The Future of Us
The Science of What We'll Eat, Where We'll Live, and Who We'll Be
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A fascinating look at the cutting-edge science and technologies that are on the cusp of changing everything from where we’ll live, how we’ll look, and who we’ll be, by the popular science broadcaster and bestselling author Jay Ingram.
Where will we live? How will we get around? What will we look like? These are just some of the questions bestselling author and popular science broadcaster Jay Ingram answers in this exciting examination of the science and technologies that will affect every aspect of human life.
In these pages, Ingram explores the future of our technological civilization. He reports on cutting-edge research in organ and limb regeneration, advances in prosthetics, the merging of the human and the synthetic, and gene editing. Vertical farming and lab-grown food might help feed millions and alleviate pressure on the planet. Cities could accommodate green space and the long-awaited flying car. Finally, he speculates on the future of artificial general intelligence, even artificial superintelligence, as well as our place on Earth and in the universe.
The potential impact of these developments in science and technology will be powerful and wide-ranging, complicated by ethics and social equity. And they will inevitably revolutionize every aspect of life and even who we are. This is The Future of Us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The unsatisfying latest from Ingram (The Science of Why), the former host of Discovery Channel Canada's Daily Planet, muses on how coming technological advances might influence how humans live. Unfortunately, Ingram's commentary is largely familiar and superficial. Examining the future of aging, he repeats the common prediction that the "first 150-year-old is already alive today" and notes that "scientists are now hot on the trail of identifying the substance(s) in the blood that could be responsible for literally turning back the clock" without further discussing the research. He also comes up short in interpreting his data, as when he strings together brief anecdotes about the "well-planned public transit" in Curitiba, Brazil; the high-tech methods Chattanooga, Tenn., has implemented to ease traffic; and Seoul's mass surveillance to make the obvious point that "enhanced technology will be ubiquitous in how cities are shaped." Despite touching on such potentially fascinating topics as the benefits of lab-grown pet foods, advances in prosthetic limbs, and strategies for mitigating climate change, the discussions are cursory and feel rudderless in the absence of overarching analysis tying the disparate evidence together. Readers curious about the future would be better off with a Magic 8 Ball.
