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Mindless: The Human Condition in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
This sweeping history of humanity’s relationship with machines illuminates how we got here and what happens next, with AI, climate change, and beyond.Faith in technological fixes for our problems is waning. Automation, which promised relief from toil, has reactivated the long-standing fear of job redundancy. Information technology, meant to liberate us from traditional authority, is placing unprecedented powers of surveillance and control in the hands of a purely secular Big Brother. And for the first time, artificial intelligence threatens anthropogenic disaster—disaster caused by our own activities. Scientists join imaginative writers in warning us of the fate of Icarus, whose wings melted because he flew too close to the sun. This book tells the story of our fractured relationship with machines from humanity’s first tools down to the present and into the future. It raises the crucial question of why some parts of the world developed a “machine civilization” and not others, and traces the interactions between capitalism and technology, and between science and religion, in the making of the modern world. Taking in the peaks of philosophy and triumphs of science, the foundation of economics and speculations of fiction, Robert Skidelsky embarks on a bold intellectual journey through the evolution of our understanding of technology and what this means for our lives and politics.
- GenresNonfictionTechnology
384 pages, Hardcover
Published October 8, 2024
15 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
Robert Skidelsky
68 books134 followersLord Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick. His three volume biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes (1983, 1992, 2000) received numerous prizes, including the Lionel Gelber Prize for International Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations Prize for International Relations. He is the author of the The World After Communism (1995) (American edition called The Road from Serfdom). He was made a life peer in 1991, and was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1994. He is chairman of the Govenors of Brighton College
Robert Skidelsky was born on 25 April 1939 in Harbin, Manchuria. His parents were British subjects, but of Russian ancestry. His father worked for the family firm, L. S. Skidelsky, which leased the Mulin coalmine from the Chinese government. When war broke out between Britain and Japan in December 1941, he and his parents were interned first in Manchuria then Japan, but released in exchange for Japanese internees in England.
From 1953 to 1958, he was a boarder at Brighton College (of which he is now chairman of the board of governors). He went on to read history at Jesus College, Oxford, and from 1961 to 1969, he was successively research student, senior student, and research fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. In 1967, he published his first book, Politicians and the Slump, Labour Government of 1929-31, based on his D.Phil dissertation. The book explores the ways in which British politicians handled the Great Depression.
During a two year research fellowship at the British Academy, he began work in his biography of Sir Oswald Mosley (published in 1975) and published English Progressive Schools (1969). In 1970, he became an Associate Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies, John Hopkins University. But the controversy surrounding the publication of his biography of Sir Oswald Mosley - in which he was felt to have let Mosley off too lightly - led John Hopkins University to refuse him tenure. Oxford University also proved unwilling to give him a permanent post.
In 1978, he was appointed Professor of International Studies at the University of Warwick, where he has since remained, though joining the Economics Department as Professor Political Economy in 1990. He is currently Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.
The first volume of his biography of John Maynard Keynes, Hopes Betrayed, 1883-1920, was published in 1983. The second volume, The Economist as Saviour, 1920-1937 (1992) won the Wolfson Prize for History. The third volume, Fighting for Britain, 1937-1946 (2000) won the Duff Cooper Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography, the Lionel Gelber Prize for International Relations and the Arthur Ross Council on Foreign Relations Prize for International Relations.
Since 2003, he has been a non-executive director of the mutual fund manager, Janus Capital and Rusnano Capital; from 2008-10 he sat on the board of Sistema JSC. He is a director of the Moscow School of Political Studies and was the founder and executive secretary of the UK/Russia Round Table. Since 2002, he has been chairman of the Centre for Global Studies. In 2010, he joined the Advisory Board of the Institute of New Economic Thinking.
He writes a monthly column for Project Syndicate, "Against the Current", which is syndicated in newspapers all over the world. His account of the current economic crisis, Keynes: The Return of the Master, was published by Penguin Allen Lane in September 2009. A short history of twentieth-century Britain was published by Random House in the volume A World by Itself: A History of the British Isles edited by Jonathan Clark in January 2010. He is now in the process of writing How Much is Enough? The Economics of the Good Life jointly with his son Edward Skidelsky.
Robert Skidelsky was born on 25 April 1939 in Harbin, Manchuria. His parents were British subjects, but of Russian ancestry. His father worked for the family firm, L. S. Skidelsky, which leased the Mulin coalmine from the Chinese government. When war broke out between Britain and Japan in December 1941, he and his parents were interned first in Manchuria then Japan, but released in exchange for Japanese internees in England.
From 1953 to 1958, he was a boarder at Brighton College (of which he is now chairman of the board of governors). He went on to read history at Jesus College, Oxford, and from 1961 to 1969, he was successively research student, senior student, and research fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. In 1967, he published his first book, Politicians and the Slump, Labour Government of 1929-31, based on his D.Phil dissertation. The book explores the ways in which British politicians handled the Great Depression.
During a two year research fellowship at the British Academy, he began work in his biography of Sir Oswald Mosley (published in 1975) and published English Progressive Schools (1969). In 1970, he became an Associate Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies, John Hopkins University. But the controversy surrounding the publication of his biography of Sir Oswald Mosley - in which he was felt to have let Mosley off too lightly - led John Hopkins University to refuse him tenure. Oxford University also proved unwilling to give him a permanent post.
In 1978, he was appointed Professor of International Studies at the University of Warwick, where he has since remained, though joining the Economics Department as Professor Political Economy in 1990. He is currently Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University.
The first volume of his biography of John Maynard Keynes, Hopes Betrayed, 1883-1920, was published in 1983. The second volume, The Economist as Saviour, 1920-1937 (1992) won the Wolfson Prize for History. The third volume, Fighting for Britain, 1937-1946 (2000) won the Duff Cooper Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography, the Lionel Gelber Prize for International Relations and the Arthur Ross Council on Foreign Relations Prize for International Relations.
Since 2003, he has been a non-executive director of the mutual fund manager, Janus Capital and Rusnano Capital; from 2008-10 he sat on the board of Sistema JSC. He is a director of the Moscow School of Political Studies and was the founder and executive secretary of the UK/Russia Round Table. Since 2002, he has been chairman of the Centre for Global Studies. In 2010, he joined the Advisory Board of the Institute of New Economic Thinking.
He writes a monthly column for Project Syndicate, "Against the Current", which is syndicated in newspapers all over the world. His account of the current economic crisis, Keynes: The Return of the Master, was published by Penguin Allen Lane in September 2009. A short history of twentieth-century Britain was published by Random House in the volume A World by Itself: A History of the British Isles edited by Jonathan Clark in January 2010. He is now in the process of writing How Much is Enough? The Economics of the Good Life jointly with his son Edward Skidelsky.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2025
Review in exchange for an Advance Readers' Copy. This is the book that brought my reviews last year to a standstill. It's both long and dense. I have underlined dozens of pages none of which I will get to quoting here. If I had more philosophical friends, I'd give it to them, so we could discuss these issues because Skidelsky does an excellent job of pulling everything together, but I am getting ahead of myself. One thing to note is that Skidelsky is a Keynesian with several publications on economic theory.
The book opens with a discussion of Thomas Carlyle's framework of a machine civilization and its four elements: mechanical philosophy (the world as machine), practical or industrial arts (useful goods), division of labor (specialization), and impersonal bureaucracy. "He constrasted often inhumane conditions of pre-industrial life with the inhuman sovreignty of impersonal rules. I try to show how this disharmony between being human and humanity explains the torment of modernity. I also claim that this is a uniquely western disharmony, exported to the non-European world by western science and western guns." (page ii)
This thesis is followed by the first part of the book on the mechanization of work. Skidelsky really shines in this section. The first thing I underlined here was an enlightening insight on feudalism. "Serfdom had a specific economic taproot in the inadequate reproduction of Roman slave populations, and the decay of the money economy of the empire. [...] Serfdom can be seen as an 'efficient' economic response to the situation. Shortage of manpower was met by paying for labor services by grants of land rather than cash or produce." (page 60) He continues through the rise of capitalism with jaunts on why this happened in western nations and not eastern ones and what the value of work actually is. The latter is especially interesting because, in theory, "...machines increase the choice people have between work and leisure." (page 105) But at what cost? "If humans can be got to behave like robots for 90 percent of their time, we might get rid of the remaining 10 percent either by equipping robots with emotional and ethical intelligence, which eliminates the need for humans altogether, or by extinguishing the humanness of humans, which...is such an obstacle to their efficient deployment." (page 118)
The second section focuses on the eternal quest for perfection. It was all easy to follow, but not much really stood out to me. The only section I underlined had to do with Heidegger and how his emphasis on simplicity and mindfulness could but not does necessarily entail a fascist interpretation. "The problem of technics...is that machines were directing humans toward a future which they had not chosen and was in many ways anthetical to their humanness; and that this gave rise to psychological and social strains from which war might offer a release. The real issue must be whether machines increase the freedom of users to choose their own plans in life, or whether they trap their users into systems imposed on them. In short, the divide is between those who see machines as enlarging the power to do and those who believe they increase their power over what is done. This is the divide between utopia and dystopia. (page 183)
Skidelsky's arguments solidify in the final section, towards apocalypse. As the title indicates, the author is not feeling particularly positive about the A.I. future. After a brief history of computers and artificial intelligence, Skidelsky starts digging into the philosophical meat of the work: can A.I. be ethical? "If we are to outsource more and more of the tasks of life to ever more efficient machines, it is important to make sure that their preferences are consistent with those of humans. But the only way this can be assured is by reserving moral choices exclusively for humans." (page 227) He also continues his arguments against mechanization "...it is the reduction of humanness to the point of being controllable by automatic machinery that is the dominant tendency of information technology." (page 238) Like many of his arguments in this section, this isn't entirely true. I appreciated the introduction to Shoshana Zuboff's concepts of survelliance capitalism and the behavioral futures market though. Unfortunately, Skidelsky follows it with lamentations about there being no controls over what people are entitled to believe (page 246), the "psychological and political consequences of creating a partly redundant working-age population" (page 253), and the fact that "There is no world government to steer humanity to a safe shore." (page 257) Definitely a Keynesian!
Skidelsky then notes, "...transhumanists cannot escape the dilemma that there is no possibility in a world of value relativism, of binding super intelligence to an agreed morality." (page 262) Instead, the best we may be able to do is ameliorate the concept of untrammelled utilitarianism "...insofar as it tempts us to override the common decencies of life in the name of an abstract future good. [...] The idea of concentrating funds and research efforts to maximize the unactualized possibility of intelligence throughout eternity is an extreme (insane) form of the disregard of the present." (page 262) Of course, that is exactly what many transhumanists hope to achieve whereas others, like myself, embrace archaic economics (hard currency) for creative deviance at the cost of mediated convenience. (page 263)
Skidelsky then concludes by summarizing his arguments and hoping that we are not due for one of Hirschman's optimal crises "...a crisis deep enough to provoke a radical change of awareness, but not so deep that it wipes out the human species." (page 271) Yes, that is how history has forced us to evolve, but it would be nice if we could think through our actions instead.
This review took me a few hours to write, so if you like philosophy and A.I. ethics, read this in-depth book. If nothing else, the first section will teach you loads about Keynes.
The book opens with a discussion of Thomas Carlyle's framework of a machine civilization and its four elements: mechanical philosophy (the world as machine), practical or industrial arts (useful goods), division of labor (specialization), and impersonal bureaucracy. "He constrasted often inhumane conditions of pre-industrial life with the inhuman sovreignty of impersonal rules. I try to show how this disharmony between being human and humanity explains the torment of modernity. I also claim that this is a uniquely western disharmony, exported to the non-European world by western science and western guns." (page ii)
This thesis is followed by the first part of the book on the mechanization of work. Skidelsky really shines in this section. The first thing I underlined here was an enlightening insight on feudalism. "Serfdom had a specific economic taproot in the inadequate reproduction of Roman slave populations, and the decay of the money economy of the empire. [...] Serfdom can be seen as an 'efficient' economic response to the situation. Shortage of manpower was met by paying for labor services by grants of land rather than cash or produce." (page 60) He continues through the rise of capitalism with jaunts on why this happened in western nations and not eastern ones and what the value of work actually is. The latter is especially interesting because, in theory, "...machines increase the choice people have between work and leisure." (page 105) But at what cost? "If humans can be got to behave like robots for 90 percent of their time, we might get rid of the remaining 10 percent either by equipping robots with emotional and ethical intelligence, which eliminates the need for humans altogether, or by extinguishing the humanness of humans, which...is such an obstacle to their efficient deployment." (page 118)
The second section focuses on the eternal quest for perfection. It was all easy to follow, but not much really stood out to me. The only section I underlined had to do with Heidegger and how his emphasis on simplicity and mindfulness could but not does necessarily entail a fascist interpretation. "The problem of technics...is that machines were directing humans toward a future which they had not chosen and was in many ways anthetical to their humanness; and that this gave rise to psychological and social strains from which war might offer a release. The real issue must be whether machines increase the freedom of users to choose their own plans in life, or whether they trap their users into systems imposed on them. In short, the divide is between those who see machines as enlarging the power to do and those who believe they increase their power over what is done. This is the divide between utopia and dystopia. (page 183)
Skidelsky's arguments solidify in the final section, towards apocalypse. As the title indicates, the author is not feeling particularly positive about the A.I. future. After a brief history of computers and artificial intelligence, Skidelsky starts digging into the philosophical meat of the work: can A.I. be ethical? "If we are to outsource more and more of the tasks of life to ever more efficient machines, it is important to make sure that their preferences are consistent with those of humans. But the only way this can be assured is by reserving moral choices exclusively for humans." (page 227) He also continues his arguments against mechanization "...it is the reduction of humanness to the point of being controllable by automatic machinery that is the dominant tendency of information technology." (page 238) Like many of his arguments in this section, this isn't entirely true. I appreciated the introduction to Shoshana Zuboff's concepts of survelliance capitalism and the behavioral futures market though. Unfortunately, Skidelsky follows it with lamentations about there being no controls over what people are entitled to believe (page 246), the "psychological and political consequences of creating a partly redundant working-age population" (page 253), and the fact that "There is no world government to steer humanity to a safe shore." (page 257) Definitely a Keynesian!
Skidelsky then notes, "...transhumanists cannot escape the dilemma that there is no possibility in a world of value relativism, of binding super intelligence to an agreed morality." (page 262) Instead, the best we may be able to do is ameliorate the concept of untrammelled utilitarianism "...insofar as it tempts us to override the common decencies of life in the name of an abstract future good. [...] The idea of concentrating funds and research efforts to maximize the unactualized possibility of intelligence throughout eternity is an extreme (insane) form of the disregard of the present." (page 262) Of course, that is exactly what many transhumanists hope to achieve whereas others, like myself, embrace archaic economics (hard currency) for creative deviance at the cost of mediated convenience. (page 263)
Skidelsky then concludes by summarizing his arguments and hoping that we are not due for one of Hirschman's optimal crises "...a crisis deep enough to provoke a radical change of awareness, but not so deep that it wipes out the human species." (page 271) Yes, that is how history has forced us to evolve, but it would be nice if we could think through our actions instead.
This review took me a few hours to write, so if you like philosophy and A.I. ethics, read this in-depth book. If nothing else, the first section will teach you loads about Keynes.
January 30, 2025
This is a very quick review of this significant book. Skidelsky is a seasoned political economist, and Mindless is a brilliant work, highly accessible to the lay person, and an important read, certainly, for anyone working in AI, and really for anyone who cares to understand how we have come to this point in technology and society. In Mindless Skidelsky weaves together a history of mostly Western philosophy and of the changes technological advancements have made to forms of human economic and social arrangements - to work and to the rise and changes in economies. From the doomed uprising of the Luddites - to almost predicting the 2025 US Presidential inauguration - where the celebrated leaders standing behind the president were the billionaire owners of today’s high tech companies.
Largely focused on what Artificial Intelligence means for the future of humans, Skidelsky delves into the development of computers: from the first humble and yet revolutionary mathematics behind the abacus; to Ford’s introduction of mechanized tools that changed the economy and means of production; to today’s AI that potentially redefines and transcends what we have previously considered “human”.
The book then takes on surprising turn into a survey of literature of utopias and dystopias. His point, I suppose, is that we do not know how this will end, and as he describes, a number of technological advancements that we now take for granted were first imagined in literature - and to the imagination. I found myself haunted by the idea of the Luddites - where do we stand on how far technology will go? Will we try gain more human and less profit-focused direction for AI development (i.e. will government regulate AI). Or have we now, as the Luddites were then, already past the point where what we think matters.
Largely focused on what Artificial Intelligence means for the future of humans, Skidelsky delves into the development of computers: from the first humble and yet revolutionary mathematics behind the abacus; to Ford’s introduction of mechanized tools that changed the economy and means of production; to today’s AI that potentially redefines and transcends what we have previously considered “human”.
The book then takes on surprising turn into a survey of literature of utopias and dystopias. His point, I suppose, is that we do not know how this will end, and as he describes, a number of technological advancements that we now take for granted were first imagined in literature - and to the imagination. I found myself haunted by the idea of the Luddites - where do we stand on how far technology will go? Will we try gain more human and less profit-focused direction for AI development (i.e. will government regulate AI). Or have we now, as the Luddites were then, already past the point where what we think matters.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews