Books like Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

01

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

Nick Bostrom · Science

Superintelligence is Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom's systematic analysis of what might happen if artificial intelligence systems become more capable than humans — and why that transition might represent one of the most significant risks in human history.

Shares artificial intelligence and existential risk with Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

02

Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control

Stuart Russell · Science

Human Compatible is Stuart Russell's argument, from inside mainstream AI research, that the standard model of AI — build a system that optimizes for a fixed objective — is the wrong approach, and that the transition to much more capable AI systems requires a fundamental change in how AI is designed.

Shares artificial intelligence and ai safety with Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

03

The Emperor's New Mind

Roger Penrose · Science

The Emperor's New Mind is Roger Penrose's argument that human consciousness cannot be reproduced by any computational device — that the mind is not, in the relevant sense, a computer — and that understanding consciousness will require fundamental advances in physics, particularly in reconciling quantum mechanics with general relativity.

Shares artificial intelligence and consciousness with Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

04

Our Mathematical Universe

Max Tegmark · Science

Our Mathematical Universe is Max Tegmark's argument for what he calls the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis: the bold claim that the universe is not merely described by mathematics but is a mathematical structure.

A kindred science read.

05

The Singularity Is Near

Ray Kurzweil · Science

The Singularity Is Near is Ray Kurzweil's forecast that the exponential growth of information technology — computing power, storage, bandwidth, and the reverse-engineering of the human brain — will produce a technological singularity around 2045: a point at which artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence in all relevant domains, beyond which we cannot reliably predict what happens.

Shares artificial intelligence and future with Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

06

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Douglas Hofstadter · Science

Douglas Hofstadter's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, published in 1979, asks how meaning can arise from formal rules — how a biological machine can think, feel, and experience self-awareness.

Shares artificial intelligence and consciousness with Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

07

How to Create a Mind

Ray Kurzweil · Science

Ray Kurzweil's central claim in How to Create a Mind is that the neocortex — the part of the brain responsible for higher thought — operates on a single repeating algorithm called the pattern recognition theory of mind.

Shares artificial intelligence and consciousness with Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

08

The Alignment Problem

Brian Christian · Science

Brian Christian's The Alignment Problem examines a fundamental challenge in machine learning: how do you ensure that an artificial system actually pursues the goals you intend, rather than a close but dangerous approximation?

Shares artificial intelligence and ai safety with Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

09

The Mind's I

Douglas Hofstadter & Daniel Dennett · Philosophy

The Mind's I is a collaborative anthology edited by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett, two of the most influential thinkers on consciousness and mind of the late twentieth century.

Shares artificial intelligence and consciousness with Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

10

Atlas of AI

Kate Crawford · Science

Atlas of AI is Kate Crawford's account of what artificial intelligence actually is — not a disembodied intelligence but a physical system built from extracted minerals, underpaid labor, vast energy consumption, and accumulated data taken largely without meaningful consent.

Both dig into artificial intelligence.

11

Deep Learning

Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville · Science

Deep Learning by Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville is the standard graduate-level textbook on the mathematical and computational foundations of deep neural networks.

Both dig into artificial intelligence.

12

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures

Merlin Sheldrake · Science

Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist who has spent his career studying fungi, and Entangled Life is his account of what fungi are, what they do, and why most people who think they know something about the natural world understand almost nothing about this kingdom of life.

Both dig into consciousness.