[This Week's Books] 'Why Empires Fall' and More

Why Do Empires Collapse?

This book meticulously compares the political and economic history of the modern West with the decline of the Roman Empire to forecast the sustainability of the current world order. The conclusion is that the world order since World War II has already collapsed, and there is no possibility for Western societies to become great again. It explains why the current world order is inevitably collapsing and proposes a new world order to resolve the present contradictions. (Written by Peter Heather and John Rapley / Translated by Lee Seong-min / East Asia)

What Future Does Jerry Kaplan’s Generative AI Create?

This is a new book by Stanford professor Jerry Kaplan, author of the bestseller "Human Need Not Apply," which announced the dawn of the artificial intelligence (AI) era. Professor Kaplan states that generative AI will accelerate the advancement of science, art, and human knowledge but will also bring new risks. He points out numerous unresolved issues such as labor, war, legal status, and copyright. (Written by Jerry Kaplan / Translated by Jeong Mi-jin / Hans Media)

The Cost of Discrimination

This book examines the social costs of discriminating against sexual minorities. It looks into the discrimination sexual minorities face in education, employment, and health, and statistically shows the extent of the social costs. For example, India suffers an economic loss equivalent to 1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) due to homophobia. The author has researched sexual minority economics for over 30 years and argues that inclusion of sexual minorities is economically beneficial. (Written by Lee Bajit / Translated by Kim So-hee / Geulhangari)