Possible Minds, John Brockman
Possible Minds, John Brockman
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Possible Minds
Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI

Author: John Brockman

Narrator: Various

Unabridged: 10 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 02/19/2019


Synopsis

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.

Read by Jason Culp, Rob Shapiro, Vikas Adam, Will Damron, and Kathleen McInerney

About The Author

John Brockman is a cultural impresario whose career has encompassed the avant-garde art world, science, books, software, and the Internet. The founder and publisher of the online salon Edge (www.edge.org), he is the editor of the Edge Question book series, which includes This Idea is Brilliant, Know This, This Idea Must Die, This Explains Everything, This Will Make You Smarter, and other volumes. Among his books as author are The Third Culture and By the Late John Brockman. He is the founder of the international literary and software agency Brockman, Inc. and lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Vikrama on July 09, 2018

I had particularly low expectations from this book. Interviews and essays in response to questions can come up either great or total duds. The previous book from the author 'This Will Make You Smarter' was a disappointment. This one is not quite so and there are cognitive biases at play here. First,......more

Goodreads review by Javier on January 20, 2019

Primera lectura del año y una muy estimulante en términos intelectuales. Puros rockstars de la psicología (de esa que en Chile se estudia poco because pseudociencias *mira de reojo a los psicoanalistas*) presentando sus más recientes investigaciones y descubrimientos. Encontré el libro de casualidad......more

Goodreads review by Bruce on July 24, 2017

I first read this in 2012, a year after it was published. I have come to love all of the books of this type put out by edge.org, and editor John Brockman. While this early entry is still interesting, the longer and less focused essays and interviews detract from the overall effect. Still definitely......more

Goodreads review by Morgan on March 03, 2013

Loved it. Concise and thought provoking essays and interviews by some of the more interesting and creative players in the neuroscience, philosophy and psych scene (e.g. Pinker, Haidt and Lakoff, LeDoux, Dehaen). Some of the essays were better than others, but over all, great stuff. I think of Brockm......more

Goodreads review by Ninakix on January 01, 2014

I think I'm a sucker for this kind of book. And the editing here is particularly good - it's composed of a bunch of chapters, some written essays but a large majority are actually interviews. They are conducted in such a way that you don't need prior knowledge of the subject matter, but give a real......more


Quotes

“A fascinating map of AI’s likely future and an overview of the difficult choices that will shape it. . . . A sense of respect for the human mind and humility about its limitations runs through the essays in Possible Minds.” Foreign Affairs
 
“Pithy essays on artificial intelligence. . . . Readers . . . will not find a better introduction than this book.” —Kirkus

“While the [Possible Minds] authors disagree on the answers, they agree on the major question: what dangers might AI present to humankind? Within that framework, the essays offer a host of novel ideas. . . . Enlightening, entertaining, and exciting reading.” —Publishers Weekly