Artificial Intelligence and Human Enhancement: Affirmative and Critical Approaches in the Humanities

by Herta Nagl-Docekal (editor), Waldemar Zacharasiewicz (Editor)

The technological innovations that have made "learning" computers possible are being met with utopian hopes as well as apocalyptic apprehensions. Will AI research eventually lead to software systems that have consciousness and are capable of autonomous decision making? The essays challenge "strong AI" from the perspective of human agency and moral judgment, explain the categorical difference between vulnerable humans and AI devices, and discuss diverse forms of applied AI, such as prograns of natural language processing, computional creativity, neuroenhancement, and the use of AI in international healthcare. These theoretical issues are illustrated in essays that focus on the encounter with artificial beings in film, literature and theater. Examining science fiction that blurs the borderline between humans and deep-learning androids, the essays explore, and challenge, ways of questioning human exceptionalism, for instance by visualizing non-conscious cognition and sentience. The book suggests a sober distinction between well-argued achievements of digital technology and excessive, unfounded expectations.

335 pages, Paperback

Published October 24, 2023

About the author

Herta Nagl-Docekal (born May 29, 1944 in Wels , Upper Austria ) is an Austrian university professor i. R. at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Vienna , Real Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences , Full Member of the Institute International de Philosophy , Paris and Vice President of the FISP ( Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie ).

Reviews

[Gerhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this for Regina Schober's fantastic 'Passing the Turing Test? AI Generated Poetry and Posthuman Creativity'. A really great overview of AI in popular culture, sociology, and science.