Untitled on Silicon Valley by Adam Becker

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Praise for WHAT IS REAL?

Splendid…. Deeply detailed research, accompanied by charming anecdotes about the scientists – WASHINGTON POST

An exploration of how science shapes, and is shaped by, Silicon Valley – from AI to space exploration.

Is humanity’s destiny in the stars? Will AI take over the world? Can we live forever? And do we actually live in a simulation? Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other titans of Silicon Valley talk about these and other dreams and nightmares of our shared technological future. Where did they get these ideas, and will they become a reality? And what would these futures mean for the rest of us outside the tech industry? Follow author and astrophysicist Adam Becker as he digs into the science behind Silicon Valley’s visions of tomorrow.

ADAM BECKER is an author, journalist, astrophysicist, and public speaker. He has contributed to the BBC, NPR, Scientific American, New Scientist, the New York Times and numerous other media outlets including the popular ‘Story Collider’ podcast. Born in New Jersey in 1984, he studied philosophy and physics at Cornell University and then earned a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Michigan in 2012. His first book, WHAT IS REAL? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics (Basic Books, 2018), was described by the New York Times as ‘a thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science’. From 2016 to 2019 he was a visiting scholar at the Office for History of Science and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Oakland, California.

Agent: Peter Tallack

Publisher: Basic Books Delivery: 5 January 2023 Publication: Autumn 2023 Status: Proposal and sample chapter Length: 90,000 words

All rights available excluding US & Canada (Basic Books)