Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology
(eBook)

Grouping Information

Book Cover Information

Hoopla Extract Information

stdClass Object
(
    [year] => 2018
    [artist] => Adrienne Mayor
    [fiction] => 
    [coverImageUrl] => https://cover.hoopladigital.com/pup_9780691185446_270.jpeg
    [titleId] => 14632564
    [isbn] => 9780691185446
    [abridged] => 
    [language] => ENGLISH
    [profanity] => 
    [title] => Gods and Robots
    [demo] => 
    [segments] => Array
        (
        )

    [pages] => 304
    [children] => 
    [artists] => Array
        (
            [0] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [name] => Adrienne Mayor
                    [artistFormal] => Mayor, Adrienne
                    [relationship] => AUTHOR
                )

        )

    [genres] => Array
        (
            [0] => Ancient
            [1] => Folklore & Mythology
            [2] => History
            [3] => Science
            [4] => Social Science
        )

    [price] => 1.49
    [id] => 14632564
    [edited] => 
    [kind] => EBOOK
    [active] => 1
    [upc] => 
    [synopsis] => "One of BookAuthority's Three Best New Robotics Audiobooks To Read in 2019" Adrienne Mayor is the author, most recently, of The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World and The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy, which was a finalist for the National Book Award (both Princeton). She is a research scholar in classics and the history of science at Stanford University and lives in Palo Alto, California. 
	The fascinating untold story of how the ancients imagined robots and other forms of artificial life-and even invented real automated machines 

The first robot to walk the earth was a bronze giant called Talos. This wondrous machine was created not by MIT Robotics Lab, but by Hephaestus, the Greek god of invention. More than 2,500 years ago, long before medieval automata, and centuries before technology made self-moving devices possible, Greek mythology was exploring ideas about creating artificial life-and grappling with still-unresolved ethical concerns about biotechne, "life through craft." In this compelling, richly illustrated book, Adrienne Mayor tells the fascinating story of how ancient Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese myths envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices, and human enhancements-and how these visions relate to and reflect the ancient invention of real animated machines.

As early as Homer, Greeks were imagining robotic servants, animated statues, and even ancient versions of Artificial Intelligence, while in Indian legend, Buddha's precious relics were defended by robot warriors copied from Greco-Roman designs for real automata. Mythic automata appear in tales about Jason and the Argonauts, Medea, Daedalus, Prometheus, and Pandora, and many of these machines are described as being built with the same materials and methods that human artisans used to make tools and statues. And, indeed, many sophisticated animated devices were actually built in antiquity, reaching a climax with the creation of a host of automata in the ancient city of learning, Alexandria, the original Silicon Valley.

A groundbreaking account of the earliest expressions of the timeless impulse to create artificial life, Gods and Robots reveals how some of today's most advanced innovations in robotics and AI were foreshadowed in ancient myth-and how science has always been driven by imagination. This is mythology for the age of AI. "Absorbing. . . . [Mayor is] an accessible and engaging writer."---Peter Thonemann, Wall Street Journal "In her new book, Gods and Robots, Adrienne Mayor draws comparisons between mythical androids and ancient robots and the AI of today. . . . Through detailed storytelling and careful analysis of popular myths, Mayor urges readers to consider lessons learned from these stories as we set about creating a new world with AI. . . . Wonderful storytelling, thorough research, and impressive expertise."---Sarah Olson, Science "A fascinating unpacking of ancient myths that feature robots and other lifelike beings, some of which bear an eerie resemblance to modern technology. . . . In her insightful analyses of these tales, Mayor is approachable and engaging, and she infuses many familiar stories with new energy in the context of technology. She adroitly explores the ethical aspects of artificial life, addressing big questions about sentience and agency through the lens of ancient ideas. She also makes a convincing argument that these imagined machines anticipated advances that are considered cutting-edge today. Ultimately, she leaves readers in awe of these thinkers who dreamed of 'androids' long before it was conceivable to build them. A collection of wondrous tales that present ancient myths as the proto-science fiction stories they are." "The Greeks thought of everything, including sci-fi tropes such as androids and artificial intelligence, according to this lively study of mythology and technology. . . . Mayor'
    [url] => https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/14632564
    [pa] => 
    [subtitle] => Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology
    [publisher] => Princeton University Press
    [purchaseModel] => INSTANT
)