Home Books 12 Bytes: How We Got Here. Where We Might Go Next

12 Bytes: How We Got Here. Where We Might Go Next

12 Bytes: How We Got Here. Where We Might Go Next

by Jeanette Winterson

Grove Press ·2021 ·324 pages
Bottom of the Pile
Bottom of the Pile
I Index
22/99
Bottom of the Pile

8/99

Critics' Rating Index

Maybe Someday

36/99

Readers' Rating Index

n/a

Scholars' Citation Index

77/99

Volume of Reviews

58/99

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About This Book

Twelve eye-opening, mind-expanding, funny and provocative essays on the implications of artificial intelligence for the way we live and the way we love from New York Times bestselling author Jeanette Winterson "Talky, smart, anarchic and quite sexy," said Dwight Garner in the New York Times about Jeanette Winterson's latest novel, Frankissstein, which perfectly describes too this new collection of essays on the same subject of AI. In 12 Bytes, the New York Times bestselling author of Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson, draws on her years of thinking and reading about artificial intelligence in all its bewildering manifestations. In her brilliant, laser focused, uniquely pointed and witty style of story-telling, Winterson looks to history, religion, myth, literature, the politics of race and gender, and computer science, to help us understand the radical changes to the way we live and love that are happening now. When we create non-biological life-forms, will we do so in our image? Or will we accept the once-in-a-species opportunity to remake ourselves in their image? What do love, caring, sex, and attachment look like when humans form connections with non-human helpers, teachers, sex-workers, and companions? And what will happen to our deep-rooted assumptions about gender? Will the physical body that is our home soon be enhanced by biological and neural implants, keeping us fitter, younger, and connected? Is it time to join Elon Musk and leave Planet Earth? With wit, compassion and curiosity, Winterson tackles AI's most fascinating talking points, from the algorithms that data-dossier your whole life to the weirdness of backing up your brain.


Reviews

"12 Bytes is a time capsule of Covid-era gadgetry and its attendant anxieties ...Yet, perversely, 12 Bytes also devolves into a kind of techno-evangelist sermon ..."

Beejay Silcox· Times Literary Supplement Read review ↗ Bottom of the Pile

"I, for one, am hoping that she has the 411 on the future, and it is one that will command cooperation between humans and AI."

Jana Siciliano· Bookreporter Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Tucked into the corners of these erudite essays are multitudes of fascinating facts and thoughtful what-if speculations."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Maybe it's a pointless question since it leads to another: what is love?"

Laura Spinney· The Guardian Read review ↗ Near the Top

"I do object to being preached at by Winterson on a subject she clearly knows so little about."

Claire Lowdon· The Times (UK) Read review ↗ Bottom of the Pile

"It is also released at a time when the future of AI, and humanity, could go in any direction."

The Evening Standard Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Through well-paced and articulate prose, Winterson makes granular tech know-how remarkably accessible—though she often ends sections with a series of questions that have a tendency to overwhelm."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Near the Top

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