Table of Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
Part 1 The Long, Hard Road to Today 5
The Story of Prometheus 7
1 The First Age: Language and Fire 9
2 The Second Age: Agriculture and Cities 15
3 The Third Age: Writing and Wheels 21
4 The Fourth Age: Robots and AI 25
5 Three Big Questions 39
Part 2 Narrow AI and Robots 55
The Story of John Henry 57
6 Narrow AI 59
7 Robots 65
8 Technical Challenges 71
9 Will Robots Take All Our Jobs? 83
10 Are There Robot-Proof Jobs? 123
11 The Big Questions 135
12 The Use of Robots in War 151
Part 3 Artificial General Intelligence 155
The Story of the Sorcerer's Apprentice 157
13 The Human Brain 159
14 AGI 169
15 Should We Build an AGI? 181
Part 4 Computer Consciousness 203
The Story of John Frum 205
16 Sentience 207
17 Free Will 215
18 Consciousness 221
19 Can Computers Become Conscious? 239
20 Can Computers Be Implanted in Human Brains? 259
21 Humanity, Redefined? 265
Part 5 The Road From Here 269
The Story of Jean-Luc Picard 271
22 The Invention of Progress 273
23 Life in the Fourth Age 283
24 Death, Where Is Thy Sting? 305
25 What Can Go Wrong? 311
26 The Fifth Age 315
Acknowledgments 319