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.
