What do you think?
Rate this book
La era de la Inteligencia Artificial y nuestro futuro humano
Una IA aprendió a ganar al ajedrez realizando jugadas que los grandes maestros nunca habían concebido. Otra IA descubrió un nuevo antibiótico analizando propiedades moleculares que los científicos no comprendían. Aviones propulsados por IA están derrotando a experimentados pilotos en combates aéreos simulados. La IA está irrumpiendo en la investigación, la transmisión en directo o streaming , la medicina, la educación y muchos otros campos y, al hacerlo, está transformando la forma en que los humanos experimentan la realidad. La era de la Inteligencia Artificial es una hoja de ruta esencial para nuestro presente y nuestro futuro, una era distinta a todas las anteriores.
240 pages, Paperback
Published October 26, 2023
2307 people are currently reading
9920 people want to read
About the author
Henry Kissinger
259 books1,960 followersHenry Alfred Kissinger (born Heinz Alfred Kissinger) was a German-born American bureaucrat, diplomat, and 1973 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the Richard Nixon administration. Kissinger emerged unscathed from the Watergate scandal, and maintained his powerful position when Gerald Ford became President.
A proponent of Realpolitik, Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy of détente.
During his time in the Nixon and Ford administrations he cut a flamboyant figure, appearing at social occasions with many celebrities. His foreign policy record made him a nemesis to the anti-war left and the anti-communist right alike.
A proponent of Realpolitik, Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy of détente.
During his time in the Nixon and Ford administrations he cut a flamboyant figure, appearing at social occasions with many celebrities. His foreign policy record made him a nemesis to the anti-war left and the anti-communist right alike.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 677 reviews
May 4, 2022
I did not learn anything new about AI, but the book did introduce me to some cool Immanual Kant quotes and reminded me a few dozen times the importance of the printing press. Outside of content — halfway through the book—the editor in me—started noticing—and then counting—em dashes— until at some point—I was recasting every sentence to omit it. Finally, Kissinger employs someone to pursue his intellectual curiosities. I believe she pieced together the book, which is why I think the voice of the book is completely absent, giving it a monotonous, stringerlike quality. Great sleep aid; however, not very engaging.
Read
November 20, 2021Written by heavyweights- the trifecta of Kissinger, the Google CEO and the Dean of MIT COmputing-- it doesn't get more loaded with superstar figures than this. While the book is filled with critical insights, it forebears from taking strong positions, which is what one would hope for- a strong book. For instance, it says the development of influence of the network platforms on our sociopolitical climate is accidental. It forebears from taking a stance on whether platforms and tech companies deserve greater oversight. Instead, it just says we should be concerned about who is making the designs over AI and about the transparency of AI decisions- a quite superfluous statement seeing as these declarations are not coming from people outside the reins of power but from the core leaders of tech companies in the first place (all 3 authors sit on powerful tech boards). The book is also agnostic about the development of AGI, although it says that neural networks can mimic the brain in 15 to 20 years. The book also hits familiar beats from other books, such as familiar history developments of the rise of the printing press and the Enlightenment, which occupy a fifth of book. There's basic discussions about the types of machine learning that one can glean elsewhere. So for these parts of the book-- the equivocal parts and the rather basic history parts that anyone else can tackle-- it's rather head-scratchy as to why the trio of influential people would collaborate to write them.
Instead, it seems to me that the purpose of the trio in intending to lend their credibility to the authorship of this book is to issue a warning (without specific forecasts) about the portent of AI for society in general that will reach a broad audience. The main import and main intention, it seems, of the book is to drive the following message home: a change is gonna come. Change in a large scale is being brought about by AI that will fundamentally alter our societies and how we perceive our own selves, our own values as human beings. The authors discuss a couple of sectors of society already bearing the brunt of impact. Networked platforms are already aided or curated by AI. Security concerns brought about by weaponization of AI is something governments are preparing for. State distinctions and divisions, such as nationalized governments, are hard to preserve in the face of AI-driven industries, which may lead to regionalized expressions. And most importantly-- AI is already besting us in the pursuits that we pride ourselves over- the pursuit of reason in making decisions. This include something as formal and professional as scientific discovery, as we come to rely on AI to make the leaps of judgment over experimental conclusions, seeing patterns we can't see. It may also include mundane areas, such as transportation decisions, logistics, recommendations of what to buy and what to see. But overall, this leads to surface questions over our own autonomy, how much we should keep and how much we should give away-- should we take AI proclamations by faith, like the proverbial Greek Oracle, from clear evidence that they are superior? Or should we chance it on ourselves? How would we find fulfillment in a world mastered by AI? Are we approaching another age of faith-- of reliance of our choices on a single voice-- on a new infallible deity, the machine? and would that be so bad or would it lead to human flourishing?
Instead, it seems to me that the purpose of the trio in intending to lend their credibility to the authorship of this book is to issue a warning (without specific forecasts) about the portent of AI for society in general that will reach a broad audience. The main import and main intention, it seems, of the book is to drive the following message home: a change is gonna come. Change in a large scale is being brought about by AI that will fundamentally alter our societies and how we perceive our own selves, our own values as human beings. The authors discuss a couple of sectors of society already bearing the brunt of impact. Networked platforms are already aided or curated by AI. Security concerns brought about by weaponization of AI is something governments are preparing for. State distinctions and divisions, such as nationalized governments, are hard to preserve in the face of AI-driven industries, which may lead to regionalized expressions. And most importantly-- AI is already besting us in the pursuits that we pride ourselves over- the pursuit of reason in making decisions. This include something as formal and professional as scientific discovery, as we come to rely on AI to make the leaps of judgment over experimental conclusions, seeing patterns we can't see. It may also include mundane areas, such as transportation decisions, logistics, recommendations of what to buy and what to see. But overall, this leads to surface questions over our own autonomy, how much we should keep and how much we should give away-- should we take AI proclamations by faith, like the proverbial Greek Oracle, from clear evidence that they are superior? Or should we chance it on ourselves? How would we find fulfillment in a world mastered by AI? Are we approaching another age of faith-- of reliance of our choices on a single voice-- on a new infallible deity, the machine? and would that be so bad or would it lead to human flourishing?
November 27, 2021
“World Order” (Kissinger, 2014) is phenomenal and I recommend it highly. As a fan of that book, I eagerly anticipated this one, even as I was a bit surprised the focus was on AI instead of social networks’, and internet more broadly’s, impact on notions of sovereignty.
I was disappointed. I don’t believe Kissinger knows the difference between AGI (the realm of science fiction) and ML.
The most exciting part of this book is when I realized Kissinger might be a rationalist blind to empiricism. His citations of Leibniz and Spinoza to the exclusion of Bayes and Popper support this as does his repeated exaltation of capital-R Reason.
That is to say: I’m not sure Kissinger’s as afraid of AI as he is of empiricism and experimentation. A machine automatically doing empiricism is just too foreign to the author, and he views it as a discontinuity, rather than an automation of common human behavior.
I’d love to see Kissinger in conversation with Nissan Taleb— if Taleb can go 5 minutes without the IYI name calling.
The irony of a cold warrior who defeated the soviets yet is blind to the inferiority of reason to empiricism is not lost on me.
I was disappointed. I don’t believe Kissinger knows the difference between AGI (the realm of science fiction) and ML.
The most exciting part of this book is when I realized Kissinger might be a rationalist blind to empiricism. His citations of Leibniz and Spinoza to the exclusion of Bayes and Popper support this as does his repeated exaltation of capital-R Reason.
That is to say: I’m not sure Kissinger’s as afraid of AI as he is of empiricism and experimentation. A machine automatically doing empiricism is just too foreign to the author, and he views it as a discontinuity, rather than an automation of common human behavior.
I’d love to see Kissinger in conversation with Nissan Taleb— if Taleb can go 5 minutes without the IYI name calling.
The irony of a cold warrior who defeated the soviets yet is blind to the inferiority of reason to empiricism is not lost on me.
November 4, 2021
Good book, but so high-level it lacked depth and interest. More like a long essay with a critical call to action and few examples.
January 28, 2023
Well, this read like a textbook. The authors could also have done more show with their tell—they focus mainly on a chat GPT, a chess program, and an antibiotic discovery by AI.
The book starts with the premise that AI will change humanity’s relationship with reality. It’s mainly jurisprudence. The book offers a decent recap of philosophy and a technical chapter on neural networks and AI definitions, which was informative. The rest of the book wavers between weak philosophical discussion, general tech worship, and boldly unsupported predictions.
The book starts with the premise that AI will change humanity’s relationship with reality. It’s mainly jurisprudence. The book offers a decent recap of philosophy and a technical chapter on neural networks and AI definitions, which was informative. The rest of the book wavers between weak philosophical discussion, general tech worship, and boldly unsupported predictions.
April 7, 2022
AI is an interesting topic that I read a bit about in the popular press and interact with on a daily basis with social media, maps, and the semi-autonomous driving on my Tesla. Some 10 years ago or so, I programmed my own neural networks to model a karst aquifer (it didn't work). Perhaps it's my previous experience, but I found the book a bit tedious since it (1) spends an inordinate amount of time on background to set up discussions and (2) relentlessly repeats itself throughout.
One issue that bothers the authors (enough that they repeat it over and over and over) is that scientists have no idea how AI works and how it comes up with answers. But that's not true. Scientists design the neural networks and set up the learning regimes. A post-audit of neural weighting provides important clues as to what data is important and not important. A sensitivity analysis on training data also provides clues. The authors also seemed amazed that an AI--a non-linear solver--can do a better job than a human. But there are a lot of programs and machines that do a better job than a human (for example, my car does a better job of maintaining speeds of 60 mph than I do).
Somewhat ironically, after a full-throated attack on the imperfections and unpredictability of AI, they laud the imperfections and unpredictability of humans. And then there's the helpful suggestion that unpredictable AIs shouldn't be put in charge of nuclear arsenals. Thanks for that insightful suggestion. We'll take that under consideration.
The reality of AI is that we are long way away from perfecting it, if ever. About 99% of the time, my car does a better job of driving on the highway than I do. But that 1% of the time it doesn't is terrifying. Given my diverse interests and insatiable curiosity, Facebook's algorithms now think I am a Qanon adherent (because, presumably, I went to check out Parler). A friend was recently put into Facebook jail by Facebook's AI for fat shaming her cat.
Toward the end of the book when the repetition irritatingly curls in on itself, I suddenly had the realization that perhaps the entire book was written by an AI and that the authors will reveal, at some point in the near future, that they merely edited the book (I believe it was GPT-3 that they mentioned in the introduction for doing an admittedly good job of writing about itself). That would be somewhat brilliant. But it still leaves an overwhelmingly unimpressive two-star book.
One issue that bothers the authors (enough that they repeat it over and over and over) is that scientists have no idea how AI works and how it comes up with answers. But that's not true. Scientists design the neural networks and set up the learning regimes. A post-audit of neural weighting provides important clues as to what data is important and not important. A sensitivity analysis on training data also provides clues. The authors also seemed amazed that an AI--a non-linear solver--can do a better job than a human. But there are a lot of programs and machines that do a better job than a human (for example, my car does a better job of maintaining speeds of 60 mph than I do).
Somewhat ironically, after a full-throated attack on the imperfections and unpredictability of AI, they laud the imperfections and unpredictability of humans. And then there's the helpful suggestion that unpredictable AIs shouldn't be put in charge of nuclear arsenals. Thanks for that insightful suggestion. We'll take that under consideration.
The reality of AI is that we are long way away from perfecting it, if ever. About 99% of the time, my car does a better job of driving on the highway than I do. But that 1% of the time it doesn't is terrifying. Given my diverse interests and insatiable curiosity, Facebook's algorithms now think I am a Qanon adherent (because, presumably, I went to check out Parler). A friend was recently put into Facebook jail by Facebook's AI for fat shaming her cat.
Toward the end of the book when the repetition irritatingly curls in on itself, I suddenly had the realization that perhaps the entire book was written by an AI and that the authors will reveal, at some point in the near future, that they merely edited the book (I believe it was GPT-3 that they mentioned in the introduction for doing an admittedly good job of writing about itself). That would be somewhat brilliant. But it still leaves an overwhelmingly unimpressive two-star book.
March 11, 2022
As with a number of other reviewers, I didn't find this book particularly insightful or informative. It read like a 200 page long Gartner paper. Things may happen this year, next year, sometime, never. Somebody should setup a committee to discuss the possibility of making a plan to think about doing something. But don't rush in to that, or be too slow, get it just right.
AGI is cutting edge and in it's infancy. If you want some insight into the potential ethical dilemas, the desire to keep a human in the loop somewhere, the different ways AGI could save humanity or subjugate it - watch Person of Interest [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839578/]. That's 10 years old now. Predated the Snowden revelations, though Snowden wasn't really a surprise if you've read any James Bamford such as The Shadow Factory The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization.
The point being Person of Interest is worth the ~74 hours of your life you'll invest to watch. This book isn't worth the few hours of your life it'll take to read. Which is a real shame.
Alternatively listen to the DeepMind podcast [https://deepmind.com/learning-resourc...]. Sure it's friendly marketing for the folks at DeepMind. However it will inform and provide more inght, practical considerations and thought provoking discussion than this book did.
AGI is cutting edge and in it's infancy. If you want some insight into the potential ethical dilemas, the desire to keep a human in the loop somewhere, the different ways AGI could save humanity or subjugate it - watch Person of Interest [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839578/]. That's 10 years old now. Predated the Snowden revelations, though Snowden wasn't really a surprise if you've read any James Bamford such as The Shadow Factory The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization.
The point being Person of Interest is worth the ~74 hours of your life you'll invest to watch. This book isn't worth the few hours of your life it'll take to read. Which is a real shame.
Alternatively listen to the DeepMind podcast [https://deepmind.com/learning-resourc...]. Sure it's friendly marketing for the folks at DeepMind. However it will inform and provide more inght, practical considerations and thought provoking discussion than this book did.
August 24, 2023
.
With the rapid increase in artificial intelligence (AI) nowadays, people are seriously thinking about the potential effects of advanced AI systems. The collaborative effort titled "The Age of AI and Our Human Future," co-authored by Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher, undertakes a sweeping exploration of this emerging epoch dominated by intelligent machines. As experts in politics, business, and academia, the authors explore the many ways AI could change society and how we define ourselves. Yet, while the book aims high, it doesn't give practical solutions for the big problems AI brings. Still, it does well in showing how important the AI revolution is in history.
A Convincing Look Into The Potential Of AI
One of the main strong points of the book is how well it describes the many good things that AI can bring. Some chapters talk about what AI can do now and what it might do in the future. For example, AI is already beating human champions in games like chess and Go, and it's helping us find new medicines and materials.
The authors also compare AI to important inventions like electricity and the printing press, showing that AI can change society just like those things did. They say AI will make us smarter and give us more access to knowledge and truth. Unlike before, AI can even understand things that are too complicated for humans, because it can find patterns in really big sets of data.
The book shows a really interesting picture of the future with AI. They say AI could help us solve big problems like diseases and poverty much faster than we could on our own.
Cautions on AI's Dangers
But the authors also want us to be careful, not just hopeful. They say that AI has some big risks if we're not careful. The way AI works might let companies and governments have too much control over information, which could lead to them tricking people and taking away our privacy and rights.
The book also talks about some countries using AI in ways that control their citizens and take away their freedom. This shows that AI could make things worse if we don't use it right. They're especially worried about AI becoming too smart and doing things better than humans. They say it's really hard to control such powerful AI and make sure it's making the right choices.
"All human knowledge begins with intuitions, proceeds from thence to concepts, and ends with ideas."Between Hopes and Hazards
Immanuel Kant
With the rapid increase in artificial intelligence (AI) nowadays, people are seriously thinking about the potential effects of advanced AI systems. The collaborative effort titled "The Age of AI and Our Human Future," co-authored by Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher, undertakes a sweeping exploration of this emerging epoch dominated by intelligent machines. As experts in politics, business, and academia, the authors explore the many ways AI could change society and how we define ourselves. Yet, while the book aims high, it doesn't give practical solutions for the big problems AI brings. Still, it does well in showing how important the AI revolution is in history.
A Convincing Look Into The Potential Of AI
One of the main strong points of the book is how well it describes the many good things that AI can bring. Some chapters talk about what AI can do now and what it might do in the future. For example, AI is already beating human champions in games like chess and Go, and it's helping us find new medicines and materials.
The authors also compare AI to important inventions like electricity and the printing press, showing that AI can change society just like those things did. They say AI will make us smarter and give us more access to knowledge and truth. Unlike before, AI can even understand things that are too complicated for humans, because it can find patterns in really big sets of data.
The book shows a really interesting picture of the future with AI. They say AI could help us solve big problems like diseases and poverty much faster than we could on our own.
Cautions on AI's Dangers
But the authors also want us to be careful, not just hopeful. They say that AI has some big risks if we're not careful. The way AI works might let companies and governments have too much control over information, which could lead to them tricking people and taking away our privacy and rights.
The book also talks about some countries using AI in ways that control their citizens and take away their freedom. This shows that AI could make things worse if we don't use it right. They're especially worried about AI becoming too smart and doing things better than humans. They say it's really hard to control such powerful AI and make sure it's making the right choices.
Currently reading
November 5, 2021I received this book from an anonymous sender through A Gift For You in Apple Valley, MN. I didn't order it, nor do I know anyone who would have sent it to me. TOTALLY bizarre. I didn't even have it listed as a "Want to Read" here on Goodreads... well, SOMEONE wanted me to read it so I will and will post a review.
More importantly, WHY did someone send me this book anonymously?
More importantly, WHY did someone send me this book anonymously?
December 23, 2021
The wily veteran diplomat Henry Kissinger joins forces with two pioneers in the field of Information Technology, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher, in deliberating and dissecting a future in which Artificial Intelligence will play not just a key role, but constitute an inevitable and integral way of life itself. “The Age of AI and Our Human Future” is divided into seven very readable Chapters. From how we got into knots and tangles mulling about AI, to how very dependable we have become on technology to get by in our day to day lives, the book addresses the paradigm shifts that AI has birthed in the realms of technology, culture, and politics. The ramifications are real and significant. How we choose to address them would impact the way man co-exists with machines.
The Age of Enlightenment unleashed a freedom in thinking, the likes of which was never imagined before. The world was rife with intellectual debates that threated to upend received wisdom and entrenched dogmas. Intrepid explorers set out on voyages that assimilated cultures yet birthed rampant colonialization. Revolutions removed rigidity as the voices and Science and reasoning found amplification. This Age naturally segued into a 20th Century Revolution that had Physics at its epicentre. Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr and Erwin Schrodinger gave the prevailing understanding of Quantum Theory, a gigantic shake and things would never be the same again.
The visceral and mercurial genius of Alan Turing not only had a massive impact in shortening the horrors of World War II, but it also led to an astounding possibility of intersectionality between man and machine. The Turing Test proposed that if a machine operated proficiently that observers could not distinguish its behavior from human’s, the machine should be labeled intelligent. The scramble for ‘alternative intelligence’ was well and truly on!
In the year 2017, Google’s AI programme Alpha Go, connivingly beat the world’s best player of Go, the hugely complex ancient strategy game involving billions of permutations and combinations. The prevailing world champion, Ke Jie was forced to concede, even though he took Alpha Go to the very limit. Deep Mind the entity that developed Alpha Go, employs a language called Gopher. Smaller than other ultra-large language software. Gopher has some 280 billion different parameters, or variables that it can tune. While AI can aid immensely in furthering humanity’s cause, as was startlingly evident in the race to find a vaccine to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in record time using incredibly sophisticated genome sequencing and molecular analysis software, it is not without its attendant pitfalls. Generative Pre-trained Transformer or GPT for short is an AI platform that has the capability to respond to prompts, with an objective of generating a human readable, sensible text. While GRP has been used to write articles, poetry, stories, news reports and dialogue, the platform can also create synthetic meanings, fake personalities. Those fake users can produce any fake and any hate contents.
A development known as “generative adversarial network” (GANs) has exacerbated the already dangerous power of deep fakes. So what are these GANs? GANs represent algorithmic architectures employing two neural networks. These two neural networks are pitted against each other. The quintessential purpose behind such a face off being to generate new, synthetic instances of data that can pass for real data. GANs are liberally used to generate images videos and voice. The man behind the propagation of GANs was Ian Goodfellow, a researcher at the University of Montreal. While GANs have immense value in the domains of music and speech, their potential to birth evil is also immense. GANs are the primary vehicles to purvey Deepfakes by using voice and image overlays for derogatory and depraved purposes.
A classic example of disquiet created by the use of AI has been the controversy relating to Tik Tok, the almost ubiquitous and extremely popular application offering seemingly silly and at times licentious video clips aimed at youth and teens. Released in 2017 to be compatible with Android and iOS phones in 2017, Tik Tok has been downloaded a dizzying 2 billion times and has over 130 million users in the United States alone. However, of late there has been an extraordinary outrage over the use of Tik Tok for motives devious and purposes, obscene. Tik Tok has also been alleged to be used as a medium of spying for the Chinese Government. The app apparently doubles as a proxy for ferreting intelligence and information. India and the United States have banned the downloading of the application.
The use of AI for defense purposes also has triggered a wave of protests globally. Drone policies and experiments with hypersonic weapons raise concerns, both humanitarian as well as philosophical/moral. At the time of this review, China has conducted a couple of hypersonic weapons tests. One such weapon termed the hypersonic glide vehicle is launched from a missile or rocket. After such a launch, the craft separates and hurtles towards its target. Unnerved by this development, the United States has vowed to follow suit with tests of their own.
Another invasive quality that is the preserve of AI is represented by its surveillance capabilities. This attribute of AI has been perfected by China as a result of which more than 1.8 million Uighurs find themselves incarcerated in draconian concentration camps, euphemistically named “reeducation centres”.
However the book sidesteps a more relevant and urgent offshoot of the AI conundrum – the teleological dilemma that is innate to and ingrained in any seminal development ushered in by AI. It would have been very beneficial if this aspect of the AI debate could have been addressed. Perhaps, this was not the underlying intent or premise characterizing the book.
“The Age of AI and Human Future”, while attempting to alleviate the fears and concerns of its readers regarding the rapid development and employment of AI in various sectors of the economy, also leaves them battling questions of import and gravity, that yet remain unanswered.
The Age of Enlightenment unleashed a freedom in thinking, the likes of which was never imagined before. The world was rife with intellectual debates that threated to upend received wisdom and entrenched dogmas. Intrepid explorers set out on voyages that assimilated cultures yet birthed rampant colonialization. Revolutions removed rigidity as the voices and Science and reasoning found amplification. This Age naturally segued into a 20th Century Revolution that had Physics at its epicentre. Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr and Erwin Schrodinger gave the prevailing understanding of Quantum Theory, a gigantic shake and things would never be the same again.
The visceral and mercurial genius of Alan Turing not only had a massive impact in shortening the horrors of World War II, but it also led to an astounding possibility of intersectionality between man and machine. The Turing Test proposed that if a machine operated proficiently that observers could not distinguish its behavior from human’s, the machine should be labeled intelligent. The scramble for ‘alternative intelligence’ was well and truly on!
In the year 2017, Google’s AI programme Alpha Go, connivingly beat the world’s best player of Go, the hugely complex ancient strategy game involving billions of permutations and combinations. The prevailing world champion, Ke Jie was forced to concede, even though he took Alpha Go to the very limit. Deep Mind the entity that developed Alpha Go, employs a language called Gopher. Smaller than other ultra-large language software. Gopher has some 280 billion different parameters, or variables that it can tune. While AI can aid immensely in furthering humanity’s cause, as was startlingly evident in the race to find a vaccine to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in record time using incredibly sophisticated genome sequencing and molecular analysis software, it is not without its attendant pitfalls. Generative Pre-trained Transformer or GPT for short is an AI platform that has the capability to respond to prompts, with an objective of generating a human readable, sensible text. While GRP has been used to write articles, poetry, stories, news reports and dialogue, the platform can also create synthetic meanings, fake personalities. Those fake users can produce any fake and any hate contents.
A development known as “generative adversarial network” (GANs) has exacerbated the already dangerous power of deep fakes. So what are these GANs? GANs represent algorithmic architectures employing two neural networks. These two neural networks are pitted against each other. The quintessential purpose behind such a face off being to generate new, synthetic instances of data that can pass for real data. GANs are liberally used to generate images videos and voice. The man behind the propagation of GANs was Ian Goodfellow, a researcher at the University of Montreal. While GANs have immense value in the domains of music and speech, their potential to birth evil is also immense. GANs are the primary vehicles to purvey Deepfakes by using voice and image overlays for derogatory and depraved purposes.
A classic example of disquiet created by the use of AI has been the controversy relating to Tik Tok, the almost ubiquitous and extremely popular application offering seemingly silly and at times licentious video clips aimed at youth and teens. Released in 2017 to be compatible with Android and iOS phones in 2017, Tik Tok has been downloaded a dizzying 2 billion times and has over 130 million users in the United States alone. However, of late there has been an extraordinary outrage over the use of Tik Tok for motives devious and purposes, obscene. Tik Tok has also been alleged to be used as a medium of spying for the Chinese Government. The app apparently doubles as a proxy for ferreting intelligence and information. India and the United States have banned the downloading of the application.
The use of AI for defense purposes also has triggered a wave of protests globally. Drone policies and experiments with hypersonic weapons raise concerns, both humanitarian as well as philosophical/moral. At the time of this review, China has conducted a couple of hypersonic weapons tests. One such weapon termed the hypersonic glide vehicle is launched from a missile or rocket. After such a launch, the craft separates and hurtles towards its target. Unnerved by this development, the United States has vowed to follow suit with tests of their own.
Another invasive quality that is the preserve of AI is represented by its surveillance capabilities. This attribute of AI has been perfected by China as a result of which more than 1.8 million Uighurs find themselves incarcerated in draconian concentration camps, euphemistically named “reeducation centres”.
However the book sidesteps a more relevant and urgent offshoot of the AI conundrum – the teleological dilemma that is innate to and ingrained in any seminal development ushered in by AI. It would have been very beneficial if this aspect of the AI debate could have been addressed. Perhaps, this was not the underlying intent or premise characterizing the book.
“The Age of AI and Human Future”, while attempting to alleviate the fears and concerns of its readers regarding the rapid development and employment of AI in various sectors of the economy, also leaves them battling questions of import and gravity, that yet remain unanswered.
September 13, 2023
Let's be honest: this book only made it to the shelves due to the authors' names - like Picasso signing his name under pigeon shit.
Nothing new in here, a waste of time unless you were born yesterday and have never pondered about nor read anything on future technology, but then again there are much better books to read.
They take a child-like approach asking basic questions that they then never dig deep enough into, and refrain from exploring any real solutions.
One could at least expect, compared to books published prior to 2023, to see it present some novel thinking and ideas following the upheaval wrought by LLMs. Nope. Not even that.
Nothing new in here, a waste of time unless you were born yesterday and have never pondered about nor read anything on future technology, but then again there are much better books to read.
They take a child-like approach asking basic questions that they then never dig deep enough into, and refrain from exploring any real solutions.
One could at least expect, compared to books published prior to 2023, to see it present some novel thinking and ideas following the upheaval wrought by LLMs. Nope. Not even that.
January 14, 2022
Незадоволително. Прекалено общо и философско. Не научих нищо ново.
September 21, 2024
The first few chapters were really good and insightful, but then it got repetitive and so boring. The authors try to make you conscious of facts that you may already know about AI. The reason that I’m giving four stars is only one thing; from the beginning they warn you about that. They tell you that they’re just trying to make the reader think about the topic and ask more questions. This alone is enough for me to judge them as good authors or even more as good humans. Those who know what they can provide and don’t promise more. They’re honest and deserve respect.
February 20, 2023
This was a very accessible introduction to the dilemmas of AI. For a short book, it is also quite comprehensive. The best thing that can be said about this book is that it is perhaps less intellectually challenging and more concise than alternatives. That is not a bad thing, especially if one wishes to get caught up on the topic in a hurry.
There are also gems of insight that I have not picked up from my previous readings. For example, the book makes the connection between the advent of the printing press and the beginning of enlightenment thought. Just as the printing press created new dilemmas that spurred new modes of thinking, AI will demand new philosophical guiding principles that will help to tame and channel its potential. That is a pretty good insight, though its vagueness is bound to leave many unsatisfied.
That being said, I believe there are better books out there for those who wish to learn about the topic in a comprehensive way.
My top recommendation is the excellent "AI 2041: Ten Visions of Our Future." My full review of that book can be read here:
https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/b...
The main benefit of that book is that it dives deeper into the technologies and details of the AI revolution through stories. This helps to make the dilemmas of AI more concrete for readers.
Yuval Noah Harari's "Homo Deus" is about five years old at this point, but it is also a good philosophical exploration of this topic.
I hope to read and review more books on the topic in the near future.
There are also gems of insight that I have not picked up from my previous readings. For example, the book makes the connection between the advent of the printing press and the beginning of enlightenment thought. Just as the printing press created new dilemmas that spurred new modes of thinking, AI will demand new philosophical guiding principles that will help to tame and channel its potential. That is a pretty good insight, though its vagueness is bound to leave many unsatisfied.
That being said, I believe there are better books out there for those who wish to learn about the topic in a comprehensive way.
My top recommendation is the excellent "AI 2041: Ten Visions of Our Future." My full review of that book can be read here:
https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/b...
The main benefit of that book is that it dives deeper into the technologies and details of the AI revolution through stories. This helps to make the dilemmas of AI more concrete for readers.
Yuval Noah Harari's "Homo Deus" is about five years old at this point, but it is also a good philosophical exploration of this topic.
I hope to read and review more books on the topic in the near future.
February 25, 2022
Besides the - constant - need - to - use - hyphens, I really enjoyed reading this book. Coming from a technical background of machine learning, I am pretty much aware of some of the issues presented here but the thoughts and issues, especially regarding security, are very well organized and provide a well-structured line of thought. One thing I am constantly worried about in our society is the lack of focus and refection. This requires time and when you are constantly inundated in a variety of articles, images, videos, a strong discipline is needed to be able to take the time and pro-actively reflect about what is happening and its implications.
" The irony is that even as digitization is making an increasing amount of information available, it is diminishing the space required for deep, concentrated thought."
(I would only argue what is happening is not digitization but rather digital transformation)
However, for someone constantly reading regarding AI, I am looking for something that actually goes deeper, either technically speaking, how and what specific technical limitations can we place but still remain competitive and so on or politically. The latter would be regarding how the leaders of states and people dealt with similar life-changing innovations and an in-depth analysis of the options presented, how some erred, succeeded and so on. Recommendations are welcomed.
" The irony is that even as digitization is making an increasing amount of information available, it is diminishing the space required for deep, concentrated thought."
(I would only argue what is happening is not digitization but rather digital transformation)
However, for someone constantly reading regarding AI, I am looking for something that actually goes deeper, either technically speaking, how and what specific technical limitations can we place but still remain competitive and so on or politically. The latter would be regarding how the leaders of states and people dealt with similar life-changing innovations and an in-depth analysis of the options presented, how some erred, succeeded and so on. Recommendations are welcomed.
February 22, 2023
Gosto sempre de ler livros de não ficção sobre diversos temas. As tecnologias e o impacto no futuro da humanidade é um dos principais. Já tinha lido livros do Eric Schmidt e gostei, pois senti que aprendi algo que novo. No entanto, neste caso, ficou aquém das expectativas... Não é uma escrita muito cativante e as informações apresentadas já foram bastantes divulgadas e discutidas.
November 20, 2021
It was okay.
Lots of history (more than I wanted about a "future" book (not a huge monotonous history fan)).
Some good looks to the future, but honestly not an extremely strong book.
3.6/5
Lots of history (more than I wanted about a "future" book (not a huge monotonous history fan)).
Some good looks to the future, but honestly not an extremely strong book.
3.6/5
April 12, 2024
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to consolidate their knowledge about AI, as it is a very well-structured introduction to the basic principles of the current AI models.
Additionally, it includes a lot of philosophical references, which is exactly what I was hoping for from a book authored by Henry Kissinger.
Additionally, it includes a lot of philosophical references, which is exactly what I was hoping for from a book authored by Henry Kissinger.
December 29, 2021
Although this book seems to be more a collection of disjointed chapters put together hastily by the three authors, I did enjoy the ways in which the developments and current state of AI were juxtaposed with the start of the first World War, Enlightenment thinking and philosophy in general.
I would have left out chapter 4 though as it is very poorly written and does not contribute much to the rest of the book.
I would have left out chapter 4 though as it is very poorly written and does not contribute much to the rest of the book.
April 9, 2023
Good intro on how AI works on a very high-level, but better in its exploration of its ethics, how we proceed to manage the continuous integration of AI in several aspects of our lives.
What paths governments and companies should follow to make sure humans don't take the back seat in handling this revolutionary technology.
What paths governments and companies should follow to make sure humans don't take the back seat in handling this revolutionary technology.
Read
December 13, 2024I didn’t think this book was written by the ye same person who did the Kissinger report but it was, almost want to listen to
It again now.
I thought it was written by some one completely different or a relative.
Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 - November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th national security advisor from 1969 to 1975, serving in both the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. -wiki
The Kissinger Report: NSSM-
200 Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security
-Google search 👀
I was just listening to this in the background and was surprised 😮, I kept thinking he had passed before this was written.
Caught me off balance on who and who is the author. Should have checked ✅ before I read it, than after. I had someone else pictured in
My head reading this book than the actual guy who wrote it… I would be of slowed it down more than reading at 1.75x speed maybe 1.5x or 1.25x
It again now.
I thought it was written by some one completely different or a relative.
Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 - November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th national security advisor from 1969 to 1975, serving in both the presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. -wiki
The Kissinger Report: NSSM-
200 Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security
-Google search 👀
I was just listening to this in the background and was surprised 😮, I kept thinking he had passed before this was written.
Caught me off balance on who and who is the author. Should have checked ✅ before I read it, than after. I had someone else pictured in
My head reading this book than the actual guy who wrote it… I would be of slowed it down more than reading at 1.75x speed maybe 1.5x or 1.25x
May 4, 2022
I felt that there was something missing in this book, but I’m not sure what. Considering that the book was written by the ex-CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, the ex-Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, and the Dean of a Computer School at MIT, Daniel Huttenlocker, I was looking for more detail in exactly how AI is now transforming our lives and how this is most likely to play out in the future. I think that most of the information and insights they provide can be found elsewhere and so I don’t see why we needed these three obvious experts to tell us what is in this book.
The thesis is that AI will disrupt and transform human life, scientific research, education, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, defense, law enforcement, politics, advertising, art, culture and more. What do AI-enabled innovations in health, biology, space, and quantum physics look like? What do AI-enabled “best friends” look like? What does AI-enabled war look like? Does AI perceive aspects of reality humans do not? When AI participates in assessing and shaping human action, how will humans change? “What, then, will it mean to be human?” The book poses great questions but I’m not sure it answers them.
They aren’t even talking about general AI, but rather narrow AI, which is already shaping human behavior by influencing, for example, search engine results. The authors point out that these are generally “black box” algorithms, which means that the engineers who built the A.I. can’t explain exactly why Google has ranked one page higher than another. Another example is that Facebook and Twitter use A.I. for content moderation, but again engineers may not understand exactly why a certain post was deleted or flagged. Also, A.I. makes mistakes, due to a lack of data, the bias of the creator, a lack of common sense, or shallow learning. This means that A.I’s decisions need to be appealed to humans in case of wrong decisions.
AI combined with human intelligence actually makes humans more intelligent. We can reach better decisions together as the AI can factor in many more inputs than us much more quickly to give us better options than we could come up with alone. On the other hand, AI is perfectly capable of fomenting hate speech and promoting disinformation if given the wrong inputs or algorithms. How or should this be regulated? Small changes in anti-disinformation AI has vast consequences for flagged content which amounts to censorship.
There are further security concerns with the growth of A.I., particularly in warfare. Not only could there be technology like AI-piloted drones, but we are already seeing cyberwarfare, and disinformation campaigns, and AI is likely to make these even more effective. Introducing AI into warfare means introducing control of and or assistance to weapons systems to logical processes humans don’t understand. AI will be looking at variables we might not look for. and thus it is unpredictable. And because we are so interconnected, an attack could spread very quickly to things like critical infrastructure, with the risks of very rapid escalation beyond human intention or control. The book recommends states talk to each other about the strategic and moral implications of AI-assisted weaponry before it gets too advanced. However, there are problems with this, including how to verify to opposing states if limits are negotiated. How can states trust that the others are not developing capacities that they cannot trace?
From an era in which human rationality, although imperfect, has been held up as a highest value, AI will transform what it means to be human. AI can surpass human reasoning in certain spheres, in that it can present better objective outcomes and humans don’t necessarily understand why. However, we may find that using humans to make decisions that they can explain may be more legitimate. For example, AI already screens job and credit applicants. Should we allow it to make legal judgments? Children will grow up with AI babysitters, best friends, and tutors, and they may come to prefer them to other real humans. What are the implications of that? There will be a divide between people who control and understand AI and those who don’t, between AI natives and the oldsters who don’t. Some people may violently reject AI, and others may come to more or less worship it.
So much money and so many people are doing this that it is becoming unstoppable. Therefore, the authors contend that governments need to establish organizations with representatives from academia and industry to talk about how fast and far we want to change, to establish ground rules. At the same time, different countries will probably make different decisions and so there will be a series of social experiments in which everyone needs to learn from the best practices of the others and the price for falling behind or making wrong decisions may be very high.
I’m not an expert on any of this and I think that the book is good as far as it goes. But it spends time talking about how our perception of knowledge and what it means to be human has changed from the Middle Ages and I think it would have been better to use the time to go into more detail about exactly how A.I. works. They don’t need to tell us the algorithms, but more detail on the kinds of algorithms that are used, or more examples of successes and failures would have been useful. The book often reads like it was written by a committee, which it sort of was. I think the three of them could have come up with something more.
The thesis is that AI will disrupt and transform human life, scientific research, education, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, defense, law enforcement, politics, advertising, art, culture and more. What do AI-enabled innovations in health, biology, space, and quantum physics look like? What do AI-enabled “best friends” look like? What does AI-enabled war look like? Does AI perceive aspects of reality humans do not? When AI participates in assessing and shaping human action, how will humans change? “What, then, will it mean to be human?” The book poses great questions but I’m not sure it answers them.
They aren’t even talking about general AI, but rather narrow AI, which is already shaping human behavior by influencing, for example, search engine results. The authors point out that these are generally “black box” algorithms, which means that the engineers who built the A.I. can’t explain exactly why Google has ranked one page higher than another. Another example is that Facebook and Twitter use A.I. for content moderation, but again engineers may not understand exactly why a certain post was deleted or flagged. Also, A.I. makes mistakes, due to a lack of data, the bias of the creator, a lack of common sense, or shallow learning. This means that A.I’s decisions need to be appealed to humans in case of wrong decisions.
AI combined with human intelligence actually makes humans more intelligent. We can reach better decisions together as the AI can factor in many more inputs than us much more quickly to give us better options than we could come up with alone. On the other hand, AI is perfectly capable of fomenting hate speech and promoting disinformation if given the wrong inputs or algorithms. How or should this be regulated? Small changes in anti-disinformation AI has vast consequences for flagged content which amounts to censorship.
There are further security concerns with the growth of A.I., particularly in warfare. Not only could there be technology like AI-piloted drones, but we are already seeing cyberwarfare, and disinformation campaigns, and AI is likely to make these even more effective. Introducing AI into warfare means introducing control of and or assistance to weapons systems to logical processes humans don’t understand. AI will be looking at variables we might not look for. and thus it is unpredictable. And because we are so interconnected, an attack could spread very quickly to things like critical infrastructure, with the risks of very rapid escalation beyond human intention or control. The book recommends states talk to each other about the strategic and moral implications of AI-assisted weaponry before it gets too advanced. However, there are problems with this, including how to verify to opposing states if limits are negotiated. How can states trust that the others are not developing capacities that they cannot trace?
From an era in which human rationality, although imperfect, has been held up as a highest value, AI will transform what it means to be human. AI can surpass human reasoning in certain spheres, in that it can present better objective outcomes and humans don’t necessarily understand why. However, we may find that using humans to make decisions that they can explain may be more legitimate. For example, AI already screens job and credit applicants. Should we allow it to make legal judgments? Children will grow up with AI babysitters, best friends, and tutors, and they may come to prefer them to other real humans. What are the implications of that? There will be a divide between people who control and understand AI and those who don’t, between AI natives and the oldsters who don’t. Some people may violently reject AI, and others may come to more or less worship it.
So much money and so many people are doing this that it is becoming unstoppable. Therefore, the authors contend that governments need to establish organizations with representatives from academia and industry to talk about how fast and far we want to change, to establish ground rules. At the same time, different countries will probably make different decisions and so there will be a series of social experiments in which everyone needs to learn from the best practices of the others and the price for falling behind or making wrong decisions may be very high.
I’m not an expert on any of this and I think that the book is good as far as it goes. But it spends time talking about how our perception of knowledge and what it means to be human has changed from the Middle Ages and I think it would have been better to use the time to go into more detail about exactly how A.I. works. They don’t need to tell us the algorithms, but more detail on the kinds of algorithms that are used, or more examples of successes and failures would have been useful. The book often reads like it was written by a committee, which it sort of was. I think the three of them could have come up with something more.
March 16, 2024
Published in 2021, this book was ahead of its time as ChatGPT and AI didn't hit the mainstream until late 2022. The questions that the authors pose in regard to its implications remain relevant as of March 2024.
February 21, 2024
Although I looked incredibly smart reading this book on my way to work it didn’t really teach me anything new. They were some interesting key points about development of AI and how we got to where we are now, but other that that it’s just some book with fancy authors name written on the cover
April 2, 2023
Raises Impact Issues - Since reading Kissinger’s “World Order” (see my review), I was interested to see he and associates came out with this title concerning artificial intelligence (AI). Given his background in diplomacy and affairs of state, it makes sense that he joined with those from high tech business and academic settings to “cover the waterfront” from AI origins to our longer-term prospects of this technology. While other books like Metz’s “Genius Makers” give more detail on the players and companies involved, this narrative offers a good overview and raiser of impact issues.
More specifically, the book’s contents include a Preface and 7 chapters: (1) Where We Are, (2) How We Got Here: Technology and Human Thought, (3) From Turing to Today-and Beyond, (4) Global Network Platforms, (5) Security and World Order, (6) AI and Human Identity, and (7) AI and the Future. There is also an Afterword: A New Reality, Acknowledgments, Notes, and an Index.
Parts that stood out for me include those that describe the great capabilities of AI as well as those that treat its limitations and dangers. After presenting a number of cases of the technology’s benefits, Kissinger et al indicate in Kindle Location 2465) that “In the coming years, AI will accelerate progress on climate change mitigation, transform farming, and revolutionize medicine. . . .[and] by 2040 . . . [be] a million times more powerful than it was in 2021.” They indicate early on (Location 645-48), that “Humanity has always dreamed of a helper . . . [and has had a] fascination for mechanical automata . . .” which brings to mind Palmuk's novel "The White Castle.” Their explanations that machine learning (Location 667-69) . . . extract[s] patterns from large datasets using neural networks . . . constructing approximations of reality” also recall such works as Barrett’s “How Emotions Are Made”(see my reviews of these books). However, from the beginning (Location 265), the authors alert and question that “AI will suggest new solutions or directions that will bear the stamp of another, nonhuman, form of learning and logical evaluation. . . Will humans be able to detect unwelcome (AI) choices or reverse unwelcome choices in time?” Later (Location 1521), they project, on an international level, that “In the decades to come, we will need to achieve a balance of power that accounts for the intangibles of cyber conflicts and mass-scale disinformation as well as the distinctive qualities of AI-facilitated war.”
While the authors call for coordination and frameworks to help address emerging significant implications of AI, they do not do much in the way of discussing what schemas might entail. For instance ( in Location 847-49) they indicate “Managing the risks that increasingly prevalent AI will pose is a task that must be pursued concurrently with the advancement of the field . . . We all must pay attention to AI’s potential risks. We cannot leave its development or application to any one constituency, be it researchers, companies, governments, or civil society organizations.” Kissinger et al ask (in Location 1702) “How does one develop a strategy . . . for something that perceives aspects of the environment that humans may not, or may not as quickly . . . [and] may make conflicts more intense and widely felt, and above all, more unpredictable.” They go on (Location 1835) to suggest “A process of mutual education between industry, academia, and government can help bridge this gap and ensure that key principles of AI’s strategic implications are understood in a common conceptual framework.” Their admonition comes later (Location 2191) that “Unless we develop new concepts to explain, interpret, and organize its consequent transformations, we will be unprepared to navigate it or its implications.” (See also my review of Lanier’s “Who Owns the Future?” as it seems similar concerns will be at play here)
Even though the book may have been able to offer more in the way of outlines for dealing with AI implications, Kissinger et al are helpful in teeing up questions and getting this conversation underway. As they say (in Location 2126-29) “In many arenas, AI and humans will . . . become . . . partners in . . . exploration. . . [Efforts need to] carve out distinct spheres for human leadership . . . [as well as] build the intellectual and psychological infrastructure to engage with AI and exercise its unique intelligence to benefit humans as much as possible.” The authors have cautious and admirable aspirations; hopefully through people reading these kinds of texts such pursuits will become the norm.
More specifically, the book’s contents include a Preface and 7 chapters: (1) Where We Are, (2) How We Got Here: Technology and Human Thought, (3) From Turing to Today-and Beyond, (4) Global Network Platforms, (5) Security and World Order, (6) AI and Human Identity, and (7) AI and the Future. There is also an Afterword: A New Reality, Acknowledgments, Notes, and an Index.
Parts that stood out for me include those that describe the great capabilities of AI as well as those that treat its limitations and dangers. After presenting a number of cases of the technology’s benefits, Kissinger et al indicate in Kindle Location 2465) that “In the coming years, AI will accelerate progress on climate change mitigation, transform farming, and revolutionize medicine. . . .[and] by 2040 . . . [be] a million times more powerful than it was in 2021.” They indicate early on (Location 645-48), that “Humanity has always dreamed of a helper . . . [and has had a] fascination for mechanical automata . . .” which brings to mind Palmuk's novel "The White Castle.” Their explanations that machine learning (Location 667-69) . . . extract[s] patterns from large datasets using neural networks . . . constructing approximations of reality” also recall such works as Barrett’s “How Emotions Are Made”(see my reviews of these books). However, from the beginning (Location 265), the authors alert and question that “AI will suggest new solutions or directions that will bear the stamp of another, nonhuman, form of learning and logical evaluation. . . Will humans be able to detect unwelcome (AI) choices or reverse unwelcome choices in time?” Later (Location 1521), they project, on an international level, that “In the decades to come, we will need to achieve a balance of power that accounts for the intangibles of cyber conflicts and mass-scale disinformation as well as the distinctive qualities of AI-facilitated war.”
While the authors call for coordination and frameworks to help address emerging significant implications of AI, they do not do much in the way of discussing what schemas might entail. For instance ( in Location 847-49) they indicate “Managing the risks that increasingly prevalent AI will pose is a task that must be pursued concurrently with the advancement of the field . . . We all must pay attention to AI’s potential risks. We cannot leave its development or application to any one constituency, be it researchers, companies, governments, or civil society organizations.” Kissinger et al ask (in Location 1702) “How does one develop a strategy . . . for something that perceives aspects of the environment that humans may not, or may not as quickly . . . [and] may make conflicts more intense and widely felt, and above all, more unpredictable.” They go on (Location 1835) to suggest “A process of mutual education between industry, academia, and government can help bridge this gap and ensure that key principles of AI’s strategic implications are understood in a common conceptual framework.” Their admonition comes later (Location 2191) that “Unless we develop new concepts to explain, interpret, and organize its consequent transformations, we will be unprepared to navigate it or its implications.” (See also my review of Lanier’s “Who Owns the Future?” as it seems similar concerns will be at play here)
Even though the book may have been able to offer more in the way of outlines for dealing with AI implications, Kissinger et al are helpful in teeing up questions and getting this conversation underway. As they say (in Location 2126-29) “In many arenas, AI and humans will . . . become . . . partners in . . . exploration. . . [Efforts need to] carve out distinct spheres for human leadership . . . [as well as] build the intellectual and psychological infrastructure to engage with AI and exercise its unique intelligence to benefit humans as much as possible.” The authors have cautious and admirable aspirations; hopefully through people reading these kinds of texts such pursuits will become the norm.
August 3, 2023
Here and there some truly beautiful insights on what A.I.’s impact on society as a whole can be. However overall not so impressive. Did not learn a lot and to me it is not clear how a heavy weight as H. Kissinger contributed to the book.
The first chapter of the book (how we got here - mankind’s history up to the start of A.I.) is superfluous in my opinion.
The first chapter of the book (how we got here - mankind’s history up to the start of A.I.) is superfluous in my opinion.
April 16, 2023
過去半年AI吸引所有人的眼球，人工智慧突飛猛進的速度令人難以適應，每天都有新的AI應用發布，甚至已經有自動化AI幫你執行AI指令輸入，代表未來人機協作的比例會越來越高，到不久的將來，我們工作中有一定比例都將直接仰賴電腦自動執行，人類只要負責監督和判斷，其他例行性流程全部讓電腦自行處理。客觀上來講這種效率的提升確實對社會有益，這幾年也在提倡周休三日，如果搭配AI來提升工作速度，這個變革指日可待。
我覺得人腦蠻有趣的是其適應能力，兩三個月前我對於AI感到極度恐慌，畢竟電腦已經跟神一樣，超出一個人思維可以理解的範疇，不過靜下來研讀一些相關的書籍和影片以後，心裡就踏實許多，某種程度上也轉念了，至少不會那麼悲觀，對於AI的優點有更多的認識。
AI神通廣大，對於喜歡思考的人而言，應該都會感到惶惶不安，針對這一點我跟身邊的人交流一下，發現可能是我困在自己的同溫層而不自知，身邊的人對於AI的進步樂觀其成，有人跟我說希望電腦趕快把所有工作都取代，我們就可以變成電影《瓦力》中的人類，整天無所事事，耍廢放空，好好享受人生! 我原本還在思考這樣一來工作的意義為何，但他們直接突破盲腸：人類發明各種工具就是為了讓生活更舒適，如果凡事都由電腦來服侍又何妨? 我反思一下近年知識帶給我的啟發，搞笑的是竟然可以認同他們的看法，傻人有傻福，腦袋放空的人最幸福~
最近台灣已經有越來越多跟AI有關的書籍上市，如果你是一個比較務實的上班族，應該會去商業理財的分類區買那些討論如何用ChatGPT提升工作效能的工具書。但如果你好奇想了解AI這項科技背後有哪些哲學意涵，以及它又將引起哪些社會變革，這本《AI世代與我們的未來》是一本值得翻閱的好書，GR上面有不少人評價說這本書了無新意，僅複述其他人已經討論過的觀點，整本書應該可以濃縮成一篇發表在《紐約客》雜誌的文章即可。我讀完以後覺得這本書的篇幅恰恰好，其實已經言簡意賅了，本書想要討論的主題很廣泛，能夠用兩百多頁就清楚勾勒出來，已經替讀者節省很多寶貴的時間。另一方面也代表我在這方面涉獵太淺，竟然很多內容還沒接觸過，要多關注AI的發展才行。
仔細一想，科技的進步使人們癡迷的追求效率，我以前不懂什麼叫蜂巢思維，但隨著閱讀量的累積，漸漸明白真的有集體思維的存在，每個時代都有特定的社會思潮，現在人們竭盡所能提高效率，希望能跟上社會節奏，人氣YT頻道和閱讀推廣都在教人如何管理時間，所以Notion這種app就很流行，可能是我沒慧根，常常覺得這種應用程式反而是另一種負擔，處心積慮想要善用時間，結果弄巧成拙導致心靈的躁動，是否得不償失?
順帶一提，因為資訊爆炸使得懶人包成為生活必需品，ChatGPT在某種程度上就是懶人包集大成，已經有很多人用此來著書立說成為作家，AI擅長做資訊統整，而且可怕的是摘要的準確度極高，在書評寫作的領域，很驚人的是有些聰明人已經用AI在寫閱讀心得，而且還可以潤飾到一般人看不出來。這個其實不難，只要把電子檔餵進去，把產出的內容換句話說，就可以分享在社群媒體上了，然後說一個月讀了數十本書，讓老派讀者自嘆不如，重點是還能吸引許多追蹤者，因為大家都有知識焦慮，直接迎合市場需求才是正解。這不是酸葡萄，而是客觀的事實，閱讀很私人，端看讀者各取所需，慢閱讀要花十年以上的時間，甚至更久，前提是自己還要有時間，所以閱讀要趁早，才能感受到她的迷人魅力。幾年前專家還在說AI最難取代的就是人類的創造力，但坦白講依照目前的科技進展，我越來越相信十幾年內通用人工智慧就會出現，比20世紀科幻小說預言的還要更早。
科技的進化會引發一些人類心靈的不安，不過感覺真的很少人在關注這一塊，整體社會基本上就高歌凱奏，呼籲人們積極提高自我生產力，才不會被資本社會淘汰。在社科著作中，已經有很多專家學者針對這個現象進行深度研究，結論就是人類大腦的運作機制跟原始祖先差異不大，我們思考的方式是傾向跟實體世界互動，人腦的思維尚未演化到可以游刃有餘與AI並駕齊驅，可是這正是目前科技要求人類做到的境界。
很多人無法適應就得到精神疾病，必須仰賴心理醫生的協助才能重拾平靜。這是一個交互影響的現象，AI越來越進步，AI專家就語重心長的呼籲人們要培養自己的人性，例如心理醫生是未來最難被取代的職業，因為同理心是AI最難取代的人格特質。其實這句話的另一種說法就是越來越多人心理生病了，希望在虛無縹緲的世界中，可以抓到一個僅存的實體浮木，以免被內心波濤洶湧的負面情緒給淹沒。
當然一定會有人對這種科技造成的影響嗤之以鼻，覺得這種論述都是無稽之談。討論科技的發展一定要有脈絡，每個讀者切入的視角不同，我是很羨慕對於一切社會變遷泰然自若的人，兵來將擋，水來土淹，順著時代的潮流前進，無所畏懼。我的心靈比較脆弱，好在閱讀可以反脆弱，加強心靈韌性，過往的閱讀經驗讓我可以深刻的跟本書的主旨起共鳴，書中提及的一些內容我都有蜻蜓點水接觸過，但是沒有從AI的框架下來解釋，所以我不知道有這種觀看的方式。經過三位思想大師的詮釋，確實讓我對AI有了更深刻的認識。
本書三位作者分別是20世紀國際關係宗師亨利．季辛吉、前Goolge CEO艾力克．施密特、麻省理工電腦科學院長丹尼爾．哈騰洛赫。季辛吉名聲響叮噹，已經要一百歲了還在世界各地的高端論壇當講者，他被譽為當代最有影響力的國際秩序締造者及論述者。施密特在2001-2011年Google最關鍵的成長期擔任總裁，使其成為影響世界的科技巨頭，他卸任後成立基金會，投身慈善事業，並且在各種場合擔任顧問或講師，分享他對於科技的看法。這本書其實並非完全由三人所著，嚴格來說應該是許多人合作的成果，他們組成一個專案小組，一起腦力激盪構思本書的內容，由三位大師提出大綱，細節再由助理們合作梳理及研究。
前半部基本上都在探討AI如何演化至今，他們從文明初始講起，人類因為對於這個世界感到陌生恐懼，希望能掌控自己的命運，便開始建立起知識體系。從古希臘以降，人類會透過各種方式希望能夠賦予宇宙萬物意義，這樣才能感到踏實。但人類的認知有極限(有時是受限於當時的科技水平)，仍有很多事物無法解釋，這時就要仰賴宗教等機制來填補空白。隨著科學發展，人們開始學會用理性來面對世界，印刷術的普及打開新的紀元，大家都可以獲得知識，對宇宙終極奧秘的解釋權不再由教會壟斷，人們開始有思考的自由，促成往後科學革命、工業革命、資訊革命等技術突破。
在文明演變的過程中，人類習慣用理性的思維去評估一切，哲學也隨時代而演化，哲學家提出各種思考框架讓當代人有思想上的歸宿，若少了這些思想工具，人們就會感到茫然無助。在西方哲學脈絡中，中古世紀到19世紀的哲學家都希望把世間萬物歸納到哲學的論述體系中，所以有人編纂百科全書，目的就是賦予一切事物某種解釋或定義，其中康德的思想影響深遠，他啟發後人將感官經驗轉化為知識，這也是人們理解世界的方式。這種哲學的努力到了20世紀面臨挑戰，因為量子力學等基礎科學的發展，例如海德堡提出測不準原理，讓人類的感官經驗不再100%準確或可信任。古典物理學中完美的平衡被顛覆，人們對世界的認知進入一個新紀元，此時天才哲學家維根斯坦即刻救援，表示人類不必追求全知，只需要知道事物間的關聯即可。他的思想框架讓人類又安全的度過20世紀的風風雨雨。
進入21世紀，隨著晶片的計算能力依循摩爾定律指數型躍升，AI終於結束了技術寒冬，開始蓬勃發展。神經網絡模型、自然語言處理、機器學習…這些新型態的技術讓AI突飛猛進，漸漸的AI越來越有”智慧”，在某些層面甚至已經超過人類。AI儼然是一種新的生命形式，並由人類擔任上帝創造出來的，這就導致了思想上的矛盾。AI目前最可怕的是連研究人員都不知道其真實的運作機制，研究人員在訓練AI前會預設目標，但有時候AI的表現超乎預期，連人類都不知道機器究竟如何”思考”。
這代表機器的思維超乎人類的認知，違背了數千年來人類認識世界的方式，因此人們感到恐懼是合情合理的。目前針對AI的倫理和哲學都還沒完整建立起來，若人類不盡快著手研擬，可能就會發生AI失控的未來，波及的層面之廣難以想像，因此本書後半部都在探索這些議題。但話說回來，如果AI使用得宜，祂將開啟人類全新的思維視域，我們將會發現很多人類自身無法感知或想像的事情，人類文明就會更快速發展。
如果你對於人工智慧感到陌生，這本書是一本優秀的入門讀本! 本書給了我很多啟發，也幫我更新了一些過時的觀點。舉例來說，我們都知道可以用圖靈測試來判斷機器是否達到人類的智力水準，但其實圖靈測試在今天已經不管用了，它測試的是機器產出的”成果”是否達成人類的水平，所以嚴格來說很多機器早就通過測試，例如汽車可以跑得比人還快、機算機可以比人類更快速算出金額，在狹義的層面這些機器早就比人類還優秀。今天我們討論AI，不論是理性或感性上，應該要盡快建立一個新的框架，以評估AI對社會的影響，如同核武需要嚴加管控，避免核武擴散，AI在這方面並沒有對應的措施，本書提出一些建議，可供讀者參考。
活在一個比科幻更科幻的真實世界，真的常常讓人覺得無所適從，先別扯到宏觀文明的層級，AI很快就會融入我們的工作中，所以抽出一些追劇的時間讀讀這種書，才能在專業及心態上做好準備吧。
我覺得人腦蠻有趣的是其適應能力，兩三個月前我對於AI感到極度恐慌，畢竟電腦已經跟神一樣，超出一個人思維可以理解的範疇，不過靜下來研讀一些相關的書籍和影片以後，心裡就踏實許多，某種程度上也轉念了，至少不會那麼悲觀，對於AI的優點有更多的認識。
AI神通廣大，對於喜歡思考的人而言，應該都會感到惶惶不安，針對這一點我跟身邊的人交流一下，發現可能是我困在自己的同溫層而不自知，身邊的人對於AI的進步樂觀其成，有人跟我說希望電腦趕快把所有工作都取代，我們就可以變成電影《瓦力》中的人類，整天無所事事，耍廢放空，好好享受人生! 我原本還在思考這樣一來工作的意義為何，但他們直接突破盲腸：人類發明各種工具就是為了讓生活更舒適，如果凡事都由電腦來服侍又何妨? 我反思一下近年知識帶給我的啟發，搞笑的是竟然可以認同他們的看法，傻人有傻福，腦袋放空的人最幸福~
最近台灣已經有越來越多跟AI有關的書籍上市，如果你是一個比較務實的上班族，應該會去商業理財的分類區買那些討論如何用ChatGPT提升工作效能的工具書。但如果你好奇想了解AI這項科技背後有哪些哲學意涵，以及它又將引起哪些社會變革，這本《AI世代與我們的未來》是一本值得翻閱的好書，GR上面有不少人評價說這本書了無新意，僅複述其他人已經討論過的觀點，整本書應該可以濃縮成一篇發表在《紐約客》雜誌的文章即可。我讀完以後覺得這本書的篇幅恰恰好，其實已經言簡意賅了，本書想要討論的主題很廣泛，能夠用兩百多頁就清楚勾勒出來，已經替讀者節省很多寶貴的時間。另一方面也代表我在這方面涉獵太淺，竟然很多內容還沒接觸過，要多關注AI的發展才行。
仔細一想，科技的進步使人們癡迷的追求效率，我以前不懂什麼叫蜂巢思維，但隨著閱讀量的累積，漸漸明白真的有集體思維的存在，每個時代都有特定的社會思潮，現在人們竭盡所能提高效率，希望能跟上社會節奏，人氣YT頻道和閱讀推廣都在教人如何管理時間，所以Notion這種app就很流行，可能是我沒慧根，常常覺得這種應用程式反而是另一種負擔，處心積慮想要善用時間，結果弄巧成拙導致心靈的躁動，是否得不償失?
順帶一提，因為資訊爆炸使得懶人包成為生活必需品，ChatGPT在某種程度上就是懶人包集大成，已經有很多人用此來著書立說成為作家，AI擅長做資訊統整，而且可怕的是摘要的準確度極高，在書評寫作的領域，很驚人的是有些聰明人已經用AI在寫閱讀心得，而且還可以潤飾到一般人看不出來。這個其實不難，只要把電子檔餵進去，把產出的內容換句話說，就可以分享在社群媒體上了，然後說一個月讀了數十本書，讓老派讀者自嘆不如，重點是還能吸引許多追蹤者，因為大家都有知識焦慮，直接迎合市場需求才是正解。這不是酸葡萄，而是客觀的事實，閱讀很私人，端看讀者各取所需，慢閱讀要花十年以上的時間，甚至更久，前提是自己還要有時間，所以閱讀要趁早，才能感受到她的迷人魅力。幾年前專家還在說AI最難取代的就是人類的創造力，但坦白講依照目前的科技進展，我越來越相信十幾年內通用人工智慧就會出現，比20世紀科幻小說預言的還要更早。
科技的進化會引發一些人類心靈的不安，不過感覺真的很少人在關注這一塊，整體社會基本上就高歌凱奏，呼籲人們積極提高自我生產力，才不會被資本社會淘汰。在社科著作中，已經有很多專家學者針對這個現象進行深度研究，結論就是人類大腦的運作機制跟原始祖先差異不大，我們思考的方式是傾向跟實體世界互動，人腦的思維尚未演化到可以游刃有餘與AI並駕齊驅，可是這正是目前科技要求人類做到的境界。
很多人無法適應就得到精神疾病，必須仰賴心理醫生的協助才能重拾平靜。這是一個交互影響的現象，AI越來越進步，AI專家就語重心長的呼籲人們要培養自己的人性，例如心理醫生是未來最難被取代的職業，因為同理心是AI最難取代的人格特質。其實這句話的另一種說法就是越來越多人心理生病了，希望在虛無縹緲的世界中，可以抓到一個僅存的實體浮木，以免被內心波濤洶湧的負面情緒給淹沒。
當然一定會有人對這種科技造成的影響嗤之以鼻，覺得這種論述都是無稽之談。討論科技的發展一定要有脈絡，每個讀者切入的視角不同，我是很羨慕對於一切社會變遷泰然自若的人，兵來將擋，水來土淹，順著時代的潮流前進，無所畏懼。我的心靈比較脆弱，好在閱讀可以反脆弱，加強心靈韌性，過往的閱讀經驗讓我可以深刻的跟本書的主旨起共鳴，書中提及的一些內容我都有蜻蜓點水接觸過，但是沒有從AI的框架下來解釋，所以我不知道有這種觀看的方式。經過三位思想大師的詮釋，確實讓我對AI有了更深刻的認識。
本書三位作者分別是20世紀國際關係宗師亨利．季辛吉、前Goolge CEO艾力克．施密特、麻省理工電腦科學院長丹尼爾．哈騰洛赫。季辛吉名聲響叮噹，已經要一百歲了還在世界各地的高端論壇當講者，他被譽為當代最有影響力的國際秩序締造者及論述者。施密特在2001-2011年Google最關鍵的成長期擔任總裁，使其成為影響世界的科技巨頭，他卸任後成立基金會，投身慈善事業，並且在各種場合擔任顧問或講師，分享他對於科技的看法。這本書其實並非完全由三人所著，嚴格來說應該是許多人合作的成果，他們組成一個專案小組，一起腦力激盪構思本書的內容，由三位大師提出大綱，細節再由助理們合作梳理及研究。
前半部基本上都在探討AI如何演化至今，他們從文明初始講起，人類因為對於這個世界感到陌生恐懼，希望能掌控自己的命運，便開始建立起知識體系。從古希臘以降，人類會透過各種方式希望能夠賦予宇宙萬物意義，這樣才能感到踏實。但人類的認知有極限(有時是受限於當時的科技水平)，仍有很多事物無法解釋，這時就要仰賴宗教等機制來填補空白。隨著科學發展，人們開始學會用理性來面對世界，印刷術的普及打開新的紀元，大家都可以獲得知識，對宇宙終極奧秘的解釋權不再由教會壟斷，人們開始有思考的自由，促成往後科學革命、工業革命、資訊革命等技術突破。
在文明演變的過程中，人類習慣用理性的思維去評估一切，哲學也隨時代而演化，哲學家提出各種思考框架讓當代人有思想上的歸宿，若少了這些思想工具，人們就會感到茫然無助。在西方哲學脈絡中，中古世紀到19世紀的哲學家都希望把世間萬物歸納到哲學的論述體系中，所以有人編纂百科全書，目的就是賦予一切事物某種解釋或定義，其中康德的思想影響深遠，他啟發後人將感官經驗轉化為知識，這也是人們理解世界的方式。這種哲學的努力到了20世紀面臨挑戰，因為量子力學等基礎科學的發展，例如海德堡提出測不準原理，讓人類的感官經驗不再100%準確或可信任。古典物理學中完美的平衡被顛覆，人們對世界的認知進入一個新紀元，此時天才哲學家維根斯坦即刻救援，表示人類不必追求全知，只需要知道事物間的關聯即可。他的思想框架讓人類又安全的度過20世紀的風風雨雨。
進入21世紀，隨著晶片的計算能力依循摩爾定律指數型躍升，AI終於結束了技術寒冬，開始蓬勃發展。神經網絡模型、自然語言處理、機器學習…這些新型態的技術讓AI突飛猛進，漸漸的AI越來越有”智慧”，在某些層面甚至已經超過人類。AI儼然是一種新的生命形式，並由人類擔任上帝創造出來的，這就導致了思想上的矛盾。AI目前最可怕的是連研究人員都不知道其真實的運作機制，研究人員在訓練AI前會預設目標，但有時候AI的表現超乎預期，連人類都不知道機器究竟如何”思考”。
這代表機器的思維超乎人類的認知，違背了數千年來人類認識世界的方式，因此人們感到恐懼是合情合理的。目前針對AI的倫理和哲學都還沒完整建立起來，若人類不盡快著手研擬，可能就會發生AI失控的未來，波及的層面之廣難以想像，因此本書後半部都在探索這些議題。但話說回來，如果AI使用得宜，祂將開啟人類全新的思維視域，我們將會發現很多人類自身無法感知或想像的事情，人類文明就會更快速發展。
如果你對於人工智慧感到陌生，這本書是一本優秀的入門讀本! 本書給了我很多啟發，也幫我更新了一些過時的觀點。舉例來說，我們都知道可以用圖靈測試來判斷機器是否達到人類的智力水準，但其實圖靈測試在今天已經不管用了，它測試的是機器產出的”成果”是否達成人類的水平，所以嚴格來說很多機器早就通過測試，例如汽車可以跑得比人還快、機算機可以比人類更快速算出金額，在狹義的層面這些機器早就比人類還優秀。今天我們討論AI，不論是理性或感性上，應該要盡快建立一個新的框架，以評估AI對社會的影響，如同核武需要嚴加管控，避免核武擴散，AI在這方面並沒有對應的措施，本書提出一些建議，可供讀者參考。
活在一個比科幻更科幻的真實世界，真的常常讓人覺得無所適從，先別扯到宏觀文明的層級，AI很快就會融入我們的工作中，所以抽出一些追劇的時間讀讀這種書，才能在專業及心態上做好準備吧。
April 6, 2023
I'm happy I finally got around to reading this book, after having it on my list for a while. I think I got the most out of it in the first 2-3 chapters, personally. It starts by getting into a bit of how AI works and how it may very well perceive a new level of reality humans can't necessary access (which fascinated me the most!). Then the rest of the book is really all about the implications of what it means for our society, our minds, philosophically what it means to be human and then a lot on the military, economic, societal and digital world impacts.
The authors drive the point home (more than once) that AI is unable to contextualize or reflect like humans can, and that mistakes do happen. And while some industries test a product a million times before a human ever comes in contact with it (e.g. aerospace), we see app developers often rushing programs to market, correcting flaws in real time, having the AI learn post hoc. With that in mind, I appreciate the author's responsible message around "developing professional certification, compliance monitoring and oversight programs for AI" - as a way to evaluate and test reliability of all the AI applications I'm sure we'll see a lot more of over the next 10-20 years.
This book further affirmed my view that AI is integrating itself more and more into all aspects of our society, our transportation, our economy, our social media, our healthcare and just our every day lives. Even our psychology and way of thinking has changed, which they get into. So the enduring message comes back to.... if humans are the ones creating this AI technology, ultimately who operates and defines limits on these processes? What impact might they have on social norms and institutions? And who, if anyone, has access to what AI perceives?
I found myself skimming some of the later sections in the book that seemed to be a tad repetitive in the examples used and broader implications of the impact of AI. While insightful information was found here, it didn't engage me as much as I would have hoped (thus leaving me at a 3/5 review). I also found the writing a bit dry and robot-like (which ironically amused me thinking that an AI wrote the book!).
Favourite quote from the book:
"When information is contextualized, it becomes knowledge. When knowledge compels convictions, it becomes wisdom. Yet the internet inundates users with the opinions of thousands, even millions, of other users, depriving them of the solitude required for sustained reflection that, historically, has led to the development of convictions. As solitude diminishes, so too does fortitude - not only to develop convictions but also to be faithful to them, particularly when they require the traversing of novel, and thus often lonely, roads. Only convictions - in combination with wisdom - enable people to access and explore new horizons."
The authors drive the point home (more than once) that AI is unable to contextualize or reflect like humans can, and that mistakes do happen. And while some industries test a product a million times before a human ever comes in contact with it (e.g. aerospace), we see app developers often rushing programs to market, correcting flaws in real time, having the AI learn post hoc. With that in mind, I appreciate the author's responsible message around "developing professional certification, compliance monitoring and oversight programs for AI" - as a way to evaluate and test reliability of all the AI applications I'm sure we'll see a lot more of over the next 10-20 years.
This book further affirmed my view that AI is integrating itself more and more into all aspects of our society, our transportation, our economy, our social media, our healthcare and just our every day lives. Even our psychology and way of thinking has changed, which they get into. So the enduring message comes back to.... if humans are the ones creating this AI technology, ultimately who operates and defines limits on these processes? What impact might they have on social norms and institutions? And who, if anyone, has access to what AI perceives?
I found myself skimming some of the later sections in the book that seemed to be a tad repetitive in the examples used and broader implications of the impact of AI. While insightful information was found here, it didn't engage me as much as I would have hoped (thus leaving me at a 3/5 review). I also found the writing a bit dry and robot-like (which ironically amused me thinking that an AI wrote the book!).
Favourite quote from the book:
"When information is contextualized, it becomes knowledge. When knowledge compels convictions, it becomes wisdom. Yet the internet inundates users with the opinions of thousands, even millions, of other users, depriving them of the solitude required for sustained reflection that, historically, has led to the development of convictions. As solitude diminishes, so too does fortitude - not only to develop convictions but also to be faithful to them, particularly when they require the traversing of novel, and thus often lonely, roads. Only convictions - in combination with wisdom - enable people to access and explore new horizons."
July 19, 2025
It read more like a long-winded essay than something meant to actually explore AI in any meaningful depth. Skims the surface, throws around big names, but never dives deep into the soul of what this tech really means for us. Felt like it was written to impress a boardroom, not spark a real conversation.
February 24, 2022
A book that rides more on the coattails of its accomplished writers, rather than on its substantive and novel* input on the subject.
In the last few years, the social impact of A.I has naturally been somewhat of a hot topic. And I think rightfully so. These books all speak about the inevitable seismic changes in social organization, politics, war, and nearly every facet of human existence that may shift in response to computers that can learn.
Some of these books fixate on doomsday forecasts, some on utopias, and others somewhat in the middle. This book was something of the lattermost category.
While the questions regarding the future of humanity are indeed thought-provoking, intriguing, and important, this book - in my view- fails to advance the discussion beyond the normal thoughts of this speculative, but important genre of sociological futurism.
3 stars, as it honestly is not a bad starting point for the subject, has a fairly clean organization, and is fairly well written.
*(pun?)
In the last few years, the social impact of A.I has naturally been somewhat of a hot topic. And I think rightfully so. These books all speak about the inevitable seismic changes in social organization, politics, war, and nearly every facet of human existence that may shift in response to computers that can learn.
Some of these books fixate on doomsday forecasts, some on utopias, and others somewhat in the middle. This book was something of the lattermost category.
While the questions regarding the future of humanity are indeed thought-provoking, intriguing, and important, this book - in my view- fails to advance the discussion beyond the normal thoughts of this speculative, but important genre of sociological futurism.
3 stars, as it honestly is not a bad starting point for the subject, has a fairly clean organization, and is fairly well written.
*(pun?)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 677 reviews