A brightly readable overview of how AI is poised to change human society—and perhaps humans themselves.
An exploration of the evolving relationships between humans and machines.
“We seldom think about how much we depend on our tools to extend the capabilities of our bodies,” technology consultant Meisel writes in his nonfiction debut. “A full view of evolution should include the tools we use constantly.” He proceeds to look at human evolution in just that way, drawing on his professional background in computer science to explore the history, nature, and possible future of artificial intelligence, which he expects to “get increasingly powerful and attack an increasing range of applications.” Meisel is an unapologetic champion of AI and marshals a wide array of cited facts and sources (each chapter ends with a reference list) to counter some of the most common objections to the greater ubiquity of high-power “smart” computing in all aspects of life. These include anxieties over the possibility of AI taking jobs from human beings; he argues that such technology would, in fact, create new jobs for people. Different chapters cover different aspects of AI, from increasing sophistication in speech recognition to advancements in “digital assistants,” now in millions of American homes, to the possibility of designing AI to mimic the deep neural networks of the human brain. Throughout, Meisel also insists on the intimate relationship between AI–infused tools and biology: “We make decisions based not only on our bodies, but on the availability of tools to help make a decision and tools to execute that decision,” he writes. “Tools extend the capability of our bodies including our brains.”
Meisel writes with the kind of knowledgeable conviction that can change minds. A persistent problem, though, is the book’s apparent misunderstanding of evolution by means of natural selection: “Humankind has always extended the ability of the human body and brain with tools,” he writes, for instance, which is true in the sociological sense but not the evolutionary sense; whatever changes that have happened to human bodies and brains over the last two centuries have likely been the result of improved nutrition and health care, not evolution. However, he compensates for this with the fierce energy with which he examines many aspects of the smart-technology world. He’s consistently engaging, for instance, when he writes about the role of tech in controlling objectionable speech in online forums: “Who decides what is ethical?” he asks. “Should we leave it in the hands of social media companies, or should it be set by governments or by industry consortiums?” Meisel’s upbeat attitude toward the future is intriguing even if some readers may consider it fairly dystopian. He believes in the enormous potential of his subject, writing that “the right tasks for AI is to do things that help humans with tasks, not emulate them.” Whether such optimism is merited is up for debate—if machines do eventually affect human evolution, it seems equally likely that they could impair human intelligence over the course of 10 generations—but it’s undeniably energizing. A brightly readable overview of how AI is poised to change human society—and perhaps humans themselves.Pub Date: April 13, 2022
ISBN: 979-8985794229
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Mindstir Media
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
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