Defying Dystopia: Going on with the Human Journey After Technology Fails Us

ISBN-13: 9781412862707 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 223 str.

Ed Ayres

Opis

To most, the collapse of modern civilization is the stuff of fiction. Yet, science confirms that misuse of technology and environmental abuse places our world in grave danger of ruin. The World Scientists' Warning to Humanity places our civilization on a collision course. Defying Dystopia analyses how we have come to this, and what options remain for far-seeing people to take control of their own destiny and survive the future.Ed Ayres, who has worked with some iconic environmental scientists of the past half-century, argues that technology was originally used to augment the natural strengths of humans, but has been increasingly used in ways that weaken us--shifting from useful work to the industries of distraction, entertainment, convenience, pain-relief, and sedation. Ayres advises on how at least some of us can avoid that collision. The most critical task, for those of us who want humanity to survive and thrive, is to disengage from our tech thraldom, and shift to a conscious management of our evolution in which we use technology to enhance our skills and strengths rather than erode or supplant them.Ayres provides insightful, actionable suggestions we can use to increase our odds of survival. He asks far-seeing individuals to take on a mission that the dominant governments and institutions demonstrably cannot: the epic task of shepherding a low-profile, resilient transition to a new kind of human future.

Spis treści

Contents Prologue: Waking Up 1 Losing Balance Technologies Tilting the Wrong Way 2 Big-Picture Thinking How Some of Us Came to See What We Now See 3 The Numbing When Our Devices and Distractions Become Our Pacifiers 4 The Weakening Unnoticed Effects of Effort-Saving Technology 5 The New Trojan Horse Why the Takeover Has Not Been Seen For What It Is 6 The Stumbling A Slow-Footed Species in a Sprint Economy 7 The Footprint of the Future We Are Not Cows! 8 Seeing Past Dystopia Facing up to Malthus, Orwell, Super-Storm Sandy . . . and What? 9 Reigniting Imagination In Search of Our Lost Abilities to Anticipate, Envision, and Plan 10 Hands, Feet, Bare Skin, and Privacy The Last Bastions of Natural Strength 11 Overriding Evolution A Course of High Adventure and Uncertain Salvation 12 Breaking Away Blazing Paths to a New Human Future 13 A New Beginning Essential Steps Toward Long-Run Survival Appendix: Further Reading and Resources Index

O autorze

John Harte is Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and former director general of the Canadian Institute of Marketing. He worked in South Africa for J. Walter Thompson, the global advertising and marketing agency, and was the vice-president of marketing for General Electric.