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Joel Osteen, The Power of Favor . 2019. New York: Hachette Book Company This is a book by a fundamentalist preacher who emphasizes that G-d’s grace is the main thing in life. There are no accidents, as Freud and Einstein would say. The most important thing is that G-d is smiling on us and protecting us. This gives us the armor to go out in the world. When a favorable coincidence happens, we can think it is a fluke, but Osteen says think no. Our creator is merciful and holding us in His hands.    

Who's Afraid of AI?: Fear and Promise in the Age of Thinking Machines (New York: The Experiment, 2018) by  Thomas Ramg e Reviewed by Myna German Imagine a day when two machines conduct surgery by talking to each other. The machines conduct the entire operation by robotic arms, artificial intelligence, sans doctors. It’s called the Internet of things, communicating machines that imitate human consciousness and collaborate in doing things together. Good luck. Thomas Ramge, the author of this book, gives us a glimpse of that life.   Can AI make humans obsolete? That is the focus of this book. Without taking an ideological stance, the author sub rosa contemplates this issue. The book talks about a machine like Alexa or Echo studying ski conditions in Switzerland and arranging 3-day tours, including airlines. Sounds less stressful? Right. It could even locate the right skiing companions. But would you want a machine to do this for you? The author concludes it may be h