Artificial Intimacy
Virtual friends, digital lovers and algorithmic matchmakers
Will be published approx. on 30. May 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-74223-685-8 (ISBN)
Description
People have long told machines what to do by pushing buttons. Now, with advances in technology, machines are pushing our buttons.
In Artificial Intimacy, evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks takes us from the origins of human behaviour to the latest in artificially intelligent technologies, providing a fresh and original view of the very near future of human relationships.
Sex dollbots, digital lovers, virtual friends and algorithmic matchmakers help us manage our feelings in a world of cognitive overload. Apps can sense when a user is falling in love, when they are fighting, and when they are likely to break up. These machines, the 'artificial intimacies', already learn and exploit human social needs. They are getting better and faster at what they do.
How will humanity's future unfold when our ancient, evolved minds and old-fashioned cultures collide with twenty-first-century technology?
In Artificial Intimacy, evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks takes us from the origins of human behaviour to the latest in artificially intelligent technologies, providing a fresh and original view of the very near future of human relationships.
Sex dollbots, digital lovers, virtual friends and algorithmic matchmakers help us manage our feelings in a world of cognitive overload. Apps can sense when a user is falling in love, when they are fighting, and when they are likely to break up. These machines, the 'artificial intimacies', already learn and exploit human social needs. They are getting better and faster at what they do.
How will humanity's future unfold when our ancient, evolved minds and old-fashioned cultures collide with twenty-first-century technology?
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Sydney, NSW
Australia
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-74223-685-8 (9781742236858)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Rob Brooks is an international expert on the conflicting evolutionary interests that make sex sizzle and render reproduction complex. He has won Australia's most prestigious award for science communication, the Eureka Prize, and is the author of Sex, Genes and Rock 'n' Roll: How evolution has shaped the modern world (2011), which won the Queensland Literary Award for Science Writing. He is Scientia Professor of Evolution at UNSW, Sydney, where he founded and directed the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre.