Book Reviewed: Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari

The artificial Intelligence (AI) and humanity The author explores the use of information in the past and its future potential as artificial intelligence could shape humanity. He sounds more like a soothsayer than an author of a book warning readers of their impending doom. There is not a great deal one can learn from this book than already said by physicists like Stephen Hawking and entrepreneur Elon Musk. Stephen Hawking's views on information highlighted its centrality to our understanding of the universe, especially in resolving mysteries of spacetime, information, and physical reality. The transformative potential of AI can be both positive and negative. Negative, if precautions are not used to keep human control of AI. If not, especially, when AI itself starts writing its own programs without the participation of a human programmer, it could be dangerous for our own existence. Elon Musk shares this view and continues to believe that AI is a transformative force that benefits humanity through initiatives like Neuralink and exploration of Mars for future survival of humanity. This book is not inspiring and doesn’t illuminate the readers

Book Reviewed: Nan Goldin (Phaidon 55's) by Guido Costa

Song of sexual dependency Nan Goldin is known for intimate exploration of love, sexual orientation, addiction, and the human condition. Her work documents her own life and the lives of those in her close social circles, blurring the line between art and autobiography. Some of the pictures of Goldin captures moments of passion, despair, and chaos, reflecting the struggles and joys of intimacy and relationships. This book is a compilation of some of her work and the only photograph that truly reflects her soul, and personality is her own photographs.

Book Reviewed: The Naked Neanderthal: A New Understanding of the Human Creature by Ludovic Slimak

An exploration of our closest human relative The author presents a different perspective on neanderthal culture and society in this book. He emphasizes the importance of understanding neanderthals on their own terms, rather than solely through comparisons with modern humans. According to him, by analyzing the neanderthal into another human-like species is racism and based on prejudicial assumptions. Palaeobiological and archeological evidence show that both neanderthals and modern humans produced similar tools and ornaments, suggesting some cultural exchanges and parallel development of technologies. Recent research reveals that neanderthals and modern humans coexisted for extended periods, engaging in interbreeding and cultural interactions that shaped the evolutionary trajectories of these two species. Interbreeding between neanderthals and modern humans occurred between 60,000 to 40,000 years ago in Europe and Asia. This gene flow affected the genomes and biology of both species, with modern non-African human populations carrying about 2% neanderthal DNA. The author’s suggestion that scientific analysis focuses on subjective realities rather than a more objective perspective. His observations are far-fetched and unrealistic.

Book Reviewed: The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from This Marvelous Lifetime by Shirley MacLaine

A life in pictures In this remarkable book of pictures, author Shirly MacLaine shares over 150 images (B&W) from her personal archive accompanied by a brief narrative. There are numerous pictures from her childhood with parents and brother Warren Beatty, several pictures with members of “Rat Pack,” Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davies, Jr. with whom she had lasting friendship, in addition, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Sydney Poitier, and many others including Morgan Freeman to whom she once propositioned. She also met many American presidents like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Geroge McGovern. She led a life of political and personal activism. There is a photograph on page 242 depicting a woman dancing on the top of a cliff. This image is a self-portrait capturing MacLaine herself in a moment of expressive dance against a dramatic natural backdrop. It reflects her lifelong dedication to dance, performing arts, and her adventurous spirit that is deeply connected to Oneness with nature. It is a visual representation of her artistic journey and personal philosophy, a harmonious blend of art with the natural world. Shirley MacLaine explored Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism, and profoundly impacted by the themes of interconnectedness, self-realization, and the nature of Pure Consciousness, Paramātmā, the Absolute Atman or Supreme Soul where all personality/individuality, spacetime, matter and energy vanishes. MacLaine was deeply immersed in this metaphysical thought in which a universal consciousness gives rise to everything that exists in the cosmos. Reincarnation, a concept of Hindu philosophy fascinated MacLaine and she reflects her thoughts about past lives, dharma, karma, and attainment of Jnana yoga. MacLaine was married to producer Steve Parker from 1954 to 1982 with an unconventional relationship, an open marriage, allowing both partners to explore other relationships. She admits to affairs with her costars Robert Mitchum, French actor Yves Montand, comedian and actor Danny Kaye, George Huvos, her first love, and Andrew Peacock, her last love. There were also relationships with journalists, Pete Hamill, and Sander Vanocur, and of course she also admits that she once propositioned actor Morgan Freeman, but he declined her advance. In one section of the book, she discusses being nominated for best actress for the film Apartment, but on Oscar night, she was in Japan filming Geisha. She believes that Elizabeth Taylor won the award in best actress category for Butterfield 8 because the award was a sympathy vote for Taylor who was dying of pneumonia that year. MacLaine felt disappointed but agrees that her best friend Elizabeth Taylor was a brilliant actress, The Apartment is still one of her favorite films. There are pictures from India she visited; she flew to New Delhi, rented a car, and drove south to Chennai (Madras) by herself ended up on the west coast of India. She was exhilarated by the spirituality and culture. In 1994, she walked the Camino de Santiago, a five-hundred-mile trek across Spain in thirty days by herself, and her meeting with Stephen Hawking at Cambridge discussing cosmology. She speaks warmly of her friendship with members of the Ratpack, especially Sammy Davis Jr. This is a wonderful book which I very much enjoyed, and I strongly recommend this to readers interested in her life.

Agency and free will Agency is a person who acts to produce a particular result, in this case free will. The author explores the concept of free will from a biological and evolutionary perspective and concludes that it is not an illusion but a real phenomenon that rose from the human brain and its evolutionary development. He challenges the deterministic view that believes that our actions are completely governed by genetics, environmental factors, and classical physics. The human brain is a complex system that has flexibility for conscious choice. This ability evolved in animals to make decisions based on past experiences, sensory inputs, and predictions of future outcomes. In humans, the nervous system evolved to grant us a degree of agency over our behavior. He emphasizes that while our choices are influenced by biology, they are not wholly determined by it, leaving room for agency. Our ability to reflect on our thoughts, intentions, and actions gives us the capacity to choose freely, rather than simply react to stimuli. Brain is not a deterministic machine, and unpredictability of neural activity and environmental influences offers flexibility in decision-making. According to Integrated Information Theory (IIT) proposed by neurobiologist Giulio Tononi consciousness arises from integrated information generated by the causal interactions within the brain which may give rise to free will. An octopus throws a curveball to inferences drawn from human studies. Some octopus species operate their arms without direct involvement of brain, and they have a high degree of autonomy due to nerve clusters called ganglia in each arm. Indeed, one major implication is that intelligence and life may be inextricably intertwined in ways that revolve around the concept of agency, but octopus appears to be an evolutionary accident. The laws of quantum mechanics allow quantum uncertainty, which means that conscious observers may encounter randomness that breaks pure determinism. This randomness doesn’t lead to free will, but it introduces unpredictability. To outside observers, our choices might look like patterns influenced by quantum randomness rather than pure causally determined processes. This perspective could mean we are neither fully free nor fully bound by fate.

Book Reviewed: My Story by Elizabeth Smart

A nightmare in the life of a fourteen-year-old girl The story of Elizabeth Smart’s abduction and captivity in Salt Lake City, Utah, as it unfolded in June 2002 drew significant public attention. In this book she explores what it means to be a survivalist. It is a powerful narrative of trauma, courage, and the will to survive. During her captivity, Elizabeth was subjected to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Around 2 a.m., Brian David Mitchell entered Elizabeth's bedroom through an open window. He duct-taped her mouth and hands then dragged her out of the house to a secluded campsite. He claimed to be a prophet sent by God. She was physically restrained with duct tape and ropes, forced her to undergo "spiritual cleansing" rituals, made her wear a disguise to conceal her identity. Isolated her from the outside world and created a sense of fear and dependence using Bible to justify his actions. He threatened her throughout her captivity that he would seek revenge on her and her family members if she escaped. She was too afraid to escape. This is a powerful story of Elizabeth Smart who claims that her strong faith in her beliefs and bonds with her family helped her to cope with the trauma she endured at a tender age. This is a powerful story of a young woman who speaks about her experiences. Elizabeth Smart’s advocacy has helped raise awareness about child abduction, survival, and healing.

Book Reviewed: The Secret Lives of Numbers: A Hidden History of Math's Unsung Trailblazers by Kate Kitagawa and Timothy Revell

The marginalized voices who propelled mathematics This is a focused history of mathematics illuminating the marginalized voices across the globe who propelled the discipline of numbers that include thousands of years of untold stories. The history of mathematics is often associated with Europeans like Euclid, Pythagoras, and Newton. However, many pioneers who made significant contributions to the field are unsung heroes from non-European countries with diverse backgrounds such as India, China, and Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq). In the fourteenth century, a school of Mathematics in Kerala (a Southern state), India was a melting pot for mathematicians. Its founder, Madhava of Sangarnagrama was a brilliant mathematician, among his achievements was describing a theory of calculus. He explored the key ideas that make calculus possible which were then honed by successive mathematicians at the Kerala school. A long list of Indian mathematicians includes Aryabhata (476–550 CE) known for discovering decimal System, Place Value, and Pi (π) value, Brahmagupta (598–668 CE) first to establish clear rules for using zero in calculations, introduced the concept of negative numbers, solutions to quadratic equations, and proposed gravitational force. Bhaskara I (600–680 CE) gave more accurate approximation of the sine function, Bhaskara II (1114–1185 CE) worked on properties of cyclic quadrilaterals and differential calculus, and expanded on the ideas of gravity. Madhava of Sangamagrama (1340–1425 CE), the founder of the Kerala School of Mathematics (14th–16th century) worked on Infinite Series for trigonometric functions like sine, cosine, and arctangent. Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) was a self-taught Indian mathematician whose work has significantly influenced various areas of mathematics, including number theory, continued fractions, and infinite series. Though he did not work directly on string theory, his mathematical discoveries, particularly his insights into modular forms, partition functions, and special functions found relevance in theoretical physics. Despite having little formal training, his intuitive understanding of complex mathematical ideas earned him recognition by Cambridge mathematician G.H. Hardy. The Babylonians used mathematics for many practical purposes, including splitting plots of land and calculating tax. Some clay-tablet writers recorded revenues and budgets, and so familiarized themselves with numbers. Hypatia of Alexandria (360–415 CE) was long known as the earliest woman mathematician, in fact, that honor goes to Ban Zhao (45–116 CE) a Chinese historian, mathematician, and scholar during the Eastern Han dynasty best known for her work as a historian and also proficient in mathematics and astronomy. She assisted in the development of calendrical science and participated in projects related to the Han calendar. Pioneering women mathematicians like Sofya Kovalevskaya (1850–1891) and Mary Jackson found inspiration in the work of earlier women who had defied societal norms like Émilie du Châtelet, a French mathematician and physicist who translated and expanded upon the works of Isaac Newton. African American mathematicians like Elbert Frank Cox (1895–1969), William Schieffelin Claytor (1908–1967), Walter Richard Talbot Woodard (1874–1952), Mary Jackson (1921–2005), and Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890–1980) contributed significantly to mathematics when opportunities for African Americans were limited. These inspirations reflect a deep, interconnected web of intellectual and personal influences that crossed boundaries of geography, race, gender, and time. The author’s road to rediscovering the forgotten and ignored contributions of non-Europeans to mathematics could have included a little more history.