The Second Intelligent Species: How Humans Will Become as Irrelevant as Cockroaches

by Marshall Brain

Right now, as far as we can tell, there is exactly one intelligent species in the universe and it is human beings. We currently see no evidence of any kind indicating that extraterrestrials exist outside of our solar system. But at this moment, millions of engineers, scientists, corporations, universities and entrepreneurs are racing to create the second intelligent species right here on planet earth. And we can see the second intelligent species coming from all directions in the form of self-driving cars, automated call centers, chess-playing and Jeopardy-playing computers that beat all human players, airport kiosks, restaurant tablet systems, etc.The frightening thing is that these robots will soon be eliminating human jobs in startling numbers. The first wave of unemployed workers is likely to be a million truck drivers who are replaced by self-driving trucks. Pilots will be eliminated soon as well. Then, as new computer vision systems come online, we will see tens of millions of workers in retail stores, fast food restaurants and construction sites replaced by robots. Unless we take steps now to change the economy, we will soon have tens of millions of workers who are unemployed and seeking welfare because they will have no other choice. Marshall Brain's new book "The Second Intelligent How Humans Will Become as Irrelevant as Cockroaches" explores how the future will unfold as the second intelligent species emerges. The book answers questions How will new computer vision systems affect the job market?- How many people will become unemployed by the second intelligent species?- What will happen to millions of newly unemployed workers?- How can modern society and modern economies cope with run-away unemployment caused by robots?- What will happen when the first sentient, conscious computer appears?- What moral and ethical principles will guide the second intelligent species? - Why do we see no extraterrestrials in our universe?"The Second Intelligent Species" offers a unique and fascinating look at the future of the human race, and the choices we will need to make to avoid massive unemployment and poverty worldwide as intelligent machines start eliminating millions of jobs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Artificial Intelligence

205 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2015

About the author

Marshall David Brain II was an enthusiastic American author, public speaker, futurist, entrepreneur, and professor, who specialized in making complex topics easier to understand for the general public. Brain was the founder of HowStuffWorks.com and the author of the How Stuff Works book series. He hosted the National Geographic channel's Factory Floor with Marshall Brain and Who Knew? With Marshall Brain.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously not the best written book on the topic, but it is a clear message that many people are ignoring. The ideas expressed here should be more popular because AI is coming as long as we don't find a way to cause a mass human extinction first.

[Tamas Kalman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short and brilliant book that summarizes and explains, in easy terms, basically everything that really matters in the coming decades.

[Neil Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice short book about the coming artificial intelligence revolution and how we better get our shit together/treat each other with some kindness before the AI gets here. I especially like the parts about Basic income and wealth inequality. On the down side, the author makes several repetitive assumptions about what will definitely happen in the future, but hey... anything about the future is by nature speculation anyway, so I let it slide in my judgement of the book- a minor annoyance. Over all important topic and Marshall Brain has been for some time one of the more sane and humane speakers on the topic of Universal Basic income. In a way I feel this can also be loosely described as the 'non-fiction' version or companion to his other book "Manna".

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superficial. A decade after Manna, I was expecting more in 2015 than repeating much of Kurzweil’s “Singularity is near” (without even citing that 2005 book), and Manna itself.

[Amy Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do agree with several other reviewers that this book is written in a rather simplistic, question-and-answer fashion. It reads more like a lecture than a book, and cites Wikipedia frequently as a source (not a good sign). However, I do support Brain's central thesis: robots will perform most or all labor-intensive tasks in the near future, leading to massive human unemployment. I like his premise of guaranteeing every human being a Basic Income once robots replace humans in retail, truck driving, fast food, service jobs, etc. and in limiting the strangulating concentration of wealth. However, Brain's theory that a super-intelligence will arrive at morality through logic alone seems a bit implausible to me. Humans have used skewed logic to justify abhorrent practices like totalitarianism and genocide throughout their history. Will robots, lacking emotions, be able to overcome our record? Or, lacking emotions, will they simply slaughter us all? In any case, this short book is a quick, interesting read which can serve as a very basic intro to robotics.

[Mark Murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed with this book. I was expecting more from this author. It is really two books the first masquerades as a scientific cover for a second Utopian work of fiction. In the first book the author is much impressed with Moore's law as if it is as dependable as gravity and will go on and on without end. Never a mention of diminishing returns or the speed of light. Second he states that machine consciousness is an inevitable fact. Never once acknowledging that we don't even understand it in ourselves let alone in machines. Much of the work in the study of consciousness in the last fifty years has been to prove that it does not exist at all. But for this author machine consciousness is an inevitable fact. The second book in this package is titled 'Manna' it is the authors vision for a Utopian future with little regard for reality.
That all said the author does bring up a few good points regarding the disruption and unemployment of our increasing use of robots but he does not develop them very far.

[James Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a curious mix of poor and great ideas.
The first part is more analytical and has a lot of unsubstantiated statements that had me close to quit reading the book, especially when it uses economic arguments.
The second part is the booklet Manna that describes both a technological dystopia and utopia based on the same fundamental AI and robotics innovations, but differing social arrangements. It has some very interesting and original ideas.

Thus the mixed review.

[Luca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite I believe the basics of his future predictions will really materialize I found it too speedballing thorough conclusions that cannot be taken for granted the way he does.
He has surpassed the boundary to mysticism and not in a very fashionable way.

[Robert Petkovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Star Trek fan’s wet dream

The book nicely describes what actually might happen to mankind in a few decades time, once artificial intelligence becomes more intelligent than us humans. Many ideas lack psychological reality and are too rational. For example basic income is a great idea, yet pandemic showed that if we pump some extra money into the economy, greedy people will not use it for the welfare of all, but to raise the prices, create inflation thus making the poor even poorer.
Anyone involved in the technology or artificial intelligence should read this book, followed by his novel Manna, to understand where the development of technology and (artificial) intelligence might lead us to.
P. S. This Kindle book also includes the novel Manna, so you don’t need to purchase it separately.

[Barry Power · Rating 4 out of 5]

The late Marshall, moves between idealistic, and fantastical, to the naive, and absurd. Yes, it would be great if the whole planet just got a long for the betterment of mankind, but it won't happen. Asking the wealthy and those in power to take home less money, so everyone can have a nice life? Basic income for everyone? The rich won't give up what they have, or restructure the economy to support it. Basic Universal Income sounds good, but as someone living in a welfare state I can say that more than a few take advantage of the system, push out children knowing they will be given more money without question, with no intention of ever working. A lot of the same people are generally likely to have a propensity towards crime, and effect the tax payer.

The reality is that as humans we would all, collectively, have to change our views, and be willing to work towards the greater good. It's a nice thought, but it won't ever happen.

[Bemmu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine a book on AI, but instead of saying "AI", you say "the second intelligent species" each time. Makes some superficially plausible suggestions on how to organize the world after work is free, but somehow failed to convince me on a gut level. This book was released well before the current AI boom, so at least it was original thinking for its time.

[Medhat ullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

an excelente manifiesto on MAD

[Steven Cooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book and its companion novella “Manna” are at least well-written. Despite the author’s successes with “How Things Work” and National Geographic’s “The Factory Floor”, he has run off the rails of rationality and objectivity with these books.

It is difficult to tell which one is the “science fiction” parable and which is a non-fiction prognostication. Of course, “future predictions” are properly fiction in all cases, regardless of the purported historic data. In this case, Mr. Brain fails as a liaison between technological development and “layman’s” understanding. The book makes unfounded and extreme claims about future events along with a very obvious bias and agenda unrelated to the title subject.

Unfortunately, the inappropriate mix of poorly-understood technology, bad statistics and propaganda make both the non-fiction and the fiction much less interesting and engaging. The alarmist tone and pedantic prose in many parts detract considerably from an otherwise interesting premise.

There are many other more balanced and relevant articles and books available on the subject, and certainly much better science fiction treatments of both the dystopian and utopian possible visions of the future.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The limitations of logic are the quality of the premise set.

We cannot know/understand the premise set of AI, particularly nearly omniscient AI.

Can't argue against the implications of evert increasing, and even more so ever increasing rate of increase in productivity...