A human algorithm : how artificial intelligence is redefining who we are / Flynn Coleman. (Text)

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction : our brave new world -- Intelligent machines -- The last frontier of invention -- Posthuman -- The arcana of values -- 1. Fire to firewalls : a brief history of technology -- Early tech -- The mechanical age -- Electricity -- The electronic age -- 2. The science of intelligence : algorithms, animals, and machines that can learn -- The beginning -- The nuts and bolts -- Modeling the human mind -- Intelligence--who has it? -- The AI effect -- 3. The danger of homogeneity and the power of combinatorial creativity -- Who is going to design the future? -- Expanding the conversation -- Combinatorial creativity -- Leonardo da Vinci and curiosity -- Diversifying our technology requires moral imagination -- 4. Human rights and robot rights : privacy, autonomous weapons, and instilling values in machines -- Human rights and moral machines -- Can we preserve our right to privacy? -- Should robots have rights? -- Human and machine accountability -- Autonomous weapons and facing our ethical dilemmas -- 5. The pernicious threats of intelligent machines -- New wars--old tendencies -- Black boxes, bias, and big brother -- The end of truth -- 6. The transcendat promise of intelligent machines -- Health and well-being -- More time to connect and be creative -- Humanitarian and benevolent AI -- 7. The economics and the politics : redrawing the societal road map ... -- Automation and wealth disparity -- Growing and thriving -- Curious and creative -- Navigating the politics -- Redrawing the societal road map -- The awakening -- 8. Searching for the digital soul -- The uncanny valley -- Self-aware robots -- Searching for the digital soul -- Consciousness--who has it? -- Living the uncertainty -- 9. The adjacent possible -- The overview effect -- Building empathy -- Downloading Dickinson and programming Plath -- 10. A human algorithm -- Go into the forest -- The problem of God -- Biological transformation and digital evolution -- A human algorithm.

Examines the immense impact intelligent technology will have on humanity. These machines, while challenging our personal beliefs and our socioeconomic world order, also have the potential to transform our health and well-being, alleviate poverty and suffering, and reveal the mysteries of intelligence and consciousness. Flynn Coleman argues that it is critical that we instill values, ethics, and morals into our robots, algorithms, and other forms of AI. Equally important, we need to develop and implement laws, policies, and oversight mechanisms to protect us from tech's insidious threats.