{"product_id":"the-human-use-of-human-beings-cybernetics-and-society-isbn-9780063423190","title":"The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor the 75th anniversary, a new edition of \u003cem\u003eThe Human Use of Human Beings\u003c\/em\u003e—the landmark book that delves into the relationship between humans and computers, and presciently anticipates many contemporary dilemmas surrounding AI technology. With a new introduction by Brian Christian, author of the bestselling \u003cem\u003eAlgorithms to Live By \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eThe Alignment Problem.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1950, mathematician-philosopher Norbert Wiener ended this classic book on the place of machines in society with a warning: “We shall never receive the right answers to our questions unless we ask the right questions.... The hour is very late, and the choice of good and evil knocks at our door.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWiener,\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ethe founder of the science of cybernetics—the study of the relationship between computers and the human nervous system—was widely mislabeled as an advocate for the automation of human life. As \u003cem\u003eThe Human Use for Human Beings\u003c\/em\u003e reveals, his vision was much more complex and interesting, and is more relevant in today’s world of AI than anyone could have anticipated.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his new introduction, Brian Christian aptly calls Wiener the “progenitor of contemporary AI-safety discourse.” Wiener hoped that machines would release people from relentless and repetitive drudgery to achieve more creative pursuits, yet he anticipated the danger of dehumanizing and displacement. His pioneering views on the human-machine relationship as a “communicative process” are only more\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003ecrucial now, as we carry in\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003eour pockets AI devices that we can literally speak to. His prescient warnings illuminate our contemporary relationships with language, art, and even social media.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Human Use of Human Beings\u003c\/em\u003e examines the implications of cybernetics for education, law, language, science, technology, as Wiener anticipates the enormous impact—in effect, a third industrial revolution—that the computer has had on our lives.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“It presents cybernetics as a scientific theory and a social philosophy. From the latter standpoint, the writing is often brilliant and forceful.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It is hardly possible to read him without being startled to furious and fruitful thinking, moved to deep and reverberating emotion. He is a Jeremiah with the taste and learning of a Renaissance humanist, the free-ranging intellectual gusto of a William James.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Immensely insightful and increasingly relevant.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMaria Popova\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Norbert Weiner's seminal 1950 book . . . investigates the interplay between human beings and machines in a world in which machines are becoming ever more computationally capable and powerful. It is a remarkably prescient book.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeth Lloyd, Slate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mariner Books Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48588059607269,"sku":"NP9780063423190","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780063423190.jpg?v=1773961411","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-human-use-of-human-beings-cybernetics-and-society-isbn-9780063423190","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}