{"product_id":"2940173615312","title":"Picnic Comma Lightning: The Experience of Reality in the Twenty-First Century","description":"\u003cb\u003eA lively and accessible existentialism for our times.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat does it mean to be human in the twenty-first century? How do we be real people in a world of online personas and \"authentic\" simulated experiences? In this innovative examination of our present reality, award-winning writer Laurence Scott charts the ways our traditional mental models of the world have started to fray.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEffortlessly applying philosophy to the quotidian, Scott \"makes banal things shimmer with meaning\" (\u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e). He ponders how ubiquitous cameras reframe our private lives (an event only exists once someone posts the video), how mysterious algorithms undermine our attempts at self-definition through their own data-driven portraits, and what happens in those moments when our illusions of reality are ruptured by incontrovertible facts (like the death of a parent or a bolt of lightning).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVirtuosic and intellectually delightful, \u003ci\u003ePicnic Comma Lightning\u003c\/i\u003e is an astounding account of how we have started to make sense of our strange new world.","brand":"HighBridge Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47179444715760,"sku":"2940173615312","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940173615312_p0.jpg?v=1763854960","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940173615312","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}