How Biohackers, Foodies, Physicians, and Scientists Are Transforming Human Perception, One Sense at a Time
by Kara Platoni
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Dec 2015
304 pages
Genre: Science, Health and the Environment
Publication Information
How do we know what's real? That's not a trick question: sensory science is increasingly finding that we don't perceive reality: we create it through perception. In We Have the Technology, science writer Kara Platoni guides us through the latest developments in the science of sensory perception.
We Have the Technology introduces us to researchers who are changing the way we experience the world, whether creating scents that stimulate the memories of Alzheimer's patients, constructing virtual limbs that approximate a sense of touch, or building augmented reality labs that prepare soldiers for the battlefield. These diverse investigations not only explain previously elusive aspects of human experience, but offer tantalizing glimpses into a future when we can expand, control, and enhance our senses as never before.
A fascinating tour of human capability and scientific ingenuity, We Have the Technology offers essential insights into the nature and possibilities of human experience.
"Starred Review. [An] enthusiastic review of research into human senses and ways they might be improved... [W]holly engrossing... This is a superb account of human perception and the first, clunky but potentially breathtaking efforts to expand it." - Publishers Weekly
"Consistently fascinating, witty, and candid… Engrossing techno-science delivered with gusto and sure to reach a varied audience." - Kirkus
"Deeply reported and deftly told, We Have the Technology draws back the curtain on a brave new world in which being a hacker means hacking oneself." - Joshua Davis, author of Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream
"From a clear-eyed analysis of the meaning of time to an agreement with a master chef that Doritos are one of mankind's peak culinary achievements, this book will make you laugh, it will make you think, and it will give you so many things to talk about at parties. Paragraph after lovely paragraph, it will explode your brain." - Eric Simons, author of The Secret Lives of Sports Fans
"With We Have the Technology Kara Platoni becomes one of our best practitioners of metaperception - she thinks and feels deeply considered ideas about how we perceive the universe around us, now and in the future. If I ever have to buy robot eyes or a seventh-sense upgrade, I'm calling Kara first." - Adam Rogers, Articles Editor at Wired and author of Proof: The Science of Booze
This information about We Have the Technology was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Award-winning journalist Kara Platoni has a master's degree from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in Oakland, California.
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