Playing with Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World
$30.00
20 in stock
Refresh Stock LevelInformation
Shipping
We currently offer free shipping on all orders over $100. Standard media mail shipping is $7.50 plus $1 for each additional book. Electronics are $35 shipping on all items.
Books
We get our books from a national distributor and although we strive to present up to date stock counts, stock constantly fluctuates. We perform a stock check when you add your book to the cart to ensure that it is available for shipping from the distributor. You can also check stock status by clicking the refresh stock link on the product page for the most up to date stock at the distributor. If an item is on backorder, you may place an order and we will update you on the estimated ship date as soon as we can confirm with the distributor.
Return & exchange
If you are not satisfied with your purchase you can return it to us within 14 days for an exchange or refund. More info.
Assistance
Can’t find what you’re looking for? We have access to over 13 million titles, reach out and see if we can help!
Contact us on (575) 322-6867, or email us at business@rabsbooks.com.
| Weight | 1.22 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 9.19 × 6.29 × 1.25 in |
Description
“Absorbing. . . . A revealing look at the hidden role that games have played in human development for centuries.” —Kirkus
“By turns philosophical and polemical, this is a provocative and fascinating book.” —The Economist A wide-ranging intellectual history that reveals how important games have been to human progress, and what’s at stake when we forget what games we’re really playing. We play games to learn about the world, to understand our minds and the minds of others, and to make predictions about the future. Games are an essential aspect of humanity and a powerful tool for modeling reality. They’re also a lot of fun. But games can be dangerous, especially when we mistake the model worlds of games for reality itself and let gamification co-opt human decision making. Playing with Reality explores the riveting history of games since the Enlightenment, weaving an unexpected path through military theory, political science, evolutionary biology, the development of computers and AI, cutting-edge neuroscience, and cognitive psychology. Neuroscientist and physicist Kelly Clancy shows how intertwined games have been with the arc of history. War games shaped the outcomes of real wars in nineteenth and twentieth century Europe. Game theory warped our understanding of human behavior and brought us to the brink of annihilation–yet still underlies basic assumptions in economics, politics, and technology design. We used games to teach computers how to learn for themselves, and now we are designing games that will determine the shape of society and future of democracy. In this revelatory work, Clancy makes the bold argument that the human fascination with games is the key to understanding our nature and our actions.Riverhead Books



Reviews
There are no reviews yet.