"The New York Times Bestseller
‘Sublime’ New Yorker
‘Provocative’ New York Times Book Review
‘Illuminating’ Washington Post
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At the heart of Buddhism is a simple claim: The reason we suffer – and the reason we make other people suffer – is that we don’t see the world clearly.
At the heart of Buddhist meditative practice is a radical promise: We can learn to see the world, including ourselves, more clearly, and so gain a deep and morally valid happiness.
In this pathbreaking book, Robert Wright shows how taking this promise seriously can change your life – how it can loosen the grip of anxiety, regret and hatred, and how it can deepen your appreciation of beauty and of other people. He also shows why this transformation works. Drawing on the latest in neuroscience and psychology, and armed with an acute understanding of human evolution, Wright explains why the path toward truth and the path toward happiness are one and the same."
"From bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Robert Wright comes a sweeping new view of artificial intelligence – as an evolutionary force that will pose deep political and spiritual challenges and could, in the process, give our species a unifying sense of purpose.
The God Test is the first book to capture the power behind the AI revolution – to clearly explain the breakthroughs that sparked the current wave of advance and compellingly show why this wave will grow in magnitude and meaning. Written by one of our foremost public intellectuals, and informed by his decades of chronicling the digital age, the book argues that we are about to witness the most abruptly dramatic social transformation in the history of our species.
Wright says that to truly understand this moment in technological history, we need to expand our perspective beyond the last century or even the whole history of technology and look back across billions of years of life on Earth. The advance of AI, he argues, is driven by evolutionary dynamics like those that led to intelligent life in the first place. And understanding those dynamics can empower us to confront our climactic challenge: Can we muster the political, moral and even spiritual resources needed to guide this technology wisely?
If we fail, the consequences for the whole planet could be grave. But if we meet the challenge – if we pass ‘the God test’ – we can live in a world where humanity thrives, finding not just happiness but deeper meaning and purpose. The very machines that might otherwise imperil or oppress us can enrich us, helping us transcend the psychological impediments to human concord and fulfillment."
"One of the most trusted voices in science-based spirituality offers a powerful antidote for our culture of division.
In a time when we have more technologies than ever for connecting, why is our world so divided? One main factor is the phenomenon of “tribalism”—the human tendency to become so identified with a group that we become blind to the ideas, qualities, and even humanity of others. “Most of us are part of the problem of tribalism,” says bestselling author Robert Wright. “Natural selection engineered the human mind to be susceptible to this way of thinking.” Yet there is hope for us individually and as a species—and it starts with the ancient prescription of mindfulness.
With How Mindfulness Can Heal the World, Wright presents a deeply informative and practical audio workshop filled with insights and guided practices to help us evolve beyond tribal thinking, including:
• What drives tribalism? The underlying psychology and evolution of “us and them.”
• How mindfulness addresses the roots of tribalism and helps us see ourselves and the world clearly.
• Overcoming confirmation bias, cultivating objectivity, practicing empathy and compassion, and much more."
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