Announcing a new AI book for everyone...

DIGITAL SOUL -
Intelligent Machines and Human Values

by Thomas M. Georges
Westview Press, 2003, 285 pp., Hardcover

Synopsis:
Do our machines live private lives of their own? Is your PC secretly plotting against you? Well, not yet, but scientists seriously predict that in about 30 years computer intelligence will rival our own. How shall we treat these machines? Will they be morally accountable for their actions? Will they demand civil rights? Should we worry that they will take over the world? Or is the very idea of artificial intelligence a lot of sci-fi nonsense? Digital Soul conducts a balanced inquiry into these and many other intriguing questions about the emergence of intelligent artifacts and their social, moral, legal, and religious implications.

Dr. Georges sets out to demystify nebulous concepts like intelligence, mind, emotions, consciousness, morality, soul, and even God, by suggesting plausible physical explanations. If the logical structure of these concepts can be precisely defined, he says, then similar traits could eventually be programmed into machines. The implications penetrate every nook and cranny of our social fabric and could force us to rethink our most cherished and sacred values.

Digital Soul's engaging prose is tailored for a general but scientifically curious audience, particularly those interested in machine intelligence, morality, ethics, cognitive science, science policy, religion, the philosophy of science, and mankind’s future.


Chapters:

1. Artificial intelligence--that's the fake kind, right?
2. What makes computers so smart?
3. What do you mean, smarter than us?
4. Machines who think
5. Let the android do it
6. What is intelligence?
7. What is consciousness?
8. Can computers have emotions?
9. Can your PC become neurotic?
10. The moral mind
11. Moral problems with intelligent artifacts
12. The moral machine
13. Global network to global mind
14. Will machines take over?
15. Why not just pull the plug?
16. Cultures in collision
17. Beyond human dignity
18. Extinction or immortality?
19. The enemy within
20. Electronic democracy
21. Rethinking the covenant between science and society
22. What about God?

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For more information, please visit:  http://digitalsoul.home.comcast.net

Digital Soul is now available at Amazon.com or your favorite book dealer.

To request a review or evaluation copy, please phone Trish Goodrich at Westview Press (USA):
(720) 562-3292 or e-mail: Trish.Goodrich@perseusbooks.com

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