The coevolution : the entwined futures of humans and machines / Edward Ashford Lee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lee, Edward A., 1957- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computer systems--Philosophy.

Computer systems.

Technology--Philosophy.

Technology.

Human-computer interaction.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 358 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2020]

Summary:

Should digital technology be viewed as a new life form, sharing our ecosystem and coevolving with us?

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Preface

Overview of the Chapters

Acknowledgments

1. Half a Brain

Remember to Breathe

Massaging the Message

Sneaky Gut Bacteria

Worker Watches

Mutating Watches

Bad Boats

Living Digital Beings

Clearer Questions

Doomsday Averted

Pathetic

2. The Meaning of "Life"

The Technium

Viruses and Worms

Artificial Life

Helpless Procreation

The Durable and the Digital

Autopoiesis

Sprouting from Teenagers and Sparks

Really Living

From Orgies to Eating Natural Gas

Homeostasis

Metabolism

Growing

Brains, Minds, and the Sky

Connections

Learning, Pain, and Pleasure

3. Are Computers Useless?

Flynn's IQ

IQ Rising, Brains Shrinking

Islands of Disjoint Truths

Cognitive Cockroaches

Cautious Optimism

4. Say What You Mean

Did I Say That?

My Brain's Mouthpiece

Freudian Slip

Monkey Mind Control

From GOFAI to Machine Learning

Smiling Cats

Learning and Feedback

Perceptrons

From Jellyfish to Dogs

Feedback in Biology

5. Negative Feedback

Talking to Myself

Speaking Loudly All at the Same Time

Feedback from Bell Labs

Positive Feedback

Cognitive Feedback

Self and Non-Self

Guns and Femurs

Delayed Feedback

Predictive Feedback

Circular Reasoning

6. Explaining the Inexplicable

Flesh and Blood

Gorillas

Death by Pneumonia

Nonsensical Explanations

7. The Wrong Stuff

Rats in Pain

Am I a Computer?

Body Matters

Contemplation

Making the Virtual Real

I Forget

Intelligence Augmentation

Is My Hammer Out of My Mind?

Embodied Robots

8. Am I Digital?

Are We Alone?

Teleportation

Information

A Thread of Life

Dataism

A Universal Machine?

Borel's Amazing Know-It-All Number

Too Much Information

Noiseless Measurements

Is Time Discrete?

Imperfect Communication

Ah, to Be Digital!

9. Intelligences

The Wrong Stuff (Again)

Humanoid Robots and Creeps

Tone-Deaf AIs

Transhumanism and the Singularity

Goals, Adaptability, and a Miswired Thermostat

What Do You Know?

The Hard Problem

Can You Learn If You Can't Know?

10. Accountability

Who Is the Artist?

Crashes and Viruses

A Tale of Tangled Accountability

Volition

Imagining Alternatives

When, Whether, Why, and How

Vulgarity and Racism

Machine Creativity

The Origin of Self

Hunekers and Mosquitos

Annoying Balls

A Worm's Sense of Self

Is Incompetence Necessary?

Social Contract

11. Causes

Autonomy

A Harmless Fiction?

Subjective Machines

Does Ugliness Cause Talent?

Subjective Causality

Confounders and Colliders

Hypothetical Intervention: Counterfactuals

Actual Intervention

Randomized Controlled Trials

Uncaused Action

Metastable States

Determinism

Force

Choice

Determinism and Interaction

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 333-346 and index.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

0-262-35836-0

0-262-35837-9

OCLC:

1130236869