The Book Prize Index

To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death

Mark O'Connell

To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death is a 2017 nonfiction book by Slate columnist and literary journalist Mark O'Connell, his debut work. Published by Granta, the book is a breezy, but skeptical, gonzo-journalistic tour of transhumanism and radical life extension. It chronicles O'Connell's travels around the world to interview prominent transhumanists.

TechnologyTechnology · medium confidenceTechnology81 signalsLlm Classifier: Technology -> TechnologyKeyword Classifier: Arts & Criticism -> Arts & CriticismKeyword Classifier: Business & Economics -> Business & EconomicsTechnology, Computing & AIBusiness, Capitalism & Corporations

Award History

1 wins · 3 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Wellcome Book Prize: Nonfiction2018WinnerSecondary source
Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionMajor2017FinalistSecondary source
Royal Society Science Book PrizeMajor2017ShortlistSecondary source
View all award history (3)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

    This suggestion did not meet the normal display threshold and is more likely to be wrong.

    The book presents transhumanism and radical life extension as an ambitious project, but treats the promise of solving death with skepticism.

    Model confidence 45%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    38 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 52%.