SYNOPSIS

     Artificial intelligence—that's the fake kind, right? Just about everyone has an opinion about the prospects of creating artificial intelligence and artificial life. They range from Are you crazy? to Why not? Many regard the idea as blasphemous and accuse scientists of playing God. Others confine it to the realm of science fiction—entertaining but not to be taken seriously. Still others believe it can be done but question whether it should be done.

     In any case, we have already set out down that road, and there seem to be no exits. We are headed inexorably toward a future with intelligent machines performing more and more tasks that we now think of as uniquely human. Is it just a matter of time before there are robots that outperform humans in every important way?

     Drawing upon such diverse disciplines as evolutionary psychology, computer science, and ethics, Digital Soul explores an unfamiliar land that lies along the boundary between science and human values. It sets out to demystify nebulous concepts like intelligence, mind, emotions, consciousness, morality, soul, and even God, by suggesting plausible physical explanations. Then, it delves into the social, moral, ethical, and religious issues raised by thinking and feeling machines, asking questions like these:

• How would humans react on discovering that the club of sentient beings is not as exclusive as they thought?

• How would that knowledge change our moral and ethical values?

• Our notions of freedom and dignity?

• Our beliefs in God?

• Are intelligent machines the next step in evolution?

• Should we be worried that super-intelligent machines will take over the world?

• Will humans and machines somehow merge?

• Will humans become extinct? Or immortal?

• How much control do we have over the process?

     Digital Soul is not for experts in computers or artificial intelligence. Its audience is ordinary people who are curious enough to ask questions like these, and who want to be able to make informed decisions about the course of A.I.'s development. It is even for those who think that A.I. is a lot of sci-fi nonsense—that no matter how "smart" machines get, they will never truly think, have a soul, or be self-aware in the same sense we are. Whatever your leanings, it should do no harm to explore, poke around, ask questions, and try to find out what makes machines so smart, what their inherent limitations might be, and where the boundary between human and artificial intelligence might lie. If these questions make you vaguely uncomfortable, it may be because they challenge the very foundations of all our social, legal, and religious institutions.