The Fourth Age

Fantastic book! So timely. Everybody talks about AI and robots these days, but it seems so vast and truly mysterious, that I think most of us feel totally lost. Where does this all start? Where is it going? How does it end? Along comes Reese to lend us a friendly, down-to-earth, seminar-style book that gathers all the buzzwords and scary headlines and sorts through it for us with convincing simplicity and clarity. I have been struggling to frame the notion of AI for myself, first in terms of current technology, including everything from smart shopping to drones, and then onto the larger contentious SCI FI themes, like robot warfare. It's been a welcome escape to switch over to "The Humans are Dead", by Flight of the Conchords. Now Reese has spelled out, and rather nicely outlined, the issues for me in a way that I can easily grasp and feel more confident in discussing with my friends. He has filled in most of the gaps in my understanding. I can now tell the difference between the freeway billboards marketing the latest smart this-or-that, and the types of concerns that have kept eminent scientists awake at night. It was very refreshing that Reese was brave enough to say "we simply don't know" a number of times. It gets old when so many other visionaries are exactly naming the future year when we can kiss humanity goodbye. Or, as Reese seems to urge, the time when we can truly solve our big problems through technology.

Byron takes us on a journey through the history of human technological and societal development, and asks a set of philosophical questions that help frame how to think about the age we're in now, centered on the concept of developing machines that think. Without trying to guide the reader to a particular conclusion, Byron asks you to contend with basic questions - such as what YOU are, fundamentally, and how that shapes your thinking about the age we're in.If you're an avid reader of futurist thinking or speculative fiction, you'll find a lot of familiar concepts here, but framed within the arc of history and with a focus on the implications for the human condition. If you're not, Byron helps guide you into the kind of thinking required to really evaluate the implications of AI. I'd recommend The Fourth Age to anyone interested in the future of humanity, it's deep enough to provoke new thoughts in the experienced thinker in this space, and approachable enough to be your first introduction.And at the risk of a minor spoiler - Byron concludes with a prediction for what comes after this age - and it's a prediction that is centered on a well-reasoned, but fundamentally very optimistic outlook on humanity - what we might look like with our potential fully realized on the other side of this Fourth Age. Whether or not you agree with his prediction - you'll definitely want to.

It's nice to find a book on AI that straddles the line between being enjoyable and easy to follow without sacrificing any of the nuance and depth of this challenging topic. While we can probably agree that the exact future of AI has a lot of unknowns, and hence potential dangers, it doesn't change the fact that we can choose to view the possibilities through an optimistic lens, as Reese does here.Throughout the book, Reese takes apart the ominous headlines we so often hear in the news and provides more clarity around the topic. For example, the notion that '47% of jobs are at risk of being automated' is shown to be effectively a mis-reading of the reports authors, who more accurately concluded that roughly 47% of common tasks could be automated, but those tasks are spread out among many occupations.I do think more time could have been spent in the earlier chapters outlining the first three ages, and what clearly separates them, but the point stands that we have had very few technological shifts that have the capacity to dramatically shift the course of human history and development.This is a great book for looking back on where we've been and equipping the reader with the information necessary to form their own ideas about where we might be going next.

A good read for the most part. Very thought-provoking. Takes multiple perspectives (inviting you to choose which one you agree with) and explores their consequences. A good mix of philosophical and contemporary discourse around AI.The crux of the argument is that what (we think) is possible for AI and robotics depends on a number of philosophical, specifically ontological commitments, for example in relation to what consciousness is and how it comes about (we don’t actually know, so it does take a commitment in order to follow out a logic of possibility).The final few chapters seemed like hyped-up filler; but on the whole, the book filled my imagination and provoked an ongoing inner dialogue with the subject matter. Still thinking my way through things and am looking for a new book to continue the conversation. Would recommend.

Had to read this for my MBA and it is a great thought-provoking read! Enjoyed it!

hard to finish and so full of false starts and dead-ends ... Reese writes an obviously well-researched book to show what's happening and what might happen and what's probably not going to happen in the field of AI … great background and overview on the subject but he does seem to fall short with some of his writing.for starters, he tends to drift around the topic he's discussing at any point and fill us up with so much background and minutiae, I had to go back to rediscover the train of thought … the other (and more off-putting) tendency he has is to be so optimistic about the potential of mankind to rise to the challenge of automated jobs that it borders on being saccharine.personally, I could have done with a lot less of the cheer-leading and more of the in depth delivery of information. he's a very competent writer and is very engaging, I would really recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the field to get a good footing in it and then move on to some of the deeper writings, like Pedro Domingos or Andrew Ng, to see the real nitty gritty without the tassles and team cheers … just my 2¢ …

A very interesting exploration of the modern day realties around robotics and it's potential to change humanity as we know it. The book challenges you to think about your stance and contemplate the impact of things like transhumanism, robots replacing human labour power and the ability of robots/computers to compete with the human brain/mind.

Good

Very thought provoking.

Because disclaimers always come first, I have to tell you that a representative of GigaOM reached out to me on Twitter in 2018 asking if I wanted to read the book and sent me an EPUB. I started reading and I liked it so much that I decided to buy the paperback as soon as it became available on Amazon.That said, this is an unbiased review – with the only “bias”, if you allow me, being my unconditional love of machines.But this book is more on the human than on the machine. In fact, the author Byron Reese focuses on the ages of technological progress, from language and fire in the First, to the development of sophisticated AI and robots in the Fourth.And how will human life change in the Fourth Age thanks to these catalysts? Reese investigates on the possibilities, especially what will happen to the concept of “human” if (when?) humankind will ever be able to build a sophisticated artificial general intelligence (AGI), a conscious machine. Will the machines be human, too?Reese also attempts to answer (with the collaboration of the reader) some current hot questions: will robots eventually take our jobs? What about the use of robots in warfare?Personally, I follow Haikonen’s robot consciousness research (and I dream to be able to “program” it in a robot one day) but it’s far from building a Terminator and I hope for humanity’s sake that we’ll always put restrictions on robots even if we manage to make them slightly conscious. The best way to not run the risk of technology taking over is to not build that something at all.The good news, to say it with Reese, is that "We use our technology, generally speaking, for good."But the author also investigates on some directions progress may take, like ending poverty and hunger, fighting disease, develop more clean energy and extend life. As always, he leaves it up to the reader to decide on various matters, from technology to immortality.All in all, I found Reese’s book thought provoking and a good analysis of the human way to handle progress and civilization."The fact that progress exists at all speaks quite well of us as a species, for it relies on cooperation, honesty, and benevolence. It involves selflessness as well as empathy." -- Byron ReeseI also enjoyed the author's writing style: personable yet neutral, and it runs smoothly when you read it. The only reason it took me two years to finish this book is because it's information-packed and dense in citations and questions, so sometimes reading one page got me thinking for the whole days and I just couldn't progress with the reading.But you know what? I'm glad it took me this long. Living with this book for a while helped me mature as a human being, I believe, and start looking at things a bit differently and with more critical sensibility.I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all people who have a passion for technology and who have questions about life, society and the world.- Luana Spinetti

In the fourth age Byron makes an attempt to give a look into our future. Unfortunately the attempt falls on it's face almost immediately. Borrowing from the structure of books from better authors he attempts to classify human history into multiple ages of which we are in the fourth. In this attempt his lack of objectivity becomes glaringly obvious as he makes statements of fact in heavily disputed areas. He fails to even mention that any dispute exists. This continues as he presents Kurzweil's idea that all technology follows a specific exponential growth path as fact. Not only is this idea not supported by the scientific community, he fails to even mention the possibility that it could be wrong. Furthermore in his look at the future of AI he descends into pseudo science as he seriously discusses the implication of the lack of a soul.In summary avoid.