Robot: The Future of Flesh And Machines (Penguin Press Science S.) - Softcover

Brooks, Rodney A

3.63

172 ratings by Goodreads

9780140297188: Robot: The Future of Flesh And Machines (Penguin Press Science S.)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140297189 ISBN 13: 9780140297188

Publisher: Penguin, 2003

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"I have devoted my life to building intelligent robots, and these robots are just now starting to emerge from labs out in the real world. As these robots get smarter, some people worry about what will happen when they get really smart. Will they decide that we humans are useless and stupid and take over the world from us? I have recently come to realise that this will never happen. Because there won't be any of us (people) for them (pure robots) to take over from"
RODNEY A. BROOKS

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Review:

For someone who runs MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory--one of the world's leading AI institutes--Robot author Rodney Brooks is remarkably laid-back about the business of intelligence.

In fact, he doesn't rate it very highly. In an account of a life's work remarkable for its wit, its humility and its generosity (Brooks's colleagues and students are very well served), a running theme is the conspicuous impossibility of building intelligence into machines that are otherwise not lifelike. Brooks bemoans those experimental robots which "used reasoning in situations where real animals have direct links from perception to action".

His own approach is much less abstruse, much easier to understand and communicate--and much more radical. Brooks's robots aren't supposed to think. They're supposed to feel. They have emotions. 'Just sensing and action. This is all I would build, and completely leave out what traditionally was thought of as the intelligence of an artificial intelligence.'

The result of his work is a living menagerie of extraordinary philosophical importance. Wander through Brooks's 'zoo', and you may find your own biological specialness challenged. More important, though, is what these lovingly detailed experiments say about the body (whatever it's made from), about feelings, and about the incalculably messy nature of the world.

Rarely, in a literature besotted with abstraction and disembodiment, do we come across a life-enhancing book. This is it.--Simon Ings

Synopsis:

The world is changing at an ever-increasing pace. Most of us have accepted the idea that the World Wide Web is now an important part of life and here to stay. Where will technology take us next? What is on the horizon? This text speaks to those who think about humanity's relationship to technology and our place in the world, discussing what will happen when intelligent robots become too smart.

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