Description

A Science Book of the Year in The Telegraph

‘Timely and wide-ranging . . . ambitious in its scope’ – New Scientist

‘One of the best books on technology and culture I have read’ – Matthew D’Ancona, The New European

‘Powerful, profound and completely engrossing’ – Michael Bhaskar, co-author of The Coming Wave

In Wise Animals, tech philosopher Tom Chatfield excavates human history to uncover our changing relationship with technology, from the personalized hand axes of our Paleolithic ancestors to the artificial superintelligences of the future.

Drawing on an astonishing breadth of cutting-edge research and historical sources, Chatfield encourages us to rethink everything we thought we knew about technology, and shows how we might deflect the path of technological development towards the long-term interests not only of humanity, but of all life on Earth.

‘Tom Chatfield is one of the smartest and most original tech thinkers writing today. Both thought-provoking and startlingly original, Wise Animals is his magnum opus’ – Roman Krznaric, author of The Good Ancestor

Publisher Review

Timely and wide-ranging . . . Ambitious in its scope * New Scientist * Quite simply, one of the best books on technology and culture I have read . . . An extraordinary saga that is given coherence by his formidable intellect and beautiful writing style — Matthew d’Ancona, The New European Combining compelling storytelling with erudite, compassionate and often profound insight about the human condition, this book will transform how you navigate the world. — Richard Fisher, author of The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time Tom Chatfield is one of the smartest and most original tech thinkers writing today. Both thought-provoking and startlingly original, Wise Animals is his magnum opus. — Roman Krznaric, author of The Good Ancestor Powerful, profound and completely engrossing, this is a multitudinous meditation on not only technology but also history, culture, ideas, ethics, psychology and, above all, what it means to be human. It brims and fizzes with insight and argument, but never loses touch with that core attribute of its title: wisdom. In an age of intelligent machines, Tom Chatfield has written an essential handbook we will return to again and again — Michael Bhaskar, co-author of The Coming Wave A timely reflection about historical and technological time that is worthy of your precious hours, as erudite and thoughtful as a reader might expect from a leading philosopher of technology. — Jonathan Rowson, author of The Moves That Matter Writer and ‘tech-philosopher’ Chatfield is my go-to thinker on making sense of humanity’s relationship with technology. Wise Animals is a highly readable exploration of just that relationship, from the emergence of our species to now. — Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller