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An urgent investigation that asks what the birth of two babies whose embryos had gone through genome editing means--for science and for us all.In November 2018, the world was shocked to learn that two babies had been born with DNA edited while they were IVF embryos by a Chinese scientist, He Jiankui. This book, written by a leading authority on law and genetics, tells the fascinating story of this human experiment--how He went about it and how...

The emergence of ketamine--previously known as a combat anesthetic and club drug--as a treatment for depression.Ketamine, approved in 2019 by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of depression, has been touted by scientists and media reports as something approaching a miracle cure. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series chronicles the ascent of a drug that has been around for fifty years--in previous incarnations...

Leading economists and policymakers consider what economic tools are most effective in reversing the rise in inequality.Economic inequality is the defining issue of our time. In the United States, the wealth share of the top 1% has risen from 25% in the late 1970s to around 40% today. The percentage of children earning more than their parents has fallen from 90% in the 1940s to around 50% today. In Combating Inequality, leading economists, man...

How we can achieve healthy growth--more regenerative than destructive, restoring equity rather than exacerbating inequalities.In The Growth Compass, Per Espen Stoknes reframes the hot-button issue of economic growth. Going beyond the usual dialectic of pro-growth versus anti-growth, Stoknes calls for healthy growth. Healthy economic growth is more regenerative than destructive, repairs problems rather than greenwashing them, and restores equit...

Games that show how mathematics can solve the apparently unsolvable.This book presents a series of engaging games that seem unsolvable--but can be solved when they are translated into mathematical terms. How can players find their ID cards when the cards are distributed randomly among twenty boxes? By applying the theory of permutations. How can a player guess the color of her own hat when she can only see other players' hats? Hamming codes, w...

Insights from the history of numerical notation suggest that how humans write numbers is an active choice involving cognitive and social factors.Over the past 5, 000 years, more than 100 methods of numerical notation—distinct ways of writing numbers—have been developed and used by specific communities. Most of these are barely known today, where they are known, they are often derided as cognitively cumbersome and outdated. In Reckonings, Steph...

Essays and interviews explore the work of Carrie Mae Weems and its place in the history of photography, African American art, and contemporary art.In this October Files volume, essays and interviews explore the work of the influential American artist Carrie Mae Weems—her invention and originality, the formal dimensions of her practice, and her importance to the history of photography and contemporary art. Since the 1980s, Weems (b. 1953) has c...

How to use data as a tool for empowerment rather than oppression.Big data can be used for good--from tracking disease to exposing human rights violations--and for bad--implementing surveillance and control. Data inevitably represents the ideologies of those who control its use, data analytics and algorithms too often exclude women, the poor, and ethnic groups. In Data Action, Sarah Williams provides a guide for working with data in more ethica...

The bestselling author and recipient of the 2018 Holberg Prize, Cass R. Sunstein, explores how more information can make us happy or miserable, and why we sometimes avoid it--but sometimes seek it out.How much information is too much? Do we need to know how many calories are in the giant vat of popcorn that we bought on our way into the movie theater? Do we want to know if we are genetically predisposed to a certain disease? Can we do anything...

From the TED stage to the page, Juan Enriquez, author of As the Future Catches You and Evolving Ourselves, presents a lively and engaging guide to ethics in a technological age.Most people have a strong sense of right and wrong, and many of us are not reluctant to argue with someone who disagrees. But when we take an unyielding stand on something we regard as an eternal truth, we forget that ethics evolve over time. What was once broadly accep...

A bold dive into the problematic development (and developers) of "smart wives"--feminized digital assistants who are friendly, sometimes flirty, docile, efficient, occasionally glitchy, and perpetually available.Meet the Smart Wife--at your service, an eclectic collection of feminized AI, robotic, and smart devices. This digital assistant is friendly and sometimes flirty, docile and efficient, occasionally glitchy but perpetually available. Sh...

Rewrites the rules of commerce by pursuing outcomes rather than products, the seventh book in the Management on the Cutting Edge series comes from a definitive source--the MIT Sloan Management Review.Would you rather pay for healthcare or for better health? For school or education? For groceries or nutrition? A car or transportation? A theater performance or entertainment? In The Ends Game, Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg describe how some ...

A riveting imagined history looking back on the twenty-first century through one hundred of its artifacts, from silent messaging systems to artificial worlds on asteroids.In the year 2082, a curator looks back at the twenty-first century, offering a history of the era through a series of objects and artifacts. He reminisces about the power of connectivity, which was reinforced by such technologies as silent messaging--wearable computers that r...

How companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify know what "you might also like": the history, technology, business, and societal impact of online recommendation engines.Increasingly, our technologies are giving us better, faster, smarter, and more personal advice than our own families and best friends. Amazon already knows what kind of books and household goods you like and is more than eager to recommend more, YouTube and TikTok always have a...

Science and tech expert George Zarkadakis presents an indispensable guide to making liberal democracies more inclusive, and the digital economy more equitable in the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution.Around the world, liberal democracies are in crisis. Citizens have lost faith in their government, right-wing nationalist movements frame the political debate. At the same time, economic inequality is increasing dramatically, digital technologie...

Examining the potential benefits and risks of using artificial intelligence to advance global sustainability.Drones with night vision are tracking elephant and rhino poachers in African wildlife parks and sanctuaries, smart submersibles are saving coral from carnivorous starfish on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, recycled cell phones alert Brazilian forest rangers to the sound of illegal logging. The tools of artificial intelligence are being ...

An argument that we have a moral duty to colonize other planets and solar systems--because human life on Earth has an expiration date.Inevitably, life on Earth will come to an end, whether by climate disaster, or by cataclysmic war, or when the sun runs out of fuel in a few billion years. To avoid extinction, will we have to find a new home planet, perhaps even a new solar system, to inhabit? In this provocative and fascinating book, Christoph...

A comprehensive overview of the semantics and syntax of indexical shift that develops a constrained typology of the phenomenon across languages.The phenomenon of indexical shift--whereby indexicals embedded in speech or attitude reports draw their meaning from an attitude event rather than the utterance context--has been reported in languages spanning five continents and at least ten language families. In this book, Amy Rose Deal offers a comp...

Two international linguistic researchers, Roger Kruez and Richard Roberts, explore why language ability remains resilient and how it shapes our lives.We acquire our native language, seemingly without effort, in infancy and early childhood. Language is our constant companion throughout our lifetime, even as we age. Indeed, compared with other aspects of cognition, language seems to be fairly resilient through the process of aging. In Changing M...

Analysis and case studies of emerging forms of private, public, and hybrid social and environmental governance.The effects of globalization on governance are complex and uncertain. As markets integrate, governments have become increasingly hesitant to enforce regulations inside their own jurisdictions. At the same time, multilateralism has proven unsuccessful in coordinating states' responses to global challenges. In this book, Lena Partzsch d...