Welbo: the Little Green Alien

Welbo: the Little Green Alien
Author: Kevin Lee
Publisher:
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2013-01-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781482098136

Welbo: The Little Green Alien is a wonderfully written children's novel about a boy and a girl who discover a friendly alien. Kevin Peter Lee writes in his usual humorous way. His unique message of friendship and kindness towards all living beings that he has grown famous for is advocated passionately throughout this story. Welbo: The Little Green Alien is Book 1 of the popular series. Children and parents will fall in love with Welbo immediately as the little green alien meets new friends on Earth, Koby and Samantha. Together they share an adventure that requires the two children and their dog, Gordon, to take care of a very special and talented alien that is not much bigger than a golf ball. Welbo can speak to animals and the children learn quickly that the animals in their own local park have their own society. Children will read Welbo the little green alien over and over again. It is the perfect novel for young readers who are ready to make the transition from picture book to children's novel. Great for ages 4 to 10.

Alien of Extraordinary Ability

Alien of Extraordinary Ability
Author: Zhu Yi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2015-05-13
Genre:
ISBN: 9781511441841

A collection of short plays by Zhu Yi that have been performed in New York between 2008-2015. Elegant and gritty, poetic and mundane, fantastical and ordinary.

Iron Widow (Book 1)

Iron Widow (Book 1)
Author: Xiran Jay Zhao
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2021-09-21
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0735269947

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller! A USA Today bestseller! Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers. The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn't matter that the girls often die from the mental strain. When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​ To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

The People's Republic of Amnesia

The People's Republic of Amnesia
Author: Louisa Lim
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2014
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199347700

"One of the best analyses of the impact of Tiananmen throughout China in the years since 1989." --The New York Times Book Review

The Big Nine

The Big Nine
Author: Amy Webb
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2019-03-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1541773748

A call-to-arms about the broken nature of artificial intelligence, and the powerful corporations that are turning the human-machine relationship on its head. We like to think that we are in control of the future of "artificial" intelligence. The reality, though, is that we -- the everyday people whose data powers AI -- aren't actually in control of anything. When, for example, we speak with Alexa, we contribute that data to a system we can't see and have no input into -- one largely free from regulation or oversight. The big nine corporations -- Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Microsoft, IBM and Apple--are the new gods of AI and are short-changing our futures to reap immediate financial gain. In this book, Amy Webb reveals the pervasive, invisible ways in which the foundations of AI -- the people working on the system, their motivations, the technology itself -- is broken. Within our lifetimes, AI will, by design, begin to behave unpredictably, thinking and acting in ways which defy human logic. The big nine corporations may be inadvertently building and enabling vast arrays of intelligent systems that don't share our motivations, desires, or hopes for the future of humanity. Much more than a passionate, human-centered call-to-arms, this book delivers a strategy for changing course, and provides a path for liberating us from algorithmic decision-makers and powerful corporations.

The Grand Biocentric Design

The Grand Biocentric Design
Author: Robert Lanza
Publisher: BenBella Books
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2020-11-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1950665550

What if life isn't just a part of the universe . . . what if it determines the very structure of the universe itself? The theory that blew your mind in Biocentrism and Beyond Biocentrism is back, with brand-new research revealing the startling truth about our existence. What is consciousness? Why are we here? Where did it all come from—the laws of nature, the stars, the universe? Humans have been asking these questions forever, but science hasn't succeeded in providing many answers—until now. In The Grand Biocentric Design, Robert Lanza, one of Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People," is joined by theoretical physicist Matej Pavšic and astronomer Bob Berman to shed light on the big picture that has long eluded philosophers and scientists alike. This engaging, mind-stretching exposition of how the history of physics has led us to Biocentrism—the idea that life creates reality-takes readers on a step-by-step adventure into the great science breakthroughs of the past centuries, from Newton to the weirdness of quantum theory, culminating in recent revelations that will challenge everything you think you know about our role in the universe. ​This book offers the most complete explanation of the science behind Biocentrism to date, delving into the origins of the memorable principles introduced in previous books in this series, as well as introducing new principles that complete the theory. The authors dive deep into topics including consciousness, time, and the evidence that our observations-or even knowledge in our minds-can affect how physical objects behave. The Grand Biocentric Design is a one-of-a-kind, groundbreaking explanation of how the universe works, and an exploration of the science behind the astounding fact that time, space, and reality itself, all ultimately depend upon us.

Beyond Biocentrism

Beyond Biocentrism
Author: Robert Lanza
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2016-05-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1942952228

Biocentrism shocked the world with a radical rethinking of the nature of reality. But that was just the beginning. In Beyond Biocentrism, acclaimed biologist Robert Lanza, one of TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential People in 2014," and leading astronomer Bob Berman, take the reader on an intellectual thrill-ride as they re-examine everything we thought we knew about life, death, the universe, and the nature of reality itself. The first step is acknowledging that our existing model of reality is looking increasingly creaky in the face of recent scientific discoveries. Science tells us with some precision that the universe is 26.8 percent dark matter, 68.3 percent dark energy, and only 4.9 percent ordinary matter, but must confess that it doesn't really know what dark matter is and knows even less about dark energy. Science is increasingly pointing toward an infinite universe but has no ability to explain what that really means. Concepts such as time, space, and even causality are increasingly being demonstrated as meaningless. All of science is based on information passing through our consciousness but science hasn't the foggiest idea what consciousness is, and it can't explain the linkage between subatomic states and observation by conscious observers. Science describes life as a random occurrence in a dead universe but has no real understanding of how life began or why the universe appears to be exquisitely designed for the emergence of life. The biocentrism theory isn't a rejection of science. Quite the opposite. Biocentrism challenges us to fully accept the implications of the latest scientific findings in fields ranging from plant biology and cosmology to quantum entanglement and consciousness. By listening to what the science is telling us, it becomes increasingly clear that life and consciousness are fundamental to any true understanding of the universe. This forces a fundamental rethinking of everything we thought we knew about life, death, and our place in the universe.

Freedom in the World 2015

Freedom in the World 2015
Author: Freedom House
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 877
Release: 2015-12-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1442254084

Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 195 countries and fourteen territories are used by policymakers, the media, international corporations, civic activists, and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide. The Freedom in the World political rights and civil liberties ratings are determined through a multi-layered process of research and evaluation by a team of regional analysts and eminent scholars. The analysts used a broad range of sources of information, including foreign and domestic news reports, academic studies, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, individual professional contacts, and visits to the region, in conducting their research. The methodology of the survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.

Threatcasting

Threatcasting
Author: Brian David Johnson
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2022-06-01
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 303102575X

Impending technological advances will widen an adversary’s attack plane over the next decade. Visualizing what the future will hold, and what new threat vectors could emerge, is a task that traditional planning mechanisms struggle to accomplish given the wide range of potential issues. Understanding and preparing for the future operating environment is the basis of an analytical method known as Threatcasting. It is a method that gives researchers a structured way to envision and plan for risks ten years in the future. Threatcasting uses input from social science, technical research, cultural history, economics, trends, expert interviews, and even a little science fiction to recognize future threats and design potential futures. During this human-centric process, participants brainstorm what actions can be taken to identify, track, disrupt, mitigate, and recover from the possible threats. Specifically, groups explore how to transform the future they desire into reality while avoiding an undesired future. The Threatcasting method also exposes what events could happen that indicate the progression toward an increasingly possible threat landscape. This book begins with an overview of the Threatcasting method with examples and case studies to enhance the academic foundation. Along with end-of-chapter exercises to enhance the reader’s understanding of the concepts, there is also a full project where the reader can conduct a mock Threatcasting on the topic of “the next biological public health crisis.” The second half of the book is designed as a practitioner’s handbook. It has three separate chapters (based on the general size of the Threatcasting group) that walk the reader through how to apply the knowledge from Part I to conduct an actual Threatcasting activity. This book will be useful for a wide audience (from student to practitioner) and will hopefully promote new dialogues across communities and novel developments in the area.

Tech Noir

Tech Noir
Author: James Cameron
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9781789099225