Showing titles in Future Studies

'The twenty-first century’s counterpart to Hobbes’s Leviathan.’ EMMANUELE COCCIA What has happened to the nation-state? From a prizewinning writer, After Nations offers a sweeping history of this most unquestioned of modern structures and a bold speculation about its future. Until recently...

The founder of the international Transition Towns movement asks why true creative, positive thinking is in decline, asserts that it's more important now than ever, and suggests ways our communities can revive and reclaim it.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Bold futurist Ray Kurzweil, author of The Singularity Is Near, offers a framework for envisioning the future of machine intelligence—“a book for anyone who wonders where human technology is going next” (The New York Times Book Review). “Kurzweil offers a...

Douglas Adams was a passionate technology enthusiast. His best-selling The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is full of futuristic tech, and in 1990 he predicted something very like the World Wide Web in the BBC2 film Hyperland. So in 1999, he was the natural choice to present Radio 4’s The Internet: The Last 20th Century Battleground. In it, he looked at the explosion in online communication, the evolution of cyberspace, and the risks and opportunities of the new virtual world.

This fresh perspective on crucial questions of history identifies the root metaphors that cultures have used to construct meaning in their world. It offers a glimpse into the minds of a vast range of different peoples: early hunter-gatherers and farmers, ancient Egyptians, traditional Chinese sages, the founders of Christianity, trailblazers of the Scientific Revolution, and those who constructed our modern consumer society.

A fascinating, eye-opening, and often shocking look at what lies ahead for the United States—and the world—from one of our most incisive futurists George Friedman has become a leading expert in geopolitical forecasting, sought after for his unmatched grasp of both historical and contemporary...

There are an infinite number of possible futures that lie ahead of us—like threads stretching out into the distance. Rob Hopkins, cofounder of the international Transition Network movement, invites us to travel to future worlds we would actually want to live in.

The science of making the most of in-person work - whether it's one day a week or five. For the first time in history, millions of workers can do their jobs from anywhere - and the result is the most contentious workplace debate in generations. Now In Person offers the post-pandemic data that...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab, read by Nicholas Guy Smith. The founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum on how the impending technological revolution will change our lives We are on the brink...

Brought to you by Penguin. What can humankind’s rich history of radical revolts teach us about the power of disobedience to tackle the climate crisis? What inspiration could we take from eighteenth century Japan to create a regenerative economy today? How might understanding the origins of...

In 1968, Stewart Brand declared: 'We are as gods - and we might as well get good at it.' Half a century later, that prophecy has come true. We can rewrite genes, edit embryos, build artificial minds, extend life, and terraform worlds. The old miracles - omniscience, omnipresence, even...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Novacene written by James Lovelock, read by Roy McMillan. James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis and the greatest environmental thinker of our time, has produced an astounding new theory about future of life on Earth. He argues that the...

Our fascination with AI stems from the perceived uniqueness of human intelligence. We believe it's what differentiates us. Fears of AI not only concern how it invades our digital lives, but also the implied threat of an intelligence that displaces us from our position at the centre of the world. Neil D. Lawrence's visionary book shows why these fears may be misplaced. By contrasting our own intelligence with the capabilities of machine intelligence through history, The Atomic Human reveals the technical origins, capabilities and limitations of AI systems, and how they should be wielded.

Brought to you by Penguin. Imagination and creativity are at the root of every uniquely human achievement and those achievements have brought us to this present moment. We are now the largest population in human history: seven and half billion people, rising to nine billion by 2050. Our...

National Bestseller From the New York Times bestselling authors of Abundance, Bold, and The Future Is Faster Than You Think comes a bold exploration of what it means to stay human in a world where technology has granted us godlike power. In 1968, Stewart Brand declared: “We are as gods—and...

Brought to you by Penguin. Gold (noun): A precious, yellow metal, prized for its beauty. Inert, immune to corrosion, highly malleable though with little utility. Seen as pure wealth. The definitive biography of the metal that has shaped our world – and may yet determine its fate. The Secret...

'Book of the Year' as chosen by The Conversation 'Disconcerting . . . a disturbing and important book' NEW SCIENTIST 'Smart and wonderfully readable' NEW YORK TIMES The bad science and sinister ideas behind Silicon Valley's foolish obsession with immortality, AI paradise and limitless growth...

Brought to you by Penguin. We all want to know what on earth is going on. Why real wages are flatlining but taxes are rising, and public services are still collapsing. Why our children can’t afford a house and our neighbours are using foodbanks. We are all yearning for a way out of the...

Brought to you by Penguin. How do we raise children in a climate emergency? What should we teach them - and what kind of future are we preparing them for? Ben Rawlence began writing to his eldest daughter before she was born, trying to understand what it means to bring a child into a world...