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Possible Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI
Science world luminary John Brockman assembles twenty-five of the most important scientific minds, people who have been thinking about the field artificial intelligence for most of their careers, for an unparalleled round-table examination about mind, thinking, intelligence and what it means to be human.
"Artificial intelligence is today's story--the story behind all other stories. It is the Second Coming and the Apocalypse at the same time: Good AI versus evil AI." --John Brockman
More than sixty years ago, mathematician-philosopher Norbert Wiener published a book on the place of machines in society that ended with a warning: "we shall never receive the right answers to our questions unless we ask the right questions.... The hour is very late, and the choice of good and evil knocks at our door."
In the wake of advances in unsupervised, self-improving machine learning, a small but influential community of thinkers is considering Wiener's words again. In Possible Minds, John Brockman gathers their disparate visions of where AI might be taking us.
The fruit of the long history of Brockman's profound engagement with the most important scientific minds who have been thinking about AI--from Alison Gopnik and David Deutsch to Frank Wilczek and Stephen Wolfram--Possible Minds is an ideal introduction to the landscape of crucial issues AI presents. The collision between opposing perspectives is salutary and exhilarating; some of these figures, such as computer scientist Stuart Russell, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, and physicist Max Tegmark, are deeply concerned with the threat of AI, including the existential one, while others, notably robotics entrepreneur Rodney Brooks, philosopher Daniel Dennett, and bestselling author Steven Pinker, have a very different view. Serious, searching and authoritative, Possible Minds lays out the intellectual landscape of one of the most important topics of our time.
"Artificial intelligence is today's story--the story behind all other stories. It is the Second Coming and the Apocalypse at the same time: Good AI versus evil AI." --John Brockman
More than sixty years ago, mathematician-philosopher Norbert Wiener published a book on the place of machines in society that ended with a warning: "we shall never receive the right answers to our questions unless we ask the right questions.... The hour is very late, and the choice of good and evil knocks at our door."
In the wake of advances in unsupervised, self-improving machine learning, a small but influential community of thinkers is considering Wiener's words again. In Possible Minds, John Brockman gathers their disparate visions of where AI might be taking us.
The fruit of the long history of Brockman's profound engagement with the most important scientific minds who have been thinking about AI--from Alison Gopnik and David Deutsch to Frank Wilczek and Stephen Wolfram--Possible Minds is an ideal introduction to the landscape of crucial issues AI presents. The collision between opposing perspectives is salutary and exhilarating; some of these figures, such as computer scientist Stuart Russell, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, and physicist Max Tegmark, are deeply concerned with the threat of AI, including the existential one, while others, notably robotics entrepreneur Rodney Brooks, philosopher Daniel Dennett, and bestselling author Steven Pinker, have a very different view. Serious, searching and authoritative, Possible Minds lays out the intellectual landscape of one of the most important topics of our time.
320 pages, Paperback
First published February 19, 2019
454 people are currently reading
2805 people want to read
About the author
John Brockman
66 books613 followersJohn Brockman is an American literary agent and author specializing in scientific literature. He established the Edge Foundation, an organization that brings together leading edge thinkers across a broad range of scientific and technical fields.
He is author and editor of several books, including: The Third Culture (1995); The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2000 Years (2000); The Next Fifty Years (2002) and The New Humanists (2003).
He has the distinction of being the only person to have been profiled on Page One of the "Science Times" (1997) and the "Arts & Leisure" (1966), both supplements of The New York Times.
He is author and editor of several books, including: The Third Culture (1995); The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2000 Years (2000); The Next Fifty Years (2002) and The New Humanists (2003).
He has the distinction of being the only person to have been profiled on Page One of the "Science Times" (1997) and the "Arts & Leisure" (1966), both supplements of The New York Times.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews
October 25, 2022
Cele douazeci si cinci de eseuri acopera mare parte din temele inteligentei artificiale.
Mi-au placut in mod special eseurile lui Frank Wilczek si Max Tegmark. Am retinut ca:
"Dovezile din domeniile respective [psihologie, neurostiinte, biologie, fizica] fac foarte posibil faptul ca nu exista nicio impartire clara intre inteligenta naturala si cea artificiala. [...] Inteligenta naturala este un caz special de inteligenta artificiala." Frank Wilczek
"Din perspectiva mea de fizician inteligenta nu este decat un tip de prelucrare a informatiei realizat de particule elementare care se misca, si nu exista nicio lege a fizicii care sa spuna ca cineva nu poate construi masini mai inteligente decat noi." Max Tegmark
Mi-au placut in mod special eseurile lui Frank Wilczek si Max Tegmark. Am retinut ca:
"Dovezile din domeniile respective [psihologie, neurostiinte, biologie, fizica] fac foarte posibil faptul ca nu exista nicio impartire clara intre inteligenta naturala si cea artificiala. [...] Inteligenta naturala este un caz special de inteligenta artificiala." Frank Wilczek
"Din perspectiva mea de fizician inteligenta nu este decat un tip de prelucrare a informatiei realizat de particule elementare care se misca, si nu exista nicio lege a fizicii care sa spuna ca cineva nu poate construi masini mai inteligente decat noi." Max Tegmark
May 9, 2019
This book should have another title and I'm not sure exactly what that should be. Something like "The Norbert Wiener's Cybernetics Book Club" or "A bunch of smart people muse about something a mediocre book from 70 years ago might have gotten right about AI". This is not a book about people musing about "Way of Looking at AI". This is a book of essays by people reflecting on the works of Norbert Wiener who wrote Cybernetics in 1948, over 70 years before this book was published. Sure, some of what Norbert Wiener came up with may have been ahead of it's time, but it's hardly a compelling cornerstone for a book.
Essay after essay focuses on the musings of a man who postulated about the future of technology before we had anything resembling a modern computer and a lot of that came down to them basically saying he got a few things right and more things wrong. The best essays are those who deviated from the topic and gave their own thoughts. It was evident that, despite the marketing of this book, that John Brockman wanted people to read Norbert Wiener and discuss how relevant it was in these essays.
Some of the better essays were from authors who's takes on the issue I'd read before. Surely Max Tegmark has great things to say about AI, which is why I got so much out of his Life 3.0. Though I don't agree with what Steven Pinker says about AI, it was an interesting take ... when I read it in Enlightenment Now! Many other takes weren't all that compelling. I'm not sure how many time I can hear the same explanation of how Alpha Go learned to be good at Go, but it's probably 3 or 4 times more than the number in this book, which is close to the number of chapters in the book.
All said I did learn a bit from this book, though much less than from most non fiction, due to the repetition and covering of ideas I'd heard time and time again. One concept I will remember from the essay by Anca Dragan is that for a machine to be intelligent and interact with humans it must have a good model of a human's mind and intentions, and so it is unrealistic to have a superinteligent AI which is still so obtuse to misunderstand what we really want.
Don't bother with this one. Just read Max Tegmark's Life 3.0. If you have already read it then read it again or read some science fiction instead.
Essay after essay focuses on the musings of a man who postulated about the future of technology before we had anything resembling a modern computer and a lot of that came down to them basically saying he got a few things right and more things wrong. The best essays are those who deviated from the topic and gave their own thoughts. It was evident that, despite the marketing of this book, that John Brockman wanted people to read Norbert Wiener and discuss how relevant it was in these essays.
Some of the better essays were from authors who's takes on the issue I'd read before. Surely Max Tegmark has great things to say about AI, which is why I got so much out of his Life 3.0. Though I don't agree with what Steven Pinker says about AI, it was an interesting take ... when I read it in Enlightenment Now! Many other takes weren't all that compelling. I'm not sure how many time I can hear the same explanation of how Alpha Go learned to be good at Go, but it's probably 3 or 4 times more than the number in this book, which is close to the number of chapters in the book.
All said I did learn a bit from this book, though much less than from most non fiction, due to the repetition and covering of ideas I'd heard time and time again. One concept I will remember from the essay by Anca Dragan is that for a machine to be intelligent and interact with humans it must have a good model of a human's mind and intentions, and so it is unrealistic to have a superinteligent AI which is still so obtuse to misunderstand what we really want.
Don't bother with this one. Just read Max Tegmark's Life 3.0. If you have already read it then read it again or read some science fiction instead.
November 11, 2019
The last book I read by Brockman left me feeling quite inadequate. This one was far more understandable, although parts still sailed over my head. Still, it's more philosophy & history than technical. Brockman asked 25 of the best & brightest to consider The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society* & subsequent milestones to comment on Artificial Intelligence (AI). They're all working in or with the field today, so their essays range from art to AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), ethics, & various future scenarios.
I'll let the ToC speak for most of the book. Only one essayist mentioned Asimov & his laws - we've moved well beyond them for various reasons, including fear of speciesism. Seriously. Some find AI scary, others doubt very much that we need to worry, so there are quite a few different angles to this. Almost essays were intriguing. Definitely recommended.
INTRODUCTION: ON THE PROMISE AND PERIL OF AI
BY JOHN BROCKMAN
CHAPTER 1. Seth Lloyd: Wrong, but More Relevant Than Ever
It is exactly in the extension of the cybernetic idea to human beings that Wiener’s conceptions missed their target.
CHAPTER 2. Judea Pearl: The Limitations of Opaque Learning Machines
Deep learning has its own dynamics, it does its own repair and its own optimization, and it gives you the right results most of the time. But when it doesn’t, you don’t have a clue about what went wrong and what should be fixed.
CHAPTER 3. Stuart Russell: The Purpose Put into the Machine
We may face the prospect of superintelligent machines—their actions by definition unpredictable by us and their imperfectly specified objectives conflicting with our own—whose motivations to preserve their existence in order to achieve those objectives may be insuperable.
CHAPTER 4. George Dyson: The Third Law
Any system simple enough to be understandable will not be complicated enough to behave intelligently, while any system complicated enough to behave intelligently will be too complicated to understand.
CHAPTER 5. Daniel C. Dennett: What Can We Do?
We don’t need artificial conscious agents. We need intelligent tools.
CHAPTER 6. Rodney Brooks: The Inhuman Mess Our Machines Have Gotten Us Into
We are in a much more complex situation today than Wiener foresaw, and I am worried that it is much more pernicious than even his worst imagined fears.
CHAPTER 7. Frank Wilczek: The Unity of Intelligence
The advantages of artificial over natural intelligence appear permanent, while the advantages of natural over artificial intelligence, though substantial at present, appear transient.
CHAPTER 8. Max Tegmark: Let’s Aspire to More Than Making Ourselves Obsolete
We should analyze what could go wrong with AI to ensure that it goes right.
CHAPTER 9. Jaan Tallinn: Dissident Messages
Continued progress in AI can precipitate a change of cosmic proportions—a runaway process that will likely kill everyone.
CHAPTER 10. Steven Pinker: Tech Prophecy and the Underappreciated Causal Power of Ideas
There is no law of complex systems that says that intelligent agents must turn into ruthless megalomaniacs.
CHAPTER 11. David Deutsch: Beyond Reward and Punishment
Misconceptions about human thinking and human origins are causing corresponding misconceptions about AGI and how it might be created.
CHAPTER 12. Tom Griffiths: The Artificial Use of Human Beings
Automated intelligent systems that will make good inferences about what people want must have good generative models for human behavior.
CHAPTER 13. Anca Dragan: Putting the Human into the AI Equation
In the real world, an AI must interact with people and reason about them. “People” will have to formally enter the AI problem definition somewhere.
CHAPTER 14. Chris Anderson: Gradient Descent
Just because AI systems sometimes end up in local minima, don’t conclude that this makes them any less like life. Humans—indeed, probably all life-forms—are often stuck in local minima.
CHAPTER 15. David Kaiser: “Information” for Wiener, for Shannon, and for Us Many of the central arguments in The Human Use of Human Beings seem closer to the 19th century than the 21st. Wiener seems not to have fully embraced Shannon’s notion of information as consisting of irreducible, meaning-free bits.
CHAPTER 16. Neil Gershenfeld: Scaling
Although machine making and machine thinking might appear to be unrelated trends, they lie in each other’s futures.
CHAPTER 17. W. Daniel Hillis: The First Machine Intelligences
Hybrid superintelligences such as nation-states and corporations have their own emergent goals and their actions are not always aligned to the interests of the people who created them.
CHAPTER 18. Venki Ramakrishnan: Will Computers Become Our Overlords?
Our fears about AI reflect the belief that our intelligence is what makes us special.
CHAPTER 19. Alex “Sandy” Pentland: The Human Strategy
How can we make a good human-artificial ecosystem, something that’s not a machine society but a cyberculture in which we can all live as humans—a culture with a human feel to it?
CHAPTER 20. Hans Ulrich Obrist: Making the Invisible Visible:Art Meets AI
Many contemporary artists are articulating various doubts about the promises of AI and reminding us not to associate the term “artificial intelligence” solely with positive outcomes.
CHAPTER 21. Alison Gopnik: AIs Versus Four-Year-Olds
Looking at what children do may give programmers useful hints about directions for computer learning.
CHAPTER 22. Peter Galison: Algorists Dream of Objectivity
By now, the legal, ethical, formal, and economic dimensions of algorithms are all quasi-infinite.
CHAPTER 23. George M. Church: The Rights of Machines
Probably we should be less concerned about us-versus-them and more concerned about the rights of all sentients in the face of an emerging unprecedented diversity of minds.
CHAPTER 24. Caroline A. Jones: The Artistic Use of Cybernetic Beings
The work of cybernetically inclined artists concerns the emergent behaviors of life that elude AI in its current condition.
CHAPTER 25. Stephen Wolfram: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Civilization
The most dramatic discontinuity will surely be when we achieve effective human immortality. Whether this will be achieved biologically or digitally isn’t clear, but inevitably it will be achieved.
* It's not a bad idea to read the Wikipedia entry for this book here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum...
It's short & covers the basics. The 1954 revision of The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society is available for free in multiple formats on Archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/NorbertWi...
Note that the revision lacks the last chapter which was political in nature. It pointed out how democratic systems adopted totalitarian techniques to defend against such regimes, so the absence is lamentable & understandable given McCarthyism.
I'll let the ToC speak for most of the book. Only one essayist mentioned Asimov & his laws - we've moved well beyond them for various reasons, including fear of speciesism. Seriously. Some find AI scary, others doubt very much that we need to worry, so there are quite a few different angles to this. Almost essays were intriguing. Definitely recommended.
INTRODUCTION: ON THE PROMISE AND PERIL OF AI
BY JOHN BROCKMAN
CHAPTER 1. Seth Lloyd: Wrong, but More Relevant Than Ever
It is exactly in the extension of the cybernetic idea to human beings that Wiener’s conceptions missed their target.
CHAPTER 2. Judea Pearl: The Limitations of Opaque Learning Machines
Deep learning has its own dynamics, it does its own repair and its own optimization, and it gives you the right results most of the time. But when it doesn’t, you don’t have a clue about what went wrong and what should be fixed.
CHAPTER 3. Stuart Russell: The Purpose Put into the Machine
We may face the prospect of superintelligent machines—their actions by definition unpredictable by us and their imperfectly specified objectives conflicting with our own—whose motivations to preserve their existence in order to achieve those objectives may be insuperable.
CHAPTER 4. George Dyson: The Third Law
Any system simple enough to be understandable will not be complicated enough to behave intelligently, while any system complicated enough to behave intelligently will be too complicated to understand.
CHAPTER 5. Daniel C. Dennett: What Can We Do?
We don’t need artificial conscious agents. We need intelligent tools.
CHAPTER 6. Rodney Brooks: The Inhuman Mess Our Machines Have Gotten Us Into
We are in a much more complex situation today than Wiener foresaw, and I am worried that it is much more pernicious than even his worst imagined fears.
CHAPTER 7. Frank Wilczek: The Unity of Intelligence
The advantages of artificial over natural intelligence appear permanent, while the advantages of natural over artificial intelligence, though substantial at present, appear transient.
CHAPTER 8. Max Tegmark: Let’s Aspire to More Than Making Ourselves Obsolete
We should analyze what could go wrong with AI to ensure that it goes right.
CHAPTER 9. Jaan Tallinn: Dissident Messages
Continued progress in AI can precipitate a change of cosmic proportions—a runaway process that will likely kill everyone.
CHAPTER 10. Steven Pinker: Tech Prophecy and the Underappreciated Causal Power of Ideas
There is no law of complex systems that says that intelligent agents must turn into ruthless megalomaniacs.
CHAPTER 11. David Deutsch: Beyond Reward and Punishment
Misconceptions about human thinking and human origins are causing corresponding misconceptions about AGI and how it might be created.
CHAPTER 12. Tom Griffiths: The Artificial Use of Human Beings
Automated intelligent systems that will make good inferences about what people want must have good generative models for human behavior.
CHAPTER 13. Anca Dragan: Putting the Human into the AI Equation
In the real world, an AI must interact with people and reason about them. “People” will have to formally enter the AI problem definition somewhere.
CHAPTER 14. Chris Anderson: Gradient Descent
Just because AI systems sometimes end up in local minima, don’t conclude that this makes them any less like life. Humans—indeed, probably all life-forms—are often stuck in local minima.
CHAPTER 15. David Kaiser: “Information” for Wiener, for Shannon, and for Us Many of the central arguments in The Human Use of Human Beings seem closer to the 19th century than the 21st. Wiener seems not to have fully embraced Shannon’s notion of information as consisting of irreducible, meaning-free bits.
CHAPTER 16. Neil Gershenfeld: Scaling
Although machine making and machine thinking might appear to be unrelated trends, they lie in each other’s futures.
CHAPTER 17. W. Daniel Hillis: The First Machine Intelligences
Hybrid superintelligences such as nation-states and corporations have their own emergent goals and their actions are not always aligned to the interests of the people who created them.
CHAPTER 18. Venki Ramakrishnan: Will Computers Become Our Overlords?
Our fears about AI reflect the belief that our intelligence is what makes us special.
CHAPTER 19. Alex “Sandy” Pentland: The Human Strategy
How can we make a good human-artificial ecosystem, something that’s not a machine society but a cyberculture in which we can all live as humans—a culture with a human feel to it?
CHAPTER 20. Hans Ulrich Obrist: Making the Invisible Visible:Art Meets AI
Many contemporary artists are articulating various doubts about the promises of AI and reminding us not to associate the term “artificial intelligence” solely with positive outcomes.
CHAPTER 21. Alison Gopnik: AIs Versus Four-Year-Olds
Looking at what children do may give programmers useful hints about directions for computer learning.
CHAPTER 22. Peter Galison: Algorists Dream of Objectivity
By now, the legal, ethical, formal, and economic dimensions of algorithms are all quasi-infinite.
CHAPTER 23. George M. Church: The Rights of Machines
Probably we should be less concerned about us-versus-them and more concerned about the rights of all sentients in the face of an emerging unprecedented diversity of minds.
CHAPTER 24. Caroline A. Jones: The Artistic Use of Cybernetic Beings
The work of cybernetically inclined artists concerns the emergent behaviors of life that elude AI in its current condition.
CHAPTER 25. Stephen Wolfram: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Civilization
The most dramatic discontinuity will surely be when we achieve effective human immortality. Whether this will be achieved biologically or digitally isn’t clear, but inevitably it will be achieved.
* It's not a bad idea to read the Wikipedia entry for this book here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum...
It's short & covers the basics. The 1954 revision of The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society is available for free in multiple formats on Archive.org.
https://archive.org/details/NorbertWi...
Note that the revision lacks the last chapter which was political in nature. It pointed out how democratic systems adopted totalitarian techniques to defend against such regimes, so the absence is lamentable & understandable given McCarthyism.
September 23, 2022
This book definitely needs a second reading.
June 2, 2019
A lot is going on in Possible Minds. John Brockman has pulled together twenty-five best minds on the subject. These luminaries have thought deep and hard on the subject for decades, have done their in-depth studies, written books, and honed views further after fielding a good deal of feedback. Their articles in this journal result from all these apart from their superior ability to think. All individual contributions are brief, providing only summaries of views. These summaries would leave one frustrated yearning for more at the end of each chapter, but it also makes one think to fill in the gaps.
That almost no two thinkers of the book think much alike is the best facet of the book. Some may be confused by the plethora of views present, but the key takeaways should be in the knowledge these authors impart apart from their opinions based on their unique vantage points. Everyone will have their favourites and the opposite, but rather than providing a list of my likes and dislikes (BTW, I thought the Wolfram section was the best), let me summarise my thinking as the twenty-sixth view! My notes below are only partly based on what I learned from some contributions. For most parts, they represent my views on AI/AGI as of today.
Nobody knows
It has been proven nigh impossible to predict where the scientific progress or humanity was headed even when developments - of any sort - were stable. The exercise is more futile now given the pace of change with new technologies. With rising complexities rise the future potentialities. Almost anything, everything, and nothing predicted and predicated is possible sometime or the other in the next century. The wide variety of views present in the book have the brightest minds talking past each other partly because the history and experience they cite are useless in providing projections of what could lay ahead. Differing meanings of the terms used as explained in a couple of sections below also contribute to the extent of disagreements, as is commonplace amongst philosophers of any ilk for millennia.
Machines will surpass humanity
Most of the contributors seem to agree that there will be hardly any human skills and faculties where our technology creations will remain inferior forever. None of the contributors resorts to discussions on the soul or divine entity to justify our perpetual supremacy. Our ability to sense causality, impute a purpose and our apparent consciousness are seen by a handful that will keep humanity ahead, but none of these commentators expects any humanity trait supremacy to last forever. Let’s use a bad analogy: if our natural procreation, our children, grow up to develop own purpose, outgrow their parents in many skills and at times develop the willingness to act against their creators, will machines surely never go along that path? The point behind this lousy analogy is that our silicon creations will grow exponentially forever for decades and centuries if not millennia to come. A few years ago, the pessimists used to cite their inability to recognize a cat or a face through optical sensors as one reason humans would remain superior for a long time. Machines have surpassed humans on sound and face recognition in few short years. They may walk or run better than us next even if Robots’ plodding appear clunky and laughable today, for instance. And, machines as a unit may also learn to ascribe purposes too or exhibit complexities that make our consciousness look like that of a cardboard box in a few decades. It is difficult to pick a set of human aspects that will remain superior for the next hundred years.
Subpoint: Machines will have its own goals and purposes
It is likely that consciousness is nothing but an emergent quality from many neurons interacting with each other just the way fluidity is from water molecules or planetary forces are from rocks coming together. What we humans imply through words like beauty, art, goals, purpose are possible emergent qualities from the numerosity of the underlying components and their complex interactions or interrelations. If today’s machines can only code, crunch data or uncover hidden patterns but cannot define their own “ultimate” utility functions, the “ultimate” stage set by humans is being pushed back with the machines working out the rest on their own. It is not ridiculous to assume that what we deem as exotic human qualia - goals, consciousness, beauty, etc. - will also fall prey to the ever-growing machine abilities if they prove nothing but emergent qualities of complex computational techniques.
The pessimistic forecasts are far more compulsive reads
There is no reason AI/AGI/technology progress should make humanity useless, subservient, or extinct for centuries, even if it is a long-term inevitability. As we discuss above, no-one knows! That said, the cases of the optimists - i.e., those who mostly believe that the positives of technology boom would far outweigh any attendant harmful impacts - appear lame compared to the pessimists. Once again, the optimists do not have to be wrong, but the stage belongs to those with scary stories. In the 25 views, you read, the most frightening are by far the most compelling. The trend tells us about what gets our goat and stirs us to action. That said, the pessimists appear more right because almost all optimists’ cases base their case off the dire forecasts that did not prove right historically rather than paint any upcoming utopia they have in their mind. The optimists rest their case on grandmotherly adages like this time is not different while pessimists point to horses who thought they would continue to carry humans forever in transport based on a few thousand years’ history but became the showcase items.
Terms without precise meanings and predictions that are too static
With the band of new philosophers and heavy thinkers in this compendium, there are dozens of commonly used terms including AI, AGI, co-existence, etc. with no precise meanings or with multiple meanings. AI appears to be perpetually something that is a technology of tomorrow, never mind that what we have today would have likely surpassed any definition of most scientists’ AI a few decades ago. The way we use our smart devices, even a person in the late nineties would claim we already co-exist with our gadgets now. The field does not need its Wittgenstein to prove how these thinkers are talking different languages; the technology world is moving far too quickly for the best thinkers to take decades to agree on the underlying meaning of terms. Readers have to distil the views themselves, keeping in mind the plethora of different meanings and time-frames used by the writers while talking about the same subject.
Multiple dystopias
This reviewer can categorize the doomsdayers in at least three different buckets:
a. what will we do? If machines do everything better, will humans be next dogs, better sitting pretty at home than trying to work on anything? If that’s the case, how will the machines/rest of the working world bear the burden of a rising hoard of the unemployed? How will this unemployed lot live life or find purpose?
b. Will we have any free will? As machines understand us faster and better than we can, and continuously act to change our behaviour, will we have any power to stand up against the big brother - be it a set of corporates, governments or machines - converting us into its zombies? Will we be just like our stone-aged forefathers or animals with what were unfathomable massive natural forces for them become machine controls for us?
c. if machines/AGI change the world to make it more suitable for their existence, will humans go extinct? Will machines feel the need to euthanize our race for their purpose someday?
With the rising concerns or privacy and security, most contributors’ AGI dystopia worries focus more around the second category concerns at present. If economic cycles turn, the first category pessimists may get more hearing, even though they are the ones most laughed off based on historical antecedents now. The third category doomsdayers will carry the sensationalist tag until it becomes too late assuming that day is in our future at some point.
View 1: think tanks will not work
Let’s say that humanity’s primary goal against AI is a guaranteed survival and continued dominance. We want at least some of us to remain the ultimate overlord of this planet. This requires suppression of some AI-developments or at least a close monitoring. Many groups have been formed globally with the right objectives in mind, but such think tanks are slow moving entities with little power to make an immediate difference. It is likely that by the time some of their suggestions are enacted, the AI-world might have already skirted the underlying issues with many more of different varieties turning more critical. These groups are playing an important role in highlighting the problems at hand unbiasedly, but they are unlikely to make a real difference on their own.
View 2: the best solution could be fighting of iron with iron!
In a free-wheeling technocratic world, the best solutions will emerge from competing entities. It is likely that despite the cries from those with extreme views, no “kill switch” will rise into existence for any AI at humanity level. The more “the good” who follow laws are suppressed at some place, the more will be the powers of some “bad” at some other place. This topic is controversial and requires an extended essay on its own, so perhaps not for this review!
Back to the book: read Possible Minds to think. To get your own twenty-sixth view, even if not in a painfully written form like mine.
That almost no two thinkers of the book think much alike is the best facet of the book. Some may be confused by the plethora of views present, but the key takeaways should be in the knowledge these authors impart apart from their opinions based on their unique vantage points. Everyone will have their favourites and the opposite, but rather than providing a list of my likes and dislikes (BTW, I thought the Wolfram section was the best), let me summarise my thinking as the twenty-sixth view! My notes below are only partly based on what I learned from some contributions. For most parts, they represent my views on AI/AGI as of today.
Nobody knows
It has been proven nigh impossible to predict where the scientific progress or humanity was headed even when developments - of any sort - were stable. The exercise is more futile now given the pace of change with new technologies. With rising complexities rise the future potentialities. Almost anything, everything, and nothing predicted and predicated is possible sometime or the other in the next century. The wide variety of views present in the book have the brightest minds talking past each other partly because the history and experience they cite are useless in providing projections of what could lay ahead. Differing meanings of the terms used as explained in a couple of sections below also contribute to the extent of disagreements, as is commonplace amongst philosophers of any ilk for millennia.
Machines will surpass humanity
Most of the contributors seem to agree that there will be hardly any human skills and faculties where our technology creations will remain inferior forever. None of the contributors resorts to discussions on the soul or divine entity to justify our perpetual supremacy. Our ability to sense causality, impute a purpose and our apparent consciousness are seen by a handful that will keep humanity ahead, but none of these commentators expects any humanity trait supremacy to last forever. Let’s use a bad analogy: if our natural procreation, our children, grow up to develop own purpose, outgrow their parents in many skills and at times develop the willingness to act against their creators, will machines surely never go along that path? The point behind this lousy analogy is that our silicon creations will grow exponentially forever for decades and centuries if not millennia to come. A few years ago, the pessimists used to cite their inability to recognize a cat or a face through optical sensors as one reason humans would remain superior for a long time. Machines have surpassed humans on sound and face recognition in few short years. They may walk or run better than us next even if Robots’ plodding appear clunky and laughable today, for instance. And, machines as a unit may also learn to ascribe purposes too or exhibit complexities that make our consciousness look like that of a cardboard box in a few decades. It is difficult to pick a set of human aspects that will remain superior for the next hundred years.
Subpoint: Machines will have its own goals and purposes
It is likely that consciousness is nothing but an emergent quality from many neurons interacting with each other just the way fluidity is from water molecules or planetary forces are from rocks coming together. What we humans imply through words like beauty, art, goals, purpose are possible emergent qualities from the numerosity of the underlying components and their complex interactions or interrelations. If today’s machines can only code, crunch data or uncover hidden patterns but cannot define their own “ultimate” utility functions, the “ultimate” stage set by humans is being pushed back with the machines working out the rest on their own. It is not ridiculous to assume that what we deem as exotic human qualia - goals, consciousness, beauty, etc. - will also fall prey to the ever-growing machine abilities if they prove nothing but emergent qualities of complex computational techniques.
The pessimistic forecasts are far more compulsive reads
There is no reason AI/AGI/technology progress should make humanity useless, subservient, or extinct for centuries, even if it is a long-term inevitability. As we discuss above, no-one knows! That said, the cases of the optimists - i.e., those who mostly believe that the positives of technology boom would far outweigh any attendant harmful impacts - appear lame compared to the pessimists. Once again, the optimists do not have to be wrong, but the stage belongs to those with scary stories. In the 25 views, you read, the most frightening are by far the most compelling. The trend tells us about what gets our goat and stirs us to action. That said, the pessimists appear more right because almost all optimists’ cases base their case off the dire forecasts that did not prove right historically rather than paint any upcoming utopia they have in their mind. The optimists rest their case on grandmotherly adages like this time is not different while pessimists point to horses who thought they would continue to carry humans forever in transport based on a few thousand years’ history but became the showcase items.
Terms without precise meanings and predictions that are too static
With the band of new philosophers and heavy thinkers in this compendium, there are dozens of commonly used terms including AI, AGI, co-existence, etc. with no precise meanings or with multiple meanings. AI appears to be perpetually something that is a technology of tomorrow, never mind that what we have today would have likely surpassed any definition of most scientists’ AI a few decades ago. The way we use our smart devices, even a person in the late nineties would claim we already co-exist with our gadgets now. The field does not need its Wittgenstein to prove how these thinkers are talking different languages; the technology world is moving far too quickly for the best thinkers to take decades to agree on the underlying meaning of terms. Readers have to distil the views themselves, keeping in mind the plethora of different meanings and time-frames used by the writers while talking about the same subject.
Multiple dystopias
This reviewer can categorize the doomsdayers in at least three different buckets:
a. what will we do? If machines do everything better, will humans be next dogs, better sitting pretty at home than trying to work on anything? If that’s the case, how will the machines/rest of the working world bear the burden of a rising hoard of the unemployed? How will this unemployed lot live life or find purpose?
b. Will we have any free will? As machines understand us faster and better than we can, and continuously act to change our behaviour, will we have any power to stand up against the big brother - be it a set of corporates, governments or machines - converting us into its zombies? Will we be just like our stone-aged forefathers or animals with what were unfathomable massive natural forces for them become machine controls for us?
c. if machines/AGI change the world to make it more suitable for their existence, will humans go extinct? Will machines feel the need to euthanize our race for their purpose someday?
With the rising concerns or privacy and security, most contributors’ AGI dystopia worries focus more around the second category concerns at present. If economic cycles turn, the first category pessimists may get more hearing, even though they are the ones most laughed off based on historical antecedents now. The third category doomsdayers will carry the sensationalist tag until it becomes too late assuming that day is in our future at some point.
View 1: think tanks will not work
Let’s say that humanity’s primary goal against AI is a guaranteed survival and continued dominance. We want at least some of us to remain the ultimate overlord of this planet. This requires suppression of some AI-developments or at least a close monitoring. Many groups have been formed globally with the right objectives in mind, but such think tanks are slow moving entities with little power to make an immediate difference. It is likely that by the time some of their suggestions are enacted, the AI-world might have already skirted the underlying issues with many more of different varieties turning more critical. These groups are playing an important role in highlighting the problems at hand unbiasedly, but they are unlikely to make a real difference on their own.
View 2: the best solution could be fighting of iron with iron!
In a free-wheeling technocratic world, the best solutions will emerge from competing entities. It is likely that despite the cries from those with extreme views, no “kill switch” will rise into existence for any AI at humanity level. The more “the good” who follow laws are suppressed at some place, the more will be the powers of some “bad” at some other place. This topic is controversial and requires an extended essay on its own, so perhaps not for this review!
Back to the book: read Possible Minds to think. To get your own twenty-sixth view, even if not in a painfully written form like mine.
November 14, 2018
I received an ARC copy from Mr. Brockman due to my work in the AI4K12 national educational guidelines group (they will be published spring 2019).
Possible Minds builds on the work at Edge.org and from the book that resulted called What to Think about Machines That Think. While those essays were much shorter and offered a plethora of perspectives that are great for developing a broad perspective on AI, Possible Minds goes much deeper. Many of the writers incorporate reflections on the predictions of the 1950 book, The Human Use of Human Beings, which has proved to be uncannily predictive in certain ways. The Wolfram essay is a highlight; overall I recommend this book above others to get a broad, humanistic perspective on how AI has transformed our society and what may happen in the future, from experts who likely have already written the next essay that will be analyzed 70 years from now to compare how predictive it really was in predicting the increasing influence of AI.
In my last communication with Mr. Brockman, he wrote, "What educators need to keep in mind about AI is that there’s nothing artificial about tools created by humans. We create tools and we mold ourselves through our use of them. What’s happening today in the current narrative about AI is that much of it is framed by people who don’t know what they don’t know. At the heart of everything is human nature. What educators can bring to the table is to emphasize a rich education in the humanities. It’s about us, not ones and zeros."
Possible Minds builds on the work at Edge.org and from the book that resulted called What to Think about Machines That Think. While those essays were much shorter and offered a plethora of perspectives that are great for developing a broad perspective on AI, Possible Minds goes much deeper. Many of the writers incorporate reflections on the predictions of the 1950 book, The Human Use of Human Beings, which has proved to be uncannily predictive in certain ways. The Wolfram essay is a highlight; overall I recommend this book above others to get a broad, humanistic perspective on how AI has transformed our society and what may happen in the future, from experts who likely have already written the next essay that will be analyzed 70 years from now to compare how predictive it really was in predicting the increasing influence of AI.
In my last communication with Mr. Brockman, he wrote, "What educators need to keep in mind about AI is that there’s nothing artificial about tools created by humans. We create tools and we mold ourselves through our use of them. What’s happening today in the current narrative about AI is that much of it is framed by people who don’t know what they don’t know. At the heart of everything is human nature. What educators can bring to the table is to emphasize a rich education in the humanities. It’s about us, not ones and zeros."
May 10, 2019
While I would gladly give 5 stars to the concept of this book, much of the actual content leaves something to be desired. Brockman collects essays from 25 of the most brilliant minds around regarding their thoughts on Artificial Intelligence. While only time can determine to what extent we can create intelligence or consciousness, there is a disturbing contradiction in the essays of many contributors.
Many of the writers concur that, while still not fully understood, human consciousness is the result of physical processes rather than the presence of a supernatural 'soul'. Every part of our ability to reason, to be aware, to think, is caused by a series of chemical reactions. Thus should it not theoretically be possible to reproduce a human-like consciousness, but without many of the weaknesses that the human species has evolved?
Daniel Dennett suggests that the danger in creating this sort of AI being lies in the fact that we would have no plausible means for punishment or consequence (since death is impossible), meaning they would be free to do whatever they chose. But have humans not evolved purpose, other than simply staying alive? Why could we not engineer 'robots' that feel empathy, that seek connection, or that desire to experience the world?
Many of the writers concur that, while still not fully understood, human consciousness is the result of physical processes rather than the presence of a supernatural 'soul'. Every part of our ability to reason, to be aware, to think, is caused by a series of chemical reactions. Thus should it not theoretically be possible to reproduce a human-like consciousness, but without many of the weaknesses that the human species has evolved?
Daniel Dennett suggests that the danger in creating this sort of AI being lies in the fact that we would have no plausible means for punishment or consequence (since death is impossible), meaning they would be free to do whatever they chose. But have humans not evolved purpose, other than simply staying alive? Why could we not engineer 'robots' that feel empathy, that seek connection, or that desire to experience the world?
May 19, 2023
The Future
This captivating exploration offers a diverse range of perspectives on how AI is poised to revolutionize our lives.
As someone who recognizes the transformative power of AI, I found this book to be an enlightening and inspiring read. Brockman skillfully brings together the insights of leading thinkers, scientists, and innovators to provide a multifaceted view of the possibilities and implications of AI.
The book serves as a compelling platform for understanding the current state of AI and envisioning its potential impact on various aspects of our society.
What sets Possible Minds apart is its balanced approach. Brockman acknowledges the immense potential of AI while also addressing the concerns and ethical considerations surrounding its development. Through a collection of essays, readers gain a deeper understanding of the vast range of applications and implications of AI, from healthcare and education to economics and art.
The book showcases both the excitement and the cautionary aspects of this rapidly advancing field.
Brockman's writing style is engaging and accessible, making complex concepts understandable to a broad audience. His ability to present a wide array of viewpoints ensures that readers gain a comprehensive understanding of AI from different angles. Whether you are well-versed in AI or just beginning to explore the topic, Possible Minds offers valuable insights and encourages critical thinking.
While the book successfully covers a breadth of perspectives, it may not delve into the technical details of AI algorithms or specific advancements in great depth. However, it serves as an excellent starting point for readers interested in AI and provides a springboard for further exploration.
In conclusion, Possible Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI is an essential read for anyone intrigued by the possibilities and implications of artificial intelligence. With John Brockman's skillful curation and the diverse range of perspectives presented, this book opens doors to new ways of thinking about AI's impact on our lives.
Prepare to be inspired and challenged as you navigate the exciting landscape of AI.
4.1/5
This captivating exploration offers a diverse range of perspectives on how AI is poised to revolutionize our lives.
As someone who recognizes the transformative power of AI, I found this book to be an enlightening and inspiring read. Brockman skillfully brings together the insights of leading thinkers, scientists, and innovators to provide a multifaceted view of the possibilities and implications of AI.
The book serves as a compelling platform for understanding the current state of AI and envisioning its potential impact on various aspects of our society.
What sets Possible Minds apart is its balanced approach. Brockman acknowledges the immense potential of AI while also addressing the concerns and ethical considerations surrounding its development. Through a collection of essays, readers gain a deeper understanding of the vast range of applications and implications of AI, from healthcare and education to economics and art.
The book showcases both the excitement and the cautionary aspects of this rapidly advancing field.
Brockman's writing style is engaging and accessible, making complex concepts understandable to a broad audience. His ability to present a wide array of viewpoints ensures that readers gain a comprehensive understanding of AI from different angles. Whether you are well-versed in AI or just beginning to explore the topic, Possible Minds offers valuable insights and encourages critical thinking.
While the book successfully covers a breadth of perspectives, it may not delve into the technical details of AI algorithms or specific advancements in great depth. However, it serves as an excellent starting point for readers interested in AI and provides a springboard for further exploration.
In conclusion, Possible Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI is an essential read for anyone intrigued by the possibilities and implications of artificial intelligence. With John Brockman's skillful curation and the diverse range of perspectives presented, this book opens doors to new ways of thinking about AI's impact on our lives.
Prepare to be inspired and challenged as you navigate the exciting landscape of AI.
4.1/5
January 25, 2020
The premise of the book is to present 25 ways of looking at AI, but the essays are more like N. Wiener work's interpretations than unique approaches to AI opportunities and perils. Of course, you can't deny an important contribution that the authors have done in the field of AI (Max Tegmark, Judea Pearl or Stuart Russell, to name just a few), but being a spoiled reader you just excpect deeper insights.
This book is easy written, and if you are new to AI frame of mind, it might be a great starting point (it's not technical). Nevertheless, I would also suggest to check out 'Architects of Intelligence: The Truth about AI from People Building it' (interviewed by Martin Ford), because you might enjoy it more.
This book is easy written, and if you are new to AI frame of mind, it might be a great starting point (it's not technical). Nevertheless, I would also suggest to check out 'Architects of Intelligence: The Truth about AI from People Building it' (interviewed by Martin Ford), because you might enjoy it more.
April 26, 2020
Are The Robots Coming For Us?
This is a grab-bag of rather short, quick-take essays by people associated with the AI community about the possible future of AI, and in particular, the development of general artificial intelligence. Many well-respected engineers have warned us recently that general AI may soon reach a tipping point where it cannot be stopped and cannot be bent to the will of humankind.
Some of these essays struck me as full of insight, some not so much. No questions are answered, but as a platform for generating discussion and thought, the book does well.
This is a grab-bag of rather short, quick-take essays by people associated with the AI community about the possible future of AI, and in particular, the development of general artificial intelligence. Many well-respected engineers have warned us recently that general AI may soon reach a tipping point where it cannot be stopped and cannot be bent to the will of humankind.
Some of these essays struck me as full of insight, some not so much. No questions are answered, but as a platform for generating discussion and thought, the book does well.
March 25, 2019
very clear writing on different views on the future of AI and human civilization.
November 30, 2019
Some of the essays are easily 4 or 5 stars , so it’s a bit hard to assign a single score ...
May 17, 2019
I have read numerous other collections by John Brockman and quite enjoyed them and, indeed, recommend them. This one, not so much.
(By the way, "collection" is not quite the right word - he didn't just curate existing essays, he sought out appropriate experts and solicited these essays on a very particular topic. As most of his publications are.)
On the whole, I found this collection to be, frankly, kind of boring.
Each essay stands on its own, and there's no synthesis, no point/counterpoint; even though the individual authors are all very smart and informed and considered people, the essays are quasi-random riffs on Brockman's original thesis statement, so not necessarily even *all that* unified on subject-matter, as it turns out.
My disappointment *may* be a result of publisher interference/overreach/shenanigans: namely, the title is really misleading. The essays are not *really* about 21st-century AI (artificial intelligence), nor the narrower allied technology of machine-learning.
Instead, they are reflections on Norbert Wiener's 1940s-era seminal writing/conception of Cybernetics (which is a term that he invented).
For the record, I feel that Norbert Wiener is an underrated intellect, who definitely does deserve to be better-known than he is. He's kind of a victim of historical accident, in that he was conceptualizing Artificial Intelligence *juuussst* before the advent of the revolution of modern computing with solid-state transistors. That fact makes his insights all the more impressive. And many of his core ideas still apply. Someone should really update his writing with the obsolete technical details removed or, better, updated.
In summary: while I don't really recommend this book, I do recommend Brockman's other books, and I very much encourage at the very least reading the Wikipedia article about Norbert Wiener.
(By the way, "collection" is not quite the right word - he didn't just curate existing essays, he sought out appropriate experts and solicited these essays on a very particular topic. As most of his publications are.)
On the whole, I found this collection to be, frankly, kind of boring.
Each essay stands on its own, and there's no synthesis, no point/counterpoint; even though the individual authors are all very smart and informed and considered people, the essays are quasi-random riffs on Brockman's original thesis statement, so not necessarily even *all that* unified on subject-matter, as it turns out.
My disappointment *may* be a result of publisher interference/overreach/shenanigans: namely, the title is really misleading. The essays are not *really* about 21st-century AI (artificial intelligence), nor the narrower allied technology of machine-learning.
Instead, they are reflections on Norbert Wiener's 1940s-era seminal writing/conception of Cybernetics (which is a term that he invented).
For the record, I feel that Norbert Wiener is an underrated intellect, who definitely does deserve to be better-known than he is. He's kind of a victim of historical accident, in that he was conceptualizing Artificial Intelligence *juuussst* before the advent of the revolution of modern computing with solid-state transistors. That fact makes his insights all the more impressive. And many of his core ideas still apply. Someone should really update his writing with the obsolete technical details removed or, better, updated.
In summary: while I don't really recommend this book, I do recommend Brockman's other books, and I very much encourage at the very least reading the Wikipedia article about Norbert Wiener.
July 27, 2019
John Brockman has condensed a collection of essays from some of the leading thinkers and researchers in the field of AI and other related fields such as philosophy, physics, computer science, and neuroscience.
One of my favourite essays was by Judea Pearl titled " The limitations of opaque learning machines." Judea Pearl played a pivotal role in the paradigm shift of the approach of learning in ai systems; shifting from a rule-based approach to statistical and probabilistic reasoning. Yet, he laments the current use of deep learning in ai systems as they operate exclusively in a statistical model-blind mode. These systems cannot achieve causal inference and ask counterfactual questions of the world. “To achieve human-level intelligence, learning machines need the guidance of a blueprint of reality, a model." He makes a connection to Yuval Noah Harari's research into the anthropological and evolutionary journey of Homo Sapiens where he points out that the ability of humans to generate a model of reality enabled them to thrive in savannah and eventually gain superiority over the rest of the animal kingdom.
Another takeaway for me was the slightly opposing viewpoints of Max Tegmark and Daniel Dennett. Dennet's view can be summarised with "We don't need artificial conscious agents. We need intelligent tools." Whether Tegmark maintains a notion would the universe go back to sleep into a mindless zombie with no consciousness present, it would be a colossal shame. Thus humans must actively prevent mishaps from occurring as a result of the lack of or incompetent control of AGI. "Perhaps artificial super-intelligence will enable life to spread throughout the cosmos and flourish for billions or trillions of years.". Not only should AI be intelligent tools but also have the ability to be self-aware of the universe and ultimately possess consciousness.
One of my favourite essays was by Judea Pearl titled " The limitations of opaque learning machines." Judea Pearl played a pivotal role in the paradigm shift of the approach of learning in ai systems; shifting from a rule-based approach to statistical and probabilistic reasoning. Yet, he laments the current use of deep learning in ai systems as they operate exclusively in a statistical model-blind mode. These systems cannot achieve causal inference and ask counterfactual questions of the world. “To achieve human-level intelligence, learning machines need the guidance of a blueprint of reality, a model." He makes a connection to Yuval Noah Harari's research into the anthropological and evolutionary journey of Homo Sapiens where he points out that the ability of humans to generate a model of reality enabled them to thrive in savannah and eventually gain superiority over the rest of the animal kingdom.
Another takeaway for me was the slightly opposing viewpoints of Max Tegmark and Daniel Dennett. Dennet's view can be summarised with "We don't need artificial conscious agents. We need intelligent tools." Whether Tegmark maintains a notion would the universe go back to sleep into a mindless zombie with no consciousness present, it would be a colossal shame. Thus humans must actively prevent mishaps from occurring as a result of the lack of or incompetent control of AGI. "Perhaps artificial super-intelligence will enable life to spread throughout the cosmos and flourish for billions or trillions of years.". Not only should AI be intelligent tools but also have the ability to be self-aware of the universe and ultimately possess consciousness.
April 22, 2023
Brockman, who has been involved in AI almost since its inception, has put together a who's who list of AI authors, each with their own perspective. The jumping off point is based on the popularized work by Norbert Weiner (the father of cybernetics) " The Human Use of Human Beings" written in 1950. This is just two years after George Orwell's 1984 was written. Weiner, together with Claude Shannon - famous for information theory: "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" and the concept of entropy- brought forth truly a brave new world.
I had several chapters that I really liked and were most insightful. Perhaps the last chapter by Stephen Wolfram was the best. Wolfram draws historical parallels to a world, 500 years ago, when only an elite few were literate and tomorrow's world where most people will know how to program. Literacy gave us civilization but what will computational literacy give us? At its peak, it may be just computers talking to computers.
I had several chapters that I really liked and were most insightful. Perhaps the last chapter by Stephen Wolfram was the best. Wolfram draws historical parallels to a world, 500 years ago, when only an elite few were literate and tomorrow's world where most people will know how to program. Literacy gave us civilization but what will computational literacy give us? At its peak, it may be just computers talking to computers.
October 26, 2021
Possible Minds is a collection of essays on AI (Artificial Intelligence), its history, development, current applications, and future promise - with a twist. Each of the authors was chosen for his or her eminence in the field. The ideas and vocabulary can be challenging and it helps to have read a lot of Isaac Asimov as a child. But the challenge is worth accepting. Some of the writers predict disaster, others a dystopian euphoria. All see AI as inevitable and most as having already arrived. This is a fascinating peek into the minds of those on the cutting edge of the next evolutionary step of mankind. Timely and terrifying, every self-aware intelligence should add this to the science bookshelf.
March 3, 2019
I'm going to need to revisit more than a handful of these chapters and, honestly, that might push this up to five stars. A few of the chapters were not terribly impressive and left me feeling like this was just an excuse for a rant, not that I don't have sympathy for the concerns (and counter concerns) that were raised about the dangers (and wonders) of AI, but the really interesting essays mostly avoided that entirely and explored rather different, interesting paths of thought.
Regardless, this book is quite definitely worth a read.
Regardless, this book is quite definitely worth a read.
March 25, 2019
It's like discussing quantum physics in sound bites: entertaining but with the questionable contribution to the debate.
January 5, 2020
An informed collection on various experts’ opinions on the challenges of Artificial Intelligence. Essayists were prompted to respond to Norbert Wiener’s The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society, which I have not read and which would have been helpful to have known ahead of time (oops). Nonetheless, and whether or not you welcome our new robot overlords, this book is worthwhile - I especially enjoyed Tegmark, Dennett, and Tallinn’s essays. Essayists’ views on whether or not AI will doom humanity range from dismissive to eminently threatening; the book provides some valid arguments for both sides and a helpful springboard for discourse.
“Of course, one can always imagine a doomsday computer that is malevolent, universally empowered, always on, and tamper-proof. The way to deal with this threat is straightforward: Don’t build one.” - Stephen Pinker
“But the AlphaGo program, produced by Deep Mind, after being trained on thousands of high level Go games played by humans and then millions of games with itself was able to beat the top human players in short order. Even more amazingly, the related AlphaGo Zero program, which learned from scratch by playing itself, was stronger than the version trained initially on human games. It was as though the humans had been preventing the computer from reaching its true potential. The same method has recently been generalized. Starting from scratch, within just 24 hours and equivalent Alpha Zero chess program was able to beat today’s top conventional chess programs, which in turn have beaten the best humans.” -Venki Ramakrishnan
“A common test I have for US citizens is this: Do you know anybody who owns a pick-up truck? It’s the number one selling vehicle in the United States. And if you don’t know people like that you’re out of touch with more than 50% of Americans.” - Alex “Sandy” Pentland
“More and more, the AIs will suggest to us what we should do. And I suspect, most of the time, people will just go along with that. It’s good advice. Better than what you would’ve figured out for yourself.” -Stephen Wolfram
“Of course, one can always imagine a doomsday computer that is malevolent, universally empowered, always on, and tamper-proof. The way to deal with this threat is straightforward: Don’t build one.” - Stephen Pinker
“But the AlphaGo program, produced by Deep Mind, after being trained on thousands of high level Go games played by humans and then millions of games with itself was able to beat the top human players in short order. Even more amazingly, the related AlphaGo Zero program, which learned from scratch by playing itself, was stronger than the version trained initially on human games. It was as though the humans had been preventing the computer from reaching its true potential. The same method has recently been generalized. Starting from scratch, within just 24 hours and equivalent Alpha Zero chess program was able to beat today’s top conventional chess programs, which in turn have beaten the best humans.” -Venki Ramakrishnan
“A common test I have for US citizens is this: Do you know anybody who owns a pick-up truck? It’s the number one selling vehicle in the United States. And if you don’t know people like that you’re out of touch with more than 50% of Americans.” - Alex “Sandy” Pentland
“More and more, the AIs will suggest to us what we should do. And I suspect, most of the time, people will just go along with that. It’s good advice. Better than what you would’ve figured out for yourself.” -Stephen Wolfram
April 3, 2020
2019.11.17–2019.11.22
Contents
Brockman J (ed.) (2019) (10:39) Possible Minds - 25 Ways of Looking at AI
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction: On the Promise and Peril of AI by John Brockman
• New Technologies = New Perceptions
• “We Must Cease to Kiss the Whip that Lashes Us.”
• Mind, Thinking, Intelligence
• “The Shtick of the Steins”
• The Long AI Winters
• An Ongoing Dynamical Emergent System
• The Evolving AI Narrative
01. Seth Lloyd: Wrong, but More Relevant Than Ever :: It is exactly in the extension of the cybernetic idea to human beings that Wiener’s conceptions missed their target.
• What Wiener Got Right
• What Wiener Got Wrong
• Technological Overestimation and the Existential Risks of the Singularity
• The Arguments for Singularity Skepticism
• Whither Wiener
02. Judea Pearl: The Limitations of Opaque Learning Machines :: Deep learning has its own dynamics, it does its own repair and its own optimization, and it gives you the right results most of the time. But when it doesn’t, you don’t have a clue about what went wrong and what should be fixed.
03. Stuart Russell: The Purpose Put into the Machine :: We may face the prospect of superintelligent machines—their actions by definition unpredictable by us and their imperfectly specified objectives conflicting with our own—whose motivations to preserve their existence in order to achieve those objectives may be insuperable.
• Putting Purposes into Machines
• 1001 Reasons to Pay No Attention
• Solutions
04. George Dyson: The Third Law :: Any system simple enough to be understandable will not be complicated enough to behave intelligently, while any system complicated enough to behave intelligently will be too complicated to understand.
05. Daniel C. Dennett: What Can We Do? :: We don’t need artificial conscious agents. We need intelligent tools.
06. Rodney Brooks: The Inhuman Mess Our Machines Have Gotten Us Into :: We are in a much more complex situation today than Wiener foresaw, and I am worried that it is much more pernicious than even his worst imagined fears.
07. Frank Wilczek: The Unity of Intelligence :: The advantages of artificial over natural intelligence appear permanent, while the advantages of natural over artificial intelligence, though substantial at present, appear transient.
• I. A Simple Answer to Contentious Questions
• II. The Future of Intelligence
08. Max Tegmark: Let’s Aspire to More Than Making Ourselves Obsolete :: We should analyze what could go wrong with AI to ensure that it goes right.
• The Evolving Debate about AI’s Societal Impact
• Why We’re Rushing to Make Ourselves Obsolete, and Why We Avoid Talking about It
• What Can We Do?
• Outlook
09. Jaan Tallinn: Dissident Messages :: Continued progress in AI can precipitate a change of cosmic proportions—a runaway process that will likely kill everyone.
• The First Message: The Soviet Occupation
• The Second Message: AI Risk
• Evolution’s Fatal Mistake
• The Present Situation
• Calibrating the AI-Risk Message
• Hope
10. Steven Pinker: Tech Prophecy and the Underappreciated Causal Power of Ideas :: There is no law of complex systems that says that intelligent agents must turn into ruthless megalomaniacs.
11. David Deutsch: Beyond Reward and Punishment :: Misconceptions about human thinking and human origins are causing corresponding misconceptions about AGI and how it might be created.
12. Tom Griffiths: The Artificial Use of Human Beings :: Automated intelligent systems that will make good inferences about what people want must have good generative models for human behavior.
13. Anca Dragan: Putting the Human into the AI Equation :: In the real world, an AI must interact with people and reason about them. “People” will have to formally enter the AI problem definition somewhere.
• The Coordination Problem: People Are More Than Objects in the Environment
• The Value Alignment Problem: People Hold the Key to the Robot’s Reward Function
14. Chris Anderson: Gradient Descent :: Just because AI systems sometimes end up in local minima, don’t conclude that this makes them any less like life. Humans—indeed, probably all life-forms—are often stuck in local minima.
• Life
• The Universe
• Our Brains
• AI
15. David Kaiser: “Information” for Wiener, for Shannon, and for Us :: Many of the central arguments in The Human Use of Human Beings seem closer to the 19th century than the 21st. Wiener seems not to have fully embraced Shannon’s notion of information as consisting of irreducible, meaning-free bits.
16. Neil Gershenfeld: Scaling :: Although machine making and machine thinking might appear to be unrelated trends, they lie in each other’s futures.
17. W. Daniel Hillis: The First Machine Intelligences :: Hybrid superintelligences such as nation-states and corporations have their own emergent goals and their actions are not always aligned to the interests of the people who created them.
• Why Wiener Saw What Others Missed
18. Venki Ramakrishnan: Will Computers Become Our Overlords? :: Our fears about AI reflect the belief that our intelligence is what makes us special.
19. Alex “Sandy” Pentland: The Human Strategy :: How can we make a good human-artificial ecosystem, something that’s not a machine society but a cyberculture in which we can all live as humans—a culture with a human feel to it?
• On Polarization and Inequality
• On Extreme Wealth
• On AI and Society
• Next-Generation AI
20. Hans Ulrich Obrist: Making the Invisible Visible: Art Meets AI :: Many contemporary artists are articulating various doubts about the promises of AI and reminding us not to associate the term “artificial intelligence” solely with positive outcomes.
• Artificial Stupidity
• Visible/Invisible
• Computers, as a Tool for Creativity, Can’t Replace the Artist
• Cybernetics/Art
• Simulating Worlds
21. Alison Gopnik: AIs Versus Four-Year-Olds :: Looking at what children do may give programmers useful hints about directions for computer learning.
• Bottom-Up Deep Learning
• Top-Down Bayesian Models
22. Peter Galison: Algorists Dream of Objectivity :: By now, the legal, ethical, formal, and economic dimensions of algorithms are all quasi-infinite.
23. George M. Church: The Rights of Machines :: Probably we should be less concerned about us-versus-them and more concerned about the rights of all sentients in the face of an emerging unprecedented diversity of minds.
• “Is versus Ought”
• The Slippery Slopes
• Conventional Computers versus Bio-Electronic Hybrids
• Equality
• Radically Divergent Rules for Humans versus Nonhumans and Hybrids
24. Caroline A. Jones: The Artistic Use of Cybernetic Beings :: The work of cybernetically inclined artists concerns the emergent behaviors of life that elude AI in its current condition.
25. Stephen Wolfram: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Civilization :: The most dramatic discontinuity will surely be when we achieve effective human immortality. Whether this will be achieved biologically or digitally isn’t clear, but inevitably it will be achieved.
Index
About the Author
Contents
Brockman J (ed.) (2019) (10:39) Possible Minds - 25 Ways of Looking at AI
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction: On the Promise and Peril of AI by John Brockman
• New Technologies = New Perceptions
• “We Must Cease to Kiss the Whip that Lashes Us.”
• Mind, Thinking, Intelligence
• “The Shtick of the Steins”
• The Long AI Winters
• An Ongoing Dynamical Emergent System
• The Evolving AI Narrative
01. Seth Lloyd: Wrong, but More Relevant Than Ever :: It is exactly in the extension of the cybernetic idea to human beings that Wiener’s conceptions missed their target.
• What Wiener Got Right
• What Wiener Got Wrong
• Technological Overestimation and the Existential Risks of the Singularity
• The Arguments for Singularity Skepticism
• Whither Wiener
02. Judea Pearl: The Limitations of Opaque Learning Machines :: Deep learning has its own dynamics, it does its own repair and its own optimization, and it gives you the right results most of the time. But when it doesn’t, you don’t have a clue about what went wrong and what should be fixed.
03. Stuart Russell: The Purpose Put into the Machine :: We may face the prospect of superintelligent machines—their actions by definition unpredictable by us and their imperfectly specified objectives conflicting with our own—whose motivations to preserve their existence in order to achieve those objectives may be insuperable.
• Putting Purposes into Machines
• 1001 Reasons to Pay No Attention
• Solutions
04. George Dyson: The Third Law :: Any system simple enough to be understandable will not be complicated enough to behave intelligently, while any system complicated enough to behave intelligently will be too complicated to understand.
05. Daniel C. Dennett: What Can We Do? :: We don’t need artificial conscious agents. We need intelligent tools.
06. Rodney Brooks: The Inhuman Mess Our Machines Have Gotten Us Into :: We are in a much more complex situation today than Wiener foresaw, and I am worried that it is much more pernicious than even his worst imagined fears.
07. Frank Wilczek: The Unity of Intelligence :: The advantages of artificial over natural intelligence appear permanent, while the advantages of natural over artificial intelligence, though substantial at present, appear transient.
• I. A Simple Answer to Contentious Questions
• II. The Future of Intelligence
08. Max Tegmark: Let’s Aspire to More Than Making Ourselves Obsolete :: We should analyze what could go wrong with AI to ensure that it goes right.
• The Evolving Debate about AI’s Societal Impact
• Why We’re Rushing to Make Ourselves Obsolete, and Why We Avoid Talking about It
• What Can We Do?
• Outlook
09. Jaan Tallinn: Dissident Messages :: Continued progress in AI can precipitate a change of cosmic proportions—a runaway process that will likely kill everyone.
• The First Message: The Soviet Occupation
• The Second Message: AI Risk
• Evolution’s Fatal Mistake
• The Present Situation
• Calibrating the AI-Risk Message
• Hope
10. Steven Pinker: Tech Prophecy and the Underappreciated Causal Power of Ideas :: There is no law of complex systems that says that intelligent agents must turn into ruthless megalomaniacs.
11. David Deutsch: Beyond Reward and Punishment :: Misconceptions about human thinking and human origins are causing corresponding misconceptions about AGI and how it might be created.
12. Tom Griffiths: The Artificial Use of Human Beings :: Automated intelligent systems that will make good inferences about what people want must have good generative models for human behavior.
13. Anca Dragan: Putting the Human into the AI Equation :: In the real world, an AI must interact with people and reason about them. “People” will have to formally enter the AI problem definition somewhere.
• The Coordination Problem: People Are More Than Objects in the Environment
• The Value Alignment Problem: People Hold the Key to the Robot’s Reward Function
14. Chris Anderson: Gradient Descent :: Just because AI systems sometimes end up in local minima, don’t conclude that this makes them any less like life. Humans—indeed, probably all life-forms—are often stuck in local minima.
• Life
• The Universe
• Our Brains
• AI
15. David Kaiser: “Information” for Wiener, for Shannon, and for Us :: Many of the central arguments in The Human Use of Human Beings seem closer to the 19th century than the 21st. Wiener seems not to have fully embraced Shannon’s notion of information as consisting of irreducible, meaning-free bits.
16. Neil Gershenfeld: Scaling :: Although machine making and machine thinking might appear to be unrelated trends, they lie in each other’s futures.
17. W. Daniel Hillis: The First Machine Intelligences :: Hybrid superintelligences such as nation-states and corporations have their own emergent goals and their actions are not always aligned to the interests of the people who created them.
• Why Wiener Saw What Others Missed
18. Venki Ramakrishnan: Will Computers Become Our Overlords? :: Our fears about AI reflect the belief that our intelligence is what makes us special.
19. Alex “Sandy” Pentland: The Human Strategy :: How can we make a good human-artificial ecosystem, something that’s not a machine society but a cyberculture in which we can all live as humans—a culture with a human feel to it?
• On Polarization and Inequality
• On Extreme Wealth
• On AI and Society
• Next-Generation AI
20. Hans Ulrich Obrist: Making the Invisible Visible: Art Meets AI :: Many contemporary artists are articulating various doubts about the promises of AI and reminding us not to associate the term “artificial intelligence” solely with positive outcomes.
• Artificial Stupidity
• Visible/Invisible
• Computers, as a Tool for Creativity, Can’t Replace the Artist
• Cybernetics/Art
• Simulating Worlds
21. Alison Gopnik: AIs Versus Four-Year-Olds :: Looking at what children do may give programmers useful hints about directions for computer learning.
• Bottom-Up Deep Learning
• Top-Down Bayesian Models
22. Peter Galison: Algorists Dream of Objectivity :: By now, the legal, ethical, formal, and economic dimensions of algorithms are all quasi-infinite.
23. George M. Church: The Rights of Machines :: Probably we should be less concerned about us-versus-them and more concerned about the rights of all sentients in the face of an emerging unprecedented diversity of minds.
• “Is versus Ought”
• The Slippery Slopes
• Conventional Computers versus Bio-Electronic Hybrids
• Equality
• Radically Divergent Rules for Humans versus Nonhumans and Hybrids
24. Caroline A. Jones: The Artistic Use of Cybernetic Beings :: The work of cybernetically inclined artists concerns the emergent behaviors of life that elude AI in its current condition.
25. Stephen Wolfram: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Civilization :: The most dramatic discontinuity will surely be when we achieve effective human immortality. Whether this will be achieved biologically or digitally isn’t clear, but inevitably it will be achieved.
Index
About the Author
May 26, 2019
So this is a collection and it has the strengths and weaknesses of a collection. The strengths: varying viewpoints. The weaknesses: varying viewpoints.
Some highlights: Crick's Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul that posits mind comes from matter is really at the crux of the entire AI discussion, since if mind comes from matter then mind can be "created."
The Economic element -- what happens when we don’t need to work? This shows the diverse range of AI. AI might not be conscious, but it might drive better than we humans, so we don't need to drive and then what do we do.
Humans are information flows fighting 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
Corporations, Governments, and AI as human created structures that ignore the individual. Huge potential problems, especially when humans begin to feel they are in a zero sum game. The problems with corporations and governments we are already familiar with, but it feels like the same problem with certain types of AI.
Art and AI -- always interesting.
AI and the 4 year old -- in some ways, the 4 year old wins hands down, so what we mean by intelligence becomes crucial. Which ultimately is the strength and weakness of this book as it tries and only sometimes succeeds in casting light on a broad and ranging subject.
Some highlights: Crick's Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul that posits mind comes from matter is really at the crux of the entire AI discussion, since if mind comes from matter then mind can be "created."
The Economic element -- what happens when we don’t need to work? This shows the diverse range of AI. AI might not be conscious, but it might drive better than we humans, so we don't need to drive and then what do we do.
Humans are information flows fighting 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
Corporations, Governments, and AI as human created structures that ignore the individual. Huge potential problems, especially when humans begin to feel they are in a zero sum game. The problems with corporations and governments we are already familiar with, but it feels like the same problem with certain types of AI.
Art and AI -- always interesting.
AI and the 4 year old -- in some ways, the 4 year old wins hands down, so what we mean by intelligence becomes crucial. Which ultimately is the strength and weakness of this book as it tries and only sometimes succeeds in casting light on a broad and ranging subject.
July 22, 2022
The starts is slow, specially if you're not familiarized with Wiener, which was the case for me. A lot of the project seems to toy with ideas that have not yet crossed the minds of a lot of people, these questions, however, are more important in this day & age than before. AI is a reality, we use it and are used by it on a daily basis without even realizing it. I am a Computer Science student and I happen to use Wolfram Alpha a lot for my math classes, so I was pleasantly surprised and shocked by the last episode of this book in particular, written by Stephen Wolfram himself.
The subjects are diverse, ranging from AI and its uses on art to the military-industrial complex, and even if sometimes I felt out of the loop when a the contributors began delving deep on psychological conundrums posed by Norbert Wiener and elaborated by theirselves on their own way, I would lie if I said this book is not a must read for anyone that remotely wishes to stay afloat in these rapidly changing times.
The subjects are diverse, ranging from AI and its uses on art to the military-industrial complex, and even if sometimes I felt out of the loop when a the contributors began delving deep on psychological conundrums posed by Norbert Wiener and elaborated by theirselves on their own way, I would lie if I said this book is not a must read for anyone that remotely wishes to stay afloat in these rapidly changing times.
August 6, 2019
Thought-provoking and very enjoyable book.
There is something I especially like in a book with different essays and perspectives around a single topic. Each chapter is a different take on AI and each has something important to contribute.
Several of the contributors are authors that I especially enjoy reading. Some of the contributors are new to me, but I will now seek other works by them.
A common reference for the work is the book "The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society" by Norbert Wiener - which I now have as a priority to read. The perspectives offered by others often reference this book. Possibly, if asked, I would recommend reading that book first and then this one - but that is not what I did and I have yet to read it. So that is a "light" recommendation. The referenced book is older and possibly less approachable immediately for someone just looking to explore some perspectives on AI.
There is something I especially like in a book with different essays and perspectives around a single topic. Each chapter is a different take on AI and each has something important to contribute.
Several of the contributors are authors that I especially enjoy reading. Some of the contributors are new to me, but I will now seek other works by them.
A common reference for the work is the book "The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society" by Norbert Wiener - which I now have as a priority to read. The perspectives offered by others often reference this book. Possibly, if asked, I would recommend reading that book first and then this one - but that is not what I did and I have yet to read it. So that is a "light" recommendation. The referenced book is older and possibly less approachable immediately for someone just looking to explore some perspectives on AI.
December 9, 2021
In a format similar to the annual Edge question anthologies, but with fewer authors and longer essays, ostensibly grounded in Norbert Wiener's works on cybernetics reinterpreted in relation to contemporary AI. Some essays are shallow and clichéd, some disappointing in that such a collection of leading figures could be expected to say more interesting things about cybernetics and AI given their position and track record. And the cybernetics starting point is maybe not the most relevant or current, in general the authors do not make much out of that particular theme and some nothing at all. Most essays are too long in proportion to the interestingness of the contents, which makes the book a slog to read. But there are several nuggets and highlights saving it from a two- or three-star rating. Gershenfeld, Gopnik, Wolfram and maybe a few others provide thought-provoking pieces, a minority out of the 25 essays.
May 12, 2024
Very different from what I thought this book would be it was at times interesting, at times eye opening and at times repetitive and boring.
In 21 essays different scientists reflect on the role and possibilities of AI using the book from Wiener on cybernetics as a starting point.
The first half had most repetition and was dry and overly brainy at times. I missed some practicality.
In the last part of the book educational science, art en ethics come into play with different perspectives I appreciated.
A book to read one essay at a time, and when you are stuck it is worth to go to 24 and start reading from back to front. The last essay is not really that, it is an interview so a bit different from the 24 before.
In summary not so much news other the sun. When falling in bad hands and used for bad intent AI can be harmful, yet it also has the promise to solve many problems and through that allow us to add value on things only humans can add value on.
In 21 essays different scientists reflect on the role and possibilities of AI using the book from Wiener on cybernetics as a starting point.
The first half had most repetition and was dry and overly brainy at times. I missed some practicality.
In the last part of the book educational science, art en ethics come into play with different perspectives I appreciated.
A book to read one essay at a time, and when you are stuck it is worth to go to 24 and start reading from back to front. The last essay is not really that, it is an interview so a bit different from the 24 before.
In summary not so much news other the sun. When falling in bad hands and used for bad intent AI can be harmful, yet it also has the promise to solve many problems and through that allow us to add value on things only humans can add value on.
August 26, 2019
Автор собрал 25 человек, так или иначе связанных с ИИ - от computer science gurus до физиков, физиологов, детских психологов и проч. задав им темой эссе книгу Норберта Винера "Human use of human beings" - популяризацию "Кибернетики" того же Винера.
К сожалению, хотя идея и интересная и было любопытно узнать побольше об этой неизвестной в России книги Винера, через какое-то время книга утомляет. Скучно по пятому разу читать про успехи AlphaZero в го и шахматах и о том, что Винер был в чем-то прав, а в чем-то нет.
Интересной показалась идея о том, что для создания настоящего AGI нужно обучать его на полноценной картине мира. В настоящее же время, чем более специализирован подход, тем больше успехов, так что все достижения deep learning-не больше, чем дополнительные средства, улучшающие человеческую деятельность.
К сожалению, хотя идея и интересная и было любопытно узнать побольше об этой неизвестной в России книги Винера, через какое-то время книга утомляет. Скучно по пятому разу читать про успехи AlphaZero в го и шахматах и о том, что Винер был в чем-то прав, а в чем-то нет.
Интересной показалась идея о том, что для создания настоящего AGI нужно обучать его на полноценной картине мира. В настоящее же время, чем более специализирован подход, тем больше успехов, так что все достижения deep learning-не больше, чем дополнительные средства, улучшающие человеческую деятельность.
May 25, 2021
Generally entertaining short essays by prominent scientists, philosophers, and social scientists organized around Norbert Weiner’s ideas from the dawn of the computer age questioning whether computers might become malevolent if they ever obtain intelligence. Pros: a wide variety of opinions not only about the possibility or impossibility of autonomous ai and the results, but also the shape of computer-human interaction, the introduction of new ideas and areas of debate such as whether deep learning will be sufficient for ai or whether symbolic representation is required, the ‘value alignment’ problem, the possibility of ‘the singularity’,etc. Cons: as always with collections some essays are much better than others, the space is too short for the full development of ideas, lots of repetition, and finally, the editor too often places himself in the introductions of the individual writers.
February 28, 2020
This was a pretty cool concept for a book and I really enjoyed the wide sampling of voices on the topic. In my opinion there were a lot of ideas that were way off the mark, but that’s kind of the point of such a compilation.
Also, I expected at least one person (such as David Deutsch) to make the argument that what we’re calling AI right now is not even in the same avenue as AGI. We have a lot to learn about how the brain works, what it means to be generally intelligent, and how consciousness arises from physical processes. Until we make some big advancements in at least one of those areas I don’t think there’s any way to know if we’ve created one or if we’re even on the right track or how long it might be until we figure it out.
Also, I expected at least one person (such as David Deutsch) to make the argument that what we’re calling AI right now is not even in the same avenue as AGI. We have a lot to learn about how the brain works, what it means to be generally intelligent, and how consciousness arises from physical processes. Until we make some big advancements in at least one of those areas I don’t think there’s any way to know if we’ve created one or if we’re even on the right track or how long it might be until we figure it out.
January 6, 2025
The book aims to provide a broad and diverse collection of viewpoints, but the reality is that many of the ideas discussed have been already been explored thoroughly elsewhere. The collection feels repetitive, offering little in the way of fresh insights or original analysis.
Whether it’s the ethical concerns about AI, the potential for automation to disrupt industries, or the philosophical debates surrounding machine consciousness, the discussions here rarely break new ground.
For anyone new to the topic, the book could serve as a decent introduction. However for anyone else, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the book rehashes well-worn territory without offering much in the way of fresh perspective.
Whether it’s the ethical concerns about AI, the potential for automation to disrupt industries, or the philosophical debates surrounding machine consciousness, the discussions here rarely break new ground.
For anyone new to the topic, the book could serve as a decent introduction. However for anyone else, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the book rehashes well-worn territory without offering much in the way of fresh perspective.
July 8, 2025
Only lightly outdated by its 2019 release, this volume’s benefit is that it’s based on a retrospective re-engagement with Norbert Weiner’s Cybernetics: The Human Use of Human Beings. In this it’s smarter and more theoretically grounded in the technologies and ways of thought that led to our AI moment, and also more able to see into, through, and beyond that moment in ways that are thoughtful rather than pearl-clutching or blindly utopian. The 25 different writers are wonderfully chosen- I would have liked a little more from contemporary theorists of systems theory and technology, but you can’t have everything. A little repetitive on values alignment, but that’s my biggest critique. I will be buying this in paperback to teach from.
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