Robot Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind

by Moravec, Hans

• ISBN13: 9780195136302
• ISBN10: 0195136306
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Machines will attain human levels of intelligence by the year 2040, predicts robotics expert Hans Moravec. And by 2050, they will have far surpassed us. In this mind-bending new book, Hans Moravec takes the reader on a roller coaster ride packed with such startling predictions. He tells us, for instance, that in the not-too-distant future, an army of robots will displace workers, causing massive, unprecedented unemployment. But then, saysMoravec, a period of very comfortable existence will follow, as humans benefit from a fully automated economy. And eventually, as machines evolve far beyond humanity, robots will supplant us. But if Moravec predicts the end of the domination by human beings, his is not a bleak vision. Far fromrailing against a future in which machines rule the world, Moravec embraces it, taking the startling view that intelligent robots will actually be our evolutionary heirs. "Intelligent machines, which will grow from us, learn our skills, and share our goals and values, can be viewed as children ofour minds." And since they are our children, we will want them to outdistance us. In fact, in a bid for immortality, many of our descendants will choose to transform into "ex humans," as they upload themselves into advanced computers. We will become our children and live forever. In his provocative new book, the highly anticipated follow-up to his bestselling volume Mind Children, Moravec charts the trajectory of robotics in breathtaking detail. A must read for artificial intelligence, technology, and computer enthusiasts, Moravec's freewheeling but informedspeculations present a future far different than we ever dared imagine.

Author Biography

BHans Moravec, one of the leaders of robotics research, was a founder of the world's largest robotics program, at Carnegie Mellon University. The author of Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence, Moravec lives in Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

Preface
Escape Velocity	p. 1
Caution! Robot Vehicle!	p. 15
Power and Presence	p. 51
Universal Robots	p. 91
The Age of Robots	p. 127
The Age of Mind	p. 163
Mind Fire	p. 191
Notes	p. 213
Acknowledgments	p. 219
Index	p. 221
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.