Heartificial Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity to Maximize Machines - Couverture souple

Havens, John

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0399171711 ISBN 13 : 9780399171710

Editeur : TarcherPerigee, 2016

A propos du livre

Extrait :

A QUICK NOTE
REGARDING THIS BOOK’S FORMAT

Hello, and welcome to Heartificial Intelligence!

We have some exciting news! This book has been created using an old-fashioned publishing process utilizing paper and ink. Our historical research indicates this format allows humans to read, ruminate, and react to ideas without the need to click away to fourteen cat videos, Facebook posts, or tweets.* Our focus groups also indicate that this publishing format will help reinforce your sense of messy yet glorious humanity by forcing you to confront your own thoughts untainted by algorithmic influence.

Furthermore, outside of information regarding your initial purchase of this book, your actions will not be tracked in any way once you start reading it.** While it’s tempting to try and influence your reaction to the book by modern tracking and profiling methodologies, the title of the book indicates our desire for you to take the time you deserve to analyze how emerging technologies are affecting your humanity.

Apparently humans are equipped with hearts and minds of their own.*** So our advice is to use the ones you already have to increase happiness and well-being before relying on the external ones other people are currently building. Not that these people aren’t building amazing and worthwhile things, mind you. But our feeling is you won’t be able to fully appreciate artificial intelligence until you define your own genuine human values first.

Thanks for your time. We hope you enjoy this more traditional process of reading and the personal introspection we’ve heard it provides.

You’re worth it.****

* If you’ve opted to purchase this text as an e-book and prefer to click away to support cat videos, Facebook posts, or tweets, we recommend stating in a loud voice, “I am a HUMAN and will not be tracked!” This will serve as a centering process to remind yourself of your inherent humanity due to your ability to publicly act illogically and with great fervor. Please note, however, that you will still be tracked by hundreds of external data brokers, advertisers, and other organizations, any of whom may try to sell you sexual vitamin supplements. We have only tried about seven of these and cannot legally attest to their efficacy.

** At least not by the author and publisher. People may stare at you while you’re reading in Starbucks or your kids may distract you during the precious seven minutes available to you to read during the day since, if you’re like me, you fall dead asleep at some embarrassing time like nine thirty because you’re exhausted from parenting all day along with everything else in your life, right?

*** Many doctors have said this. At least one of them looks like Socrates, so we’re pretty confident this is true.

**** Seriously, you are. If you’re like me, artificial intelligence does one of three things to you:

   · Terrifies you because you think your toaster is going to kill you.
   · Concerns you because your boss just gave your bonus to an algorithm.
   · Mystifies you because your humanity is managed more by machines every day.

Don’t wait until the Singularity comes and artificial intelligence takes over the world to believe me on this. Toasters are mean little buggers.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The challenge in writing about an emerging technology such as artificial intelligence is that between the time you finish your manuscript and when your book is published, there’s a strong possibility a new discovery has been made in the field about which you’ve written. So, in an effort to placate any future commenters on Amazon, Reddit, or any other platform:

   · At the time of writing this book, Google has still not announced specifics around its artificial intelligence ethics board. If by the time you’re reading this, it has, I say thank you to Google! Hopefully I’m expressing my gratitude while even being on that board, enjoying delicious and healthy meals from Google’s famed cafeterias between stints in one of their nap pods (where I do my best thinking).
   · At the time of writing this book, there is no formal, industry-wide AI ethical standard of which I am aware. I certainly could have missed it, and there are a number of great organizations working in this area, many of whom I interviewed in this book. My focus in Heartificial Intelligence is more to point out the necessity of such standards and why they’re important to individuals than to comment on one organization’s accuracy or efficacy.
   · If we’ve been taken over by AI/robots in some way, then I’d like to point out how favorable I am regarding our future sentient colleagues. Seriously. This is not an anti-AI book, or anti-transhumanism book. I believe AI ethics is actually a more mature way of looking at our future with machines than creating potential sentient machines we sell and enslave. Call me crazy.
   · I think it’s important to have a sense of humor about AI. This doesn’t mean I take the subject lightly. As I point out in the book, I have struggled a great deal with fear and depression on the subjects of automation and loss of agency. But I wrote this book to help you move beyond fear and be constructive as you consider the inevitability of AI in our midst, today. My vote is that we greet the future with curiosity, laughter, and joy versus dread, gloom, and fear.

FINAL AUTHOR’S NOTE

I’m a huge fan of Monty Python, so this author’s note serves no purpose except to be silly.

INTRODUCTION

Spring 2021

“If you want your daughter to live, this is the only solution.”

My wife was in the waiting room with my two kids, my eleven-year-old son and my nine-year-old daughter, the white paper on the examining table freshly crinkled from where Melanie had been examined moments before. The smell of the alcohol swab they’d used after taking her blood still hung in the air.

“So the computer chip goes directly in her brain?” I asked again. I was having a difficult time understanding what exactly was going to happen to my daughter to combat her young-onset Parkinson’s disease.1 A year before, her hands had begun shaking throughout the day. Her seizures increased in intensity, and two months ago she began experiencing blackouts and fell down at school. Her diagnosis came quickly, although she’d gone through a battery of painful tests to confirm it was Parkinson’s.

“Yes,” answered Dr. Schwarma, our family practitioner for the past six years. An extremely sharp and caring woman in her midthirties, she never beat around the bush with her diagnoses. She’d contacted a friend who worked in Manhattan who specialized in the procedure. “The chip will help control the erratic synapses in her brain that are causing her seizures.”

I pointed to the iPad in her hands. “Is the chip like something you’d find in a computer? I’m assuming it stays in her brain permanently once it’s put in?”

“That’s the hope, although the human body is an intense environment. There’s a good chance the chip will need to be replaced, but it’s a relatively simple procedure even though it involves the brain. Plus, there’s the possibility of remote updates for the chip with newer technology, which would mean less chance of future surgery.”

I paused before speaking as the voice of the office secretary came over a loudspeaker calling for one of Dr. Schwarma’s colleagues to come to the front desk. “So if there are remote updates,” I said, “this chip will be firmware, correct? It’s not, like, the silicon equivalent of a stent or whatever; it’s active technology.”

Dr. Schwarma nodded. “That is correct.”

“So that will involve Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or iBeacon technology or whatever.”

She nodded again. “I’m not sure about the specifics, but the basic logic is that we’ll need to remotely check on the status of the chip’s operation without performing surgery. So some short-range technology like one you’ve mentioned will be used.”

“So she could be hacked?” My chest got tight and I felt my eyes moisten. “Right? And how does the Wi-Fi stuff work? Does she have a passcode for her brain? And can she travel? How does she explain this to the TSA in airports?”

Dr. Schwarma held up her hand. “John—those are all important questions and there will certainly be challenges ahead. But the positives far outweigh the negatives.”

“I’m sorry,” I answered as I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “It’s just freaky to picture a chip in my daughter’s brain. Could she eventually update the chip to be an internal smartphone? Be her own Wi-Fi hot spot? And does this make her a cyborg?”

Dr. Schwarma shook her head. “Cyborg choices typically involve a person replacing parts of their body outside of a life-threatening need. However, technically she will be part machine.” She held up her mobile phone. “No more than the rest of us, of course.”

“But we can turn our phones off,” I answered. “The chip will always be with her.”

She took a step forward, laying her hand on my shoulder. “Yes, the chip will always be with your daughter, John. But unless you do this procedure, she won’t be.”

The Genuine Challenge

A few years back I wrote an article about artificial intelligence (AI) for Mashable, a popular online news site focused on technology and culture. My goal was to evolve the conversation around AI beyond the polarized views of complete acceptance and rejection of the technology. While I believe AI is inevitable in our lives, I don’t believe that means we should blindly accept whatever new development in the field comes down the pike. Likewise, living in fear about the evolution of the technology doesn’t help humanity either. For my article, I really wanted to identify some potential solutions regarding humans working or joining with machines that I could wrap my brain around.

Initially, my research depressed me a great deal. I learned how quickly the AI field is growing without there being industry-wide standards around safety for development. I learned nobody has clarity regarding if and when machines might become sentient (intelligent and “alive”), but multiple experts who said that could never happen had been recently surprised at advances that were changing their minds. Overall, I’ve come to learn that whether or not machines become truly sentient, the widespread adoption of AI is inevitable. And while people developing or utilizing AI keep saying, “We need to make sure we understand the ethical issues around this technology,” they nonetheless keep building systems they may not be able to control.

I see this as a problem.

And an opportunity.

My Mashable article expanded to become this book, and what I came to realize after years of research and interviews is there are no simple answers regarding the evolution of AI. Nobody can accurately predict when machines or robots will “come alive” or exactly how that will look.

So for my part, as an exercise to deal with my concerns, I began to imagine personal scenarios in which I couldn’t avoid AI in my life. That’s how I came to the fictional scenario about my daughter you just read. As much as I may fear aspects of AI, if a piece of technology would mean the difference between my daughter (who is real) living or dying, I’d utilize the technology.

While imagining along these lines may seem strange, the process provided catharsis for me. Instead of being anxious about a future dominated by machines, I began to more deeply examine issues of AI as inspiration to validate my humanity. That’s why every chapter of this book opens with a fictional vignette—I want to help you move beyond the polarizing debate around AI and imagine how you’d react to the scenarios I present. AI is not just science fiction any longer. It’s here. My goal with these stories is to help you more rapidly go through the journey I did of genuinely confronting my fears to get to a positive place regarding the inevitability of AI. The body of each chapter describes the tech and issues I bring out in the fictional vignettes.

I do have a warning for you, but it’s not about killer robots taking over the world within a few decades. The field of AI is advancing so rapidly we may lose the opportunity for introspection unhindered by algorithmic influence within a few years. Many of us are already at the point where we look to our devices and the code that drives them to make every major decision in our lives: Where should I go? Whom should I date? How do I feel? These “digital assistants” are hugely helpful tools.

But they’ve also trained us to delegate decisions as a default. This process involves a willingness to sacrifice the parts of ourselves that used to make these decisions to technology. For my part I can live without my kids ever knowing how to use a paper map, but I’m not comfortable with their potential inability to identify a life partner without the aid of an algorithm. I can live with apps that monitor my heartbeat and brain waves to help me identify when I’m happy. I’m not comfortable with devices that manipulate these insights to motivate behavior I don’t fully understand.

Technology has been capable of helping us with tasks since humanity began. But as a race we’ve never faced the strong possibility that machines may become smarter than we are or be imbued with consciousness. This technological pinnacle is an important distinction to recognize, both to elevate the quest to honor humanity and to best define how AI can evolve it.

That’s why we need to be aware of which tasks we want to train machines to do in an informed manner. This involves individual as well as societal choice. We’re at a tipping point in human history, where delegating as a habit may lead us to outsource aspects of our lives we’d benefit more from experiencing ourselves. But how will machines know what we value if we don’t know ourselves?

That’s the genuine challenge, and the basis for Heartificial Intelligence—on an individual level, and for humanity as a whole. That’s also why the subtitle for the book is Embracing Our Humanity to Maximize Machines. We need to codify our own values first to best program how artificial assistants, companions, and algorithms will help us in the future.

This concept is your genuine challenge as well, and why I’ve written this book.

And to be clear if you’re a geek like me and think I’m dissing technology: I am not anti-AI. I’m pro-human. These are not mutually exclusive. If machines are the natural evolution of humanity, we owe it to ourselves to take a full measure of who we are right now so we can program these machines with the ethics and values we hold dear. In AI, there’s a concept known as deep learning2 that describes an approach3 to building neural networks based on machines learning methods of observation. My recommendation is that we apply a similar deep learning process for our own lives based on codifying the ethics, values, and attributes unique to humanity.

Some good news: There’s a science known as positive psychology that’s helping individuals increa...

Revue de presse :

Praise for Heartificial Intelligence:

"In Heartificial Intelligence, John C. Havens introduces a realm of algorithms and smart machines well beyond anything you might know about. Geared toward presenting solutions that will help humankind control its destiny, Havens guides the way with sometimes-funny, sometimes-touching hypotheticals. Are you in charge of your own future? Maybe not, but there's still an opportunity to change that."
—Huffington Post Tech

"In this thoughtful addition to the genre...Havens warns that we have ignored an essential feature of machine thinking: its ethics...An astute philosophical meditation on a major problem facing designers of advanced computers."
—Kirkus review

"AI is going to happen whether we like it or not, so it's in our interest to ensure that ethics are included in its development...Havens's point is not to create a lengthy argument that tells everyone else how to think. Instead, he hopes to provoke each of us into finding our own answers to the questions he presents."
—ZDNet review

"A manifesto for bringing the humanity back to technology."
—Leo Laporte, TWit TV

"Havens is a smart, agile writer and, even better, exhibits a deep understanding of what irks people about our relationship to machines...among Havens's gifts is that he is excellent at distilling complex topics and introducing concepts that seem like the stuff of sci-fi fantasy films."
—Jacqueline Cutler, NJ.com 

“Coexisting safely and ethically with intelligent machines is the central challenge of the twenty-first century. In the enjoyable Heartificial Intelligence, John Havens calls for resistance to the forces that erode our humanity in the age of the algorithm. Through detailed research, interviews, and engaging futuristic scenarios, Havens shows how establishing ethical standards for artificial intelligence will help us preserve the values we cherish most.”
—James Barrat, author of Our Final Invention

“Heartificial Intelligence is an excellent read! [Havens] explores a number of societal issues, which AI and robotics are likely to soon bring to prominence. A great guide to issues of identity, meaning, deception, and reality when our technology advances to the next level.”
—Steve Omohundro, President of Possibility Research, SelfAwareSystems.com
 
"With this exceptionally intelligent, playful, and brave book, John C. Havens shows us that we need to look the robot in the eye if we want to maintain our humanity. The most beautiful and yet most practical outlook on artificial intelligence you've ever read."
—Tim Leberecht, author of The Business Romantic: Give Everything, Quantify Nothing, and Create Something Greater Than Yourself

“As we come into realizing AI in different products, wearable devices, and self-driving cars, we need to think in a critical way on where this can bring us at an individual and societal level. Will it indeed help us move forward and create more time for ourselves, or will it make our world more complex and less efficient? Heartificial Intelligence provides insights from various perspectives on how this AI world could or will develop. It is a great read to start thinking about the different implications for AI and whether these are positive or negative.”
—Christel De Maeyer, blogger at SleepingWithTechnology.com and researcher at Artevelde University College, Belgium

“Heartificial Intelligence is an empowering resource with exclusive insights that allow us to discover a better understanding of why we do what we do to help us determine what's truly at stake in the fast-approaching age of artificial intelligence.”
—Josh Trent, Digital Health Coach, host of the Wellness Force Radio Podcast, and founder of WellnessForce.com
 
“John brings a uniquely human perspective to the quickly advancing world of artificial intelligence. He manages to ask critical questions while embracing the possibilities afforded by new technologies—avoiding sensationalism in favor of meaningful explorations of our relationship with AI.”
—Ramona Pringle, writer/director of Avatar Secrets and Assistant Professor at Ryerson University

"Heartificial Intelligence shows how intimately wedded we are to technology, and how the bond is just getting started. Providing an action plan around AI, John turns our dystopian fears into bright hope with wit, wisdom, and love."
—Damon Brown, entrepreneur and author of Our Virtual Shadow: Why We Are Obsessed with Documenting Our Lives Online (DamonBrown.net)

"Heartificial Intelligence is a powerful, passionate presentation of the fears and hopes of AI and robotics. It will challenge your existing beliefs and encourage you to act on them.”
—Tom Guarriello, Ph.D., founder of RoboPsych.com and TrueTalk.net

"Through pairing compelling fiction with contemporary research, Heartificial Intelligence encourages mindfulness in the age of the seemingly all-knowing algorithm."
—Ed Finn, director of Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University 
Reviews for Hacking H(app)iness:

"The book certainly opens up an important conversation about how individuals can, and should, manage their data in an age of rapid advancements in personal technology. Mashable and Guardian contributing writer Havens provides a detailed defense of how developing technologies in augmented reality and wearable devices can increase happiness...An optimistic vision of how new technologies can be reimagined to increase productivity and personal growth."
—Kirkus Reviews

“More than any time in human history, we have access to mountains of data about ourselves. Hacking H(app)iness is the first book to show us how to leverage this information as a path to happiness, rather than a source of misery.”
—Adam Grant, New York Times-bestselling author of Give and Take and Wharton professor

 

"Hacking H(app)iness is a mind boggling and optimistic vision of how new technologies can be reimagined to increase productivity and personal growth—and you don't have to be a geek to like it."
—Michael Port, New York Times-bestselling author of The Think Big Manifesto

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: TarcherPerigee
• Date d'édition: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0399171711
• ISBN 13: 9780399171710
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 304