It doesn’t happen very often you pick up a non-fiction read a few pages and think “This is a good book!”. This is what I felt after starting this book. I remember the last non-fiction for which I felt so was Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. In a way I felt this book is complimentary to Sapiens. And everyone who loved Sapiens should give this a try.
So what is this about? I think the title gives it away. Brian has a written a very thought provoking and ambitious book about what it takes to be human in a world filled with machines. Since the invention of computer, it is becoming smarter everyday and coming closer to becoming a human or at least act like a human. Brian takes different aspects of ‘what makes a human human’ like sociological, anthropological , philosophical and psychological and compares how computer has been breaking each barrier and becoming more like us. But there is a huge gap. Brian has pointed them out. One of my favorite line from the book was:
“To be human is to be ‘a’ human, a specific person with a life history and idiosyncrasy and point of view; artificial intelligence suggest that the line between intelligent machines and people blurs most when a puree is made of that identity.”
He plays a confederate in famous the Loebner Prize (a world wide competition on Turing test) where he fights for the prize of ‘The most human human’ which is kind of ironical. For this competition he does a lot research and learns different AI system and how they have been trying to imitate human. Which brings us to this book. He has pointed out so many intriguing ideas and theories about being a human and what sets apart from a machine. Each of these systems is trying to imitate one or more aspect of human behavior. But to be a human is to have all these behavior and idiosyncrasies at once which is a huge gap to fill. He has mostly focused on the art of conversation and just this small part of our psychology is too advanced and it’d be like climbing a mountain to ever beat a human.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. There are so many things to ponder about and to learn about ourselves. You find different dimensions of being a human and embracing all this is what makes us human.
Rating: 5 / 5
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