The Human Use of Human Beings
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The Human Use of Human Beings by Norbert Wiener
Only a few books stand as landmarks in social and scientific upheaval. Norbert Wiener's classic is one in that small company. Founder of the science of cybernetics--the study of the relationship between computers and the human nervous system--Wiener was widely misunderstood as one who advocated the automation of human life. As this book reveals, his vision was much more complex and interesting. He hoped that machines would release people from relentless and repetitive drudgery in order to achieve more creative pursuits. At the same time he realized the danger of dehumanizing and displacement. His book examines the implications of cybernetics for education, law, language, science, technology, as he anticipates the enormous impact--in effect, a third industrial revolution--that the computer has had on our lives.
“It presents cybernetics as a scientific theory and a social philosophyFrom the latter standpoint, the writing is often brilliant and forceful.” — New York Times “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.” — Christian Science Monitor "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." — Seth Lloyd, Slate "Immensely insightful and increasingly relevant." — Maria Popova
Norbert Wiener received his Ph.D. from Harvard at the age of eighteen and joined the mathematics department at M.I.T. when he was twenty-five. Honored throughout his life with numerous scientific awards, he was the author of two autobiographies, Ex-Prodogy and I Am a Mathematician, as well as several important books and basic papers on the theory and practice of cybernetics. Brian Christian is the bestselling author of the acclaimed books The Most Human Human, Algorithms to Live By, and The Alignment Problem, which have been translated into nineteen languages. A researcher at the University of Oxford, he lives in San Francisco.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780063423190 |
| ISBN 10 | 0063423197 |
| Title | The Human Use of Human Beings |
| Author | Norbert Wiener |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers Inc |
| Year published | 2025-09-25 |
| Number of pages | 240 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |