Visions

Sample

Martin Ford

"¿Cuáles serán los empleos del futuro? ¿Cuántos habrá? ¿Quién los tendrá? Podemos imaginar--y esperar--que la revolución industrial que vivimos hoy resulte como la anterior. Es decir que aún cuando algunos trabajos desaparezcan, se generen otros más para hacer frente a las innovaciones de una nueva era. Sin embargo esta vez el panorama no será igual. Empresario en Silicon Valley con una larga trayectoria, Martin Ford asegura en El ascenso de los robots que conforme la tecnología avance en su desarrollo vertiginoso y las máquinas comiencen a hacerse cargo de ellas mismas, cada vez menos personas serán necesarias para realizar cada vez más tareas. Asistentes jurídicos, periodistas, oficinistas, programadores de computadoras están a punto de ser reemplazados por robots y software inteligente. Tanto los empleos más especializados como los intermedios se evaporarán, y las familias de clase media y trabajadora se verán en mayores dificultades. Podrá haber un desempleo masivo y una gran desigualdad. Pero esta vez, capacitar y educar no será la solución. ¿Verá el futuro una prosperidad amplia o niveles catastróficos de desigualdad e inseguridad económica? Una lectura indispensable para cualquiera que desee comprender lo que implica la tecnología acelerada para sus propios prospectos económicos, los de sus hijos, y de la sociedad como un todo"--Amazon.com. "What are the jobs of the future? How many will there be? And who will have them? We might imagine--and hope--that today's industrial revolution will unfold like the last: even as some jobs are eliminated, more will be created to deal with the new innovations of a new era. In Rise of the Robots, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Ford argues that this is absolutely not the case. As technology continues to accelerate and machines begin taking care of themselves, fewer people will be necessary. Artificial intelligence is already well on its way to making 'good jobs' obsolete: many paralegals, journalists, office workers, and even computer programmers are poised to be replaced by robots and smart software. As progress continues, blue and white collar jobs alike will evaporate, squeezing working- and middle-class families ever further. At the same time, households are under assault from exploding costs, especially from the two major industries--education and health care--that, so far, have not been transformed by information technology. The result could well be massive unemployment and inequality as well as the implosion of the consumer economy itself"--Amazon.com.

Sample

Lloyd Ren Sloan and B. James Starr

Minorities long have been underrepresented in the fields of science and engineering; in recent years, for example, only about 6 percent of all doctorates conferred in those fields were awarded to minority candidates. The Career Opportunities in Research Education and Training (COR) Program - formerly known as the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program - was established by the National Institute of Mental Health to encourage minority students to choose science careers and, particularly, careers in the fields of mental health and mental illness. The COR Program provides funds to colleges and universities with high proportions of minority students in order to train future scientists by pairing undergraduates with working scientists, researchers, and educators in the students' areas of interest. The undergraduate-and-mentor pairs then conduct real-world research and document the results in the form of scientific papers. Pathways to Success is a compilation of papers from twenty-two such research studies conducted in NIMH-COR programs located around the United States.

Sample

Libby Lester

"Conflict over issues such as climate change, toxic waste and wilderness provides a key site for examining the shaping and negotiation of public debate. This book offers a new understanding of the relationship between media roles and environmental futures, and of the ways in which news works to influence environmental decision-making across boundaries and over time. Drawing on a range of international examples, Dr Libby Lester invites readers to develop a nuanced understanding of changing media practices and dynamics by connecting local, national and global environmental issues, journalistic practices and news sources, public relations and protests, and the symbolic and strategic circulation of meanings in the public sphere. Media and Environment argues that news maintains a central role in environmental politics. As such, it asks about our understandings of place and community, of local responsibility and global citizenship, and how communication as a society on these crucial issues affects our lives, now and into the future."--Cover.

Sample

Christopher D. Webster and Margaret A. Jackson

Impulsivity features prominently in contemporary descriptions of many psychiatric disorders, and is also a key element in the clinical risk assessment of violence. Thoroughly examining the nature, assessment, and treatment of impulsive conduct, this up-to-date volume brings together contributions from prominent researchers and clinicians in both mental health and correctional settings. Chapters illuminate our current understanding of impulsive behavior from conceptual, legal, and biological perspectives, and address the challenges of describing and measuring it. With special emphasis on how the likelihood of future violent or destructive behavior can best be gauged in specific cases, the volume includes several newly developed risk assessment tools. Impulsivity also provides an invaluable overview of the current state of the research and delineates a broad, clinically pertinent agenda for future study. Impulsivity is an invaluable resource for clinicians working in private practice, correctional facilities, health care settings, and community-based programs. It also serves as a primary or supplementary text for advanced undergraduate and graduate-level courses.