Today machines can outplay us at chess, perform surgeries, manage airports, design buildings, act in films. Soon they'll compete with us in nearly every field. Will this cause mass layoffs and riots? Or will these robotic workers usher in a paradise of wealth and leisure for us all? "Are Humans Obsolete?" takes you on a witty, no-holds-barred tour of the next few decades, when machines will do everything we can, and do it better, yet we can gain the advantage Part One takes a brisk march through this strange future, with insights on ways we can stay in control and not get left behind. Part Two offers a clear-eyed look at our high-tech culture of adolescence and how to outgrow it, shines a spotlight on the jumble of modern media and how we can make sense of all the shouting, and does color commentary on the turf war between science and religion -- with a surprising twist on who may win. Jim Hull is an author and lecturer with a degree in philosophy from UC Santa Cruz.