book review life 3.0

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BEING HUMAN IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

by Max Tegmark ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 29, 2017

Prophesies have a dreadful record, but they are also endlessly fascinating. Readers may balk now and then—Tegmark’s...

The founder of the Future of Life Institute explores one of the most intriguing scientific frontiers, artificial general intelligence, and how humans can grow along with it.

Nowadays, computers read, learn, recognize faces, translate languages, and consult other computers. They don’t yet think, but the contingent of researchers who believe that they will never be smarter than humans is steadily shrinking. In this expert but often wildly speculative rumination, Tegmark (Physics/MIT; Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality , 2014, etc.) joins the fierce debate on what will happen when AGI reaches human level and beyond. He dismisses tabloid scenarios of rampaging robots but warns, “we might create societies that flourish like never before…or a Kafkasque global surveillance state so powerful that it could never be toppled.” The author defines intelligence as the ability to accomplish complex goals. This sounds trivial until he points out that both brains and computers are able to do this. Since computers are improving faster than brains, superhuman AGI will happen, and a beneficial outcome is not guaranteed. Thus, autonomous, self-driving cars will save lives. Autonomous battlefield drones will save soldiers’ lives, but keeping them away from rogue nations, terrorists, and criminals will prove impossible. In the early chapters, Tegmark portrays near futures that range from Utopian to Orwellian. Later in the book, he delivers a vision of the far future: a universe filled with the products of superintelligence, with organic Homo sapiens a distant memory. Throughout, the author lays out his ideas in precisely detailed scenarios. Many read like science fiction; others, such as a fine chapter on the nature of consciousness, are simply good popular science.

Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-101-94659-6

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: June 12, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | BUSINESS | GENERAL BUSINESS

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GOOD ECONOMICS FOR HARD TIMES

by Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 2019

Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.

“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.

It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty , 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0

Page Count: 432

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019

GENERAL CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | GENERAL BUSINESS | CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | BUSINESS | PUBLIC POLICY | ISSUES & CONTROVERSIES | ECONOMICS

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SEEN & HEARD

THE RIGHT STUFF

by Tom Wolfe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 24, 1979

Yes: it's high time for a de-romanticized, de-mythified, close-up retelling of the U.S. Space Program's launching—the inside story of those first seven astronauts. But no: jazzy, jivey, exclamation-pointed, italicized Tom Wolfe "Mr. Overkill" hasn't really got the fight stuff for the job. Admittedly, he covers all the ground. He begins with the competitive, macho world of test pilots from which the astronauts came (thus being grossly overqualified to just sit in a controlled capsule); he follows the choosing of the Seven, the preparations for space flight, the flights themselves, the feelings of the wives; and he presents the breathless press coverage, the sudden celebrity, the glorification. He even throws in some of the technology. But instead of replacing the heroic standard version with the ring of truth, Wolfe merely offers an alternative myth: a surreal, satiric, often cartoony Wolfe-arama that, especially since there isn't a bit of documentation along the way, has one constantly wondering if anything really happened the way Wolfe tells it. His astronauts (referred to as "the brethren" or "The True Brothers") are obsessed with having the "right stuff" that certain blend of guts and smarts that spells pilot success. The Press is a ravenous fool, always referred to as "the eternal Victorian Gent": when Walter Cronkite's voice breaks while reporting a possible astronaut death, "There was the Press the Genteel Gent, coming up with the appropriate emotion. . . live. . . with no prompting whatsoever!" And, most off-puttingly, Wolfe presumes to enter the minds of one and all: he's with near-drowing Gus Grissom ("Cox. . . That face up there!—it's Cox. . . Cox knew how to get people out of here! . . . Cox! . . ."); he's with Betty Grissom angry about not staying at Holiday Inn ("Now. . . they truly owed her"); and, in a crude hatchet-job, he's with John Glenn furious at Al Shepard's being chosen for the first flight, pontificating to the others about their licentious behavior, or holding onto his self-image during his flight ("Oh, yes! I've been here before! And I am immune! I don't get into corners I can't get out of! . . . The Presbyterian Pilot was not about to foul up. His pipeline to dear Lord could not be clearer"). Certainly there's much here that Wolfe is quite right about, much that people will be interested in hearing: the P-R whitewash of Grissom's foul-up, the Life magazine excesses, the inter-astronaut tensions. And, for those who want to give Wolfe the benefit of the doubt throughout, there are emotional reconstructions that are juicily shrill. But most readers outside the slick urban Wolfe orbit will find credibility fatally undermined by the self-indulgent digressions, the stylistic excesses, and the broadly satiric, anti-All-American stance; and, though The Right Stuff has enough energy, sass, and dirt to attract an audience, it mostly suggests that until Wolfe can put his subject first and his preening writing-persona second, he probably won't be a convincing chronicler of anything much weightier than radical chic.

Pub Date: Sept. 24, 1979

ISBN: 0312427565

Page Count: 370

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1979

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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Life 3.0 Review: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

• By Lukas Corey
• January 28, 2018

Intelligence is simply the ability to solve complex tasks—or so says Max Tegmark, founder of the Future of Life Institute and author of the new book Life 3.0: Being Human in an Age of Artificial Intelligence . By his definition, what separates our problem-solving and thinking abilities from those of a supercomputer or a calculator? Are we already inferior to chess-playing computers and statistical models? And most importantly, what makes us human, if not our superior intelligence? Tegmark poses and addresses these questions as he seeks to answer both what it means to maintain our humanity as we develop AI technology and why this issue is important.

According to Tegmark, Life 1.0 was primarily comprised of bacteria working towards replication and survival, and Life 2.0 consisted of animals pursuing goals beyond survival by manipulating their environment. The first two versions were limited by living creatures’ inability to modify themselves, but Life 3.0 does not have the same constraint, Tegmark writes—calling it the “master of its own destiny.” The implications of computers with an awareness of their own abilities and the cognition for self-improvement are massive. For one, as he describes, intelligence is power, and it could be dangerous to give machines with no inherent ethical mind a position of power. Even though these machines would theoretically be under human control, artificial intelligence involves determining the subtasks relevant to successfully completing a larger task, and with no way to predict these subtasks, it may be impossible to program a moral, legal and practical mindset into these machines.

However, Tegmark remains overwhelmingly optimistic, explaining that technology is responsible for nearly all the improvement in quality of life since the stone age and it will undoubtedly continue to be moving forward. In bite-sized chunks of easily-digestible computing and philosophical concepts, Tegmark convincingly illustrates the necessity for further evaluation of our goals as a society and further planning for AI’s incorporation into our world—a discussion that Tegmark says may be the most important conversation of our time.

As either an introduction into the complexity of artificial intelligence or a further exploration of its potential and moral implications, Life 3.0 serves as a magnificent guide with a series of examples and shameless illustrations. Despite these easily-manageable explanations, Tegmark never shies away from an issue due to its complexity. Regardless of one’s field of study or profession, he forces the reader to consider how AI may impact one’s life and what preparation is required. It may be wise, or possibly even intelligent, to pick up a copy on the way home today.

THE NATION'S OLDEST COLLEGE SCIENCE PUBLICATION

The Earthbound Report

Good lives on our one planet

Book review: Life 3.0, by Max Tegmark

The ‘Life  3.0’ here needs a little explanation, so let me quickly outline the three levels of life that it refers to.

• Life 1.0 is the simple biological life of plants and smaller animals. It can survive and replicate, but that’s about it.
• Life 2.0 is a more adaptable form that can learn new skills, update its views of the world, and create culture. It can ‘design its software’, as Tegmark puts it.  Humans are life 2.0.
• Finally, life 3.0 can change both its software and its hardware. This technological form of life would be able to learn and develop, but it could also design its own physical form. It doesn’t exist yet, but it may be on its way.

We haven’t got any further than the title, and I have questions. But let me press on for now and we’ll come back to some of them later.

Max Tegmark is an MIT physics professor and founder of the Future of Life Institute . Life 3.0 is an introduction to the field of AI, a chance to deal with some misconceptions, and an invitation to discuss it. It’s also a safari into some of the biggest possible questions, from what it is to be human, to the end of the universe, or the existence of purpose and beauty.

All of these questions are responses to the possibility of superintelligence. The way it works is this: so far, we have been able to build computers and then progressively improve them. We can create artificial intelligence that can learn and improve when set specific challenges – such as winning at chess. As computer intelligence advances, there will come a point when we can create a computer than can learn and improve itself. It will be able to develop its own programming, refining its own information processing capacity faster than any team of human developers could ever manage. It would rapidly become infinitely smarter than human beings, a hugely powerful super-intelligence. Let loose on the internet, the AI could make money, pay people to do things it needed, and eventually do almost anything it wanted.

But what does an AI want? Does it even have desires or goals? Tegmark devotes many pages to these questions, because that’s the key issue. Contrary to popular sci-fi tropes, the real fear isn’t machines becoming conscious or evil, but machines becoming competent. At that point it’s all about their goals. “The more intelligent and powerful machines get, the more important it becomes that their goals are aligned with ours.”

Get it right, and we could potentially set that AI to solving every global problem you care to mention. It would invent us new technologies, cure diseases, and in Tegmark’s imagination, cast intelligent life across the universe for billions of years into the future. Get it wrong, and there’s no reason why a superintelligent machine would consider our needs, any more than we would consider the life priorities of a flea.

Does that make it most important issue of our time? I can see how silicon valley billionaires and AI developers look at the potential stakes and argue that it is. Except that AI doesn’t exist. It may never exist, and if it ever does, it will be because silicon valley billionaires and AI researchers created it. They could also choose not to create it. Issues such as climate change, poverty, inequality, those are problems right now, not in a theoretical future. Isn’t it a little academic right now?

I also want to argue with Tegmark’s definition of life, which he keeps simple and mechanistic – if it can “retain its complexity and replicate”, it’s alive. Under this definition, AI is alive and could potentially be given rights – the right to exist, to own property, etc. If we were to keep a superintelligent computer for our own purposes, it would be tantamount to slavery. But then, some computer viruses would fit this basic description of life, and I reserve the right to delete them.

Technological life is something that James Lovelock dipped into in his book A Rough Ride to the Future , seeing it as a next step in evolution. Personally, I think it’s very flattering to humanity to imagine that we could give birth to a race of superintelligent machines that live on for billions of years in space. It casts us as the gods in a new creation story, but in the process, it risks devaluing the natural world that we already have. Tegmark’s is a philosophy almost totally disconnected from nature, a digitised vision of the future that transcends the dirt and blood of actual biological life, so confined within the natural cycles of the planet we call home. Why care about the earth if we can live in space forever, running off power stations that harvest energy from black holes?

It may sound like I have some fairly irreconcilable disagreements with Tegmark over his theories, but I suspect he’d welcome that. I get the impression he’s more interested in getting people talking than pushing a particular agenda. Above all, the book is an invitation to join a conversation about AI, and on that level is succeeds spectacularly. It’s written with enthusiasm, courage and curiosity. Tegmark is not afraid of sounding a little crazy, which I applaud. There are thought experiments, diagrams and summaries of key arguments. It’s conversational and constantly throws questions back at the reader: what do you think? What’s best? Where would you draw the line? Life 3.0 is actually really good fun, and it has more extraordinary ideas per page than any book I can remember.

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Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Hardcover – Deckle Edge, Aug. 29 2017

• Print length 384 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Knopf
• Publication date Aug. 29 2017
• Dimensions 16.51 x 2.54 x 24.13 cm
• ISBN-10 1101946598
• ISBN-13 978-1101946596
• See all details

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Product description

About the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf (Aug. 29 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1101946598
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1101946596
• Item weight ‏ : ‎ 744 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.51 x 2.54 x 24.13 cm
• #27 in AI Artificial Life
• #52 in AI Computer Mathematics
• #56 in Robotics

About the author

Max tegmark.

Max Tegmark is an MIT professor who who loves thinking about life's big questions, and has authored 2 books and more than 200 technical papers on topics from cosmology to artificial intelligence. He is known as "Mad Max" for his unorthodox ideas and passion for adventure. He is also president of the Future of Life Institute, which aims to ensure that we develop not only technology, but also the wisdom required to use it beneficially.

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Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Max Tegmark | 4.18 | 14,178 ratings and reviews

Ranked #2 in Artificial Intelligence , Ranked #3 in Robotics — see more rankings .

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of Life 3.0 from the world's leading experts.

Barack Obama Former USA President As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before. Here’s my best of 2018 list. (Source)

Bill Gates CEO/Microsoft Anyone who wants to discuss how artificial intelligence is shaping the world should read this book. (Source)

Elon Musk Founder/SpaceX A compelling guide to the challenges and choices in our quest for a great future of life, intelligence and consciousness—on Earth and beyond. (Source)

Debra Ruh I agree this book is so interesting. It is a must read for anyone interested in #AI and #Humans. #ArtificialIntelligence https://t.co/QnDNMOa7H8 (Source)

K Ken Nakamura I read this great book by @tegmark Highly recommended for all future generation, for everyone should think about AI. Thus in my opinion, since everyone should know about AI, the first half of the book should be required reading in high school. https://t.co/oCvPh1GW4h (Source)

Rankings by Category

Life 3.0 is ranked in the following categories:

• #32 in Abstract
• #9 in Biotechnology
• #93 in Computer
• #58 in Consciousness
• #77 in Data Science
• #9 in Deep Learning
• #11 in Futurism
• #29 in Information Technology
• #74 in Intelligence
• #22 in Machine Learning
• #4 in Mechanical Engineering
• #5 in Project
• #35 in Robot
• #64 in STEM
• #86 in Scientific
• #13 in Singularity
• #47 in Tech
• #15 in Technology

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Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Hardcover – 29 Aug. 2017

DAILY TELEGRAPH AND THE TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 ' This is the most important conversation of our time, and Tegmark's thought-provoking book will help you join it' Stephen Hawking 'This is a rich and visionary book and everyone should read it' The Times We stand at the beginning of a new era. What was once science fiction is fast becoming reality, as AI transforms war, crime, justice, jobs and society-and, even, our very sense of what it means to be human. More than any other technology, AI has the potential to revolutionize our collective future - and there's nobody better situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor and co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, whose work has helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial. In this deeply researched and vitally important new book, Tegmark takes us to the heart of thinking about AI and the human condition, bringing us face to face with the essential questions of our time. How can we grow our prosperity through automation, without leaving people lacking income or purpose? How can we ensure that future AI systems do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will AI help life flourish as never before, or will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, and even, perhaps, replace us altogether? Life 3.0 gives us the tools to join what may be the most important conversation of our time, guiding us through the most controversial issues around AI today -- from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos. What sort of future do you want?

• Print length 384 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Allen Lane
• Publication date 29 Aug. 2017
• Dimensions 16 x 3.3 x 24 cm
• ISBN-10 024123719X
• ISBN-13 978-0241237199
• See all details

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Product description

From the back cover, about the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen Lane; 1st edition (29 Aug. 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 024123719X
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241237199
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16 x 3.3 x 24 cm
• 1,006 in Popular Maths
• 3,910 in Computer Science (Books)
• 7,742 in Engineering & Technology

About the author

Max tegmark.

Max Tegmark is an MIT professor who who loves thinking about life's big questions, and has authored 2 books and more than 200 technical papers on topics from cosmology to artificial intelligence. He is known as "Mad Max" for his unorthodox ideas and passion for adventure. He is also president of the Future of Life Institute, which aims to ensure that we develop not only technology, but also the wisdom required to use it beneficially.

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Customers say

Customers find the introduction brilliant, interesting, and insightful when it comes to robots and AI. They also describe the conversation as concise, timely, and interesting. Readers also find the book easy to understand, complex, and rich.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the introduction of the book brilliant, interesting, and insightful. They also say it's the best book on AI out there right now. Readers also say the book is good reading in good condition.

"...in the universe, and he communicates this well in this fascinating and readable book ...." Read more

"Im a uni student studying artificial intelligence and it was a good book , i finished within 2 days it didn’t go into a lot of detail but perfect if..." Read more

" Really good , recommended for anyone who wants to learn more about this" Read more

"...It is a very thought provoking book , which should be read by everyone, not just those to whom we usually delegate the shaping of our collective..." Read more

Customers find the conversation very insightful, interesting, and a good intro to different facets of AI. They also say it's intensely rewarding, complex, and rich.

"...Throughout, he keeps the discussion accessible through use of real-world examples and possible scenarios that show how very good – or very bad –..." Read more

"...Tegmark has written a compelling challenge analysis of the choices facing us as we create ever more powerful AI super-computers; will they usher in..." Read more

"While "Life 3.0" offers an engaging exploration into the potential futures of superintelligent AI, providing readers with vivid scenarios that are..." Read more

"...Still an insightful read , just not the most straightforward for a general audience...." Read more

Customers find the book easy to understand, passionately written, and enjoyable. They also say the level of detail is impressive and the book is not filled with computer jargon. Readers also mention that the treatment throughout is easy to follow and engaging.

"...The treatment throughout is easy-to-follow and engaging – in places, as if you are reading a scientifically motivated argument carefully crafted as..." Read more

"...Tegmark covers concepts from computing to cosmology with extraordinary clarity , whilst reminding us that many of these ideas were created by science..." Read more

"...It is simply written but covers complex issues, so be prepared to read, gain understanding, reflect and then come back to read further...." Read more

"Just a quick overviewThe level of detail is impressive , definitely makes you question a lot about the way we think and how that relates..." Read more

Customers are mixed about the complexity of the book. Some find it extensive and detailed, while others say it's redundant and confusing.

" Covers a large number of topics from, of course, AI to the nature of the universe to ethics and philosophy...." Read more

"...The maths in this book can be baffling , especially to those of us with no head for numbers, but the prose amply describes the problems posed and..." Read more

" Excellent in-depth coverage of possible AI futures and what we should be doing now to prevent the demise of Mankind when the Singularity arrives...." Read more

"Expansive & detailed coverage of multiple aspects to consider in relation to Artificial Intelligence...." Read more

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Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark review – we are ignoring the AI apocalypse

Yuval Noah Harari responds to an account of the artificial intelligence era and argues we are profoundly ill-prepared to deal with future technology

A rtificial intelligence will probably be the most important agent of change in the 21st century. It will transform our economy, our culture, our politics and even our own bodies and minds in ways most people can hardly imagine. If you hear a scenario about the world in 2050 and it sounds like science fiction, it is probably wrong; but if you hear a scenario about the world in 2050 and it does not sound like science fiction, it is certainly wrong.

Technology is never deterministic: it can be used to create very different kinds of society. In the 20th century, trains, electricity and radio were used to fashion Nazi and communist dictatorships, but also to foster liberal democracies and free markets. In the 21st century, AI will open up an even wider spectrum of possibilities. Deciding which of these to realise may well be the most important choice humankind will have to make in the coming decades.

This choice is not a matter of engineering or science. It is a matter of politics. Hence it is not something we can leave to Silicon Valley – it should be among the most important items on our political agenda. Unfortunately, AI has so far hardly registered on our political radar. It has not been a major subject in any election campaign, and most parties, politicians and voters seem to have no opinion about it. This is largely because most people have only a very dim and limited understanding of machine learning, neural networks and artificial intelligence. (Most generally held ideas about AI come from SF movies such as The Terminator and The Matrix .) Without a better understanding of the field, we cannot comprehend the dilemmas we are facing: when science becomes politics, scientific ignorance becomes a recipe for political disaster.

Max Tegmark’s Life 3.0 tries to rectify the situation. Written in an accessible and engaging style, and aimed at the general public, the book offers a political and philosophical map of the promises and perils of the AI revolution. Instead of pushing any one agenda or prediction, Tegmark seeks to cover as much ground as possible, reviewing a wide variety of scenarios concerning the impact of AI on the job market, warfare and political  systems.

Life 3.0 does a good job of clarifying basic terms and key debates, and in dispelling common myths. While science fiction has caused many people to worry about evil robots, for instance, Tegmark rightly emphasises that the real problem is with the unforeseen consequences of developing highly competent AI. Artificial intelligence need not be evil and need not be encased in a robotic frame in order to wreak havoc. In Tegmark’s words, “the real risk with artificial general intelligence isn’t malice but competence. A superintelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if those goals aren’t aligned with ours, we’re in trouble.”

As for the obsession with robots, we should remind ourselves that a surveillance system – one that constantly tracks people and uses Big Data algorithms to analyse their behaviour and personality – can destroy our privacy, our individuality and our democratic institutions without any need for Terminator-style killer machines.

Naturally enough Tegmark’s map is not complete, and in particular it does not give enough attention to the confluence of AI with biotechnology. The 21st century will be shaped not by infotech alone, but rather by the merger of infotech with biotech. AI will be of crucial importance precisely because it will give us the computing power necessary to hack the human organism. Long before the appearance of superintelligent computers, our society will be completely transformed by rather crude and dumb AI that is nevertheless good enough to hack humans, predict their feelings, make choices on their behalf, and manipulate their desires.

Once an algorithm knows you better than you know yourself, institutions such as democratic elections and free markets become obsolete, and authority shifts from humans to algorithms. Instead of fearing assassin robots that try to terminate us, we should be concerned about hordes of bots who know how to press our emotional buttons better than our mother, and use this uncanny ability to try to sell us something. It might be apocalypse by shopping.

Yet the real problem of Tegmark’s book is that it soon bumps up against the limits of present-day political debates. The AI revolution turns many philosophical problems into practical political questions and forces us to engage in “philosophy with a deadline” (as the philosopher Nick Bostrom called it). Philosophers have been arguing about consciousness and free will for thousands of years, without reaching a consensus. This mattered little in the age of Plato or Descartes, because in those days the only place you could create superintelligences was in your imagination. Yet in the 21st century, these debates are shifting from philosophy faculties to departments of engineering and computer science. And whereas philosophers are patient people, engineers are impatient, and hedge fund investors are more restless still. When Tesla engineers come to design a self-driving car, they cannot wait while philosophers argue about its ethics.

Consequently Tegmark soon leaves behind familiar debates about the job market, privacy and weapons of mass destruction, and ventures into realms that hitherto were associated with philosophy, theology and mythology rather than politics. This can hardly be avoided. For the creation of superintelligent AI is an event on a global or even cosmic rather than a national level. For 4bn years life on Earth evolved according to the laws of natural selection and organic chemistry. Now science is about to usher in the era of non-organic life evolving by intelligent design, and such life may well eventually leave Earth to spread throughout the galaxy. The choices we make today may have a profound impact on the trajectory of life for countless millennia and far beyond our own planet.

Though Tegmark is probably correct in taking things to this cosmic level, I fear that many, if not most, of his prospective readers will not follow him there. Our political systems, and indeed our individual minds, are just not built to think on such a scale. Current political mechanisms barely manage to make decisions on the scale of decades – how can they make decisions on the scale of millennia? Who has time to worry about AI taking over the planet when you have to deal with Donald Trump and Brexit ?

In the case of the AI revolution, as so often before in human history, we will probably make the most profound decisions on the basis of myopic short-term considerations. The future of life on Earth will be decided by small-time politicians spreading fears about terrorist threats, by shareholders worried about quarterly revenues and by marketing experts trying to maximise customer experience.

Yuval Noah Harari’s latest book, Homo Deus , is published by Vintage.

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Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

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Reviewed on: 07/10/2017

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Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence [Paperback] Tegmark, Max Paperback – 5 July 2018

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' This is the most important conversation of our time, and Tegmark's thought-provoking book will help you join it' Stephen Hawking THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER. DAILY TELEGRAPH AND THE TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR SELECTED AS ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2018 AI is the future - but what will that future look like? Will superhuman intelligence be our slave, or become our god? Taking us to the heart of the latest thinking about AI, Max Tegmark, the MIT professor whose work has helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial, separates myths from reality, utopias from dystopias, to explore the next phase of our existence. How can we grow our prosperity through automation, without leaving people lacking income or purpose? How can we ensure that future AI systems do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will AI help life flourish as never before, or will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, and even, perhaps, replace us altogether? 'This is a rich and visionary book and everyone should read it' The Times

• Print length 384 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Penguin
• Publication date 5 July 2018
• Dimensions 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.31 cm
• ISBN-10 9780141981802
• ISBN-13 978-0141981802
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0141981806
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (5 July 2018)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780141981802
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0141981802
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 270 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.31 cm
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ United Kingdom
• #6 in Artificial Intelligence
• #13 in Computer Science Books
• #183 in Sciences, Technology & Medicine (Books)

About the author

Max tegmark.

Max Tegmark is an MIT professor who who loves thinking about life's big questions, and has authored 2 books and more than 200 technical papers on topics from cosmology to artificial intelligence. He is known as "Mad Max" for his unorthodox ideas and passion for adventure. He is also president of the Future of Life Institute, which aims to ensure that we develop not only technology, but also the wisdom required to use it beneficially.

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Customers find the book's content thought-provoking, practical, and interesting. They also say the first few chapters are good. Opinions differ on the writing style, with some finding it well-written and others saying it's too complicated and more like a PhD thesis.

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Book review: life 3.0: being human in the age of artificial intelligence.

My review of Max Tegmark's latest book Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence about issues of AI and superintelligence. Discusses the strengths and weaknesses section by section while giving a summary of the topics covered.

• Computers & Technology
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Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

How will artificial intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society, and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology - and there's nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who's helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial.

How can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give today's kids? How can we make future AI systems more robust so that they do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning, or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle?

What sort of future do you want? This book empowers you to join what may be the most important conversation of our time. It doesn't shy away from the full range of viewpoints or from the most controversial issues - from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness, and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos.

• Listening Length 13 hours and 29 minutes
• Author Max Tegmark
• Narrator Rob Shapiro
• Audible release date August 29, 2017
• Language English
• Publisher Random House Audio
• ASIN B0742JQF31
• Version Unabridged
• Program Type Audiobook
• See all details

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Customers find the book very informative, creative, and rational. They also say the plot is entertaining and disturbing. Readers describe the content as extremely detailed and a comfortable conversation. Opinions differ on readability, with some finding it very readable and approachable, while others say it's not an easy read and self-indulgently complex.

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Customers find the book very informative, fascinating, and varied. They also say the content is exciting and dangerous. Readers praise the author as brilliant, creative, and rational. They say the book provides an expansive view of the possibilities of AI and will help purge the pessimism that comes with understanding what's.

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