Intelligence Unbound: The Future of Uploaded and Machine Minds - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1118736281 ISBN 13: 9781118736289

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014

Synopsis

Intelligence Unbound explores the prospects, promises, and potential dangers of machine intelligence and uploaded minds in a collection of state-of-the-art essays from internationally recognized philosophers, AI researchers, science fiction authors, and theorists.

• Compelling and intellectually sophisticated exploration of the latest thinking on Artificial Intelligence and machine minds
• Features contributions from an international cast of philosophers, Artificial Intelligence researchers, science fiction authors, and more
• Offers current, diverse perspectives on machine intelligence and uploaded minds, emerging topics of tremendous interest
• Illuminates the nature and ethics of tomorrow’s machine minds―and of the convergence of humans and machines―to consider the pros and cons of a variety of intriguing possibilities
• Considers classic philosophical puzzles as well as the latest topics debated by scholars
• Covers a wide range of viewpoints and arguments regarding the prospects of uploading and machine intelligence, including proponents and skeptics, pros and cons

About this title

About the Author

Russell Blackford is an Australian philosopher, literary critic, and author, based at the University of Newcastle, NSW. He is editor-in-chief of The Journal of Evolution and Technology, and his books include Freedom of Religion and the Secular State (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).

Damien Broderick is an award-winning Australian science and fiction writer, editor and critical theorist. He has written or edited some 60 books, including The Spike (revised, ed. 2002), the first full-length treatment of the technological Singularity, and Year Million (ed. 2008), about the deep future.

From the Back Cover

Someday in the not-too-distant future, the greatest minds on Earth might be intelligent machines – conventional or quantum logic programs running on immensely powerful and ever smaller computers. But can human minds bound by biology possibly keep up? And will such artificial or enhanced minds turn against humanity, or will they join us in the search for deeper understanding and meaning? Might our own minds be uploaded into "machines of loving grace" – albeit ones working at the speed of light? These provocative questions are addressed in Intelligence Unbound, a collection of state-of-the-art essays that explore the prospects, promises, and potential dangers of machine intelligence and uploaded minds. By deeply probing the nature and ethics of tomorrow's machine minds – and the possible convergence of humans and machines – the essays consider a variety of intriguing possibilities that could emerge from the inexorable advances of science and engineering. The essays are contributed by a wide range of innovative thinkers, including top scholars in the philosophy of consciousness, experts in AI development, and neuroscientists. All provide intriguing insights – with the occasional dash of skepticism – into the realms of machine intelligence and uploaded minds. Scholarly and thought-provoking, Intelligence Unbound offers a serious and sobering glimpse into the possible future of humankind and machine.

From the Inside Flap

Someday in the not-too-distant future, the greatest minds on Earth might be intelligent machines – conventional or quantum logic programs running on immensely powerful and ever smaller computers. But can human minds bound by biology possibly keep up? And will such artificial or enhanced minds turn against humanity, or will they join us in the search for deeper understanding and meaning? Might our own minds be uploaded into "machines of loving grace" – albeit ones working at the speed of light? These provocative questions are addressed in Intelligence Unbound, a collection of state-of-the-art essays that explore the prospects, promises, and potential dangers of machine intelligence and uploaded minds. By deeply probing the nature and ethics of tomorrow's machine minds – and the possible convergence of humans and machines – the essays consider a variety of intriguing possibilities that could emerge from the inexorable advances of science and engineering. The essays are contributed by a wide range of innovative thinkers, including top scholars in the philosophy of consciousness, experts in AI development, and neuroscientists. All provide intriguing insights – with the occasional dash of skepticism – into the realms of machine intelligence and uploaded minds. Scholarly and thought-provoking, Intelligence Unbound offers a serious and sobering glimpse into the possible future of humankind and machine.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1118736281
• ISBN 13: 9781118736289
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 344
• Editor: Blackford Russell, Broderick Damien