AI is sweeping away familiar cultures and we have no idea where it is taking us. The older generation tends to stick up for humanity and the younger generation for post-humanity. It is a serious tension. Everywhere there is a mood of unsettlement at not knowing where the unstoppable momentum of AI will go and whether we will like the outcome. For the first time in the history of humanity, we do not really have a good grip on what the role of humans is on the planet.This predicament...

This pocket-sized introduction to computational thinking and problem-solving traces its genealogy centuries before the digital computer.A few decades into the digital era, scientists discovered that thinking in terms of computation made possible an entirely new way of organizing scientific investigation. Eventually, every field had a computational branch: computational physics, computational biology, computational sociology. More recently, “computational thinking” ...

Two experts show that innovation is a skill that can be learned and describe eight essential practices for achieving success.Innovation is the ruling buzzword in business today. Technology companies invest billions in developing new gadgets; business leaders see innovation as the key to a competitive edge; policymakers craft regulations to foster a climate of innovation. And yet businesses report a success rate of only four percent for innovation initiativ...

In March 1997, the Association for Computing Machinery will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the electronic computer. To understand what an extraordinary fifty years the computer has had, you need only look around you--probably no farther than your desk. Computers are everywhere: in our cars, our homes, our supermarkets, at the phone company office, and at your local hospital. But as the contributors to this volume make clear, the scientific, social and economic impact of computers is...

A few decades into the digital era, scientists discovered that thinking in terms of computation made possible an entirely new way of organizing scientific investigation; eventually, every field had a computational branch: computational physics, computational biology, computational sociology. More recently, "computational thinking" has become part of the K–12 curriculum. But what is computational thinking? This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers an accessible overview...