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  • Superintelligence

  • Paths, Dangers, Strategies
  • Written by: Nick Bostrom
  • Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
  • Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (140 ratings)

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Superintelligence

Written by: Nick Bostrom
Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
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Publisher's Summary

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2014 Nick Bostrom (P)2014 Audible Inc.

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What listeners say about Superintelligence

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Unnecessary Jargon

Has some very good talking points, but uses unnecessarily convoluted language... You end up getting lost half way through a sentence because the author attempts to describe something in a very particular context, and so that it can not be misinterpreted, but instead you just miss the general idea.

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars

Important book but weak thinking.

The level of speculation is so high, the absence of any discussion on actual concrete dangers of AI to discriminated populations, the underlying eugenic politics, the sci-fi general level of discussion make this book extremely irritating. Basic errors in philosophic thought are also plaguing the account, e.g. the constant contradiction between the author’s warning not to anthropomorphize AI, and the equally constant anthropomorphizations he makes (potential for AI being deceptive, cunning, malevolent, etc.) The biggest flaw is probably the reductive notion of intelligence as somewhat a function of calculation or cognition. Yet to be intelligent is to be alive, and vice versa, as Hegel as shown, and it is also to be embodied, in a situation, in a cultural horizon of meaning, as Heidegger as shown. Reducing intelligence to knowledge and calculation is problematic for a book on so called superintellignece….Difficult to comprehend that this book has come to structure a field. A shame really. The narrator and audiobook production are excellent however.

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2 people found this helpful

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Interesting and fun

It was very interesting and on topic with a very easy to understand main Theme
Only complaint as some one who reads about the subject a lot it almost feels dated still good tho

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Speculative and Esoteric

Hard to follow, especially in audio format. Many references to graphs, acronyms and speculative circumstances. A pretty good examination of the possibilities but lacks substantive predictions based on evidence we have so far.

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Bloody Terrible

this is the first book I have ever purchased from audible where the narration was so terrible that I could care less about what was being said. I may have been able to read the book but listening to this person was atrocious and my ears bled

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Very dense, but exceptionally written and read!

This sobering book on the challenges of an intelligence explosion was exceptionally well thought out. A challenge to listen to in long stretches, but the narrator did a great job and added a flourish to the text.

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consider me informed and nervous

for anyone with even a slight interest in super AI, this is a must listen! it's really exciting to hear about both the potential for both positives and negatives of the topic! it's a touch nerve wracking considering all the potential futures but it REALLY drives the point home that we HAVE to be careful and take our time!

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