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Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

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Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

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Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101970317
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/31/2018
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	63,232
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

MAX TEGMARK is an MIT professor who has authored more than 200 technical papers on topics from cosmology to artificial intelligence. As president of the Future of Life Institute, he worked with Elon Musk to launch the first-ever grants program for AI safety research. He has been featured in dozens of science documentaries. His passion for ideas, adventure, and entrepreneurship is infectious.

Read an Excerpt

THE THREE STAGES OF LIFE
(Continues…)

Excerpted from "Life 3.0"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Max Tegmark.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Acknowledgments xi

Prelude: The Tale of the Omega Team 3

1 Welcome to the Most Important Conversation of Our Time 22

A Brief History of Complexity

The Three Stages of Life

Controversies

Misconceptions

The Road Ahead

2 Matter Turns Intelligent 49

What Is Intelligence?

What Is Memory?

What Is Computation?

What Is Learning?

3 The Near Future: Breakthroughs, Bugs, Laws, Weapons and Jobs 82

Breakthroughs

Bugs vs. Robust AI

Laws

Weapons

Jobs and Wages

Human-Level Intelligence?

4 Intelligence Explosion? 134

Totalitarianism

Prometheus Takes Over the World

Slow Takeoff and Multipolar Scenarios

Cyborgs and Uploads

What Will Actually Happen?

5 Aftermath: The Next 10,000 Years

Libertarian Utopia

Benevolent Dictator

Egalitarian Utopia

Gatekeeper

Protector God

Enslaved God

Conquerors

Descendants

Zookeeper

1984

Reversion

Self-Destruction

What Do You Want?

6 Our Cosmic Endowment: The Next Billion Years and Beyond 203

Making the Most of Your Resources

Gaining Resources Through Cosmic Settlement

Cosmic Hierarchies

Outlook

7 Goals 249

Physics: The Origin of Goals

Biology: The Evolution of Goals

Psychology: The Pursuit of and Rebellion Against Goals

Engineering: Outsourcing Goals

Friendly AI: Aligning Goals

Ethics: Choosing Goals

Ultimate Goals?

8 Consciousness 281

Who Cares?

What Is Consciousness?

What's the Problem?

Is Consciousness Beyond Science?

Experimental Clues About Consciousness

Theories of Consciousness

Controversies of Consciousness

How Might AI Consciousness Feel?

Meaning

Epilogue: The Tale of the FLI Team 316

Notes 337

Index 349

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Editorial Reviews

Anyone who wants to discuss how artificial intelligence is shaping the world should read this book. Tegmark, a physicist by training, takes a scientific approach. He doesn’t spend a lot of time saying we should do this or that, and as a result, Life 3.0 offers a terrific baseline of knowledge on the subject.” —Bill Gates, “10 Favorite Books about Technology”

“Original, accessible, and provocative. . . . Tegmark successfully gives clarity to the many faces of AI, creating a highly readable book that complements The Second Machine Age’s economic perspective on the near-term implications of recent accomplishments in AI and the more detailed analysis of how we might get from where we are today to AGI and even the superhuman AI in Superintelligence. . . . At one point, Tegmark quotes Emerson: ‘Life is a journey, not a destination.’ The same may be said of the book itself. Enjoy the ride, and you will come out the other end with a greater appreciation of where people might take technology and themselves in the years ahead.” —Science

“Lucid and engaging, it has much to offer the general reader. Mr. Tegmark’s explanation of how electronic circuitry—or a human brain—could produce something as evanescent and immaterial as thought is both elegant and enlightening. But the idea that machine-based superintelligence could somehow run amok is fiercely resisted by many computer scientists. . . . Yet the notion enjoys more credence today than a few years ago, partly thanks to Mr. Tegmark.” —Wall Street Journal

“This is a compelling guide to the challenges and choices in our quest for a great future of life, intelligence and consciousness—on Earth and beyond.” —Elon Musk, Founder, CEO and CTO of SpaceX and co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors

“All of us—not only scientists, industrialists and generals—should ask ourselves what can we do now to improve the chances of reaping the benefits of future AI and avoiding the risks. This is the most important conversation of our time, and Tegmark’s thought-provoking book will help you join it.” —Professor Stephen Hawking, Director of Research, Cambridge Centre for Theoretical Cosmology

“Tegmark’s new book is a deeply thoughtful guide to the most important conversation of our time, about how to create a benevolent future civilization as we merge our biological thinking with an even greater intelligence of our own creation.” —“Being an eminent physicist and the leader of the Future of Life Institute has given Max Tegmark a unique vantage point from which to give the reader an inside scoop on the most important issue of our time, in a way that is approachable without being dumbed down.” —Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype

“This is an exhilarating book that will change the way we think about AI, intelligence, and the future of humanity.” —Bart Selman, Professor of Computer Science, Cornell University

“The unprecedented power unleashed by artificial intelligence means the next decade could be humanity’s best—or worst. Tegmark has written the most insightful and just plain fun exploration of AI’s implications that I’ve ever read. If you haven’t been exposed to Tegmark’s joyful mind yet, you’re in for a huge treat.” —Professor Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and co-author of The Second Machine Age

“Tegmark seeks to facilitate a much wider conversation about what kind of future we, as a species, would want to create. Though the topics he covers—AI, cosmology, values, even the nature of conscious experience—can be fairly challenging, he presents them in an unintimidating manner that invites the reader to form her own opinions.” —Nick Bostrom, Founder of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, author of Superintelligence

“I was riveted by this book. The transformational consequences of AI may soon be upon us—but will they be utopian or catastrophic? The jury is out, but this enlightening, lively and accessible book by a distinguished scientist helps us to assess the odds.” —Professor Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, cosmology pioneer, author of Our Final Hour

"In [Tegmark's] magnificent brain, each fact or idea appears to slip neatly into its appointed place like another little silver globe in an orrery the size of the universe. There are spaces for Kant, Cold War history and Dostoyevsky, for the behaviour of subatomic particles and the neuroscience of consciousness. . . . Tegmark describes the present, near-future and distant possibilities of AI through a series of highly original thought experiments. . . . Tegmark is not personally wedded to any of these ideas. He asks only that his readers make up their own minds. In the meantime, he has forged a remarkable consensus on the need for AI researchers to work on the mind-bogglingly complex task of building digital chains that are strong and durable enough to hold a superintelligent machine to our bidding. . . . This is a rich and visionary book and everyone should read it." —The Times (UK)

“Life 3.0 is far from the last word on AI and the future, but it provides a fascinating glimpse of the hard thinking required.” —Stuart Russell, Nature

“Tegmark’s book, along with Nick Bostrom’s Superintelligence, stands out among the current books about our possible AI futures. . . . Tegmark explains brilliantly many concepts in fields from computing to cosmology, writes with intellectual modesty and subtlety, does the reader the important service of defining his terms clearly, and rightly pays homage to the creative minds of science-fiction writers who were, of course, addressing these kinds of questions more than half a century ago. It’s often very funny, too.” —The Telegraph (UK)

“Exhilarating. . . . MIT physicist Tegmark surveys advances in artificial intelligence such as self-driving cars and Jeopardy-winning software, but focuses on the looming prospect of ‘recursive self-improvement’—AI systems that build smarter versions of themselves at an accelerating pace until their intellects surpass ours. Tegmark’s smart, freewheeling discussion leads to fascinating speculations on AI-based civilizations spanning galaxies and eons. . . . Engrossing.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

10/02/2017
MIT physicist Tegmark explores the pivotal role that artificial intelligence will play in the future of humankind. From chores around the house and what employment will look like to how death might be rethought and even what it will mean to live among the stars, Tegmark considers what self-replicating and self-improving intelligent beings will mean for humans from many angles. Shapiro has a gentle and nonchalant voice that moves effortlessly through technical descriptions of AI technology and its potential upheaval of society. His steady but deliberate narration helps listeners maintain focus and feel comfortable with a variety of topics that Tegmark touches upon, such as how AI works and what it could mean for law enforcement, employment, and political organization. Even as Tegmark veers toward the philosophical, Shapiro keeps listeners attuned. A Knopf hardcover. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Audio

07/10/2017
The robot takeover will ignite an explosion of “awe-inspiring” life even if humans don’t survive, according to this exhilarating, demoralizing primer. MIT physicist Tegmark (Our Mathematical Universe) surveys advances in artificial intelligence such as self-driving cars and Jeopardy-winning software, but focuses on the looming prospect of “recursive self-improvement”—AI systems that build smarter versions of themselves at an accelerating pace until their intellects surpass ours. Tegmark’s smart, freewheeling discussion leads to fascinating speculations on AI-based civilizations spanning galaxies and eons—and knotty questions: Will our digital overlords be conscious? Will they coddle us with abundance and virtual-reality idylls or exterminate us with bumblebee-size attack robots? While digerati may be enthralled by the idea of superintelligent civilizations where “beautiful theorems” serve as the main economic resource, Tegmark’s future will strike many as a one in which, at best, humans are dependent on AI-powered technology and, at worst, are extinct. His call for strong controls on AI systems sits awkwardly beside his acknowledgment that controlling such godlike entities will be almost impossible. Love it or hate it, it’s an engrossing forecast. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

09/15/2017
Tegmark (physics, MIT; Our Mathematical Universe) is a cofounder (along with his wife and colleagues) of the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, which focuses on improving the future through technology, an idea that inspired the creation of this book. The narrative begins with a fictional tale of a team that creates an artificial intelligence (AI) called Prometheus, which has the ability to learn and adapt and possibly take over multiple industries. The story of Prometheus is brought up again in later chapters when human-level AI is discussed and leads into what the author deems the most important conversation of our time. According to the author, AI has real-world applications that are already being implemented such as self-driving cars, computer viruses, manufacturing robots, and even weaponry. These technologies are discussed along with the possible future of the next billion years. The technical and scientific reading material is divided by illustrations and graphs, and Tegmark provides bulleted key points at the end of every chapter. VERDICT A must-read for those entrenched in technology and future AI applications; however, this work is not for the casual reader.—Natalie Browning, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Coll. Lib., Richmond, VASensible tips for new homeowners, reining in an unstoppable flame & the freedom of mustangs

Library Journal

It's hard to believe that a machine could replace Rob Shapiro's effective, nuanced narration of this audiobook, but then again it was once hard to believe there would be driverless cars and voice-activated homes. We are witnessing the baby steps of artificial intelligence (AI) research. But what happens when machines become more intelligent than humans? Will malicious red–eyed robots enslave humanity (not likely), or will man and machine become one ("the singularity"—or as it’s known by nonbelievers, "the rapture of the Geeks")? Author Max Tegmark doesn't predict the future, but he lays out AI in an engaging style, particularly in the use of entertaining scenarios, read with flair by narrator Shapiro. R.W.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2017 - AudioFile

It's hard to believe that a machine could replace Rob Shapiro's effective, nuanced narration of this audiobook, but then again it was once hard to believe there would be driverless cars and voice-activated homes. We are witnessing the baby steps of artificial intelligence (AI) research. But what happens when machines become more intelligent than humans? Will malicious red–eyed robots enslave humanity (not likely), or will man and machine become one ("the singularity"—or as it’s known by nonbelievers, "the rapture of the Geeks")? Author Max Tegmark doesn't predict the future, but he lays out AI in an engaging style, particularly in the use of entertaining scenarios, read with flair by narrator Shapiro. R.W.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2017 - AudioFile

2017-06-13
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. Prophesies have a dreadful record, but they are also endlessly fascinating. Readers may balk now and then—Tegmark's solutions to inevitable mass unemployment are a stretch—but most will find the narrative irresistible.

Kirkus Reviews

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

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