Professor Arlindo Oliveira presented his new book — Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade (the Portuguese title for “Science, Technology and Society”) — yesterday, 26 June 2023, at Sala Âmbito Cultural in El Corte Inglés in Lisbon.

President of INESC, Distinguished Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico and a researcher at INESC-ID, Professor Oliveira has published Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade following his successful article series in the Portuguese newspaper Público over recent years. Divided into 14 sections, the present volume covers themes as varied as the fourth industrial revolution, technological literacy, artificial intelligence, budding financial systems, the environment or the COVID-19 pandemic.

Closing with a section on the future of humanity, and as a true polymath with an eye set on the big questions, Professor Oliveira tackles the nature of intelligence, humankind’s place in the cosmos and what the future may hold for our species. As Professor Oliveira writes in the book’s introduction “[A time traveler from the 18th century, dropped in today’s world] would clearly understand what Arthur C. Clarke said: ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'” Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade shows you exactly why.

As well as a researcher and professor, Professor Oliveira is a prolific author, having published, amongst other titles, The Digital Mind: How Science Is Redefining Humanity (2018) with MIT Press.