false 4306277 1 Will the Geeks inherit the earth?<br><br>If computers become twice as fast and twice as capable every two years, how long is it before they&#8217;re as intelligent as humans? More intelligent? And then in two more years, twice as intelligent? How long before you won&#8217;t be able to tell if you are texting a person or an especially ingenious chatterbot program designed to simulate intelligent human conversation? <br><br>According to Richard Dooling in <i>Rapture for the Geeks</i>&#8212;maybe not that long. It took humans millions of years to develop opposable thumbs (which we now use to build computers), but computers go from megabytes to gigabytes in five years; from the invention of the PC to the Internet in less than fifteen. At the accelerating rate of technological development, AI should surpass IQ in the next seven to thirty-seven years (depending on who you ask). We are sluggish biological sorcerers, but we&#8217;ve managed to create whiz-bang machines that are evolving much faster than we are.<br> <br>In this fascinating, entertaining, and illuminating book, Dooling looks at what some of the greatest minds have to say about our role in a future in which technology rapidly leaves us in the dust. As Dooling writes, comparing human evolution to technological evolution is &#8220;worse than apples and oranges: It&#8217;s appliances versus orangutans.&#8221; Is the era of Singularity, when machines outthink humans, almost upon us? Will we be enslaved by our supercomputer overlords, as many a sci-fi writer has wondered? Or will humans live lives of leisure with computers doing all the heavy lifting? <br><br>With antic wit, fearless prescience, and common sense, Dooling provocatively examines nothing less than what it means to be human in what he playfully calls the age of b.s. (before Singularity)&#8212;and what life will be like when we are no longer alone with Mother Nature at Darwin&#8217;s card table. Are computers thinking and feeling if they can mimic human speech and emotions? Does processing capability equal consciousness? What happens to our quaint beliefs about God when we&#8217;re all worshipping technology? What if the human compulsion to create ever more capable machines ultimately leads to our own extinction? Will human ingenuity and faith ultimately prevail over our technological obsessions? Dooling hopes so, and his cautionary glimpses into the future are the best medicine to restore our humanity. 4353882 30 9 2008 Rapture for the Geeks: When AI Outsmarts IQ total:31|5:3|4:6|3:17|2:3|1:2| 31 98 52 8 2 1 false false Mon Apr 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Feb 11 19:59:50 -0800 2009 Mon Apr 20 21:53:54 -0700 2009 (But see "Bonus Points" at end of review for an interesting link.)

I was looking forward to liking this book: the title is an obvious reference to the tech singularity, and a good...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Oct 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 13:56:42 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 14:27:36 -0700 2009
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It's not a bad book. Very dry humor and lots of geek/tech references to keep the writing light. I didn't quite like the last chapter as much as others because of the sense of trying to come to a conclusion/final thought/teaching. But despit...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Aug 03 16:43:51 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 16:49:11 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 13:58:15 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 11:32:26 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 14:33:19 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 18:14:32 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 28 11:12:12 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 28 11:12:12 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Nov 28 06:52:01 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 28 08:09:47 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Wed Sep 16 15:28:22 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 15:28:22 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 16 12:05:28 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 12:36:17 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 09 16:59:23 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 17:59:08 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Thu Aug 20 11:34:26 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 11:34:26 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Fri Jul 31 09:26:50 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 09:26:56 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jul 12 01:40:20 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 12 01:48:15 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jun 23 08:38:38 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 08:38:49 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jun 15 11:18:03 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 11:18:03 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jun 13 14:52:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 14:52:00 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jun 05 09:27:26 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 09:27:26 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=4306277