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  • Published: 30 August 2022
  • ISBN: 9780525562719
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $37.99

God, Human, Animal, Machine

Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning



For most of human history the world was a magical and enchanted place ruled by forces beyond our understanding. The rise of science and Descartes's division of mind from world made materialism our ruling paradigm, in the process asking whether our own consciousness might be illusions. With the rise of technology, artificial intelligences that surpass our comprehension and control, and the spread of digital metaphors for self-understanding, the core questions of existence—identity, knowledge, and the purpose of life itself—urgently require rethinking. 

Meghan O'Gieblyn tackles this challenge with philosophical rigor, intellectual reach, essayistic verve, refreshing originality, and an ironic sense of contradiction. She draws deeply and sometimes humorously from her own personal experience as a formerly religious believer still haunted by questions of faith, and she serves as the best possible guide to navigating the territory we are all entering.

A strikingly original exploration of what it might mean to be authentically human in the age of artificial intelligence, from the author of the critically-acclaimed Interior States. • "At times personal, at times philosophical, with a bracing mixture of openness and skepticism, it speaks thoughtfully and articulately to the most crucial issues awaiting our future." —Phillip Lopate

“[A] truly fantastic book.”—Ezra Klein
 
For most of human history the world was a magical and enchanted place ruled by forces beyond our understanding. The rise of science and Descartes's division of mind from world made materialism our ruling paradigm, in the process asking whether our own consciousness—i.e., souls—might be illusions. Now the inexorable rise of technology, with artificial intelligences that surpass our comprehension and control, and the spread of digital metaphors for self-understanding, the core questions of existence—identity, knowledge, the very nature and purpose of life itself—urgently require rethinking.

Meghan O'Gieblyn tackles this challenge with philosophical rigor, intellectual reach, essayistic verve, refreshing originality, and an ironic sense of contradiction. She draws deeply and sometimes humorously from her own personal experience as a formerly religious believer still haunted by questions of faith, and she serves as the best possible guide to navigating the territory we are all entering.

  • Published: 30 August 2022
  • ISBN: 9780525562719
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $37.99

Also by MEGHAN O'GIEBLYN

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Praise for God, Human, Animal, Machine

Praise for God, Human, Animal, Machine
 
“Rigorously thoughtful. . . . God, Human, Animal, Machine is a hybrid beast, a remarkably erudite work of history, criticism and philosophy, but it is also, crucially, a memoir.” —The New York Times
 
"A captivating portrait of how digital technology has fundamentally transformed both intellectual and religious thinking.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
 
“Illuminating. . . . [A] very personal account of a painful philosophical evolution. A compelling reminder that the deepest philosophical queries guide and shape life.” —Booklist
 
"O’Gieblyn has a knack for keeping dense philosophical ideas accessible, and there’s plenty to ponder in her answers to enduring questions about how humans make meaning. . . . Razor sharp, this timely investigation piques." —Publishers Weekly
 
"A melancholy, well-researched tour of faith and tech and the dissatisfactions of both." —Kirkus Reviews

Praise for God, Human, Animal, Machine
 
“Rigorously thoughtful. . . . God, Human, Animal, Machine is a hybrid beast, a remarkably erudite work of history, criticism and philosophy, but it is also, crucially, a memoir.” —The New York Times
 
"A captivating portrait of how digital technology has fundamentally transformed both intellectual and religious thinking.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
 
“Illuminating. . . . [A] very personal account of a painful philosophical evolution. A compelling reminder that the deepest philosophical queries guide and shape life.” —Booklist
 
"O’Gieblyn has a knack for keeping dense philosophical ideas accessible, and there’s plenty to ponder in her answers to enduring questions about how humans make meaning. . . . Razor sharp, this timely investigation piques." —Publishers Weekly
 
"A melancholy, well-researched tour of faith and tech and the dissatisfactions of both." —Kirkus Reviews