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Chargement... Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Thinkpar Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. Weird time to read a book that is so optimistic about the future, given the current dire state of affairs politically, where a fascist like Donald Trump may become President, and at the bookstore and cineplex, where people who don't even really know what dystopia means other than as a genre to be capitalized (I like Dystopian....) flock to the latest fiction where the world has Done Gone To Hell in record numbers. Not sure if I'm totally buying it, but then again, as a human, I'm wired to engage in any number of pessimistic and illogical misperceptions of reality, according to the book. This why people say the world is going down the tubes when it is not, the book argues. I hope the state of abundance comes true. It's optimism unbridled by any sort of criticism. The irony that in this same book the author warns against confirmation and availability bias is sublime. The level of delusion is explained by the author's position. He is an extremely intelligent man who routinely hangs around the smartest people on the planet and spends most of his time on pioneering projects so obviously his world view is a little skewed. He also uses the line that should be a capital offence: "this is already possible to do with off-the-shelf components". And OLPC was not a success regardless of how many times the author repeats the claim. A few other projects he mentions were also less successful than the book's description would lead you to believe. All this is needlessly dishonest. Perhaps not a bad book, but definitely not what I was looking for. I'm sympathetic to the book's thesis: that technological and social progress can overcome many of the seemingly insurmountable problems facing the world today, such as hunger, illiteracy, and above all resource scarcity. But ultimately I found this to be a thin, too-breezy take on this vital question. The authors offer a relentless array of examples and anecdotes about dramatic advances that are *just around the corner* from transforming the world, but not a rigorous argument as to why the massive changes they predict will actually occur. Objections, pitfalls and side effects are ignored or waved aside in a few passing remarks and a brief appendix. Too much of the book seemed to be Diamandis and his techno-philantropist friends talking about all the cool things they're doing. At the root of my distaste for the book is probably a disconnect between the authors' goal and my goal as a reader. They were trying to inculcate optimism in readers and counter pessimistic, Malthusian takes on modern society. I wanted a serious discussion of ideas: what does history show about human socioeconomic progress? To what degree can we expect those trends to continue into the future, and to what degree can we expect something different? What have been the costs of "progress" in the past and what does this teach us about what we can expect going forward? How does technology affect, and how is it affected by, culture and politics? What new breakthroughs will likely have the biggest impacts, or could have such an impact if things previously thought impossible become possible? If you're not looking for a book of intellectual futurism, "Abundance" may be more to your liking than mine. As it happens, I've read a number of books that were more in line with my desires (something that probably contributed to my dislike of "Abundance" — I might have liked it more if I'd read it at the beginning of my education). Among those still very accessible books I'd recommend for readers with an interest in the subject: Alvin Toffler's [b:The Third Wave|67482|The Third Wave|Alvin Toffler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387744496s/67482.jpg|65446], Steven Pinker's [b:The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined|11107244|The Better Angels of Our Nature Why Violence Has Declined|Steven Pinker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1311281857s/11107244.jpg|16029496], Robert Wright's [b:Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny|1124380|Nonzero The Logic of Human Destiny|Robert Wright|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320391999s/1124380.jpg|820748], Amartya Sen's [b:Development as Freedom|173961|Development as Freedom|Amartya Sen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320411543s/173961.jpg|168039] and [b:The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better|10276354|The Great Stagnation How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better|Tyler Cowen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1296495889s/10276354.jpg|15176955].
In the forthcoming book Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think, Peter H. Diamandis (chairman and CEO of the X-Prize Foundation and cofounder and chairman of Singularity University) and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler give us an extensive tour of the latest in exponentially growing technologies and explore how four emerging forces — exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, the Technophilanthropist, and the Rising Billion — are conspiring to solve humanity’s biggest problems. “This brilliant must-read book provides the key to the coming era of abundance, replacing eons of scarcity,” says Ray Kurzweil, inventor and author of The Singularity is Near. Matt Ridley, author of the Rational Optimist, agrees: “This vital book … gives us a blinding glimpse of the innovations that are coming our way. …” Stewart Brand, editor of the Whole Earth Catalog, describes the book as “comprehensively sampl[ing] … the profound innovations going on to improve the human condition.” The authors make a compelling case for optimism. We are introduced to dozens of innovators and industry captains making tremendous strides in healthcare, agriculture, energy, and other fields: Dean Kamen’s “Slingshot,” a technology that can transform polluted water, salt water, or even raw sewage into incredibly high-quality drinking water for less than one cent a liter; the Qualcomm Tricorder X-Prize, which promises a low-cost, handheld medical device that allows anyone to diagnose themself better than a board-certified doctor; and Dickson Despommier’s “vertical farms,” which replace traditional agriculture with a system that uses 80 percent less land, 90 percent less water, and 100 percent fewer pesticides, with zero transportation costs. As a bonus, the authors provide a detailed reference section filled with 90 graphs, charts, and graphics offering much of the source data underpinning their conclusions. Prix et récompensesDistinctions
The authors document how four forces--exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, the Technophilanthropist, and the Rising Billion--are conspiring to solve our biggest problems. "Abundance" establishes hard targets for change and lays out a strategic roadmap for governments, industry and entrepreneurs, giving us plenty of reason for optimism. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)303.48Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Social Processes Social change Causes of changeClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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Peter Diamandis reports on, and believes in, the medical, technological and societal changes that every now and then pop above the line of invisible development to disrupt and upend, in a positive way, many of the things we took for granted that would forever be this way. ( )