I’m really glad I read this book – a deep thinking look into what consciousness means in humans and whether that idea of consciousness can be seen in other things. What is the difference between the mind and the brain? Is it possible for machine to evolve to have consciousness? Have they done it already?
I liked that the author went into the history and different schools of thought behind the topic. In the end notes the author claims that she is writing this book as a layman, but it is so well thought out and researched that I don’t think you can classify her as that.
One unique point that is repeatedly brought up is that the author attended a religious university and was brought up as a religious fundamentalist – and ended up losing her faith while studying. This gives her a unique viewpoint into the different theories out there, and also shows the ability to change her opinion based on what new information or arguments that she comes across.
This book is pretty deep and covers a lot of ground. I especially enjoyed reading about her thoughts on robots and AI chatbots, and the predilection of humans to prematurely think of things as living organisms (in their own image).
Also there was a good section on the idea of the internet as an evolution of human consciousness. If users are like neurons, and viral memes and messages are like neurons forming links and pathways that lead to memory and knowledge – you might be able to say the internet is a conscious organism.
Finally the section on algorithms (and AI) was interesting as it seems like more and more the algorithms are unexplainable to humans. At some point do we need to just give up trying to explain how they work? To give up and enjoy the ride? At the rate of the expansion in complexity, it might already be too late.
I like books that make me think about things in different ways, so this was a very enjoyable read for me. It was a little bit challenging in terms of the use of academic/technical terms, and sometimes I thought ideas and schools of thought were over-labeled and therefore possibly over-simplified. Still – if there reader wants to dig deeper the author left plenty of threads to pull on.
Next I am reading The Lost Supper by Taras Grescoe.
