12 Bytes: How artificial intelligence will change the way we live and love - Softcover

Winterson, Jeanette

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1529112974 ISBN 13: 9781529112979

Publisher: Vintage, 2022

Synopsis

'Joins the dots in a neglected narrative of female scientists, visionaries and code-breakers' Observer

How is artificial intelligence changing the way we live and love? Now with a new chapter, this is the eye-opening new book from Sunday Times bestselling author Jeanette Winterson.

Drawing on her years of thinking and reading about AI, Jeanette Winterson looks to history, religion, myth, literature, politics and, of course, computer science to help us understand the radical changes to the way we live and love that are happening now.

With wit, compassion and curiosity, Winterson tackles AI's most interesting talking points - from the weirdness of backing up your brain and the connections between humans and non-human helpers to whether it's time to leave planet Earth.

'Very funny... A kind of comparative mythology, where the hype and ideology of cutting-edge tech is read through the lens of far older stories' Spectator

'Refreshingly optimistic' Guardian

A 'Books of 2021' Pick in the Guardian, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph and Evening Standard

About this title

About the Author

Jeanette Winterson CBE was born in Manchester. Adopted by Pentecostal parents she was raised to be a missionary. This did and didn't work out. Discovering early the power of books she left home at sixteen to live in a Mini and get on with her education. After graduating from Oxford University she worked for a while in the theatre and published her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, at twenty-five. Over two decades later she revisited that material in her internationally bestselling memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Winterson has written thirteen novels for adults and two previous collections of short stories, as well as children's books, non-fiction and screenplays. She is Professor of New Writing at the University of Manchester. She lives in the Cotswolds in a wood and in Spitalfields, London.

From the Back Cover

Twelve bytes. Twelve eye-opening, mind-expanding, funny and provocative essays on the implications of artificial intelligence for the way we live and the way we love - from Sunday Times-bestselling author Jeanette Winterson.

An original, and entertaining new book from Jeanette Winterson, drawing on her years of thinking about and reading about Artificial Intelligence in its bewildering manifestations. She looks to history, religion, myth, literature, the politics of race and gender, and of course, computing science, to help us understand the radical changes to the way we live and love that are happening now.

When we create non-biological life-forms, will we do so in our image? Or will we accept the once-in-a-species opportunity to remake ourselves in their image?

What do love, caring, sex, and attachment look like when humans form connections with non-human helpers teachers, sex-workers, and companions? And what will happen to our deep-rooted assumptions about gender?

Will the physical body that is our home soon be enhanced by biological and neural implants, keeping us fitter, younger, and connected? Is it time to join Elon Musk and leave Planet Earth?

With wit, compassion and curiosity, Winterson tackles AI's most interesting talking points, from the algorithms that data-dossier your whole life, to the weirdness of backing up your brain.

Edition details

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1529112974
• ISBN 13: 9781529112979
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304