One of the established strengths of human tutors is
their ability to recognise and adapt to the emotions
of students. This is a skill that has traditionally
been lacking from Intelligent Tutoring Systems
(ITSs); despite their ability to intelligently model
and adapt to aspects of the students cognitive
state, ITSs are generally completely unable to detect
or adapt to aspects of the students affective state.

In response to this shortcoming, this book explores
the exciting development of an emotion-sensitive
ITS. With the empathy of effective human tutors as
our blueprint, we investigate how...

When industrial civilisation collapsed in the third decade of the 21st century, a community living on a small island in the South Pacific Ocean found itself permanently isolated from the rest of the world. With no option but to build a self-sufficient economy with very limited energy supplies, this community set about creating a simpler way of life that could flourish into the deep future. Determined above all else to transcend the materialistic values of the Old World, they made a commitment to live materially simple lives, convinced that this was the surest path to genuine freedom, peace,...

The dominant culture of industrial civilisation is highly materialistic, holding up Western-style, consumer lifestyles as the path to happiness and fulfilment. But consumer lifestyles are failing to satisfy the human craving for meaning, and they are degrading our planet in ways that are grossly unsustainable and unjust. We desperately need to explore or rediscover less materialistic, 'simpler' ways of living. 'Simple living' refers to ways of life based on notions such as frugality, sufficiency, moderation, and mindfulness. This anthology brings together twenty-six short essays discussing...

Calling for a sufficiency-based culture of 'simple living' to underpin a macroeconomic framework of 'degrowth', Samuel Alexander draws on a remarkable breadth of economic, political, ecological, and sociological literature to explore the radical implications of living in an age of limits. Written with clarity, rigour, and insight, this book will both challenge and inspire. 'Prosperous Descent is a creative and important contribution to a movement with surprising momentum, one that challenges the very notions of progress and wellbeing on which our societies are constructed. It is a radical...

In this second volume of collected essays, Samuel Alexander develops the provocative ideas contained in "Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits." Industrial civilisation promotes mistaken ideas of freedom and wellbeing, while placing unsupportable burdens on the biosphere. This being so, Alexander argues that the richest nations need to transcend consumer culture and initiate a 'degrowth' process of planned economic contraction. To achieve this, he shows that we need to build a post-capitalist politics and economics from the grassroots up, restructuring our societies to...