The Illusion of the Future: How Humanity Coexists with AI / By Helga Nowotny

**"If we begin to believe that algorithms can predict the future, we might lose it."** **In the age of AI,** **how do we preserve the meaning of being human?** **We are at a fascinating moment,** **on a trajectory where humanity and AI evolve through mutual interaction.** **Every step in the development of digital technology** **prompts us to reconsider what it means to be human.** We have begun to believe that AI understands us better than we understand ourselves. Predictive algorithms suggest what we should consume, our future behaviors, and even our emotional states. We have even self-domesticated to align with AI's predictions. When we think we can fully control the future by leveraging AI, the opposite is actually true. In this book, Austrian sociologist Helga Nowotny continues her research on the relationship between technology and society, and the experience and uncertainty of social time. From philosophical, historical, sociological, and scientific perspectives, she explores how AI is reshaping our identity in the digital Anthropocene and how we can coexist with AI. **Algorithms are so powerful that we easily forget the crucial relationship between "understanding" and "prediction." Yet, we must not succumb to the convenience of efficiency, abandon the desire for understanding, or cast aside our curiosity and perseverance.** Throughout cultural evolution, humanity has used science and technology to accelerate progress. However, in the face of increasingly complex global crises such as climate change, public health, political, and social inequalities, Nowotny advocates for the values of digital humanism as the starting point for designing algorithms and AI systems, rather than relying solely on quantitative data. This book adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from technology, science, history, sociology, philosophy, and more. It is a highly insightful read not only for tech professionals but for any general reader wishing to explore how artificial intelligence impacts the human experience. **— Professor Guoquing Jin, Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong** In this wise and important book, Helga Nowotny describes how the uncertainties of our present are masked by the excitements of digital technologies; how incomplete predictions can easily become policy; and how ethical hesitations are often euphemistically referred to as efficiencies. As the human spirit and mechanical tools coevolve into an open future, this book offers crucial guidance. **— David Krakauer, President and Chief Fellow, Santa Fe Institute, USA** Author: Helga Nowotny Translator: Yao Yiping ISBN: 9789882372597 Binding: Hardcover Language: Traditional Chinese Pages: 228 Dimensions: 216 x 142 x 21 mm **About the Author** **Helga Nowotny** is a sociologist. She is a former President of the European Research Council (2010–2013) and an Emerita Professor at ETH Zurich. Her research focuses on the co-evolution of science and society. In 2003, she received the John Desmond Bernal Prize from the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) for her lifelong contributions to the sociology of science. In 2017, she was awarded the Academician’s Prize by the UK’s National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her role in establishing the European Research Council and her commitment to advancing European scientific research. Her major works include *Time: The Modern and Postmodern Experience* (Polity Press, 1996), *Re-Thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty* (Polity Press, 2001), *An Orderly Mess* (Central European University Press, 2017), *The Cunning of Uncertainty* (Polity Press, 2017), and *In AI We Trust: Power, Illusion and Control of Predictive Algorithms* (Polity Press, 2021). **About the Translator** **Yao Yiping** is from Taiwan and has translated over forty books.