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Artificial intelligence (AI) helps choose what books you buy, what movies you see, and even who you date. It puts the "smart" in your smartphone and soon it will drive your car. It makes most of the trades on Wall Street, and controls vital energy, water, and transportation infrastructure. But artificial intelligence can also threaten our existence. In as little as a decade, AI could match and then surpass human intelligence. Corporations and government agencies are pouring billions into achieving AI's Holy Grail -- human-level intelligence. Once AI has attained it, scientists argue, it will have survival drives much like our own. We may be forced to compete with a rival more cunning, more powerful, and more alien that we can imagine. Through profiles of tech visionaries, industry watchdogs, and groundbreaking AI systems, this book explores the perils of the heedless pursuit of advanced AI. Until now, human intelligence has had no rival. Can we coexist with beings whose intelligence dwarfs our own And will they allow us to"The Internet is usually considered a breakthrough in technological--and even social--progress. The promises that it holds for our future are discussed in terms of an Utopian vision--intelligent, helpful robots; enhanced brain function; disease-and-famine ridding nanotechnology, and other positive benefits. But there's another, rarely discussed and far darker possibility. As Our Final Invention argues, we may be racing towards our own annihilation, as the military, academia, and corporate advances in artificial intelligence may lead to an uncontrollable new lifeform far smarter and more powerful than we can imagine. Advanced artificial intelligence might seem like a far-out science fiction story, but it is actually far closer than most of us realize. Bringing together the ideas of experts in a thoroughly accessible way and exposing the dark side to the vision presented in The Singularity is Near, Our Final Invention explores how the convergence of current developments in technology may lead to a catastrophic outcome within the next few years"-- Read more...
About the Author
DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER, SPEAKER, AND AUTHOR OF 'OUR FINAL INVENTION'
For about 20 years I've written and produced documentaries, one of the most rewarding ways of telling stories ever invented. It's a privilege to plunge into different cultures and eras and put together deeply human narratives that can be enjoyed by everyone. My clients include National Geographic, Discovery, PBS, and other broadcasters in the US and Europe.
My long fascination with Artificial Intelligence came to a head in 2000, when I interviewed inventor Ray Kurzweil, roboticist Rodney Brooks, and sci-fi legend Arthur C. Clarke. Kurzweil and Brooks were casually optimistic about a future they considered inevitable - a time when we will share the planet with intelligent machines. "It won't be some alien invasion of robots coming over the hill," Kurzweil told me, "because they'll be made by us." In his compound in Sri Lanka, Clarke wasn't so sure. "I think it's just a matter of time before machines dominate mankind," he said. "Intelligence will win out."
Intelligence, not charm or beauty, is the special power that enables humans to dominate Earth. That dominance wasn't won by a huge intellectual margin either, but by a relatively small one. It doesn't take much to take it all. Now, propelled by a powerful economic wind, scientists are developing intelligent machines. Each year intelligence grows closer to shuffling off its biological coil and taking on an infinitely faster and more powerful synthetic one. But before machine intelligence matches our own, we have a chance. We must develop a science for understanding and coexisting with smart, even superintelligent machines. If we fail, we'll be stuck in an unwinnable dilemma. We'll have to rely on the kindness of machines to survive. Will machines naturally love us and protect us?
Should we bet our existence on it?
Our Final Invention is about what can go wrong with the development and application of advanced AI. It's about AI's catastrophic downside, one you'll never hear about from Google, Apple, IBM, and DARPA. I think it's the most important conversation of our time, and I hope you'll join in.
