"This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prelude : The tale of the Omega Team --
Welcome to the most important conversation of our time. A brief history of complexity ; The three stages of life ; Controversies ; Misconceptions ; The road ahead --
Matter turns intelligent. What is intelligence? ; What is memory? ; What is computation? ; What is learning? --
The near future : breakthroughs, bugs, laws, weapons and jobs. Breakthroughs ; Bugs vs. robust AI ; Laws ; Weapons ; Jobs and wages ; Human-level intelligence? --
Intelligence explosion?. Totalitarianism ; Prometheus takes over the world ; Slow takeoff and multiple scenarios ; Cyborgs and uploads ; What will actually happen? --
Aftermath : the next 10,000 years. Libertarian utopia ; Benevolent dictator ; Egalitarian utopia ; Gatekeeper ; Protector God ; Enslaved God ; Conquerors ; Descendants ; Zookeeper ; 1984 ; Reversion ; Self-destruction ; What do you want? --
Our cosmic endowment : the next billion years and beyond. Making the most of your resources ; Gaining resources through cosmic settlement ; Cosmic hierarchies ; Outlook --
Goals. Physics : the origin of goals ; Biology : the evolution of goals ; Psychology : the pursuit of and rebellion against goals ; Engineering : outsourcing goals ; Friendly AI : aligning goals ; Ethics : choosing goals ; Ultimate goals? --
Consciousness. Who cares? ; What is consciousness? ; What's the problem? ; Is consciousness beyond science? ; Experimental clues about consciousness ; Theories of consciousness ; Controversies of consciousness ; How might AI consciousness feel? ; Meaning --
Epilogue : The tale of the FLI Team.

"What jobs should be automated? How should our legal systems handle autonomous systems? How likely is the emergence of suprahuman intelligence? A.I. is the future of science, technology, and business--and there is no person better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark. What has A.I. brought us? Where will it lead us? The story of A.I. is the story of intelligence--of life processes as they evolve from bacteria (1.0) to humans (2.0), where life processes define their own software, to technology (3.0), where life processes design both their hardware and software. We know that A.I. is transforming work, laws, and weapons, as well as the dark side of computing (hacking and viral sabotage), raising questions that we all need to address: What jobs should be automated? How should our legal systems handle autonomous systems? How likely is the emergence of suprahuman intelligence? Is it possible to control suprahuman intelligence? How do we ensure that the uses of A.I. remain beneficial? These are the issues at the heart of this book and its unique perspective, which seeks a ground apart from techno-skepticism and digital utopia"-- Provided by publisher.