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God, Human, Animal, Machine

Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning

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God, Human, Animal, Machine

By: Meghan O'Gieblyn
Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
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A strikingly original exploration of what it might mean to be authentically human in the age of artificial intelligence, from the author of the critically-acclaimed Interior States. • "At times personal, at times philosophical, with a bracing mixture of openness and skepticism, it speaks thoughtfully and articulately to the most crucial issues awaiting our future." —Phillip Lopate

“[A] truly fantastic book.”—Ezra Klein

For most of human history the world was a magical and enchanted place ruled by forces beyond our understanding. The rise of science and Descartes's division of mind from world made materialism our ruling paradigm, in the process asking whether our own consciousness—i.e., souls—might be illusions. Now the inexorable rise of technology, with artificial intelligences that surpass our comprehension and control, and the spread of digital metaphors for self-understanding, the core questions of existence—identity, knowledge, the very nature and purpose of life itself—urgently require rethinking.

Meghan O'Gieblyn tackles this challenge with philosophical rigor, intellectual reach, essayistic verve, refreshing originality, and an ironic sense of contradiction. She draws deeply and sometimes humorously from her own personal experience as a formerly religious believer still haunted by questions of faith, and she serves as the best possible guide to navigating the territory we are all entering. History & Culture North America Philosophy Religious Studies
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Megan O’Gieblyn’s lyrical and semi-autobiographical story written as if she were a stranger wandering through a strange land, trying, but continuously failing, to be assimilated into the culture’s happy story du jour. Her wide ranging knowledge that is on display in this story makes this book a wonder of both scholarship and humanity — of vulnerability to life and what it brought, and resilience to follow a path that never seemed to get to where it said it would. I count myself lucky to have found this book. Also, Rebecca Lowman’s narration honors the author’s words and feelings.

Stranger In A Strange Land

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