Human Virtuality And Digital Life

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Human Virtuality and Digital Life

Author : Víctor J. Krebs
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 9781315146423
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (464 download)

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Book Synopsis Human Virtuality and Digital Life by : Víctor J. Krebs

Download or read book Human Virtuality and Digital Life written by Víctor J. Krebs and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book is a psychoanalytic and philosophical exploration of how the digital is transforming our perception of the world and our understanding of ourselves. Drawing on examples from everyday life, myth, and popular culture, this book argues that virtual reality is only the latest instantiation of the phenomenon of the virtual, which is intrinsic to human being. It illuminates what is at stake in our understanding of the relationship between the virtual and the real, showing how our present technologies both enhance and diminish our psychological lives. The authors claim that technology is a pharmakon --at the same time both a remedy and a poison-- and in their writing exemplify a method that overcomes the polarization that compels us to regard it either as a liberating force or a dangerous threat in human life. The digital revolution challenges us to reckon with the implications of what is being called our posthuman condition, leaving behind our modern conception of the world as constituted by atemporal essences and reconceiving it instead as one of processes and change. The book's postscript considers the sudden plunge into the virtual effected by the 2020 global pandemic. Accessible and wide-reaching, this book will appeal not only to psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and philosophers, but anyone interested in the ways virtuality and the digital are transforming our contemporary lives"--

Human Virtuality and Digital Life

Author : Richard Frankel
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351379712
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (513 download)

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Book Synopsis Human Virtuality and Digital Life by : Richard Frankel

Download or read book Human Virtuality and Digital Life written by Richard Frankel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-08-12 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Gradiva® Best Book Award 2022, and the Courage to Dream Book Prize 2023 from the Academy of the American Psychoanalytic Association! This book is a psychoanalytic and philosophical exploration of how the digital is transforming our perception of the world and our understanding of ourselves. Drawing on examples from everyday life, myth, and popular culture, this book argues that virtual reality is only the latest instantiation of the phenomenon of the virtual, which is intrinsic to human being. It illuminates what is at stake in our understanding of the relationship between the virtual and the real, showing how our present technologies both enhance and diminish our psychological lives. The authors claim that technology is a pharmakon - at the same time both a remedy and a poison - and in their writing exemplify a method that overcomes the polarization that compels us to regard it either as a liberating force or a dangerous threat in human life. The digital revolution challenges us to reckon with the implications of what is being called our posthuman condition, leaving behind our modern conception of the world as constituted by atemporal essences and reconceiving it instead as one of processes and change. The book’s postscript considers the sudden plunge into the virtual effected by the 2020 global pandemic. Accessible and wide-reaching, this book will appeal not only to psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and philosophers, but anyone interested in the ways virtuality and the digital are transforming our contemporary lives.

Virtuality and Humanity

Author : Sam N. Lehman-Wilzig
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 9811665265
Total Pages : 347 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (116 download)

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Book Synopsis Virtuality and Humanity by : Sam N. Lehman-Wilzig

Download or read book Virtuality and Humanity written by Sam N. Lehman-Wilzig and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-01 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a pioneering study of virtuality through human history: ancient-to-modern evolution and recent expansion; expression in many fields (chapters on Religion; Philosophy, Math, Physics; Literature and the Arts; Economics; Nationhood, Government and War; Communication); psychological and social reasons for its universality; inter-relationship with "reality." The book's thesis: virtuality was always an integral part of humanity in many areas of life, generally expanding over the ages. The reasons: 1- brain psychology; 2- virtuality's six functions — escape from boredom to relieving existential dread. Other questions addressed: How will future neuroscience, biotech and "compunications" affect virtuality? Can/should there be limits to human virtualizing?

Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy

Author : David J. Chalmers
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393635813
Total Pages : 544 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (936 download)

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Book Synopsis Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy by : David J. Chalmers

Download or read book Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy written by David J. Chalmers and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2022-01-25 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading philosopher takes a mind-bending journey through virtual worlds, illuminating the nature of reality and our place within it. Virtual reality is genuine reality; that’s the central thesis of Reality+. In a highly original work of “technophilosophy,” David J. Chalmers gives a compelling analysis of our technological future. He argues that virtual worlds are not second-class worlds, and that we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. We may even be in a virtual world already. Along the way, Chalmers conducts a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. How do we know that there’s an external world? Is there a god? What is the nature of reality? What’s the relation between mind and body? How can we lead a good life? All of these questions are illuminated or transformed by Chalmers’ mind-bending analysis. Studded with illustrations that bring philosophical issues to life, Reality+ is a major statement that will shape discussion of philosophy, science, and technology for years to come.

Digital Cultures, Lived Stories and Virtual Reality

Author : Thomas Maschio
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000484475
Total Pages : 169 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis Digital Cultures, Lived Stories and Virtual Reality by : Thomas Maschio

Download or read book Digital Cultures, Lived Stories and Virtual Reality written by Thomas Maschio and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the meaning and experience of digital practice, emerging from work in the world of business and drawing on recent anthropological thinking on digital culture. Tom Maschio suggests that the digital is a space of a new "story culture" and considers the lived experience of new technologies. The chapters cover: storytelling in journalism and business with the new technology of virtual reality, the emerging meanings of social media and community building in the digital space, the uses and meanings of visual imagery online, and the cultural meanings of smartphone technology use and the "mobile life." The book incorporates ideas from humanistic anthropology and phenomenology in order to bring business problems into alignment with human concerns and desires, and to show the application of anthropological ideas to real-world issues. As well as anthropologists, the book will be valuable to business students and professionals interested in the digital realm.

The Oxford Handbook of Virtuality

Author : Mark Grimshaw
Publisher : Oxford Handbooks
ISBN 13 : 0199826161
Total Pages : 794 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Virtuality by : Mark Grimshaw

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Virtuality written by Mark Grimshaw and published by Oxford Handbooks. This book was released on 2014-02 with total page 794 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is a compendium of thinking on virtuality and its relationship to reality from the perspective of a variety of philosophical and applied fields of study. Topics covered include presence, immersion, emotion, ethics, utopias and dystopias, image, sound, literature, AI, law, economics, medical and military applications, religion, and sex.

Technology, Innovation and Creativity in Digital Society

Author : Daria Bylieva
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030897087
Total Pages : 1009 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Technology, Innovation and Creativity in Digital Society by : Daria Bylieva

Download or read book Technology, Innovation and Creativity in Digital Society written by Daria Bylieva and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-25 with total page 1009 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book requires an interdisciplinary understanding of creativity, ideal for the formation of a digital public culture. Educating students, young professionals and future engineers is to develop their capacity for creativity. Can creativity be learned? With this question, the relations of technology and art appear in a new light. Especially the notion of "progress" takes on a new meaning and must be distinguished from innovation. The discussion of particular educational approaches, the exploration of digital technologies and the presentation of best practice examples conclude the book. University teachers show how the teaching of creativity reinforces the teaching of other subjects, especially foreign languages.

Ethical Considerations of Virtual Reality in the College Classroom

Author : Melody Bowdon
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1003829236
Total Pages : 367 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Ethical Considerations of Virtual Reality in the College Classroom by : Melody Bowdon

Download or read book Ethical Considerations of Virtual Reality in the College Classroom written by Melody Bowdon and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-12-22 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethical Considerations of Virtual Reality in the College Classroom collects case studies that address both pedagogical and ethical foundations of extended reality tools in postsecondary learning environments across disciplines. With today’s institutional programs and faculty leveraging cutting-edge virtual, augmented, and mixed reality opportunities to teach and promote achievement goals, it is imperative that new research into these technologies speaks directly to their challenges and affordances within broad academic settings. This book showcases real-world examples of faculty members who chronicle and develop their use of VR tools across learning contexts and student populations by creating their own digital experiences, adapting open-source tools, integrating commercial products, amplifying crucial course content, analyzing outcomes data, and more. Nontechnical readers will come away with a new understanding of key terms and concepts associated with virtual reality and essential heuristics for evaluating the ethical implications of immersive approaches.

Artificial Intimacy

Author : Rob Brooks
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231553854
Total Pages : 387 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

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Book Synopsis Artificial Intimacy by : Rob Brooks

Download or read book Artificial Intimacy written by Rob Brooks and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2021-11-19 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens when the human brain, which evolved over eons, collides with twenty-first-century technology? Machines can now push psychological buttons, stimulating and sometimes exploiting the ways people make friends, gossip with neighbors, and grow intimate with lovers. Sex robots present the humanoid face of this technological revolution—yet although it is easy to gawk at their uncanniness, more familiar technologies based in artificial intelligence and virtual reality are insinuating themselves into human interactions. Digital lovers, virtual friends, and algorithmic matchmakers help us manage our feelings in a world of cognitive overload. Will these machines, fueled by masses of user data and powered by algorithms that learn all the time, transform the quality of human life? Artificial Intimacy offers an innovative perspective on the possibilities of the present and near future. The evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks explores the latest research on intimacy and desire to consider the interaction of new technologies and fundamental human behaviors. He details how existing artificial intelligences can already learn and exploit human social needs—and are getting better at what they do. Brooks combines an understanding of core human traits from evolutionary biology with analysis of how cultural, economic, and technological contexts shape the ways people express them. Beyond the technology, he asks what the implications of artificial intimacy will be for how we understand ourselves.

How We Became Posthuman

Author : N. Katherine Hayles
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226321398
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (263 download)

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Book Synopsis How We Became Posthuman by : N. Katherine Hayles

Download or read book How We Became Posthuman written by N. Katherine Hayles and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-05-15 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this age of DNA computers and artificial intelligence, information is becoming disembodied even as the "bodies" that once carried it vanish into virtuality. While some marvel at these changes, envisioning consciousness downloaded into a computer or humans "beamed" Star Trek-style, others view them with horror, seeing monsters brooding in the machines. In How We Became Posthuman, N. Katherine Hayles separates hype from fact, investigating the fate of embodiment in an information age. Hayles relates three interwoven stories: how information lost its body, that is, how it came to be conceptualized as an entity separate from the material forms that carry it; the cultural and technological construction of the cyborg; and the dismantling of the liberal humanist "subject" in cybernetic discourse, along with the emergence of the "posthuman." Ranging widely across the history of technology, cultural studies, and literary criticism, Hayles shows what had to be erased, forgotten, and elided to conceive of information as a disembodied entity. Thus she moves from the post-World War II Macy Conferences on cybernetics to the 1952 novel Limbo by cybernetics aficionado Bernard Wolfe; from the concept of self-making to Philip K. Dick's literary explorations of hallucination and reality; and from artificial life to postmodern novels exploring the implications of seeing humans as cybernetic systems. Although becoming posthuman can be nightmarish, Hayles shows how it can also be liberating. From the birth of cybernetics to artificial life, How We Became Posthuman provides an indispensable account of how we arrived in our virtual age, and of where we might go from here.

Dawn of the New Everything

Author : Jaron Lanier
Publisher : Henry Holt & Company
ISBN 13 : 1627794093
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (277 download)

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Book Synopsis Dawn of the New Everything by : Jaron Lanier

Download or read book Dawn of the New Everything written by Jaron Lanier and published by Henry Holt & Company. This book was released on 2017-11-21 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The guru of virtual reality looks back at the unique experiences that formed his vision for the future of technology With a singular voice and perspective, Lanier who The New York Times calls "daringly original . . . a major wizard in the futurist circus. He is the father of virtual reality in the gaudy, reputation-burnishing way that Michael Jackson was the king of pop" considers the future of virtual technology in a book that blends memoir with ideas. He tells the wild story of his own relationship with technology by starting from the beginning. The son of Jewish immigrants and concentration camp survivors, raised in the UFO territory of New Mexico, he lost his mother at a young age and built a geodesic dome with his father in the desert. He worked as a goatherd and midwife, attended college before graduating high school, transferred to and failed out of a tony northeast liberal arts college, played music for money on the streets of New York, and eventually landed in Silicon Valley at the dawn of the first tech boom where he suddenly became rich. This crazy course to becoming a world renowned technology guru informs Lanier's optimism about virtual reality--the technology he has been immersed in from its very start. While he has been very critical of social media and other manifestations of technology, he believes that virtual reality can actually make our lives richer and fuller.Dawn of the New Everything is ultimately a look at what it means to be human in the dawn of unprecedented technological possibility.

The Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity, and Technology

Author : David M. Goodman
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000895246
Total Pages : 597 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis The Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity, and Technology by : David M. Goodman

Download or read book The Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity, and Technology written by David M. Goodman and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-08-09 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge International Handbook of Psychoanalysis, Subjectivity, and Technology uniquely provides a comprehensive overview of human subjectivity in the technological age and how psychoanalysis can help us better understand human life. Presented in five parts, David M. Goodman and Matthew Clemente collaborate with an international community of scholars and practitioners to consider how psychoanalytic formulations can be brought to bear on the impact technology has had on the facets of human subjectivity. Chapters examine how technology is reshaping our understanding of what it means to be a human subject, through embodiment, intimacy, porn, political motivation, mortality, communication, interpersonal exchange, thought, attention, responsibility, vulnerability, and more. Filled with thought-provoking and nuanced chapters, the contributors approach technology from a diverse range of entry points but all engage through the lens of psychoanalytic theory, practice, and thought. This book is essential for academics and students of psychoanalysis, philosophy, ethics, media, liberal arts, social work, and bioethics. With the inclusion of timely chapters on the coronavirus pandemic and teletherapy, psychoanalysts in practice and training as well as other mental health practitioners will also find this book an invaluable resource.

Bodies in Technology

Author : Don Ihde
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 9780816638468
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis Bodies in Technology by : Don Ihde

Download or read book Bodies in Technology written by Don Ihde and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New technologies suggest new ideas about embodiment - our 'reach' extends to global sites through the Internet; we enter cyberspace through the engines of virtual reality. In this book, a leading philosopher of technology explores the meaning of bodies in technology—how the sense of our bodies and of our orientation in the world is affected by the various information technologies. 'Bodies in Technology' begins with an analysis of embodiment in cyberspace, then moves on to consider ways in which social theorists have interpreted or overlooked these conditions. An astute and sensible judge of these theories, Don Ihde is a uniquely provocative and helpful guide through contemporary thinking about technology and embodiment, drawing on sources and examples as various as video games, popular films, the workings of e-mail, and virtual reality techniques. Charting the historical, philosophical, and practical territory between virtual reality and real life, this work is an important contribution to the national conversation on the impact technology-and information technology in particular-has on our lives in a wired, global age.

Seeing Wittgenstein Anew

Author : William Day
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521838436
Total Pages : 413 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (218 download)

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Book Synopsis Seeing Wittgenstein Anew by : William Day

Download or read book Seeing Wittgenstein Anew written by William Day and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-03-15 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeing Wittgenstein Anew is a collection which examines Ludwig Wittgenstein's remarks on the concept of aspect-seeing, showing that it was not simply one more topic of investigation in Wittgenstein's later writings but rather a pervasive and guiding concept in his efforts to turn philosophy's attention to the actual conditions of our common life in language. The essays in this 2010 volume open up novel paths across familiar fields of thought: the objectivity of interpretation, the fixity of the past, the acquisition of language, and the nature of human consciousness. Significantly, they exemplify how continuing consideration of the interrelated phenomena of aspect-seeing might produce a fruitful way of doing philosophy in a new century.

The Adolescent Psyche

Author : Richard Frankel
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000902307
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis The Adolescent Psyche by : Richard Frankel

Download or read book The Adolescent Psyche written by Richard Frankel and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-06-30 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the classic edition of this outstanding book, originally published in 1998, Richard Frankel explores adolescence as a crucial, unique, and turbulent period of human development. He provides guidance for clinicians working with young people as they undergo significant transformations in the way they think, act, feel, and perceive the world. The book addresses how the disruptions manifest in adolescent behavior are upsetting and often incomprehensible to the adults surrounding them. It seeks to revision the traumas, extreme fantasies, testing of limits, etc., so endemic to this period of life through the lens of the urge toward self-realization. This allows for new and creative ways of working with the intensely confusing, and often extreme, countertransference feelings that arise in our encounter with adolescents. It offers ways of reflecting upon the vicissitudes of our own experience of being an adolescent that helps to unlock the typical impasses that occur in the stand-off between adult and adolescent ways of seeing the world. Through engagement with the work of Jung, Hillman, and Winnicott, Frankel offers a critique of the traditional psychoanalytic understanding of adolescence as a recapitulation of childhood, thus making a claim for adolescence as a discrete developmental period with its own originary dynamics. In this light, he explores such topics as individuation, persona, shadow, bodily, idealistic and ideational awakenings, as well as the effects of culture on development. Featuring numerous clinical case studies and clear theoretical formulations, this classic edition is important reading for psychotherapists, analysts, parents, educators, and anyone working with adolescents. This classic edition also includes also includes a new, extended introduction by the author that examines what effects the digital revolution is having on the contemporary experience of being an adolescent. Looking back on this work nearly 25 years since its publication, Frankel contends that the core themes of adolescence addressed in this book offer a compelling framework for comprehending both the positive and negative impacts of the digital on adolescent life.

Human-Centered Approaches in Industry 5.0: Human-Machine Interaction, Virtual Reality Training, and Customer Sentiment Analysis

Author : Hassan, Ahdi
Publisher : IGI Global
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (693 download)

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Book Synopsis Human-Centered Approaches in Industry 5.0: Human-Machine Interaction, Virtual Reality Training, and Customer Sentiment Analysis by : Hassan, Ahdi

Download or read book Human-Centered Approaches in Industry 5.0: Human-Machine Interaction, Virtual Reality Training, and Customer Sentiment Analysis written by Hassan, Ahdi and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2024-01-16 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rapid digital transformation is forcing the manufacturing industry to drastically alter its current trajectory for future success. The remarkable convergence of digitalization and manufacturing is reshaping industries, ushering in an era known as Industry 5.0. This revolutionary transition has given birth to digital manufacturing and smart factories, heralding a new dawn in the way we produce goods. The amalgamation of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the internet of things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), big data analytics, cloud computing, and additive manufacturing stands poised to unlock unprecedented avenues in the realm of production. Practitioners, researchers, dreamers, and pioneers all are beckoned to explore the uncharted territories of digital innovation in manufacturing. Human-Centered Approaches in Industry 5.0: Human-Machine Interaction, Virtual Reality Training, and Customer Sentiment Analysis spans domains from mechanical and electrical engineering to computer science, from industrial economics to business strategy, and this book addresses this diverse audience. The book embarks on a comprehensive voyage, unveiling the latest evolutions and nascent trends within digital manufacturing and smart factories. From inception to execution, from design optimization to predictive maintenance, every phase of the manufacturing lifecycle is scrutinized through the lens of cutting-edge technologies. Rather than relying exclusively on the theoretical realm, this book also ventures into the crucible of real-world application, offering practical insights drawn from varied industries, including automotive, aerospace, and pharmaceuticals.

Virtual Society

Author : Herman Narula
Publisher : Currency
ISBN 13 : 0593239970
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (932 download)

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Book Synopsis Virtual Society by : Herman Narula

Download or read book Virtual Society written by Herman Narula and published by Currency. This book was released on 2022-10-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fascinating, provocative case that the metaverse will not merely transform our virtual experience—it may actually enrich the quality of our lives” (Adam Grant)—from the visionary co-founder of one of today’s most innovative technology companies “This important book offers a highly persuasive argument that the metaverse, a new kind of virtual world, marks a profound next stage in this long human quest for fulfillment through creation.”—Chris Anderson, head of TED The concept of “the metaverse” has exploded in the public consciousness, but its contours remain elusive. Is it merely an immersive virtual reality playground, one that Facebook and other platforms will angle to control? Is it simply the next generation of massive multiplayer online games? Or is it something more revolutionary? As pioneering technologist Herman Narula shows, the metaverse is the latest manifestation of an ancient human tendency: the act of worldbuilding. From the Egyptians, whose conception of death inspired them to build the pyramids, to modern-day sports fans, whose passion for a game inspires extreme behavior, humans have long sought to supplement their day-to-day lives with a rich diversity of alternative experiences. Rooting his vision in history and psychology, Narula argues that humans’ intrinsic need for autonomy, accomplishment, and connection can best be met in virtual “worlds of ideas,” where users have the chance to create and exchange meaning and value. The metaverse is both the growing set of fulfilling digital experiences—ranging from advanced gaming to concerts and other entertainment events and even to virtual employment—and the empowering framework that allows these spaces to become “networks of useful meaning.” Bloomberg Intelligence recently predicted that the metaverse will become an $800 billon industry by 2024. But its implications, argues Narula, will lead to far more awe-inspiring possibilities than a spigot of cash. The arrival of the metaverse marks the beginning of a new age of exploration—not outward, but inward—with the potential to reshape society and open the door to a new understanding of the human species and its capabilities. Rigorously researched and passionately argued, Virtual Society is a provocative and essential guide for anyone who wants to go beyond superficial headlines to understand the true contours and potential of our virtual future.