Terror and the Sublime

Original title: La terreur et le sublime

Author: Dyens, Ollivier

Publication Date:

August 2019

Pages:

240

Original language and publisher

French | Editions XYZ

Territories Handled

English (World excl Canada), France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Scandinavia

Genre

Philosophy

Terror and the Sublime

Original title: La terreur et le sublime

Author: Dyens, Ollivier

Synopsis

For readers of Yuval Noah Harari, Ronald Wright & Kai-Fu Lee.

How can we exist in a world that will experience the equivalent of 10,000 years of progress by 2100 ? Are machines becoming emotional, curious and intelligent ? One thing we do know is that they are pervading our world in all its dimensions, becoming entrenched in civilization and our ecosystem. We are entering the era of algoracy — a world dominated, enriched, governed, monitored and healed by algorithms.

In the face of this remarkable fact, we experience both terror and the sublime in the immense gap between what we perceive ourselves to be and the new reality that technology imposes. The ecological, humanitarian and ethical challenges that lie ahead will require an unprecedented partnership with artificial intelligence, a fusion of intelligences. We will have to learn to live, create, think and educate alongside AI and its algorithms. Mankind and AI will be students, professors and partners alike in the creation of a new human-machine world.

Marketing Information

  • English language rights for Metal and Flesh, a previous title by the same author, have been acquired by MIT Press.