Smoke & Mirrors
How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It
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Smoke & Mirrors
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Narrated by:
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Gemma Milne
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By:
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Gemma Milne
About this listen
Robots will steal your job!
AI will revolutionise farming!
Genetic editing will cure cancer!
Bombastic headlines about science and technology are nothing new. To cut through the constant stream of information and misinformation on social media, or grab the attention of investors, or convince governments to take notice, strident headlines or bold claims seem necessary to give complex, nuanced information some wow factor.
But hype has a dark side, too.
It can mislead. It can distract. It can blinker us from seeing what is actually going on.
From AI, quantum computing and brain implants, to cancer drugs, future foods and fusion energy, science and technology journalist, Gemma Milne, reveals hype to be responsible for fundamentally misdirecting or even derailing crucial progress.
Hype can be combated and discounted, though, if you're able to see exactly where, how, and why it is being deployed.
This audiobook is your guide to doing just that.
©2020 Gemma Milne (P)2020 Hachette Audio UKListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"A much-needed blast of fresh air! Gemma Milne expertly shows us how to separate the truth from the hype surrounding the emerging techs of today, and those of the near-tomorrow." (Lewis Dartnell, author of Origins: How the Earth Made Us)
"I loved this book! This is exactly the sort of sceptical, cut-through-the crap-but-still-excited-about-what's-emerging book around tech innovation that's sorely needed, yet is so hard to find...essential reading for anyone who's serious about how real-world advances might be effectively harnessed to build a better future." (Dr Andrew Maynard, scientist and author of Films from the Future and Future Rising)
What listeners say about Smoke & Mirrors
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 04-09-20
A fantastic distillation of scientific innovation.
I had kind of gone off popular science books. Often they are they are too shallow if i'm familiar with the topic or too intimidating if looking for a deeper dive. This book is perfect for me - concise, densely packed and incredibly relevant to a wide variety of issues of the day.
I can't recommend this book enough if the subject appeals even a little!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jack C.
- 28-04-20
Made me think twice
Going into this with a love of space, automation and generally cool tech things. Gemma has taken those hype traps that I fall into on a regular basis and made me think more about them, Is this good? What am I missing? Why are so many people talking about this? I found Smoke & Mirrors endlessly interesting as examples and points jumped from left and right to make me question everything I see and know. Despite the cavitate of ruining the things I love, it's not done that, if anything it has made me appreciate the world and technology in a new way. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an inquisitive and open mind, wanting their thoughts of the world innovations to be challenged - or at least cleaning up what is actually going on. Also to anyone who wants a better understanding of areas of science and tech that you might not feel comfortable thinking or talking about, safe to say that areas of the book brought me to new practices that I was not knowledgable about, but had pre-baked opinions of, soon to be disproven or shown behind the curtain. Great listen!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- lisa
- 25-11-23
utterly outdated
please don't waste a credit on this. A good deal of what was said was either incorrect or obsolete. I chose this to listen to on a road trip (in my new EV - one of the chapters with which I have issue with the content of) and I ended up just turning it off.
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