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Monday, July 16, 2018

Byron Reese: The Fourth Age, Smart Robots, Conscious Computers and the Future of Humanity


Currently reading, especially interesting regards the influence of smart systems on jobs and work.  What will be out new role in this new age be?   Should we embrace or feat the age?  Nicely done

 The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity   by Byron Reese  They write: 

Our world up to recent times has been a Third Age world. While incredible innovation has occurred along the way, such as the development of steam and electric power and the invention of movable type, these were not fundamental changes in the nature of being human the way language, agriculture and writing were. With the exceptions of computers and robots, the innovations that we have observed have been evolutionary more than revolutionary. This is not to diminish them in the least. Printing changed the world profoundly, but it was simply a cheaper way to do something that we already could do. Detailed schematics of a biplane would have made sense to Da Vinci. But computers and robots are different. If we use them to outsource thought and motion, the very essence we are, then that is a real change, a Fourth Age.

“Reese frames the deepest questions of our time in clear language that invites the reader to make their own choices. Using 100,000 years of human history as his guide, he explores the issues around artificial general intelligence, robots,  consciousness, automation, the end of work, abundance, and immortality. As he does so, Reese reveals himself to be an optimist and urges us to use technology to build a better world.”  — Bob Metcalfe, UT Austin Professor of Innovation, Ethernet inventor, 3Com founder

“In The Fourth Age, Byron Reese offers the reader something much more valuable than what to think about Artificial Intelligence and robotics—he focuses on  HOW to think about these technologies, and the ways in which they will change the world forever. If you only read just one book about the AI revolution, make it this one.”  — John Mackey, co-founder and CEO, Whole Foods Market  .... " 

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