Ways of Being
Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence
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Ways of Being
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Narrated by:
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James Bridle
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By:
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James Bridle
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
What does it mean to be intelligent? Is it something unique to humans - or do we share it with other beings?
Recent years have seen rapid advances in 'artificial' intelligence, which increasingly appears to be something stranger than we ever imagined. At the same time, we are becoming more aware of the other intelligences which have been with us all along, unrecognised. These other beings are the animals, plants and natural systems that surround us, and are slowly revealing their complexity and knowledge - just as the new technologies we've built are threatening to cause their extinction, and ours.
In Ways of Being, writer and artist James Bridle considers the fascinating, uncanny and multiple ways of existing on Earth. What can we learn from these other forms of intelligence and personhood, and how can we change our societies to live more equitably with one another and the non-human world? From Greek oracles to octopuses, forests to satellites, Bridle tells a radical new story about ecology, technology and intelligence. We must, they argue, expand our definition of these terms to build a meaningful and free relationship with the non-human, one based on solidarity and cognitive diversity. We have so much to learn and many worlds to gain.
©2022 James Bridle (P)2022 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
Bridle's writing weaves cultural threads that aren't usually seen together, and the resulting tapestry is iridescently original, deeply disorientating and yet somehow radically hopeful. The only futures that are viable will probably feel like that. This is a pretty amazing book, worth reading and rereading. (Brian Eno)
What listeners say about Ways of Being
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- Alexandra
- 22-09-23
This book deserves an award
Immensely educational, enriching, inspiring and entertaining while transitioning so seamlessly between technology and biology, and between scales, projects, philosophies with an in-depth yet highly accessible scientific grounding. I enjoyed every bit of this book as well as the narration and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in understanding the highly complex and interconnected relationships at play in our world in a time where it is critical to use the planet's collective intelligence and capability to emerge out of crisis and binary thinking.
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- Daniel Malone
- 24-05-22
Thought provoking
Great, one can only hope more people begin to understand human's place within the biosphere
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 08-11-22
One of the most important writers of our time...
Effortlessly integrates ecology technology and human psychology funnelling towards the end of the book where Bridle holds up the mirror. Who we are now and the choices we make will determine the future of all humanity.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Daren Knight
- 18-04-24
Beautiful
A beautiful, moving, and thought-provoking book that has the potential to help change the world for the better. Highly recommended.
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- Anonymous User
- 25-10-22
Stunning beautifully conceived
A window into: why life and not the individual is the important unit on earth; how far we are from being the only intelligent, or even the most intelligent being around.
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4 people found this helpful
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- state
- 24-05-22
Humbling, timely and mind shifting
An alarming reminder of the poverty induced by a narrow, reductive and compartmentalised worldview. But also optimistic of a shift towards embracing the true interconnected nature of all beings. A great read, bringing together much of the groundbreaking work where storying telling is reconnecting science to relationships within nature.
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- Rosie
- 28-02-24
Inspiring, informative, mindset-shifting
This is one of the most exciting, inspiring and interesting books I've ever read. I couldn't stop telling people all the amazing ideas and facts I was learning as I read! It's so wide ranging in its subject matter, from corporate AI to plant learning to animal politics to ancient Greece to satellite tracking, but it all comes together as a cohesive whole by the end. I love it when people are able to use science and philosophy in novel ways to suggest how a world we can all thrive in might look, rather than getting stuck in the same old depressing limited alienating exclusionary profit focused mindsets that dominate mainstream politics.
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- Richard C
- 26-08-22
Superb
An endlessly fascinating and strangely uplifting book, I will be recommending this to everyone I know.
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2 people found this helpful
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- veyza
- 29-07-23
Expansive
Roams through a wide range of material on our current understanding of intelligence. Fascinating but not necessarily coherent.
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1 person found this helpful
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- BalancedView
- 23-11-23
My book of the decade
I dare anyone to listen to this and not be inspired. Endless food for thought.
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