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El. knyga: Defying Dystopia: Going on with the Human Journey After Technology Fails Us [Taylor & Francis e-book]

  • Formatas: 224 pages
  • Išleidimo metai: 30-May-2016
  • Leidėjas: Routledge
  • ISBN-13: 9780203793626
  • Taylor & Francis e-book
  • Kaina: 161,57 €*
  • * this price gives unlimited concurrent access for unlimited time
  • Standartinė kaina: 230,81 €
  • Sutaupote 30%
  • Formatas: 224 pages
  • Išleidimo metai: 30-May-2016
  • Leidėjas: Routledge
  • ISBN-13: 9780203793626
To most, the collapse of modern civilization is the stuff of fiction. Yet, science confirms that misuse of technology and environmental abuse places our world in grave danger of ruin. The World Scientists' Warning to Humanity places our civilization on a collision course. Defying Dystopia analyses how we have come to this, and what options remain for far-seeing people to take control of their own destiny and survive the future.

Ed Ayres, who has worked with some iconic environmental scientists of the past half-century, argues that technology was originally used to augment the natural strengths of humans, but has been increasingly used in ways that weaken usshifting from useful work to the industries of distraction, entertainment, convenience, pain-relief, and sedation. Ayres advises on how at least some of us can avoid that collision. The most critical task, for those of us who want humanity to survive and thrive, is to disengage from our tech thraldom, and shift to a conscious management of our evolution in which we use technology to enhance our skills and strengths rather than erode or supplant them.

Ayres provides insightful, actionable suggestions we can use to increase our odds of survival. He asks far-seeing individuals to take on a mission that the dominant governments and institutions demonstrably cannot: the epic task of shepherding a low-profile, resilient transition to a new kind of human future.
Prologue: Waking Up vii
1 Losing Balance
Technologies Tilting the Wrong Way
1(10)
2 Big-Picture Thinking
How Some of Us Came to See What We Now See
11(10)
3 The Numbing
When Our Devices and Distractions Become Our Pacifiers
21(16)
4 The Weakening
Unnoticed Effects of Effort-Saving Technology
37(26)
5 The New Trojan Horse
Why the Takeover Has Not Been Seen For What It Is
63(18)
6 The Stumbling
A Slow-Footed Species in a Sprint Economy
81(18)
7 The Footprint of the Future
We Are Not Cows!
99(6)
8 Seeing Past Dystopia
Facing up to Malthus, Orwell, Super-Storm Sandy... and What?
105(18)
9 Reigniting Imagination
In Search of Our Lost Abilities to Anticipate, Envision, and Plan
123(14)
10 Hands, Feet, Bare Skin, and Privacy
The Last Bastions of Natural Strength
137(8)
11 Overriding Evolution
A Course of High Adventure and Uncertain Salvation
145(18)
12 Breaking Away
Blazing Paths to a New Human Future
163(12)
13 A New Beginning
Essential Steps Toward Long-Run Survival
175(16)
Appendix: Further Reading and Resources 191(16)
Index 207
John Harte is Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and former director general of the Canadian Institute of Marketing. He worked in South Africa for J. Walter Thompson, the global advertising and marketing agency, and was the vice-president of marketing for General Electric.