Sign-In
Cart
Why Machines Will Never Rule the World: Artificial Intelligence without Fear
Paperback
PhilosophyCognitionGeneral Computers
ISBN13: 9781032941400
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Apr 30 2025
Pages: 416
Weight: 1.33
Height: 0.88 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
This is a revised and expanded second edition of Why Machines Will Never Rule the World. Its core argument remains the same: that an artificial intelligence (AI) that could equal or exceed human intelligence - sometimes called 'artificial general intelligence' (AGI) - is for mathematical reasons impossible. It offers two specific reasons for this claim:
- Human intelligence is a capability of the human brain and central nervous system, which is a complex dynamic system
- Systems of this sort cannot be modelled mathematically in a way that allows them to operate inside a computer
In supporting their claim, the authors, Jobst Landgrebe and Barry Smith, marshal evidence from mathematics, physics, computer science, philosophy, linguistics, biology, and anthropology, setting up their book around three central questions: What are the essential marks of human intelligence? What is it that researchers try to do when they attempt to achieve 'Artificial Intelligence' (AI)? And why, after more than 50 years, are our interactions with AI, for example when on the telephone with our bank's computers, still so unsatisfactory?
The first edition was published the same week that ChatGPT was unleashed onto the world. This second edition shows how the arguments in the book apply already to Large Language Models such as ChatGPT. This new edition also brings up to date the arguments relating to the limits of AI, showing why AI systems are best viewed as pieces of mathematics, which cannot think, feel, or will. They also demolish the idea that, with the help of AI, we could 'solve physics' in a way that would allow us to create, in the cloud, a perfect simulation of reality in which we could enjoy digital immortality. Such ideas reveal a lack of understanding of physics, mathematics, human biology, and computers.
There is still, as the authors demonstrate in an updated final chapter, a great deal that AI can achieve which will benefit humanity. But these benefits will be achieved without the aid of systems that are more powerful than humans, which are as impossible as AI systems that are intrinsically 'evil' or able to 'will' a takeover of human society.
Key Changes to the Second Edition
- Shows how the arguments of the first edition apply also to new Large Language Models
- Adds a treatment of human practical intelligence - of knowing how vs. knowing that - a topic that is ignored by the AI community
- Demonstrates why 'AI ethics' should be relabelled as 'ethics of human uses of AI'
- Adds a new chapter showing the essential limitations of physics, providing a thorough grounding for the arguments of the book
- Demolishes the idea that we might already be living in a simulation
1 different editions
Also available
Why Machines Will Never Rule the World: Artificial Intelligence without Fear
Smith, Barry
Landgrebe, Jobst
Hardcover
Also from
Landgrebe, Jobst
Why Machines Will Never Rule the World: Artificial Intelligence without Fear
Smith, Barry
Landgrebe, Jobst
Hardcover
Also in
Philosophy
Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea
Hunt-Hendrix, Leah
Taylor, Astra
Hardcover
In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument
Williams, Bernard
Paperback
The American Indian Mind in a Linear World: American Indian Studies and Traditional Knowledge
Fixico, Donald Lee
Paperback
Dreaming of Cinema: Spectatorship, Surrealism, and the Age of Digital Media
Lowenstein, Adam
Paperback
Machine Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Spiritual Freedom and the Re-Animation of Matter
Lafitte, Luke
Paperback
The Sociogony: Social Facts and the Ontology of Objects, Things, and Monsters
Worrell, Mark P.
Paperback
On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Unpublished and Selected Writings
Pirsig, Robert M.
Pirsig, Wendy K.
Hardcover
The Electromagnetic Brain: Em Field Theories on the Nature of Consciousness
Joye, Shelli Renée
Paperback
Philosophy in Turbulent Times: Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser, Deleuze, Derrida
Roudinesco, Elisabeth
Paperback
The New Science of Giambattista Vico: Unabridged Translation of the Third Edition (1744) with the Addition of Practic of the New Science
Vico, Giambattista
Paperback
The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy
Giridharadas, Anand
Hardcover
The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
Gottlieb, Anthony
Paperback
The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations
Julia, Annas
Annas, Julia
Barnes, Jonathan
Paperback
Friendship and Society: An Introduction to Augustine's Practical Philosophy
Burt, Donald X.
Paperback
Suffering and the Search for Meaning: Contemporary Responses to the Problem of Pain
Rice, Richard
Paperback
Essays V2: Moral And Entertaining On The Various Faculties And Passions Of The Human Mind (1815)
Clarendon, Edward Hyde Earl of
Paperback
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Holiday, Ryan
Hanselman, Stephen
Hardcover
The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us
Goldstein, Rebecca Newberger
Hardcover
The Obstacle Is the Way Expanded 10th Anniversary Edition: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph
Holiday, Ryan
Hardcover
Self-Help from the Middle Ages: What the Seven Deadly Sins Can Teach Us about Living
Jones, Peter
Hardcover
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paperback
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Fifth Anniversary Limited Edition: The Global Bestseller
Mackesy, Charlie
Hardcover
Bless & Release: The physics of letting go-and wanting what's meant for you.
Laporte, Danielle
Paperback
The Ethical Slut, Third Edition: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships, and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love
Easton, Dossie
Hardy, Janet W.
Paperback
Eight Million Ways to Happiness: Wisdom for Inspiration and Healing from the Heart of Japan
Yoda, Hiroko
Hardcover
Self-Reliance and Nature: The Complete First and Second Series of Emerson's Essays
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Hardcover
The Rise and Fall of Rational Control: The History of Modern Political Philosophy
Mansfield, Harvey C.
Hardcover