Science fiction as a vital bridge between technoscience and culture, an early warning system, a method for imagining differently.In the new millennium, science fiction has moved from the margins to the mainstream. At the same time, it has undergone massive transformations. No longer can it be derided as indigestible technobabble or escapist trash or a white man’s playground—not that it ever really was. Sf is rich and diverse, serious, and fun. A vital bridge between technoscience and culture, it is an early warning system, a method for imagining differently, and a way of experiencing our increasingly science-fictional world. It is the vernacular of the 21st century. This Is Not A Science Fiction Textbook brings together leading sf scholars, including some of the most exciting new critical voices, to introduce the genre for the general reader. Its first part outlines some key ideas used to think about sf, such as Estrangement, Extrapolation, and Alterity. Its second part maps some of the genre’s global history, from the Enlightenment and European colonialism to Indigenous and African Futurisms. Its third part surveys sf at the turn of the 2020s, organised by concepts, movements and new academic disciplines, from Afrofuturism and Animal Studies to Queer Theory and the Weird—and each chapter, whether it is on Climate Fiction or Neurodiversity, is accompanied by an introduction to a major contemporary novel and film.
"An EKS book describing the arguments for and against a universal basic income, drawing on research from around the world, with a particular focus on likelihood of adoption within the United States"--
Translation of: Dictionnaire des gestes: attitudes et mouvements expressifs en usage dans le monde entier.
"Using the non-human construct of the cyborg, this book address the problems inherent in difference and oppression, like gender, race, class, disability, sexuality, human exceptionalism and global borders"--
"Taking its point of departure from the writings of Karl Marx, Walter Benjamin, and Fredric Jameson, this book is a kind of training manual for understanding the role and place of reading and writing within the political domain, and for imagining-across time but without losing the specificity of particular historical moments-the grounds for a collective political imagination able to extract hope from what Cadava and Melsio call the archives of communal grief"--
The early essays of the most influential French film critic of the post-68 period.The Footlights (1983) was the first book by Serge Daney, a film critic admired in his lifetime by Gilles Deleuze and Jean-Luc Godard and recognized since his premature death in 1992 as the most important French writer on film after André Bazin. The Footlights stands apart in Daney’s body of work as the only collection of his essays he conceived of as a book, organizing his seminal pieces from Cahiers du Cinéma by theme and linking them with original texts that reflect in a personal voice on the doubts, battles, and illuminations of a generation of film lovers inspired by the explorations of Lacanian theory and roused by the collective aspirations of Maoist dogma. In pieces on fellow travelers Godard and Straub/Huillet, on films ranging from Pasolini’s Saló to Spielberg’s Jaws, and on the difference between film language and television discourse, Daney offers a definitive portrait of an era of radical hope and disappointment.
"A new translation of Karel Capek's 1920 play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), with essays from contemporary writers and scientists"--
"This is a collection of stories about possible future communications platforms -- how those technologies might affect social and political structures, and how they play out differently in various geographies and social strata"--
"Shows why the design field has consistently failed to attract Black professionals, how Eurocentric hegemony impacts Black designers & how to create an antiracist, pro-Black design industry instead"--
"This book tells the stories of women physicists from around the world who transformed science. Many of them discovered invisible objects in the universe, and all wore a cloak of invisibility throughout their careers. Their remarkable stories of scientific innovation, inspirational leadership and overcoming invisibility deserve to go viral"--
The scholarship, research, and criticism of women who developed key theories of communication and methods for the study of media.The Ghost Reader: Recovering Women’s Contributions to Media Studies offers a fresh perspective on the intellectual history of the field of media studies, a broad scholarly field that encompasses the interdisciplinary and overlapping fields of media studies, cultural studies, and communication studies. By recovering the work of the diverse group of women who labored at the margins of media studies as it took shape during the formative years of communication research between the 1930s and the 1950s, and providing scholarly contexts for this work, The Ghost Reader shows that “intersectional considerations” were key modes of engagement for intellectuals, academics, and activists who happened to be women. They did so decades before feminist perspectives were reintegrated into histories of the field.
"Boldly illustrated mix of essays, poems, surveys, and manifestos that deliver an inclusive, celebratory, finger-on-the-pulse revelation of gender in the act of transforming"--
"The non-fiction of J. G. Ballard: statements, essays, articles, commentaries, lists, reviews, tributes, and more"--
Feminist scholars from around the world on key debates and concerns ranging from motherhood, home, and family to media, technology, and medicine.This thought-provoking book is written by prominent feminist scholars from around the world. It is engaging and accessible, distilling the highest level of knowledge into fascinating but concise entries. This Is Not A Feminism Textbook offers a clear, straightforward overview of key feminist debates and concerns ranging from motherhood, home, work and family to media, technology, and medicine. This book is a must-read for everyone who is curious about the sex/gender distinction, and the relation between gender and other aspects of identity; and it tackles plenty more questions along the way. Are smart homes really smart? Will technology save the world? What does class have to do with feminism? And what does ‘intersectionality’ actually mean? The work of feminism to help create a more just and equal society is not yet done. This book provides a roadmap to inspire each and every reader to continue exploring, thinking about, discussing, and ‘doing’ feminism. ContributorsCelia Roberts, Amber Jamilla Musser, Simidele Dosekun, Sara R. Farris, Chiara Pellegrini, Cynthia Barounis, Suzanne Leonard, Yolande Strengers, Heather Berg
"Shuttling between 1967 and 2023, 'Earlier' is a record of relationships forming and sensibilities coming to life. Frere-Jones's prose floats between clinically precise fragments and a wide orbit of revelations, pleasures, and accidents. As music critic Alex Ross observes, "It is weird to write a book about yourself, as this book is well aware. Sasha Frere-Jones, a writer of nonchalant, rope-a-dope power, drops the illusion of self-knowledge and instead offers up a kaleidoscope of memory shards, faithful to the chaos of inner and outer worlds." 'Earlier' is fundamentally a musical book, rooted in the interaction of rhythm, line, and voice. The main characters are one place and three decades: New York City, as seen in the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Begun in 2010, 'Earlier' was completed at the request of Deborah Homes, the mother of Frere-Jones's two sons. Holmes died in January 2021."--
A vision of the future of education in which the classroom experience is distributed across space and time without compromising learning.What if there were a model for learning in which the classroom experience was distributed across space and time--and students could still have the benefits of the traditional classroom, even if they can't be present physically or learn synchronously? In this book, two experts in online learning envision a future in which education from kindergarten through graduate school need not be tethered to a single physical classroom. The distributed classroom would neither sacrifice students' social learning experience nor require massive development resources. It goes beyond hybrid learning, so ubiquitous during the COVID-19 pandemic, and MOOCs, so trendy a few years ago, to reimagine the classroom itself.David Joyner and Charles Isbell, both of Georgia Tech, explain how recent developments, including distance learning and learning management systems, have paved the way for the distributed classroom. They propose that we dispense with the dichotomy between online and traditional education, and the assumption that online learning is necessarily inferior. They describe the distributed classroom's various delivery modes for in-person students, remote synchronous students, and remote asynchronous students; the goal would be a symmetry of experiences, with both students and teachers able to move from one mode to another. With The Distributed Classroom, Joyner and Isbell offer an optimistic, learner-centric view of the future of education, in which every person on earth is turned into a potential learner as barriers of cost, geography, and synchronicity disappear.
Why the United States lags behind other industrialized countries in sharing the benefits of innovation with workers and how we can remedy the problem.The United States has too many low-quality, low-wage jobs. Every country has its share, but those in the United States are especially poorly paid and often without benefits. Meanwhile, overall productivity increases steadily and new technology has transformed large parts of the economy, enhancing the skills and paychecks of higher paid knowledge workers. What’s wrong with this picture? Why have so many workers benefited so little from decades of growth? The Work of the Future shows that technology is neither the problem nor the solution. We can build better jobs if we create institutions that leverage technological innovation and also support workers though long cycles of technological transformation.Building on findings from the multiyear MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, the book argues that we must foster institutional innovations that complement technological change. Skills programs that emphasize work-based and hybrid learning (in person and online), for example, empower workers to become and remain productive in a continuously evolving workplace. Industries fueled by new technology that augments workers can supply good jobs, and federal investment in R&D can help make these industries worker-friendly. We must act to ensure that the labor market of the future offers benefits, opportunity, and a measure of economic security to all.
A concise and accessible explanation of the science and technology behind the domestication of nuclear fusion energy.Nuclear fusion research tells us that the Sun uses one gram of hydrogen to make as much energy as can be obtained by burning eight tons of petroleum. If nuclear fusion—the process that makes the stars shine—could be domesticated for commercial energy production, the world would gain an inexhaustible source of energy that neither depletes natural resources nor produces greenhouse gases. In Star Power, Alan Bécoulet offers a concise and accessible primer on fusion energy, explaining the science and technology of nuclear fusion and describing the massive international scientific effort to achieve commercially viable fusion energy.Bécoulet draws on his work as Head of Engineering at ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) to explain how scientists are trying to “put the sun in a box.” He surveys the history of nuclear power, beginning with post–World War II efforts to use atoms for peaceful purposes and describes how energy is derived from fusion, explaining that the essential principle of fusion is based on the capacity of nucleons (protons and neutrons) to assemble and form structures (atomic nuclei) in spite of electrical repulsion between protons, which all have a positive charge. He traces the evolution of fusion research and development, mapping the generation of electric current though fusion. The ITER project marks a giant step in the development of fusion energy, with the potential to demonstrate the feasibility of a nuclear fusion reactor. Star Power offers an introduction to what may be the future of energy production.
Leading economists and policymakers consider what economic tools are most effective in reversing the rise in inequality.Economic inequality is the defining issue of our time. In the United States, the wealth share of the top 1% has risen from 25% in the late 1970s to around 40% today. The percentage of children earning more than their parents has fallen from 90% in the 1940s to around 50% today. In Combating Inequality, leading economists, many of them current or former policymakers, bring good news: we have the tools to reverse the rise in inequality. In their discussions, they consider which of these tools are the most effective at doing so.The contributors express widespread agreement that we need to aim policies at economic inequality itself; deregulation and economic stimulus will not do the job. No longer does anyone ask, in relation to expanded social programs, “Can we pay for it?” And most believe that US taxes will have to rise—although they debate whether the progressivity should focus on the revenue side or the expenditure side, through broad-based taxes like the VAT or through a wealth tax aimed at the very top of the income scale. They also consider the philosophical aspects of inequality—whether it is bad in itself or because of its consequences; the risks and benefits of more radical interventions to change the nature of production and trade; and future policy directions.ContributorsDaron Acemoglu, Philippe Aghion, Danielle Allen, Ben Ansell, David Autor, Sheri Berman, Marianne Bertrand, Olivier Blanchard, Lucas Chancel, William Darity Jr., Peter Diamond, Christian Dustmann, David T. Ellwood, Richard Freeman, Caroline Freund, Jason Furman, Hilary Hoynes, Lawrence F. Katz, Wojciech Kopczuk, N. Gregory Mankiw, Nolan McCarty, Dani Rodrik, Jesse Rothstein, Emmanuel Saez, T. M. Scanlon, Heidi Shierholz, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Stefanie Stantcheva, Michael Stynes, Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Philippe Van Parijs, Gabriel Zucman
A bold, groundbreaking argument by a world-renowned expert that unless we treat free speech as the fundamental human right, there can be no others.What are human rights? Are they laid out definitively in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the US Bill of Rights? Are they items on a checklist—dignity, justice, progress, standard of living, health care, housing? In The Most Human Right, Eric Heinze explains why global human rights systems have failed. International organizations constantly report on how governments manage human goods, such as fair trials, humane conditions of detention, healthcare, or housing. But to appease autocratic regimes, experts have ignored the primacy of free speech. Heinze argues that goods become rights only when citizens can claim them publicly and fearlessly: free speech is the fundamental right, without which the very concept of a “right” makes no sense. Heinze argues that throughout history countless systems of justice have promised human goods. What, then, makes human rights different? What must human rights have that other systems have lacked? Heinze revisits the origins of the concept, exploring what it means for a nation to protect human rights, and what a citizen needs in order to pursue them. He explains how free speech distinguishes human rights from other ideas about justice, past and present.
From Go Fund Me to philanthropy: the everyday ways that we can give our money, our time, and even our data to help our communities and seek justice.In How We Give Now, Lucy Bernholz shows that philanthropy is more than writing a check and claiming a tax deduction. For most of us--the non-wealthy givers--philanthropy can be a way of living our values and fully participating in society. We give in all kinds of ways--shopping at certain businesses, canvassing for candidates, donating money, and making conscious choices with our retirement funds. We give our cash, our time, and even our data to make the world a better place. Bernholz takes readers on a tour of the often-overlooked worlds of participatory philanthropy, learning from a diverse group of forty resourceful givers.Donating our digitized personal data is an emerging form of philanthropy, and Bernholz describes safe, equitable, and effective ways of doing so--giving genetic data for medical research through a nonprofit genetics organization rather than a commercial one, for example, or contributing photographs to an online archive like the Densho Digital Repository, which documents America's internment of 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent. Bernholz tells us to "follow the money," however, when we're asked to "add a dollar" to our total at the cash register, or when we buy a charity-branded product; it's more effective to give directly than to give while shopping.Giving is a form of participation. Philanthropy by the rest of us--across geographies and cultural traditions--begins with and builds on active commitment to our communities.
"This book debunks 10 myths about how hard it really is to design privacy-friendly systems" --
Why it takes more than microloans to empower women and promote sustainable, inclusive economic growth.Nearly one billion women have been completely excluded from the formal financial system. Without even a bank account in their own names, they lack the basic services that most of us take for granted—secure ways to save money, pay bills, and get credit. Exclusion from the formal financial system means they are economic outsiders, unable to benefit from, or contribute to, economic growth. Microfinance has been hailed as an economic lifeline for women in developing countries—but, as Mary Ellen Iskenderian shows in this book, it takes more than microloans to empower women and promote sustainable, inclusive economic growth.Iskenderian, who leads a nonprofit that works to give women access to the financial system, argues that the banking industry should view these one billion “unbanked” women not as charity cases but as a business opportunity: a lucrative new market of small business owners, heads of households, and purchasers of financial products and services. Iskenderian shows how financial inclusion can be transformative for the lives of women in developing countries, describing, among other things, the informal moneylenders and savings clubs that women have relied on, the need for both financial and digital literacy (and access) as mobile phones become a means of banking, and the importance of women’s property rights. She goes on to make the business case for financial inclusion, exploring the ways that financial institutions are adapting to help women build wealth, access capital, and manage risks. Banks can do the right thing—and make money while doing so—and all of us can benefit.
An exploration of the practice of inventing languages, from speaking in tongues to utopian schemes of universality to the discoveries of modern linguistics.In Imaginary Languages, Marina Yaguello explores the history and practice of inventing languages, from religious speaking in tongues to politically utopian schemes of universality to the discoveries of modern linguistics. She looks for imagined languages that are autonomous systems, complete unto themselves and meant for communal use; imaginary, and therefore unlike both natural languages and historically attested languages; and products of an individual effort to lay hold of language. Inventors of languages, Yaguello writes, are madly in love: they love an object that belongs to them only to the extent that they also share it with a community.Yaguello investigates the sources of imaginary languages, in myths, dreams, and utopias. She takes readers on a tour of languages invented in literature from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, including that in More’s Utopia, Leibniz’s “algebra of thought,” and Bulwer-Lytton’s linguistic fiction. She examines the linguistic fantasies (or madness) of Georgian linguist Nikolai Marr and Swiss medium Hélène Smith; and considers the quest for the true philosophical language. Yaguello finds two abiding (and somewhat contradictory) forces: the diversity of linguistic experience, which stands opposed to unifying endeavors, and, on the other hand, features shared by all languages (natural or not) and their users, which justifies the universalist hypothesis.Recent years have seen something of a boom in invented languages, whether artificial languages meant to facilitate international communication or imagined languages constructed as part of science fiction worlds. In Imaginary Languages (an updated and expanded version of the earlier Les Fous du langage, published in English as Lunatic Lovers of Language), Yaguello shows that the invention of language is above all a passionate, dizzying labor of love.
An exhilarating, genre-bending exploration of curiosity's powerful capacity to connect ideas and people.Curious about something? Google it. Look at it. Ask a question. But is curiosity simply information seeking? According to this exhilarating, genre-bending book, what's left out of the conventional understanding of curiosity are the wandering tracks, the weaving concepts, the knitting of ideas, and the thatching of knowledge systems-the networks, the relations between ideas and between people. Curiosity, say Perry Zurn and Dani Bassett, is a practice of connection: it connects ideas into networks of knowledge, and it connects knowers themselves, both to the knowledge they seek and to each other. Zurn and Bassett-identical twins who write that their book "e;represents the thought of one mind and two bodies"e;-harness their respective expertise in the humanities and the sciences to get irrepressibly curious about curiosity. Traipsing across literatures of antiquity and medieval science, Victorian poetry and nature essays, as well as work by writers from a variety of marginalized communities, they trace a multitudinous curiosity. They identify three styles of curiosity-the busybody, who collects stories, creating loose knowledge networks; the hunter, who hunts down secrets or discoveries, creating tight networks; and the dancer, who takes leaps of creative imagination, creating loopy ones. Investigating what happens in a curious brain, they offer an accessible account of the network neuroscience of curiosity. And they sketch out a new kind of curiosity-centric and inclusive education that embraces everyone's curiosity. The book performs the very curiosity that it describes, inviting readers to participate-to be curious with the book and not simply about it.
"The book offers a framework for how to make innovation leaps more likely - and shows how radically improved technology can help solve the major challenges the world currently faces"--
"The follow up to Sexus Animalis: the sex lives of plants, but more broadly, sexuality as the key to evolution. Plant sexuality is a bit of a controversial claim (in line with the notion of animal beauty) and difficult to prove, but an effective general-audience lens to looking at botanical diversity"--
"Datafication threatens human rights, including privacy and the right to self-determination. This book argues not that we should own but that we are our data; and it proposes an expansion of international human rights to recognize and protect our data selves along with our physical ones"--
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