United States
£ GBP
A radical and challenging book which argues that artificial intelligence needs a completely different set of foundations, based on ecological intelligence rather than human intelligence, if it is to deliver on the promise of a better world. This can usher in the greatest transformation in human history, an age of re-integration. Our very existence is dependent upon our context within the Earth System, and so, surely, artificial intelligence must also be grounded within this context, embracing emergence, interconnectedness and real-time feedback. We discover many positive outcomes across the societal, economic and environmental arenas and discuss how this transformation can be delivered.
Preface
- Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things
- Nothing new under the Sun
- Oh, for a nice cold soda: the birth of the internet of things
- The two-month, ten-man project to transform the world
- Getting to grips with the jargon: symbolic and non-symbolic AI
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Ethics in AI
- Choosing an ethical framework
- The strange case of Asimov’s laws
- Free will and moral judgement
- The confused Owl of Minerva: dangers of a moral vacuum
- Who’s in charge of the big bad wolf?
- What should a declaration of AI rights look like?
Gender, Race, Culture and Fear
- Gender issues in AI
- Racial issues in AI
- Cultural issues in AI
- Fear and loathing in AI
The Thinker: Human Intelligence
- Human intelligence: Carolus Linnaeus and his wise, wise men
- So what is human intelligence?
- Philosophy and intelligence: the framing of our thoughts
Other Modes of Intelligence: Thinking Outside the Human Box
- Animal intelligence: Machiavellian sentience and the wisdom of the swarm
- Plant intelligence: headless, brainless, dispersed intelligence
- Microbial intelligence: gene-swapping revelry in the quorum
- Ecosystem intelligence: systems thinking in the cathedral of thought
- Systems are non-linear
- Systems are emergent
- Systems are sub-optimal
- Systems rely of real-time feedback
Highway to Hell: The Existentialist Threat Facing Humankind
- A brief history of our path towards destruction
- The five clear road signs that point towards criticality
- Why ecological damage matters to us
- Adam Smith and his invisible hand
- Kuznets and his curve: how ninety five percent speculation led us badly astray
Forget the Romans. What has AI ever done for us?
- AI and economics: the best of things or the worst of things?
- AI and society
- AI and the environment
- Technology and sustainability: bellicose bedfellows or Romeo and Juliet?
Imagining a New World
- The swallow whose nest was stolen: a salutary tale
- Blinded by the bling: dashboard dogs and a disappearing sea
- What needs changed and what change do we need?
- The chains that bind: taking responsibility for our footprints
- The Ogiek people and the new, improved invisible hand
- Lessons from the edge of the world: The St Kildan legacy
- The Garden of Eden complex: how not to fix the world
- The three cornerstones: diversity, resilience and integration
- The central role of AI in feedback: shaping our new world
Barriers to Change
- The five philosophical barriers
- Structural barriers to change
- The seven dragons: psychological barriers
- How AI can help overcome these barriers
Transition
- The nature of transition
- Studies in transition
- Why societal change is key
- How to manage societal change
- Requiem for the King of Phrygia
Glossary
References
Born in the historic city of Armagh in Ireland in 1965, Keith Ronald Skene is a former Association of Rhodes Scholars of Australia Scholar, carrying out field research across the planet, from Kenya to the Carpathian mountains, from the Scottish Highlands to southwest Australia and from Vietnam to Trinidad. In 2010, Keith established the Biosphere Research Institute, becoming its first director. The Biosphere Research Institute does cutting-edge research on environmental, economic and societal sustainability, focusing on a fundamental dialogue around our place in the Earth system.
