Would you rather be plausible but dull, or implausible but fascinating? Economist Robin Hanson has made his choice. His new book The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life when Robots Rule the Earth, envisions consequences of advances in artificial intelligence.
Posts published by “John Horgan”
At a recent artificial intelligence conference, listening to smart people ponder what super-smart machines will be like, I kept thinking of things I’d heard, watched and read before.
You are a born narcissist. You know you are conscious, and you don’t worry about whether others are too, because only your experiences matter.
I wish I had an artificial-intelligence assistant–call it MY AI–that knows how I think and write, so it can do my job when my mojo is low.
I once admired Thomas Jefferson, seeing him as a great man with a tragic flaw: The writer of the inspiring words “all men are created equal” owned slaves.
Is progress a pipe dream? I debated this question recently with my Stevens colleague Garry Dobbins, a philosopher. Below are pro-progress points I made during the debate.–John
Hobbes is hot. The 17th-century British philosopher argued that before civilization, our ancestors were mired in a “war of all against all.”
I’m going to vote for Hillary Clinton, and not just because Donald Trump is a “sociopath” (as his former ghostwriter puts it).
I’ve been blabbing a lot lately about consciousness, the ultimate enigma. I used to think why there is something rather than nothing is the ultimate enigma.
As a science journalist, I try to raise questions about science and technology, which dominate our era. I try to do the same thing as director of the Center for Science Writings, which I started more than a decade ago here at Stevens.