Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

by Nick Bostrom

Overview

A New York Times bestseller

Superintelligence asks the questions: What happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life.

The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. If machine brains surpassed human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become extremely powerful - possibly beyond our control. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on humans than on the species itself, so would the fate of humankind depend on the actions of the machine superintelligence.

But we have one advantage: we get to make the first move. Will it be possible to construct a seed Artificial Intelligence, to engineer initial conditions so as to make an intelligence explosion survivable? How could one achieve a controlled detonation?

This profoundly ambitious and original book breaks down a vast track of difficult intellectual terrain. After an utterly engrossing journey that takes us to the frontiers of thinking about the human condition and the future of intelligent life, we find in Nick Bostrom's work nothing less than a reconceptualization of the essential task of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198739838
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2016
Pages:	390
Sales rank:	45,510
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Nick Bostrom is Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University and founding Director of the Future of Humanity Institute and of the Program on the Impacts of Future Technology within the Oxford Martin School. He is the author of some 200 publications, including Anthropic Bias (Routledge, 2002), Global Catastrophic Risks (ed., OUP, 2008), and Human Enhancement (ed., OUP, 2009). He previously taught at Yale, and he was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the British Academy. Bostrom has a background in physics, computational neuroscience, and mathematical logic as well as philosophy.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Past Developments and Present Capabilities
2. Roads to Superintelligence
3. Forms of Superintelligence
4. Singularity Dynamics
5. Decisive Strategic Advantage
6. Intellectual Superpowers
7. The Superintelligent Will
8. Is the Default Outcome Doom?
9. The Control Problem
10. Oracles, Genies, Sovereigns, Tools
11. Multipolar Scenarios
12. Acquiring Values
13. Design Choices
14. The Strategic Picture
15. Nut-Cutting Time

Editorial Reviews

"Worth reading." — Elon Musk, Founder of SpaceX and Tesla

"I highly recommend this book" — Bill Gates

"very deep ... every paragraph has like six ideas embedded within it." — Nate Silver

"Nick Bostrom makes a persuasive case that the future impact of AI is perhaps the most important issue the human race has ever faced. Instead of passively drifting, we need to steer a course. Superintelligence charts the submerged rocks of the future with unprecedented detail. It marks the beginning of a new era." — Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science, University of California, Berkley

"Those disposed to dismiss an 'AI takeover' as science fiction may think again after reading this original and well-argued book." — Martin Rees, Past President, Royal Society

"This superb analysis by one of the world's clearest thinkers tackles one of humanity's greatest challenges: if future superhuman artificial intelligence becomes the biggest event in human history, then how can we ensure that it doesn't become the last?" — Professor Max Tegmark, MIT

"Terribly important ... groundbreaking... extraordinary sagacity and clarity, enabling him to combine his wide-ranging knowledge over an impressively broad spectrum of disciplines - engineering, natural sciences, medicine, social sciences and philosophy - into a comprehensible whole... If this book gets the reception that it deserves, it may turn out the most important alarm bell since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring from 1962, or ever." — Olle Haggstrom, Professor of Mathematical Statistics

"Valuable. The implications of introducing a second intelligent species onto Earth are far-reaching enough to deserve hard thinking" —The Economist

"There is no doubting the force of [Bostrom's] arguments...the problem is a research challenge worthy of the next generation's best mathematical talent. Human civilisation is at stake." — Clive Cookson, Financial Times

"His book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies became an improbable bestseller in 2014" — Alex Massie, Times (Scotland)

"Ein Text so nüchtern und cool, so angstfrei und dadurch umso erregender, dass danach das, was bisher vor allem Filme durchgespielt haben, auf einmal höchst plausibel erscheint. A text so sober and cool, so fearless and thus all the more exciting that what has until now mostly been acted through in films, all of a sudden appears most plausible afterwards. (translated from German)" — Georg Diez, DER SPIEGEL

"Worth reading.... We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes" — Elon Musk, Founder of SpaceX and Tesla

"A damn hard read" — Sunday Telegraph

"I recommend Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom as an excellent book on this topic" — Jolyon Brown, Linux Format

"Every intelligent person should read it." — Nils Nilsson, Artificial Intelligence Pioneer, Stanford University

"An intriguing mix of analytic philosophy, computer science and cutting-edge science fiction, Nick Bostrom's Superintelligence is required reading for anyone seeking to make sense of the recent surge of interest in artificial intelligence (AI)." — Colin Garvey, Icon

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2015
Bostrom here expands on the concepts of his Transhumanist FAQ, laying out the transhumanist view clearly in language that, while absolutely precise, he admits may be challenging for the average reader. Still, this is an essential addition to cognitive science or AI collections.

Library Journal