God, Human, Animal, Machine
by Meghan O'Gieblyn · first published 2021
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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. M
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I'm reading God, Human, Animal Machine by Meghan O’Gieblyn. It's a strange, beautiful book tracing parallels between Christian theology and transhumanism. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/567075/god-human-an...
on “Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?” ↗'God Human Animal Machine' by Meghan O'Gieblyn was a very interesting read. Her background in an evangelical seminary->physics obsessed naturalist->ponderer of AI consciousness made for a very interesting voice and perspective.…
on “Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?” ↗…and each other, and made us dependent on mechanism. This has happened hugely already with television. You can go back and read McLuhan, he's great, but a recent and more approachable book on this is _God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning_. Way back in 1969 the utopian vision of technology put humans at the centre. The Whole Earth Catalogue's slogan was “access to tools.” Just _tools_.…
on “Protect your consciousness from AI” ↗…book about the Comanche tribe and their conflict with settlers in the American West. "Dune" by Frank Herbert A classic science fiction novel about politics, religion, and ecology on a desert planet. "God, Human, Animal Machine" by Meghan O’Gieblyn Traces parallels between Christian theology and transhumanism. "The Water Knife" A dystopian future novel set against a backdrop of water scarcity in the western United States.
on “Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?” ↗