Suggested Readings

Woman with wax tablets and stylus (so-called "Sappho"), Naples Archeological Museum

Even the smartest AI likely won’t be “alive.” Here’s why. Is life itself, sentient or not, something that can be represented in a machine? In other words, is life computable? Whatever life is, can it be reduced to a series of mathematical operations carried out by a computer? Today, I want to introduce you to a remarkable thinker who asked this question more than 30 years ago and whose answer remains important, in...