The Singularity Is Near

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101218886
Total Pages : 992 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis The Singularity Is Near by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book The Singularity Is Near written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-09-22 with total page 992 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Celebrated futurist Ray Kurzweil, hailed by Bill Gates as “the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence,” presents an “elaborate, smart, and persuasive” (The Boston Globe) view of the future course of human development. “Artfully envisions a breathtakingly better world.”—Los Angeles Times “Startling in scope and bravado.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times “An important book.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer At the onset of the twenty-first century, humanity stands on the verge of the most transforming and thrilling period in its history. It will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity. While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, The Singularity Is Near presents a radical and optimistic view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

The Singularity Is Nearer

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 039956277X
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis The Singularity Is Nearer by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book The Singularity Is Nearer written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2024-06-25 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The noted inventor and futurist’s successor to his landmark book The Singularity Is Near explores how technology will transform the human race in the decades to come Since it was first published in 2005, Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near and its vision of an exponential future have spawned a worldwide movement. Kurzweil's predictions about technological advancements have largely come true, with concepts like AI, intelligent machines, and biotechnology now widely familiar to the public. In this entirely new book Ray Kurzweil brings a fresh perspective to advances toward the Singularity—assessing his 1999 prediction that AI will reach human level intelligence by 2029 and examining the exponential growth of technology—that, in the near future, will expand human intelligence a millionfold and change human life forever. Among the topics he discusses are rebuilding the world, atom by atom with devices like nanobots; radical life extension beyond the current age limit of 120; reinventing intelligence by connecting our brains to the cloud; how exponential technologies are propelling innovation forward in all industries and improving all aspects of our well-being such as declining poverty and violence; and the growth of renewable energy and 3-D printing. He also considers the potential perils of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, including such topics of current controversy as how AI will impact employment and the safety of autonomous cars, and "After Life" technology, which aims to virtually revive deceased individuals through a combination of their data and DNA. The culmination of six decades of research on artificial intelligence, The Singularity Is Nearer is Ray Kurzweil’s crowning contribution to the story of this science and the revolution that is to come.

The Technological Singularity

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262527804
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis The Technological Singularity by : Murray Shanahan

Download or read book The Technological Singularity written by Murray Shanahan and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2015-08-07 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of technological singularity, and what it would mean if ordinary human intelligence were enhanced or overtaken by artificial intelligence. The idea that human history is approaching a “singularity”—that ordinary humans will someday be overtaken by artificially intelligent machines or cognitively enhanced biological intelligence, or both—has moved from the realm of science fiction to serious debate. Some singularity theorists predict that if the field of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop at its current dizzying rate, the singularity could come about in the middle of the present century. Murray Shanahan offers an introduction to the idea of the singularity and considers the ramifications of such a potentially seismic event. Shanahan's aim is not to make predictions but rather to investigate a range of scenarios. Whether we believe that singularity is near or far, likely or impossible, apocalypse or utopia, the very idea raises crucial philosophical and pragmatic questions, forcing us to think seriously about what we want as a species. Shanahan describes technological advances in AI, both biologically inspired and engineered from scratch. Once human-level AI—theoretically possible, but difficult to accomplish—has been achieved, he explains, the transition to superintelligent AI could be very rapid. Shanahan considers what the existence of superintelligent machines could mean for such matters as personhood, responsibility, rights, and identity. Some superhuman AI agents might be created to benefit humankind; some might go rogue. (Is Siri the template, or HAL?) The singularity presents both an existential threat to humanity and an existential opportunity for humanity to transcend its limitations. Shanahan makes it clear that we need to imagine both possibilities if we want to bring about the better outcome.

Singularity Rising

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Publisher : BenBella Books
ISBN 13 : 1936661659
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (366 download)

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Book Synopsis Singularity Rising by : James D. Miller

Download or read book Singularity Rising written by James D. Miller and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2012-10-16 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Ray Kurzweil's New York Times bestseller The Singularity is Near, the futurist and entrepreneur describes the Singularity, a likely future utterly different than anything we can imagine. The Singularity is triggered by the tremendous growth of human and computing intelligence that is an almost inevitable outcome of Moore's Law. Since the book's publication, the coming of the Singularity is now eagerly anticipated by many of the leading thinkers in Silicon Valley, from PayPal mastermind Peter Thiel to Google co-founder Larry Page. The formation of the Singularity University, and the huge popularity of the Singularity website kurzweilai.com, speak to the importance of this intellectual movement. But what about the average person? How will the Singularity affect our daily lives—our jobs, our families, and our wealth? Singularity Rising: Surviving and Thriving in a Smarter, Richer, and More Dangerous World focuses on the implications of a future society faced with an abundance of human and artificial intelligence. James D. Miller, an economics professor and popular speaker on the Singularity, reveals how natural selection has been increasing human intelligence over the past few thousand years and speculates on how intelligence enhancements will shape civilization over the next forty years. Miller considers several possible scenarios in this coming singularity: • A merger of man and machine making society fantastically wealthy and nearly immortal • Competition with billions of cheap AIs drive human wages to almost nothing while making investors rich • Businesses rethink investment decisions to take into account an expected future period of intense creative destruction • Inequality drops worldwide as technologies mitigate the cognitive cost of living in impoverished environments • Drugs designed to fight Alzheimer's disease and keep soldiers alert on battlefields have the fortunate side effect of increasing all of their users' IQs, which, in turn, adds a percentage points to worldwide economic growth Singularity Rising offers predictions about the economic implications for a future of widely expanding intelligence and practical career and investment advice on flourishing on the way to the Singularity.

Ethics and Emerging Technologies

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1137349085
Total Pages : 594 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (373 download)

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Book Synopsis Ethics and Emerging Technologies by : Ronald Sandler

Download or read book Ethics and Emerging Technologies written by Ronald Sandler and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First and only undergraduate textbook that addresses the social and ethical issues associated with a wide array of emerging technologies, including genetic modification, human enhancement, geoengineering, robotics, virtual reality, artificial meat, neurotechnologies, information technologies, nanotechnology, sex selection, and more.

The Age of Spiritual Machines

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101077883
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis The Age of Spiritual Machines by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book The Age of Spiritual Machines written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 thought-provoking analysis of human and artificial intelligence and a unique look at a future in which the capabilities of the computer and the species that invented it grow ever closer.”—BILL GATES Imagine a world where the difference between man and machine blurs, where the line between humanity and technology fades, and where the soul and the silicon chip unite. This is not science fiction. This is the twenty-first century according to Ray Kurzweil, the “restless genius” (The Wall Street Journal), “ultimate thinking machine” (Forbes), and inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era. In his inspired hands, life in the new millennium no longer seems daunting. Instead, it promises to be an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live. More than just a list of predictions, Kurzweil’s prophetic blueprint for the future guides us through the inexorable advances that will result in: • Computers exceeding the memory capacity and computational ability of the human brain (with human-level capabilities not far behind) • Relationships with automated personalities who will be our teachers, companions, and lovers • Information fed straight into our brains along direct neural pathways Eventually, the distinction between humans and computers will have become sufficiently blurred that when the machines claim to be conscious, we will believe them.

The Computer and the Brain

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300084733
Total Pages : 116 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (847 download)

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Book Synopsis The Computer and the Brain by : John Von Neumann

Download or read book The Computer and the Brain written by John Von Neumann and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book represents the views of one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century on the analogies between computing machines and the living human brain. John von Neumann concludes that the brain operates in part digitally, in part analogically, but uses a peculiar statistical language unlike that employed in the operation of man-made computers. This edition includes a new foreword by two eminent figures in the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, and consciousness.

Transcend

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Publisher : Rodale
ISBN 13 : 1605292079
Total Pages : 482 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis Transcend by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book Transcend written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Rodale. This book was released on 2010-12-21 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Transcend, famed futurist Ray Kurzweil and his coauthor Terry Grossman, MD, present a cutting edge, accessible program based on the vanguard in nutrition and science. They’ve distilled thousands of scientific studies to make the case that new developments in medicine and technology will allow us to radically extend our life expectancies and slow the aging process. Transcend gives you the practical tools you need to live long enough (and remain healthy long enough) to take full advantage of the biotech and nanotech advances that have already begun and will continue to occur at an accelerating pace during the years ahead. To help you remember the nine key components of the program, Ray and Terry have arranged them into a mnemonic: Talk with your doctor, Relaxation, Assessment, Nutrition, Supplements, Calorie reduction, Exercise, New technologies, Detoxification. This easy-to-follow program will help you transcend the boundaries of your genetic legacy and live long enough to live forever.

The Coming Singularity

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Author :
Publisher : Austin Macauley Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1638291624
Total Pages : 243 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (382 download)

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Book Synopsis The Coming Singularity by : Gary A. Freitas

Download or read book The Coming Singularity written by Gary A. Freitas and published by Austin Macauley Publishers. This book was released on 2022-08-31 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As we approach 2050, it is projected that human consciousness will encounter a superior intelligence for the very first time: artificial machine intelligence. It is important for us to understand the evolutionary impact of this event, but also that we are being altered from the inside out for the singularity to arise. Are we ready? Will we be adaptive? How will we change? The Coming Singularity explores the psychological impact of the changes coming our way and the many adaptations we will have to make. We are transitioning to a world of one degree of separation, with only the illusion of privacy, autonomy and anonymity. All of us are undergoing a transition to an electronic identity, one that can reach back and change the real you. The question going forward will be, who is the real you? A cluster of psychological symptoms are evolving from our technology interface––Identity Diffusion. Its key feature is the de-realization of life. Direct brain-to-technology interfaces will soon render our brains an open-source forum. We need to discuss who is in there and why! The impact of e-technology on human identity will be profound, but it is also a prerequisite for machine intelligence to arise. We need to discuss this. We humans reside in complex, dynamical networks. The goal of artificial intelligence will be to evolve and stabilize these networks. And we may not be the priority.

The Singularity Survival Guide: How to Get on the Good Side of Your Future Robot Overlords

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Author :
Publisher : Independently Published
ISBN 13 : 9781798981542
Total Pages : 100 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (815 download)

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Book Synopsis The Singularity Survival Guide: How to Get on the Good Side of Your Future Robot Overlords by : Peter Clarke

Download or read book The Singularity Survival Guide: How to Get on the Good Side of Your Future Robot Overlords written by Peter Clarke and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-03-27 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you prepared to meet your future robot overlords? According to futurist Ray Kurzweil, we only have until 2045 to prepare for the singularity-the moment AI achieves human-level general intelligence. That's where The Singularity Survival Guide comes in. How will you greet this new form of higher intelligence? With a simple handshake? And what are you going to do if the AI is evil? How will you fight against it? Find the answers to these and many other questions in this survival guide-before it's too late."The technological singularity has officially been treated to a full-scale parody, and it's even more comical and irreverent than it sounds."- Zoltan Istvan, Founder of the Transhumanist Party"A timely satire, even if humor doesn't stand a chance of saving us from the sort of superintelligence Clarke envisions." - Arif Khan, Chief Marketing Officer, SingularityNET Published by Logos Literature.

True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier

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Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780312862077
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier by : Vernor Vinge

Download or read book True Names and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier written by Vernor Vinge and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2001 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of articles and essays about the new frontier of the Internet, especially a direct interface between brain and computer that enables game players of the future to actually experience the world of their fantasies.

Youniverse: A Short Guide to Modern Science

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Publisher : Prelude Books
ISBN 13 : 0715654233
Total Pages : 170 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (156 download)

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Book Synopsis Youniverse: A Short Guide to Modern Science by : Elsie Burch Donald

Download or read book Youniverse: A Short Guide to Modern Science written by Elsie Burch Donald and published by Prelude Books. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your guide to science, from the Big Bang to AI Whether you wish to discover the basics of science or catch up on its latest developments, this short accessible guide is for you. YOUNIVERSE describes in simple terms the world you are inseparably a part of: what it is, how it works and your place in it – insofar as these things are known. The text has been vetted by 13 distinguished scientists. Journey now through time and space, a world of the unimaginably big and the inconceivably small – though the marvels of science. *PRAISE FOR YOUNIVERSE* ‘This is a fine piece of work... very entertaining and informative... It should appeal and be useful to the generalist who wants an overview of science.’ Sir Peter Ratcliffe, 2019 Nobel Prize winner and head of clinical research at the Francis Crick Institute

Mediality on Trial

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Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3110416468
Total Pages : 559 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Mediality on Trial by : Ehler Voss

Download or read book Mediality on Trial written by Ehler Voss and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-09-21 with total page 559 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume addresses controversies connected to the testing of the capacities and potentials of mediums. Today we commonly associate the term "medium" with the technical communication between transmitters and receivers. Yet this term likewise applies to those who cooperate with agencies that exceed the presumed domain of the material world. Insofar as one presumes a division between distinctly opposed categories of religion and the secular, technical media tend to be associated with the secular and human (trance) mediums tend to be associated with religion after 1900. This volume concerns the ways in which the term medium still marks an overlapping of – and thus problematizes – the aforementioned division between religion and the secular, the personal and the technological. The term medium carries with it a seed of doubt that is itself inseparable from investment in the medium's power: insofar as they communicate with an "other" realm, mediums offer the hope and promise of new possibilities and improved efficiency, and thus of a better life; yet they have simultaneously been under suspicion of altering (or even inventing) the messages they communicate. It is due to this combination of promise and suspicion that "mediumism" has tended to evoke scientific, religious, and moral controversies. Thus, we can speak of a "mediumistic trial" – that is, a process in which a medium is put to the test concerning its potentials and trustworthiness. Around 1800, experts were asked if a modern secular institution would be capable of inspiring, domesticating or excluding trance mediumship. This question has stayed with us ever since, and the answers have remained inconclusive. That is why the past and present of mediumship may be asked to elucidate each other.

The Social Singularity

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781732039407
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis The Social Singularity by : Max Borders

Download or read book The Social Singularity written by Max Borders and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Decentralization is not a choice, but an inevitability. Thankfully, the process can liberate people from poverty, end acrimonious politics, and help humanity avoid the robot apocalypse. Social Evolution founder, Max Borders, makes the case in this compelling manifesto."--From publisher's website.

The Economic Singularity

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Publisher : Three CS
ISBN 13 : 9780993211645
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (116 download)

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Book Synopsis The Economic Singularity by : Calum Chace

Download or read book The Economic Singularity written by Calum Chace and published by Three CS. This book was released on 2016-07-18 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Read The Economic Singularity if you want to think intelligently about the future." Aubrey de Grey Artificial intelligence (AI) is overtaking our human ability to absorb and process information. Robots are becoming increasingly dextrous, flexible, and safe to be around (except the military ones). It is our most powerful technology, and you need to understand it. This new book from best-selling AI writer Calum Chace argues that within a few decades, most humans will not be able to work for money. Self-driving cars will probably be the canary in the coal mine, providing a wake-up call for everyone who isn't yet paying attention. All jobs will be affected, from fast food McJobs to lawyers and journalists. This is the single most important development facing humanity in the first half of the 21st century. The fashionable belief that Universal Basic Income is the solution is only partly correct. We are probably going to need an entirely new economic system, and we better start planning soon - for the Economic Singularity! The outcome can be very good - a world in which machines do all the boring jobs and humans do pretty much what they please. But there are major risks, which we can only avoid by being alert to the possible futures and planning how to avoid the negative ones."

How to Create a Mind

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0143124048
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (431 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Create a Mind by : Ray Kurzweil

Download or read book How to Create a Mind written by Ray Kurzweil and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bold futurist and renowned author of The Singularity Is Near explores the limitless potential of reverse-engineering the human brain. “This book is a Rosetta Stone for the mystery of human thought.”—Martine Rothblatt, chairman and CEO, United Therapeutics, and creator of Sirius XM Satellite Radio “Kurzweil’s vision of our super-enhanced future is completely sane and calmly reasoned, and his book should nicely smooth the path for the earth’s robot overlords, who, it turns out, will be us.”—The New York Times In How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil presents a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilization: reverse-engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and using that knowledge to create even more intelligent machines. Kurzweil discusses how the brain functions, how the mind emerges, brain-computer interfaces, and the implications of vastly increasing the powers of our intelligence to address the world’s problems. He also thoughtfully examines emotional and moral intelligence and the origins of consciousness and envisions the radical possibilities of our merging with the intelligent technology we are creating. Drawing on years of advanced research and cutting-edge inventions in artificial intelligence, How to Create a Mind is an incredible synthesis of neuroscience and technology and provides a road map for the future of human progress.

Rainbows End

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Author :
Publisher : Tor Books
ISBN 13 : 9781429991896
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (918 download)

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Book Synopsis Rainbows End by : Vernor Vinge

Download or read book Rainbows End written by Vernor Vinge and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2007-04-03 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four time Hugo Award winner Vernor Vinge has taken readers to the depths of space and into the far future in his bestselling novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. Now, he has written a science-fiction thriller set in a place and time as exciting and strange as any far-future world: San Diego, California, 2025. Robert Gu is a recovering Alzheimer's patient. The world that he remembers was much as we know it today. Now, as he regains his faculties through a cure developed during the years of his near-fatal decline, he discovers that the world has changed and so has his place in it. He was a world-renowned poet. Now he is seventy-five years old, though by a medical miracle he looks much younger, and he's starting over, for the first time unsure of his poetic gifts. Living with his son's family, he has no choice but to learn how to cope with a new information age in which the virtual and the real are a seamless continuum, layers of reality built on digital views seen by a single person or millions, depending on your choice. But the consensus reality of the digital world is available only if, like his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Miri, you know how to wear your wireless access—through nodes designed into smart clothes—and to see the digital context—through smart contact lenses. With knowledge comes risk. When Robert begins to re-train at Fairmont High, learning with other older people what is second nature to Miri and other teens at school, he unwittingly becomes part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to use technology as a tool for world domination. In a world where every computer chip has Homeland Security built-in, this conspiracy is something that baffles even the most sophisticated security analysts, including Robert's son and daughter-in law, two top people in the U.S. military. And even Miri, in her attempts to protect her grandfather, may be entangled in the plot. As Robert becomes more deeply involved in conspiracy, he is shocked to learn of a radical change planned for the UCSD Geisel Library; all the books there, and worldwide, would cease to physically exist. He and his fellow re-trainees feel compelled to join protests against the change. With forces around the world converging on San Diego, both the conspiracy and the protest climax in a spectacular moment as unique and satisfying as it is unexpected. This is science fiction at its very best, by a master storyteller at his peak. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.