shape at the nexus of computing, microelectronics, engineering, nanotechnology, cell and gene therapies and robotics. The innovations will dramatically transform health and allow us to live very long lives. Yet these blessings come with complicated practical and ethical issues, some of which we can predict, But many we cannot.
Beyond Human asks the difficult questions of scientists and bioethicists who seek to ensure that as our bodies and brains become ever more artificial, we retain our essential humanity. In this new world, will everyone have access to technological miracles, or will we end up living in a world of radical disparities? How will society accommodate lifespans that extend into hundreds of years? Will we and our descendants be able to bring about the dream of a future liberated by technology, or will we end up merely serving the machines and devices that keep us healthy, smart, young and alive?
“Eve Herold reveals how the accelerated and inevitable convergence of technologies crafted by human ingenuity are impacting our health and changing our species—hopefully for the better. Through riveting stories of patients undergoing groundbreaking life-altering treatments, Herold chronicles the mind-blowing human enhancements taking place at this very moment.”
— Bernard Siegel, JD, Executive Director, Regenerative Medicine Foundation, Healthspan Action Coalition
When scientists first isolated embryonic, “master” cells, no one could have predicted that this obscure branch of biomedical research would set off a firestorm of controversy. Yet the field of embryonic stem cells research spawned intense debates, and became one of the most contentious wedge issues in modern history. While over 100 million Americans await the cures that current medicine cannot offer them, the most promising research of a generation was held hostage by politics.
Stem Cell Wars shows how this science has propelled us to reexamine some of our most cherished assumptions. It explains what the science is all about, who is for and against it, and why it must go forward. It pulls together fascinating stories to highlight every aspect of this multifaceted field.
The book also chronicles the Korean cloning tragedy that shook the world in 2005. From meeting and interviewing Woo Suk Hwang, attending the opening ceremonies of the Korean World Stem Cell Hub and meeting Snuppy, the world’s first cloned dog, to being called in to investigate rumors of impropriety, Herold bears witness to one of the most spectacular scientific frauds of all time. In the end, she uncovers the most compelling lesson of all—that knowledge in today’s world cannot be suppressed, but with knowledge comes great responsibility.
Packed with the real-life stories of the people caught up in this groundbreaking struggle, Stem Cell Wars cuts through the noise and sets the standard for future debate.
“Comprehensive and concise, Stem Cell Wars provides an indispensable primer for anyone interested in what promises to be the most significant medical science breakthrough in our lifetimes. It should also serve as a timely antidote to the politically inspired misinformation surrounding this important issue.”
— Ron Reagan
