Webb, Amy

"Synthetic biology is the . . . controversial technology platform that combines biology and artificial intelligence, opening up the potential to program biological systems much as we program computers. Synthetic biology enables us not just to read and edit DNA--the technique of CRISPR--but also write it. Rather than life being 'a beautiful game of chance', synthetic biology creates the potential to control our genetic destiny, to say 'no' to bad genes and build a veritable genetic app store for downloading and adding new capabilities into any cell, microbe, plant, or animal. [The authors'] . . . stories include: the work of scientists to develop plants that can be grown in sprawling indoor farms capable of feeding millions with a fraction of the usual resources required; a synthetic, self-regulating insulin that doesn't require injections or a pump; life-altering regenerative, personalized medicine; and novel, durable solutions to climate change. By examining both the science and the ethical, moral, and religious issues surrounding synthetic biology, [the authors] provide the background for preventing its misuse by some to re-engineer their bodies and that of their children, further increasing the disturbing division and polarization of societies into the haves (the enhanced) and the have nots. They provide the background for making wise decisions about issues such as: whether to program novel viruses to fight diseases, what genetic privacy will look like, who will 'own' living organisms, how companies should earn revenue from engineered cells, and how to contain a synthetic organism in a lab"--Provided by publisher.

When she encounters problems that diminish her enjoyment of a class field trip to a local art museum, Emma calls on her inner sense of awesome to stand up for herself and teach her friend Charley how to feel comfortable in his own skin.

Five-year-old Charley gets teased for daydreaming and drawing more than his friends, but when he meets Emma, who is physically different, he needs help remembering that being different is okay.

We like to think that we are in control of the future of "artificial" intelligence. The reality, though, is that we?the everyday people whose data powers AI?aren't actually in control of anything. When, for example, we speak with Alexa, we contribute that data to a system we can't see and have no input into?one largely free from regulation or oversight. The big nine corporations?Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Microsoft, IBM and Apple?are the new gods of AI and are short-changing our futures to reap immediate financial gain. In this book, Amy Webb reveals the pervasive, invisible ways in which the foundations of AI?the people working on the system, their motivations, the technology itself?is broken. Within our lifetimes, AI will, by design, begin to behave unpredictably, thinking and acting in ways which defy human logic. The big nine corporations may be inadvertently building and enabling vast arrays of intelligent systems that don't share our motivations, desires, or hopes for the future of humanity. Much more than a passionate, human-centered call-to-arms, this book delivers a strategy for changing course, and provides a path for liberating us from algorithmic decision-makers and powerful corporations.