This is an incredible article by the excellent Tom Chatfield which raises some important Qs about the risks of #AI to human civilisation, in ways many people aren't thinking about.

Sounds a bit doom-monger-y but it's a fascinating and worthy long-read:

bbc.com/future/article…

So nice to be included in this great list. And don’t forget to read Tom Chatfield ‘s!

I find Hofstader pretty persuasive when it comes to consciousness *not* being an inherent, emergent property of matter. And this only adds to its marvellousness. For if, rather, minds are an emergent property of information, there really is a sliver of him in these very words.

Was great to see you Liam! Looking hopeful for next Thursday!

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We are building ever more powerful machines that will compute answers to any questions we care to ask them. But are we asking the right questions? Here, Tom Chatfield selects the best books on the ethics of technology.

fivebooks.com/best-books/tec…

'Any ethics worth its salt has to be deeply interested in the facts and politics of the present moment. The duty is to keep on trying to understand the world and ourselves – and, if necessary, to keep on changing our minds.' fivebooks.com/best-books/tec…

Tom Chatfield Hmm. Big fan of Hofstadter, but I'm in not aware of a single empirical example of a conscious brain. Conscious organisms, sure.

Tom Chatfield Which of his books is this from? It’s been a while since I’ve read I Am a Strange Loop.

James McConnachie Tom Chatfield Five Books Dr. Rebecca Wragg Sykes Not sure if this is a satisfactory answer but I think imagination was his thing. In his biography John Carey tells this great story about him meeting a literary critic after the publication of The Spire

How worried should we be about a world in which AI deepfakes are indistinguishable from real people online? Very worried indeed, argued the late, great Dan Dennett when I spoke to him at the end of last year.
bbc.com/future/article…

ICYMI: my conversation with the brilliant Cal Flyn about why tech ethics matters, some of the books that have inspired me—and the silliness of the Singularity.

Five Books Luciano Floridi @[email protected] Alison Gopnik Gaia Vince Thanks, Tom Chatfield! 🙏😊

'If we’re interested in ethics, and especially an ethics that is literate in the best knowledge we have about the universe and ourselves, we have to take a close interest in the human-made world.' An absolute joy to speak to one of my very favourite sites about books and ideas!

This also bears on LLMs as social technologies: as engines for extrapolating some of the vast intelligence latent within language and culture, and which speaks through us all whenever we speak.

Gaia Vince Hooray!

Five Books Tom Chatfield Dr. Rebecca Wragg Sykes Love this

James McConnachie Tom Chatfield Five Books Dr. Rebecca Wragg Sykes 'Goodness' the LC says, 'you must have had to do a lot of research into medieval building techniques'

Tom Chatfield Just read the article, which is so thoughtful of the subjects and very kind about my work, thank you, and gives me more fascinating sounding books to add to my teetering pile!