MachinesofLovingGrace_TheQuestforCommonG.epub

EPIGRAPH I like to think (it has to be!) of a cybernetic ecology where we are free of our labors and joined back to nature, returned to our mammal brothers and sisters, and all watched over by machines of loving grace. —Richard Brautigan, “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace” CONTENTS Epigraph Preface 1 | Between Human and Machine 2 | A Crash in the Desert 3 | A Tough Year for the Human Race 4 | The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of AI 5 | Walking Away 6 | Collaboration 7 | To the Rescue 8 | “One Last Thing” 9 | Masters, Slaves, or Partners? Acknowledgments Notes Index About the Author Also by John Markoff Credits Copyright About the Publisher PREFACE I n the spring of 2014 I parked in front of the small café adjacent to the Stanford Golf Course. As I got out of my car, a woman pulled her Tesla into the next space, got out, and unloaded her golf cart. She then turned and walked toward the golf course and her golf cart followed her—on its own. I was stunned, but when I feverishly Googled “robot golf carts” I found that there was nothing new about the caddy. The CaddyTrek robot golf cart, whi......