The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humani ty

US: Simon & Schuster India, 2021. Paperback. Fair. As we approach a great turning point in history when technology is poised t o redefine what it means to be human, The Fourth Age offers fascinating ins ight into AI, robotics, and their extraordinary implications for our specie s. In The Fourth Age, Byron Reese makes the case that technology has reshaped humanity just three times in history: - 100,000 years ago, we harnessed fire, which led to language. - 10,000 years ago, we developed agriculture, which led to cities and warfa re. - 5,000 years ago, we invented the wheel and writing, which lead to the nat ion state. We are now on the doorstep of a fourth change brought about by two technolo gies: AI and robotics. The Fourth Age provides extraordinary background inf ormation on how we got to this point, and how-rather than what-we should th ink about the topics we?fll soon all be facing: machine consciousness, auto mation, employment, creative computers, radical life extension, artificial life, AI ethics, the future of warfare, superintelligence, and the implicat ions of extreme prosperity. By asking questions like ?gAre you a machine??h and ?gCould a computer feel anything??h, Reese leads you through a discussion along the cutting edge in robotics and AI, and, provides a framework by which we can all understand, discuss, and act on the issues of the Fourth Age, and how they?fll transform humanity.