This is a revised and expanded second edition of Why Machines Will Never Rule the World. Its core argument remains the same: that an artificial intelligence (AI) that could equal or exceed human intelligence – sometimes called ‘artificial general intelligence’ (AGI) – is for mathematical reasons impossible. It offers two specific reasons for this claim: - Human intelligence is a capability of the human brain and central nervous system, which is a complex dynamic system - Systems of this sort cannot be modelled mathematically in a way that allows them to operate inside a computer In supporting their claim, the authors, Jobst Landgrebe and Barry Smith, marshal evidence from mathematics, physics, computer science, philosophy, linguistics, biology, and anthropology, setting up their book around three central questions: What are the essential marks of human intelligence? What is it that researchers try to do when they attempt to achieve ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI)? And why, after more than 50 years, are our interactions with AI, for example when on the telephone with our bank’s computers, still so unsatisfactory?

This book studies religion through the eyes of some of its most influential, exemplary and sometimes controversial people. Historically organized and philosophically nuanced, each chapter locates a religious person in their material context to elucidate novel interpretations of their written works. It aims to build the capacities necessary to live tolerantly in religiously diverse democracies.

Modern physics is dazzling. What is it about space that will not let an object move faster than light? Why does mass increase and time slow at extremely high velocities? Why is it impossible to know where a particle is if its momentum is known? In everyday experience, why do we feel acceleration but not velocity? These physical phenomena are well known, and their effects are easily calculated, but the dazzle remains. Why do they happen at extreme dimensions -- the very fast, the very small, the very massive, the very distant? The key revolves around the role of the observer, or, in other words, consciousness. Without an observer, the existence of an object itself becomes problematic. It is time to look again at what dimensions are and how they relate to consciousness.

Since the second half of the twentieth century, trauma, ethics, and hermeneutics have flourished as conceptual and critical tools for literary, cultural, and philosophical analysis. Authors, filmmakers, and philosophers have aspired to depict the ever-changing meshwork of experiences, memories, and histories while readers, viewers, and scholars have endeavored to seek out conclusive and comprehensive understandings of both the work and the world. These at once complementary and conflicting relationships are addressed throughout the exceptionally lucid work of Colin Davis, which, from French literature to trauma studies and Levinasian ethics, has engaged with the linked questions of alterity and interpretation. Trauma, Ethics, Hermeneutics brings together twelve essays written in honour of the remarkably rich and diverse scholarly achievement of Colin Davis on the occasion of his retirement as Research Chair in French at Royal Holloway, University of London and receipt of the prestigious title of Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques. Taken together, these essays celebrate and extend Davis's contribution to the study and teaching of literature, cinema, and philosophy today.

The purpose of this book is to present the teachings of the Catholic Church as they pertain to ethical issues arising in the healthcare and biomedical sciences. The premise of the project is that the Catholic Church's teaching speaks in an accessible way to a wide range of people concerned about healthcare ethics.

Handbook on Critical Life Issues is a comprehensive textbook evaluating major life issues and health care ethics from the standpoint of the teaching of the Catholic Church. It is meant in a special way for use in university courses and adult religious education. This classic work on Catholic bioethics began with texts compiled by Rev. Donald McCarthy and Rev. Edward Bayer in 1982 and was revised twice by the Marianist Rev. John Leies, most recently in 2010. This fourth edition, by Arland Nichols, substantially reorganizes and greatly expands upon the previous editions. The Handbook is divided into three parts. The first part discusses fundamental principles and foundations, including reliance upon faith, reason, and Scripture; freedom, conscience, and the human act; and the human person, suffering, and compassion. The second part looks at issues around the beginning of human life, including contraception, artificial reproductive practices and natural fertility treatments, the moment when human life begins, abortion, and experimentation on human embryos. The third part completes the presentation by looking at moral issues in the midst of life and at its end, such as preventative and risk-reducing medicine, organ donation, advanced directives, decisions about preserving life, and the determination of death. Two appendices cover a legal history of the withdrawal of treatment and capital punishment.