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"Artificial Intelligence is a disruptive technology across business and society. There are three long-term trends driving this AI revolution: the emergence of Big Data, the creation of cheaper and more powerful computers, and development of better algorithms for processing an learning from data. Deep learning is the subfield of Artificial Intelligence that focuses on creating large neural network models that are capable of making accurate data driven...
3) Data science
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It has never been easier for organizations to gather, store, and process data. Use of data science is driven by the rise of big data and social media, the development of high-performance computing, and the emergence of such powerful methods for data analysis and modeling as deep learning. Data science encompasses a set of principles, problem definitions, algorithms, and processes for extracting non-obvious and useful patterns from large datasets....
4) Algorithms
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"This book is an introduction to algorithms targeting an audience with little to no computer science background. In this book, algorithms from a wide area are presented: from music to searching and sorting, to deep learning, to graphs. The author shows how algorithms are used in practice. A unique feature of the book is that it focuses on showing how algorithms really work; not just what algorithms can do. There are many books discussing that and...
5) Post-truth
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What, exactly, is post-truth? Is it wishful thinking, political spin, mass delusion, bold-faced lying? McIntyre analyzes recent examples-claims about inauguration crowd size, crime statistics, and the popular vote-and finds that post-truth is an assertion of ideological supremacy by which its practitioners try to compel someone to believe something regardless of the evidence. Yet post-truth didn't begin with the 2016 election; the denial of scientific...
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"Critical thinking is regularly cited as an essential twenty-first century skill, the key to success in school and work. Given our propensity to believe fake news, draw incorrect conclusions, and make decisions based on emotion rather than reason, it might even be said that critical thinking is vital to the survival of a democratic society. But what, exactly, is critical thinking? In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Jonathan...
7) Pragmatism
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"A concise, reader-friendly overview of pragmatism, the most influential school of American philosophical thought"--
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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, and 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...
10) Metadata
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Pomerantz explains what metadata is, and why it exists. He distinguishes among different types of metadata -- descriptive, administrative, structural, preservation, and use -- and examines different users and uses of each type. He discusses the technologies that make modern metadata possible, and he speculates about metadata's future. By the end of the book, readers will see metadata everywhere. Because, Pomerantz warns us, it's metadata's world,...
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The history of computing could be told as the story of hardware and software, or the story of the Internet, or the story of "smart" hand-held devices, with subplots involving IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter. In this concise and accessible account of the invention and development of digital technology, computer historian Paul Ceruzzi offers a broader and more useful perspective. He identifies four major threads that run throughout all...
12) Virtual reality
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A comprehensive overview of developments in augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality--and how they could affect every part of our lives. After years of hype, extended reality--augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR)--has entered the mainstream. Commercially available, relatively inexpensive VR headsets transport wearers to other realities--fantasy worlds, faraway countries, sporting events--in ways that even...
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A concise history of spaceflight, from military rocketry through Sputnik, Apollo, robots in space, space culture, and human spaceflight today. Spaceflight is one of the greatest human achievements of the twentieth century. The Soviets launched Sputnik, the first satellite, in 1957; less than twelve years later, the American Apollo astronauts landed on the Moon. In this volume of the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Michael Neufeld offers a concise...
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The idea that human history is approaching a "singularity" -- that ordinary humans will someday be overtaken by artificially intelligent machines or cognitively enhanced biological intelligence, or both -- has moved from the realm of science fiction to serious debate. Some singularity theorists predict that if the field of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop at its current dizzying rate, the singularity could come about in the middle...
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We turn on the lights in our house from a desk in an office miles away. Our refrigerator alerts us to buy milk on the way home. A package of cookies on the supermarket shelf suggests that we buy it, based on past purchases. The cookies themselves are on the shelf because of a "smart" supply chain. When we get home, the thermostat has already adjusted the temperature so that it's toasty or bracing, whichever we prefer. This is the Internet of Things...
16) Carbon capture
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The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide (CO2), and these CO2 emissions are a major driver of climate change. Carbon capture offers a path to climate change mitigation that has received relatively little attention. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Howard Herzog offers a concise guide to carbon capture, covering basic information as well as the larger context of climate technology and policy. Carbon capture, or...
17) School choice
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The issues and arguments surrounding school choice are sometimes hijacked to make political points about government control, democratic ideals, the public good, and privatization. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, David Garcia avoids partisan arguments to offer an accessible, objective, and comprehensive guide to school choice. He first outlines the different types of school choice, including home schooling, private schools,...
18) Extremism
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A rising tide of extremist movements threaten to destabilize civil societies around the globe. It has never been more important to understand extremism, yet the dictionary definition-a logical starting point in a search for understanding-tells us only that extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme." In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, J. M. Berger offers a nuanced introduction to extremist movements, explaining what...
19) AI ethics
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"AI ethics is much debated today and often attracts fears about superintelligence. This book, written by a philosopher of technology engaged in research and policy on the topic, moves away from science fiction fantasies and instead focuses on concrete ethical issues raised by AI and data science. After contextualizing nightmares about AI and sketching some philosophical issues, it looks at what the technology actually is and discusses problems such...
20) Nihilism
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When someone is labeled a nihilist, it's not usually meant as a compliment. Most of us associate nihilism with destructiveness and violence. Nihilism means, literally, "an ideology of nothing." Is nihilism, then, believing in nothing? Or is it the belief that life is nothing? Or the belief that the beliefs we have amount to nothing? If we can learn to recognize the many varieties of nihilism, Nolen Gertz writes, then we can learn to distinguish what...
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