Calum Chace Looks At The Possibility of Two Singularities in His New Book
⯀ Artificial intelligence can turn out to be the best thing ever to happen to humanity, making our future wonderful almost beyond imagination. But only if we address head-on the challenges that it will raise argues Calum Chace in his new book.
The science of AI was born a little over 60 years ago, but for most of that time its achievements were modest. In 2012 it experienced a big bang, when a branch of statistics called machine learning (and a sub-branch called Deep Learning) was applied to it.
Now machines have surpassed humans in image recognition, and they are catching up with us at speech recognition, natural language processing, and more.
Every day, the media reports the launch of a new service, a new product, and a new demonstration powered by AI. When will it end? The surprising truth is, the AI revolution has only just begun.
In his new book, Artificial Intelligence and the Two Singularities
Calum Chace argues that in the course of this century, the exponential growth in the capability of AI is likely to bring about two singularities. While the book overlap considerably with his earlier books, if you have read them, it also updates and expands them.
"This book argues that in the course of this century, the exponential growth in the capability of AI is likely to bring about two 'singularities', a term borrowed from maths and physics, where it means a point at which conditions are so extreme that the normal rules break down," writes Chace.
The first is the economic singularity, when machine skill reaches a level that renders many of us unemployable and requires an overhaul of our current economic and social systems. The second is the technological singularity, when machine intelligence reaches and then surpasses the cognitive abilities of an adult human, relegating us to the second smartest species on the planet.
It could be argued that the first singularity is really a result of the second, but these developments will present huge challenges, but this book argues that we can meet these challenges and overcome them. If we do, the rewards could be almost unimaginable.
This book covers:
- Recent developments in AI and its future potential
- The economic singularity and the technological singularity in depth
- The risks and opportunities presented by AI
- What actions we should take
"Calum Chace's "Two Singularities"―the arrival of superintelligent AI and the economic replacement of humans by machines on a global scale―are among the greatest challenges we face. This book is an excellent introduction to both. It is thoroughly researched and persuasive. Chace's principal argument seems to be correct: we need to prepare now for the economic singularity or face a serious disruption of our civilization," states Stuart Russell, AI expert and Professor of Computer Science and Smith-Zadeh Professor in Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
"These ideas seem fantastical to many of us at the moment, but the arguments for expecting them to happen are strong, and may of the people best-placed to judge whether they are likely to happen think they will," writes Chace. "If and when they do arrive, they will present us with serious challenges, and we need to prepare for them. We should all be reading articles and books about them, thinking about them and discussing their implications. Our future welfare depends on it."
Chace is a best-selling author of fiction and non-fiction books and articles, focusing on the subject of artificial intelligence. He is a regular speaker on artificial intelligence and related technologies, and runs a blog on the subject at www.pandoras-brain.com. Prior to becoming a full-time writer and speaker, he spent 30 years in business as a marketer, a strategy consultant, and a CEO.
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