How do we make AI safe, how do we create robots that are positive and empowering companions for humanity? Asimov proposes his three famous laws of robotics, but uses this book to explore the potential shortcomings of any such moral framework. I was surprised to find his stories be applicable to many current discussions regarding ethics and morale of the AI to come. This was the first by Asimov that I've read. It won't be the last.
Autobiografisches Buch über das Aufwachsen inmitten einer Klinik, weil der eigene Vater Leiter einer Psychiatrie ist. Schöne Geschichten. Sehr schön zu lesen. Vier bis fünf Sterne.
A short read and entertaining text about different aspects of physics. Still, these are lecture notes, so it might not be for everyone.
Ein Buch mit wenig Handlung — aber dafür eng gepackt und so gefüllt mit Gedanken, dass man kaum alle aufnehmen kann. Faszinierende innere Monologe, reiche Sprache und immer wieder ein Wiedererkennen eigener Gedankengänge. Momente von Fröhlichkeit und Schönheit, insgesamt aber irgendwie traurig.
A visionary "aliens attack the world" story from 1898. Great adventure story, clear language and interesting reflections on ethical questions. Wells has some thoughts about why we as humans would have any right to survive in the case of a superior species attacking our planet. There's no easy answer.
A story that oscillates between small, entertaining anecdotes and a grander story that is told throughout the book. It's the first book I've read by Stephen Fry and I enjoyed its wit, sexual explicitness and plentiful cultural references to Alan Turing and the likes. A very British read that I've really enjoyed.
A story about secrets that tear you apart, growing up and learning how to live even if you don't have much love left for life. All across the story: A painting that carries meaning across time.
At times, the story seemed directionless to me, but it slowly found direction throughout the book. Donna Tartt's atmospheric writing and situational poetry were very immersive. About some aspects of the story, I am still unsure; there are definitely some riddles left for me to think about.
I am unsure if I found the book too long or just right. The book felt like it told more than one story, and I’m still unsure if the end concluded every single of those stories for me. Maybe these stories will go on in my head for a while. An unusual, but good feeling.
This is clearly a good book. Still, it wasn't for me personally.
The premise of the book is the huge amount of early-earth-creationists. The actual numbers of people believing in a world younger than 10,000 years baffles me (about 45% in the US, less in Europe, more in Islamic countries). In my surrounding though, I haven't met a single person who wouldn't believe in a million year history of evolution.
Dawkins really wants to drive the point home that evolution is a fact, so the books tends to get very repetitive in places. For some facts he gives three and more examples, stretching over several pages, where a simple "this is how it is, and here is a 2 sentence example" would have sufficed.
From the explictit overstating of examples and repetition of already mentioned facts I would have thought this to be targeted at ... less educated people? At the same time, Dawkins uses quite educated language. His sentences have this intellectual ring to them. It's as if you are hearing his British voice in your head.
The actual facts and pieces of evidence he presents are very interesting. Still, I am sure the same could have been done in a third of the book's volume.
This is a book offering ammunition to people who are surrounded by history deniers. Sadly - well, fortunately - that's not the case for me. So it was a quite a drag to read. Hopefully his other books are different, as I intend to read some more.
128 pages of scribbled notes. Very compact and informal introduction to electronics. No unnecessary stories told. Instead, there is room for 100 simple circuits to try out. And that's what I still have to do in order to really "complete" this book.
Teilweise ein wenig albern, aber wenn man sich darauf einlassen kann, ist das Buch eine gute und praktische Einführung in die Thematik. Gut: Alles wird in praktischen Projekten erklärt. Manchmal nicht so gut: Einige Projekte sind einfach Selbstzweck, um eine gewisse Sache zu illustrieren. Das ist okay - aber Projekte, die wirklich einzusetzen sind, sind schon cooler (gibt es aber auch im Buch). Ich habe übrigens die erste Ausgabe gelesen. Die war "nur" 600 Seiten lang. Ging aber erstaunlich schnell, da man mit Programmiererfahrung ungefähr ein Drittel einfach überfliegen kann.
I need to catch up on my reading goals, so decided to pick up a John Green book. And it turned out to be a quick read, just as I'd hoped for. The characters and setting were pretty much what I anticipated, and yet the book was able to surprise me in places. Also, the whole two-author collaboration really worked with this story.
I am currently strongly interested in how the human mind works and what consciousness actually is — how it arises and how we might be able to create it artificially. This book is a solid item to feed that interest.
This book gives a good introduction and overview of the neurological foundations and the technological perspectives. Unfortunately, the chapter I found most interesting (the one on consciousness), is the most vague at the same time. From what I understand at this point, there just isn't a single convincing theory on where consciousness comes from.
The main downside of this book in my personal view is the character Kurzweil himself and how he portrays himself and his research. Yes, he has achieved amazing things in his lifetime and his predictions for the future have become true a lot of times. Still, he seems quite full of himself, and overall just appears to be very egocentric.
Bottom-line: If you are interested in how the mind works, read this book. Just don't forget to bring your own perspective.