Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Digital Mind: How Science Is Redefining Humanity
    Unavailable
    The Digital Mind: How Science Is Redefining Humanity
    Unavailable
    The Digital Mind: How Science Is Redefining Humanity
    Ebook510 pages6 hours

    The Digital Mind: How Science Is Redefining Humanity

    By Arlindo Oliveira

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    Listen to the audiobook instead

    About this ebook

    How developments in science and technology may enable the emergence of purely digital minds—intelligent machines equal to or greater in power than the human brain.

    What do computers, cells, and brains have in common? Computers are electronic devices designed by humans; cells are biological entities crafted by evolution; brains are the containers and creators of our minds. But all are, in one way or another, information-processing devices. The power of the human brain is, so far, unequaled by any existing machine or known living being. Over eons of evolution, the brain has enabled us to develop tools and technology to make our lives easier. Our brains have even allowed us to develop computers that are almost as powerful as the human brain itself. In this book, Arlindo Oliveira describes how advances in science and technology could enable us to create digital minds.

    Exponential growth is a pattern built deep into the scheme of life, but technological change now promises to outstrip even evolutionary change. Oliveira describes technological and scientific advances that range from the discovery of laws that control the behavior of the electromagnetic fields to the development of computers. He calls natural selection the ultimate algorithm, discusses genetics and the evolution of the central nervous system, and describes the role that computer imaging has played in understanding and modeling the brain. Having considered the behavior of the unique system that creates a mind, he turns to an unavoidable question: Is the human brain the only system that can host a mind? If digital minds come into existence—and, Oliveira says, it is difficult to argue that they will not—what are the social, legal, and ethical implications? Will digital minds be our partners, or our rivals?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe MIT Press
    Release dateMar 17, 2017
    ISBN9780262338400
    Author

    Arlindo Oliveira

    Arlindo Oliveira is President of Instituto Superior Técnico (Técnico Lisboa), where he is also Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department.

    Related to The Digital Mind

    Related ebooks

    Intelligence (AI) & Semantics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Moore’s Law Is About to Get Weird: Never mind tablet computers. Wait till you see bubbles and slime mold.

      Feb 12, 2015

      I’ve never seen the computer you’re reading this story on, but I can tell you a lot about it. It runs on electricity. It uses binary logic to carry out programmed instructions. It shuttles information using materials known as semiconductors. Its brai

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Strange Similarity of Neuron and Galaxy Networks

      Jul 25, 2019

      Christof Koch, a leading researcher on consciousness and the human brain, has famously called the brain “the most complex object in the known universe.” It’s not hard to see why this might be true. With a hundred billion neurons and a hundred trillio

      6 min read

    • Article

      Mushrooms

      Apr 12, 2023

      What are they? We’re fairly sure you already know. Wikipedia describes them as the “fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus”, and you’ve probably eaten them in soups, curries, risottos, pizzas and salads. You may even have foraged for them in

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Strange Similarity of Neuron and Galaxy Networks

      Jul 20, 2017

      Christof Koch, a leading researcher on consciousness and the human brain, has famously called the brain “the most complex object in the known universe.” It’s not hard to see why this might be true. With a hundred billion neurons and a hundred trillio

      6 min read

    • Article

      Your Amazing Brain

      Jan 31, 2024

      Your Amazing Brain
      6 min read

    • Article

      Don’t Fight The AI Might Of Herbertsmithite

      Jan 6, 2022

      Dick Pountain is editorial fellow of PC Pro. He wanted an Anarakite Amulet for Christmas, but all he got was a cloak of invisibility. Email [email protected] One year ago I wrote about three technical breakthroughs that were announced in late 2

      3 min read

    • Article

      A ‘Landmark’ Achievement: Scientists Trace Full Wiring Diagram Of The Fly Brain’s Core

      Jan 22, 2020

      The feat by researchers at Google and Howard Hughes Medical Institute amounts to a big “told you so” to skeptics who said it couldn’t be done this soon, this inexpensively,…

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Big Idea Behind Big Data

      Nov 17, 2017

      As we find our way in a world shaped by Big Data, it's not the reams of information we gather but the networks they illuminate that's the newest addition to science's index of things, says Adam Frank.

      6 min read

    • Article

      “Q’s” Real Gadgets Could Go Beyond Lasers Inside Pens

      Jul 8, 2021

      Recently, I read Quantum Computing: How it Works and Why it Could Change the World by Amit Katwala. It’s a great intro to the present state of and prospects for quantum computing – not too technical, wasting little space on the basics but avoiding th

      2 min read

    • Article

      Science Is Becoming Less Human

      Dec 11, 2023

      This summer, a pill intended to treat a chronic, incurable lung disease entered mid-phase human trials. Previous studies have demonstrated that the drug is safe to swallow, although whether it will improve symptoms of the painful fibrosis that it tar

      8 min read

    • Article

      Mushroom Machines

      Dec 31, 2019

      Mushroom Machines
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Holy Grail Of Computing

      Nov 16, 2024

      In a corner of the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) building inside the serene, leafy environs of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, is a Raman spectroscopy lab—the most silent working space you could ever imagine. Here

      5 min read

    • Article

      Why Is the Human Brain So Efficient?

      Apr 12, 2018

      The brain is complex; in humans it consists of about 100 billion neurons, making on the order of 100 trillion connections. It is often compared with another complex system that has enormous problem-solving power: the digital computer. Both the brain

      7 min read

    • Article

      Remember, Remember The 2020 November

      Jan 7, 2021

      World-changing innovations are like London buses: you wait for years and then three come along at once. The recent wait has been particularly irksome, as virology and epidemiology felt like the only relevant sciences in lockdown – apart from rocket s

      3 min read

    • Article

      Is Artificial Intelligence Permanently Inscrutable?: Despite new biology-like tools, some insist interpretation is impossible.

      Sep 1, 2016

      Dmitry Malioutov can’t say much about what he built. As a research scientist at IBM, Malioutov spends part of his time building machine learning systems that solve difficult problems faced by IBM’s corporate clients. One such program was meant for a

      13 min read

    • Article

      Is Artificial Intelligence Permanently Inscrutable?

      Sep 1, 2016

      Dmitry Malioutov can’t say much about what he built. As a research scientist at IBM, Malioutov spends part of his time building machine learning systems that solve difficult problems faced by IBM’s corporate clients. One such program was meant for a

      13 min read

    • Article

      Mushroom Machines

      Dec 12, 2019

      Mushroom Machines
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Digital Mind

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words