Beyond Human - Hardcover

Praise for "Deep Time" "Professor and distinguished sf writer Benford adds another reflective title to his large and rapidly expanding oeuvre. Hearty and compelling, his new book elucidates some of the inherent problems humanity faces in communicating over the expanse of time. This slim book addresses environmental issues in order to change how we think about the human impact on Earth; the goal is to make us good stewards. Recommended for all public and academic libraries.--"Library Journal" "Combining the flair of a novelist with the cutting-edge science of a physicist, Gregory Benford tells a fascinating tale of one of the deepest questions human beings can ask: How do we communicate with our distant descendants or with extraterrestrials? I know of no book that combines these ingredients in such a hearty meal for the intellect." --John L. Casti, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM; author of "Paradigms Lost" and "The Cambridge Quintet" "We have no evolutionary basis for thinking rationally about the distant future, and Gregory Benford's delightful book documents our feeble efforts to do so. We feel a sense of responsibility to and for a future far beyond our span, and it will not go away. "Deep Time "addresses the why and the how of truly deep issues, in a fun read. I know of no other book on this intriguing subject." --Hal Lewis, Professor of Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara; author of "Technological Risk "

Concepts once purely fiction - robots, cyborg parts, artificial intelligences - are becoming part of everyday reality. Soon robots will be everywhere, performing surgery, exploring hazardous places, making rescues, fighting fires, handling heavy goods. After a decade or two, they will be as unremarkable as the computer screen is now in offices, airports or restaurants. Cyborgs will be less obvious. These additions to the human body are interior now, as rebuilt joints, elbows and hearts. Soon we will cross the line between repair and augmentation, probably first in sports medicine, then spreading to everyone who wants to make a body perform better, last longer, than it ordinarily could. Controversy will arise, but it will not stop the desire to live longer and be stronger than we are.