ANALOGIA: The Emergence of Technology Beyond Programmable Control

George Dyson

ISBN 10: 0374104867 / ISBN 13: 9780374104863

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2020

About this Item

First edition 2020, 1st printing. 291pp. w/many photos & illustrations. Bright, clean & tight copy, erstwhile remainder (black dot on head, o/w unmarked), unread, in Fine condition. "In 1716, the philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz spent eight days taking the cure with Peter the Great at Bad Pyrmont in Saxony, trying to persuade the tsar to launch a voyage of discovery from Russia to America and to adopt digital computing as the foundation for a remaking of life on earth. In two classic books, 'Darwin Among the Machines' and 'Turing's Cathedral,' George Dyson chronicled the realization of the second of Leibniz's visions. In ANALOGIA, his pathbreaking new book, he brings the story full circle, starting with the Russian American expedition of 1741 and ending with the beyond-digital revolution that will complete the transformation of the world. [] Dyson enlists a startling cast of characters, from the time of Catherine the Great to the age of machine intelligence, and draws heavily on his own experiences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and onward to the rain forest of the Northwest Coast. We are, Dyson reveals, entering a new epoch in human history, one driven by a generation of machines whose powers are no longer under programmable control." [jacket copy] "This is the most delightfully peculiar book I've ever read. It's grand and intimate, personal and cosmic, and about digital computing and archaic hunter-gatherers. Every paragraph is a surprise."--Kevin Kelly, WIRED, "The Best Pop Culture That Got Us Through 2020." "This book pierces the fog of everyday life. Read it and you will become aware of history you need to know, and of how the last few centuries of the human story sit within a much larger, epochal frame. An extra treat is insight into the remarkable Dyson family."--Jaron Lanier. "ANALOGIA is a work of originality and ambition unlike any you've encountered. George Dyson transmutes memoir, history, and forecast into a page-turning tale in which Geronimo, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Catherine the Great, Kurt Gödel, and Steller's sea cow play roles. It's no less the story of the magnificent Dysons, a larger-than-life family spanning physicist Freeman, mathematician Verena, tech influencer Esther, and the author himself, an off-the-grid public intellectual. ANALOGIA offers more serious fun than a dozen of the usual bestsellers."--William Poundstone. Fine hardcover w/brilliant corners & crisp edges, a square & tight binding, wrapped in an intact NF jacket (slightly faded spine) covered in archival mylar. Quite presentable.

Seller Inventory # RUB3718

Bibliographic Details

• Title: ANALOGIA: The Emergence of Technology Beyond Programmable Control
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374104867
• ISBN 13: 9780374104863
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Dimensions: 6.51W x 9.24H x 1.09D inches 6.51 inches width by 9.24 inches height by 1.09 inches depth
• Weight: 20.177 ounces

About this title

Synopsis

Named one of WIRED’s "The Best Pop Culture That Got Us Through 2020"

In Analogia, technology historian George Dyson presents a startling look back at the analog age and life before the digital revolution―and an unsettling vision of what comes next.

In 1716, the philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz spent eight days taking the cure with Peter the Great at Bad Pyrmont in Saxony, trying to persuade the tsar to launch a voyage of discovery from Russia to America and to adopt digital computing as the foundation for a remaking of life on earth. In two classic books, Darwin Among the Machines and Turing’s Cathedral, George Dyson chronicled the realization of the second of Leibniz’s visions. In Analogia, his pathbreaking new book, he brings the story full circle, starting with the Russian American expedition of 1741 and ending with the beyond-digital revolution that will complete
the transformation of the world.

Dyson enlists a startling cast of characters, from the time of Catherine the Great to the age of machine intelligence, and draws heavily on his own experiences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and onward to the rain forest of the Northwest Coast. We are, Dyson reveals, entering a new epoch in human history, one driven by a generation of machines whose powers are no longer under programmable control.

Includes black-and-white illustrations

About the Author

George Dyson, a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, is an independent historian of technology whose subjects have included the development (and redevelopment) of the Aleut kayak (Baidarka, 1986), the evolution of artificial intelligence (Darwin Among the Machines, 1997), a path not taken into space (Project Orion, 2002), and the transition from numbers that mean things to numbers that do things in the aftermath of World War II (Turing’s Cathedral, 2012).