Future Minds: Artificial Intelligence, Brain Enhancement, and the Nature of the Self

FAIN: FZ-261496-18

Susan Lynn Schneider
University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT 06269-9000)

Research leading to publication of a monograph on ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) leaders, such as Elon Musk and Ray Kurzweil, aim to merge humans and machines, and to engineer AI that outthinks humans. Billions of dollars are being poured into these efforts. Of course, we shouldn't let businesses like Google, Neuralink and Facebook decide the future of humanity. This project raises public awareness about the social implications of these emerging technologies. In this book, I explore AI technology in light of issues in philosophy of mind and metaphysics, in particular, examining whether synthetic minds can be created, whether machines could feel, whether humans can merge with machines, and more. I illustrate that our capacity to successfully negotiate future AI technologies, including the potential to shape “future minds,” depends upon, among other things, our philosophical understanding of the metaphysics of personal identity and the fundamental nature of mind.

Associated Products

Artificial You:AI and the Future of the Mind (Book)
Title: Artificial You:AI and the Future of the Mind
Author: Susan Schneider
Editor: matt Rohöl
Abstract: Humans may not be Earth’s most intelligent species for much longer: the world champions of chess, Go, and Jeopardy! are now all AIs. Given the rapid pace of progress in AI, many predict that it could advance to human-level intelligence within the next several decades. From there, it could quickly outpace human intelligence. What do these developments mean for the future of the mind? In Artificial You, Susan Schneider says that it is inevitable that AI will take intelligence in new directions but urges that it is up to us to carve out a sensible path forward. As AI technology turns inward, reshaping the brain, as well as outward, potentially creating machine minds, it is crucial to beware. Homo sapiens, as mind designers, will be playing with "tools" they do not understand how to use: the self, the mind, and consciousness. Schneider argues that an insufficient grasp of the nature of these entities could undermine the use of AI and brain enhancement technology, bringing about the demise or suffering of conscious beings. To flourish, we must grasp the philosophical issues lying beneath the algorithms. At the heart of her exploration is a sober-minded discussion of what AI can truly achieve: Can robots really be conscious? Can we merge with AI, as tech leaders like Elon Musk and Ray Kurzweil suggest? Is the mind just a program? Examining these thorny issues, Schneider proposes ways we can test for machine consciousness, questions whether consciousness is an unavoidable byproduct of sophisticated intelligence, and considers the overall dangers of creating machine minds.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: http://schneiderwebsite.com
Primary URL Description: Schneider website (there's a book page there)
Secondary URL: http://amazon.com
Secondary URL Description: Amazon site
Publisher: Princeton Univ Press
Type: Single author monograph
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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