For specialists and military readers.
A look at autonomous weapons, especially in combination with advanced artificial intelligence, and their long-range implications for the future of the human race.
Physicist and inventor Del Monte (Nanoweapons, 2017, etc.) begins with the development of autonomous weapons, those capable of launching attacks without direct human control. While the U.S. military has rules forbidding the development of such weapons, the fact is that several current systems are only a short step from full autonomy. Furthermore, Russia, China, and other world powers are working on autonomous systems of their own. These could include drones that choose their own targets or swarms of fly-sized “nanobots” that launch synchronized attacks. Given the strategic situations of the different nations, it appears inevitable that such weapons will eventually be deployed—and possibly used in warfare. However, frightening as that scenario is, it’s not the author’s primary concern. He foresees the development of AI progressing to the point where a computer is more intelligent, and in possession of more information, than any human. He predicts that this development could occur as early as 2050. How would such a machine view its human builders? Del Monte worries that it would read our history of warfare and destruction as a threat to its own existence; consequently, it would likely take action to ensure its own survival. Such actions could include persuading humans to adopt computer-enhanced intelligence or to upload themselves into computer programs, thus tying their own existence to the AI’s survival. But it is also possible that an advanced AI would decide to do away with humanity altogether—a goal it could realize more easily if it were in control of autonomous weaponry. The author argues that systems must be put in place to ensure ultimate human control of any such AI. Unfortunately, the narrative is frequently repetitive, and Del Monte’s prose is far from polished. But readers willing to plow through the textual thickets will find important insights.
For specialists and military readers.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63388-452-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science...
Bryson (I'm a Stranger Here Myself, 1999, etc.), a man who knows how to track down an explanation and make it confess, asks the hard questions of science—e.g., how did things get to be the way they are?—and, when possible, provides answers.
As he once went about making English intelligible, Bryson now attempts the same with the great moments of science, both the ideas themselves and their genesis, to resounding success. Piqued by his own ignorance on these matters, he’s egged on even more so by the people who’ve figured out—or think they’ve figured out—such things as what is in the center of the Earth. So he goes exploring, in the library and in company with scientists at work today, to get a grip on a range of topics from subatomic particles to cosmology. The aim is to deliver reports on these subjects in terms anyone can understand, and for the most part, it works. The most difficult is the nonintuitive material—time as part of space, say, or proteins inventing themselves spontaneously, without direction—and the quantum leaps unusual minds have made: as J.B.S. Haldane once put it, “The universe is not only queerer than we suppose; it is queerer than we can suppose.” Mostly, though, Bryson renders clear the evolution of continental drift, atomic structure, singularity, the extinction of the dinosaur, and a mighty host of other subjects in self-contained chapters that can be taken at a bite, rather than read wholesale. He delivers the human-interest angle on the scientists, and he keeps the reader laughing and willing to forge ahead, even over their heads: the human body, for instance, harboring enough energy “to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point.”
Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science into perspective.Pub Date: May 6, 2003
ISBN: 0-7679-0817-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Broadway
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
BOOK TO SCREEN
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