Talking to Robots: How Humans and Machines Will Live Together in the Future - Softcover

Duncan, David Ewing

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1472142926 ISBN 13: 9781472142924

Publisher: Robinson, 2022

Synopsis

'If you want to see what that future might look like, Duncan's book is a fun place to start'
NPR

'Intensely readable, downright terrifying, and surprisingly uplifting'
Vanity Fair

'5 books not to miss . . . A fascinating work of imaginative futurology'
USA Today


One of Time magazine's '32 Books You Need to Read This Summer' - 'a riveting read'

One of David Baldacci and Elizabeth Acevedo's best summer reads, on USA Today's Today programme

'A refreshing variation on the will-intelligent-robots-bring-Armageddon genre . . . this colourful mixture of expert futurology and quirky speculation does not disappoint'
Kirkus Reviews

What robot and AI systems are being built and imagined right now? What do they say about us, their creators? Will they usher in a fantastic new future, or destroy us? What do some of our greatest thinkers, from physicist Brian Greene and futurist Kevin Kelly to inventor Dean Kamen, geneticist George Church, and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain, anticipate about our human-robot future? For even as robots and AI intrigue us and make us anxious about the future, our fascination with robots has always been about more than the potential of the technology - it's also about what robots tell us about being human.

From present-day Facebook and Amazon bots to near-future 'intimacy' bots and 'the robot that swiped my job' bots, bestselling American popular science writer David Ewing Duncan's Talking to Robots is a wonderfully entertaining and insightful guide to possible future scenarios about robots, both real and imagined.

Featured bots include robot drivers; doc bots; politician bots; warrior bots; sex bots; synthetic
bio bots; dystopic bots that are hopefully just bad dreams; and ultimately, God Bot (as
described by physicist Brian Greene).

These scenarios are informed by discussions with well-known thinkers, engineers, scientists, artists, philosophers and others, who share with us their ideas, hopes and fears about robots. David spoke with, among others, Kevin Kelly, David Baldacci, Brian Greene, Dean Kamen, Craig Venter, Stephanie Mehta, David Eagleman, George Poste, George Church, General R. H. Latiff, Robert Seigel, Emily Morse, David Sinclair, Ken Goldberg, Sunny Bates, Adam Gazzaley, Tim O'Reilly, Tiffany Shlain, Eric Topol and Juan Enriquez.

These discussions, along with some reporting on bot-tech, bot-history and real-time societal and
ethical issues with robots, are the launch pads for unfurling possible bot futures that are informed by how people and societies have handled new technologies in the past.

The book describes how robots work, but its primary focus is on what our fixation with bots
and AI says about us as humans: about our hopes and anxieties; our myths, stories, beliefs and
ideas about beings both real and artificial; and our attempts to attain perfection.

We are at a pivotal moment when our ancient infatuation with human-like beings with certain
attributes or superpowers - in mythology, religion and storytelling - is coinciding with our
ability to actually build some of these entities.

About this title

About the Author

David Ewing Duncan is an award-winning science journalist. A contributor to Wired, Vanity Fair, the New York Times, National Public Radio, ABC News, The Atlantic, and National Geographic and the bestselling author of eleven books published in twenty-one languages, he was founding director of the Center for Life Science Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

From the Back Cover

What robot and AI systems are being built and imagined right now?

What do they say about us, their creators?

Will they usher in a fantastic new future, or destroy us?

While robots and AI both intrigue and make us anxious of the future, we have long been fascinated by the true potential of technology - as well as what robots can tell us about being human. Talking To Robots, written by award-winning journalist David Ewing Duncan explores how present-day technologies and ideas could evolve over the next few years, centuries and beyond - for better or for worse - in twenty-four visions of our possible human-robot futures,

From present-day Facebook and Amazon bots to near-future 'intimacy' and 'the robot that swiped my job' bots, this is a wonderfully entertaining and insightful guide to possible future scenarios about robots, both real and imagined. The book's primary focus is less on how robots work than on what our fixation with bots and AI says about us as humans: our hopes and anxieties; our myths, stories, beliefs and ideas about beings both real and artificial; and our attempts to attain perfection.

These scenarios are informed by discussions with well-known thinkers, engineers, scientists, artists, philosophers and others, who share with us their ideas, hopes and fears of our futures living alongside robots. David interviewed, among others, Kevin Kelly, David Baldacci, Brian Greene, Dean Kamen, Craig Venter, Stephanie Mehta, David Eagleman, George Poste, David Sinclair, Ken Goldberg, Sunny Bates, Adam Gazzaley, Tim O'Reilly, Tiffany Shlain, Eric Topol and Juan Enriquez.

Edition details

• Publisher: Robinson
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1472142926
• ISBN 13: 9781472142924
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320